Womack-Kolton
<div id="content-header" style="padding-top: 1.2em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.987500190734863px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="title" style="line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0.2em;">BP Hires Cheney's Press Flack</h1></div><div id="content-area" class="clear-block" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.987500190734863px;"><div id="node-62432" class="node node-type-blogpost node-type-blogpost-full"><div class="node-inner clear-block"><div class="content clear-block" style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em;"><div id="node-header" class="clear-block" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="node-header-data" class="node-header-data-secondary" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 0.6em;"><p class="byline byline-byline" style="margin: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', serif; font-size: 0.917em; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(94, 113, 133); float: left; padding-bottom: 0px;">—By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/authors/kate-sheppard" rel="author" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; border: none; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Kate Sheppard</a></p><div id="dateline" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', serif; color: rgb(94, 113, 133); font-size: 0.917em; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; line-height: 1.4em; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px;">| Tue Jun. 1, 2010 12:59 PM PDT</div><div id="dateline" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', serif; color: rgb(94, 113, 133); font-size: 0.917em; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; line-height: 1.4em; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em;">BP has</span><span style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em;"> </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/01/cheney-bp-flack/" style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">hired Dick Cheney's former press flack</a><span style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em;">, Anne Womack Kolton, to serve as the new</span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3022354920100531" style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"head of U.S. media relations"</a><span style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em;"> </span><span style="font-size: 1.1em; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 2em;">as the company deals with the PR disaster of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf. Kolton was Cheney's press secretary during the 2004 campaign, and then moved to a job in public affairs at the Department of Energy.</span></div></div></div><div id="node-body-top" class="clear-block" style="font-size: 1.1em;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.8em 0px;">One of her <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/col/huff/2002/02/27/gao" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tasks in her previous job</a> was defending the administration's secret meetings with energy officials, even as courts were telling the White House to turn over documents about the task force: "We are ready to defend our principles in court. This goes to the heart of the presidency and to the ability of the president and vice president to receive candid, discreet advice."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.8em 0px;">Not a lot is known about the task force, since the administration succeeded in shielding it from the public. But it is known that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842_pf.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BP officials</a> were among the oil chiefs involved in the secret meetings.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.8em 0px;">BP had contracted with Womack-Kolton's current employer, Brunswick Group, for crisis management following the spill. Womack-Kolton <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anne-womack-kolton-joins-brunswick-group-58007157.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">joined the company in 2007</a> to "focus on high stakes communications surrounding public affairs issues and political risk management for domestic and global corporate clients."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.8em 0px;">
</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.8em 0px;">===</p><div id="story_head" class="clearfix" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 10.399999618530273px;"><div id="disqus_title" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"><h1 style="margin: 0px; padding: 7px 0px 11px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; clear: both; line-height: 1.3em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">BP's U.S. Media Head Said to Leave After Two Months in Role</h1></div><div id="story_meta" class="clearfix" style="margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; position: relative; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"><cite class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; width: 640px; color: rgb(111, 111, 111); display: block; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.3em; position: static !important; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">By <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Jessica Resnick-Ault</span> & <span class="last" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Jim Polson</span> - <span class="datestamp" bglocalize="true" bgdatestamp="mmm d, yyyy h:MM TT Z" epoch="1281107063000" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; display: inline;">Aug 6, 2010 8:04 AM Pm</span></cite></div></div><div id="story_content" class="clearfix" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 1.6em;"><div id="story_social_toolbar_top_container" class="clearfix" style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; height: 39px; width: 620px;"><ul id="story_social_toolbar_top" class="social_toolbar clearfix clear" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 7px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); list-style: none outside none; clear: both; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6em;"><li class="queue_icon right seperator_right" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 7px 0px 0px; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; border-right-style: solid; 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background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">BP Plc</a>, the owner of a Gulf of Mexico well that caused a record oil spill, is replacing <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Anne%20Womack%20Kolton&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Anne Womack Kolton</a> as head of U.S. media relations two months after she was appointed, two people familiar with the decision said.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">Kolton, a former spokeswoman for the U.S. Energy Department and for Vice President <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Dick%20Cheney&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Dick Cheney</a>, is being replaced by <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Scott%20Dean&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Scott Dean</a>, a 12-year BP veteran who handled communications for the company’s Texas refinery blast, according to two people who asked not to be identified because the decision isn’t public.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">BP yesterday injected cement into the top of the Macondo well, the first of a two-part effort to permanently plug the leak, which began after an April 20 explosion aboard a drilling rig. The explosion killed 11 workers and caused an estimated 4.9-million-barrel leak, the biggest accidental oil spill in history.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">Kolton, 34, joined London-based BP on June 1, 42 days after the Deepwater Horizon exploded. The day she began, the U.S. Justice Department announced its probe into potential violations leading up to the spill, and President <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack%20Obama&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Barack Obama</a> called it “the greatest environmental disaster of its kind.”</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">Kolton previously worked for Washington-based public affairs firm<b> APCO Worldwide and for Brunswick Group LLP</b>, a London-based company that BP has retained for communications advice. She was also an assistant press secretary for President <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=George%20W.%20Bush&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">George W. Bush</a> and press secretary for Cheney during the 2004 presidential campaign.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=David%20Nicholas&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">David Nicholas</a>, a spokesman for BP, declined to comment today on Kolton’s departure.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">‘PR Gaffes’</p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">BP has retained more Washington lobbyists amid multiple Congressional and Obama administration investigations of the spill. The company, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">whose <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BP%5C:LN" class="web_ticker" title="Get Quote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none;">shares</a> have fallen more than 30 percent since the rig exploded,</span> stopped the flow of oil from the well on July 15, and may complete the cementing process using a relief well by the end of August, according to National Incident Commander <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Thad%20Allen&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none;">Thad Allen</a>.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">White House Chief of Staff <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Rahm%20Emanuel&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Rahm Emanuel</a> said on June 20 the company has had a “long line of PR gaffes and mistakes” after its chief executive officer, <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Tony%20Hayward&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Tony Hayward</a>, was photographed at a yacht race. BP said last month Hayward would be replaced by <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Robert%20Dudley&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Robert Dudley</a> on Oct. 1.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">Kolton, who has three children and lives in the Washington area with her husband, was commuting to Houston for the job. She is taking a job in Washington, said one of the people familiar.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">Kolton was brought to BP to replace <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ronnie%20Chappell&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Ronnie Chappell</a>, who retired in mid-March. Chappell, who had been based in Houston, coordinated BP’s media response to an explosion at the company’s Texas City refinery in 2005, which killed 15 workers.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">Dean, 47, has been leading BP’s U.S. media operations since July, according to a person familiar. He is based in Chicago and has been with BP since it acquired Amoco, his previous employer, in 1998. Dean is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1985.</p><p style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.6em;">To contact the reporters on this story: <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Jessica%20Resnick-Ault&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Jessica Resnick-Ault</a> in New York at<a href="mailto:jresnickault@bloomberg.net" title="Send E-mail" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">jresnickault@bloomberg.net</a>; <a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Jim%20Polson&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja" title="Search News" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Jim Polson</a> in New York at <a href="mailto:jpolson@bloomberg.net" title="Send E-mail" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">jpolson@bloomberg.net</a></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>