On her website, in the post The Brand of "We" Versus the Brand of "Me," Polish offers a "brand and communications" strategy for the Coast Guard.
Because it is so critical that we consider how we as a branch of the military want to be portrayed in the media and in the public eye. (emphasis from Polish) This is how we build taxpayer trust, support from our elected officials and confidence from our partner organizations......Ensure consistency of the brand and key messages in press releases, in the look and feel for official websites (I ask you to compare the public affairs sites from three different Coast Guard districts and ask if they appear to be from the same government agency) and in social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and the official blog - Coast Guard Compass.
OK, so the Coast Guard wants to build taxpayer trust--let's give them that. But to do so with "a partner organization," makes one ask the question, just how "partnered" is the Coast Guard with BP, and why have so many, not just the media, felt that the Coast Guard is operating as a puppet of BP ever since the BP oil catastrophe began on April 20?
Polish is obviously a skilled and talented woman, but does it constitute a conflict of interest for her to be working in these two capacities concurrently?
It is no surprise that Polish has latched onto the Huffington Post as an "engaging experience." One has to ask the question, "How many of the additional negative comments directed at social networkers who criticize BP may have been encouraged by Polish's 'coordination?"'
It is a legitimate question. Sure, "trolls" are everywhere in comments sections, but to have them here because the Coast Guard and BP are paid to make sure they are here is the proverbial horse of a different color. The larger question is whether taxpayers are footing the bill for BP's interest in spinning this environmental catastrophe.
In her own words, Polish is also "serving at the Unified Command as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort." Unified Command consists of the Coast Guard, BP, NOAA and Homeland Security. They are certainly unified, and one of Polish's Twitter re-tweets strangely says the "Coast Guard IS Homeland Security."
A quick check of the Internet requires no special skills as an investigative journalist. It is almost too easy, and one of the reasons I am shocked is that a paid PR professional would have so much of her private life available on Twitter, including what bars in New Orleans she frequents, as well as fawning accounts of her encounters with Thad Allen, Janet Napolitano and Vice-President Biden, and the Secret Service's guard dog. I like dogs, also and get that, but I would never tweet about it. However, I must admit my dog sometimes figures prominently in my Facebook adventures, as does a traveling lamp. You can find out anything about me on Facebook, and most of it is very uninteresting.
A member of an Atlanta bluegrass band gave the lamp to me. I won't use the name here, because BP and Unified Command might send trolls after them. Just doing a little social networking here, folks. They are a great band, but I am not in their employ. If you want to know who they are, contact me offsite. I like doing this branding thing for them and I like poking fun at myself.
But the use of social networking as a forum by the Deepwater Horizon Response Team is no laughing matter.
Her Twitter account is certainly interesting and probably will be embarrassing for Polish, but what is far worse is the calculating way she has approached "branding" the Coast Guard for public consumption. Where do we go from communicating to messaging to branding, and how does that hinge on Polish's public relations career opportunities, not to mention playing a larger role in possible press censorship? The current directive on distance from boom material is the case in point, especially since Polish is managing the media.
If the truth is censored you have to replace it with something, and in this case, since myself, Cooper, and Plaquemine's Parish President Billy Nungesser came out squarely against the boom law, there have been several press releases alleging vandalism, including this photo of "vandalized boom."
Here is one of them. Ask yourself if this boom came out of oiled water, where is the evidence of oil? Examine the clean slit in the boom. Oiled waters should at least have impacted this area. This looks like pristine boom material. Compare it to what we photographed in the water in Barataria Bay.
Yes, the boom is hosed off when it is taken out of the water for redeployment, but one would think boom vandalized with a knife while in the water would have oil all over the inside. You be the judge.
Billy Nungesser in a radio interview backing up his constituents and the beleaguered people of Louisiana says, "Nobody is destroying the boom," adding "stupidity is ruling instead of cleaning up the oil. We need someone with guts to keep the oil out instead of making up stupid rules."
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