Mark Penn's firm resigns Pakistan People's Party account

Opposition researchers dredging up tough questions for Hillary Clinton's secretary of state confirmation hearings have just lost a key piece of ammunition: The global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, headed by her campaign strategist Mark Penn, has quietly ended a two-year relationship with the Pakistan People's Party, the ruling party of Pakistan.

The questions could have been awkward for Clinton both politically and substantively, since she will have to manage relationships both with the Pakistanis and their cross-border rivals in India.

Still, the details of the Pakistan contract provide a rare and revealing look at the techniques Penn's firm promised a foreign government to use to legally influence American public opinion and official policy.

According to the terms of a contract on file with the Department of Justice's Foreign Agent Registration Office, Burson-Marsteller planned to interview "100 American political journalists and business elites in Washington, DC and New York, as well as elites in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Pakistani expatriates living in the United States. The contract made clear that Mark Penn's market research consultancy Penn, Schoen, Berland & Associates would also contribute to the project.

Other efforts Burson-Marsteller would conduct on behalf of the Pakistan People's Party included conducting "an internal brainstorming session," authoring "white papers" by experts and academics, and drafting and seeking placement of op-ed pieces in newspapers. "Burson-Marsteller will work with the [Pakistan People's Party] to draft and seek placement of op-ed pieces on the issue and will identify appropriate 'authors,' depending on tone and subject," the contract noted.

What's more, Burson-Marsteller promised it would promote credible "third-party" supporters of Pakistan, recruiting such backers from the ranks of "former U.S. government officials involved with Pakistan during their tenure"; "Academics and think tank experts"; and "Pakistani Americans in influential positions."

In the lobbying section of the contract, the companies committed to launching a broad public affairs campaign within the Bush Administration and the U.S. Congress, coordinating meetings for the late Prime Minister Bhutto in Washington, as well as working to "identify House and Senate champions."

The public relations firm also promised an aggressive reach out to American journalists, such as New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman and Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria. Burson-Marsteller planned to compose articles about the need to hold free elections in Pakistan and "place these articles in top publications." And finally, it said it would find Pakistani families living in the United States whose plight might make good raw material for journalists writing human-interest feature stories.

The most recent version of the contract on file with the Department of Justice was signed in January, 2007 by Rob Tappan of Burson-Marsteller and Asif Ali Zardari, who is now the president of Pakistan.

MORE