WASHINGTON – The company run by one of Hillary Clinton‘s top campaign officials has been providing public-relations services for Blackwater – the security firm, accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians, that has come under fire from Congress.
Burson-Marsteller, run by Clinton pollster Mark Penn, has been representing the troubled security firm in the lead-up to congressional testimony this week in which top company officials defended their policies and techniques for providing security in the war zone.
Penn is one of Clinton’s longest-serving and most important advisers, perhaps second only to her husband in influence.
He said yesterday that his company was no longer representing Blackwater.
Listed as the “worldwide CEO” of the company, Penn also said he was not personally involved in the account.
Blackwater became a political lightning rod as the Iraq war spiraled out of control and accusations of torture and abuse spread rampantly.
While Blackwater has been heavily criticized by Democrats – including Barack Obama and John Edwards – Clinton has been noticeably silent about the firm’s conduct in Iraq.
The Clinton campaign downplayed the association yesterday, saying that Penn never did any work on the Blackwater account and that his company had cut its ties with Blackwater.
“Mark is and remains a valuable member of our team,” Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said.
He also sought to join the Democratic condemnation of Blackwater.
“Sen. Clinton believes Blackwater must be held accountable for its actions and has laid out a detailed proposal to sharply reduce the number of contractors employed by the federal government by 500,000,” Wolfson said.
“She has repeatedly stated her concern that such contractors are not as accountable as federal employees.”
Further complicating matters for Clinton is that Blackwater’s first contract with the federal government actually wasn’t under the Bush administration. It was in 1998, according to company officials, when Clinton’s husband was in the White House.
Yesterday’s revelations of a tie between Blackwater and Clinton became easy fodder for attacking the Democratic front-runner.
Campaigning in Iowa, former North Carolina Sen. Edwards noted Blackwater’s deep ties to Republicans and the Bush administration and described Penn as Clinton’s “Karl Rove.”
“I think it is important for Iowa caucusgoers to understand the choices they have in this election,” Edwards said.
“And it is the reason I continue to say we don’t want to replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats. I think it is important for caucusgoers to see this choice.”
churt@nypost.com