Today, Mark Penn apologized for meeting with his client, the Colombian government, to discuss a trade pact that his client, Hillary Clinton, opposes. This story about Penn's controversial meeting broke last night -- and it has caused a firestorm.

Today, the labor group, Change to Win, told Clinton they've had it with Penn and his anti-labor ways. The group called on Clinton to fire Mark Penn:

 Quote:
“It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing -- back to his job consulting for union busting corporations and anti-labor governments for good.

“We have questioned Penn’s role in the Clinton campaign in the past for his representation of union busting employers like Cintas. At that time, Penn said there was a wall between him and his firm’s representation of union busters. The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role – advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.


For a full look at Penn's long and shady history of union busting, read the seminal article Ari Berman's wrote in The Nation last spring.