PR FAIL of the Week| Governor Rod Blagojevich

To be fair, embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has undoubtedly failed at more than public relations in the last few weeks, but his initial lack of communication with the media (and with the Lieutenant Governor for that matter), followed by his recent appeal for the media to “hang loose” wins Governor Blagojevich the PR FAIL of the Week.

After deciding to feature Governor Blagojevich in this week’s PR FAIL, I visited the governor’s website and was interested to find absolutely no information about the recent scandal (on the homepage or otherwise).  The governor’s lack of response both to traditional media and online breaks all three of the rules in the MMI crisis management school of hard knocks.  The rules are:

1. Tell it all
2. Tell it fast
3. Tell the truth

It’s difficult to say if the soon-to-be former governor of Illinois could have handled this situation any worse.  It would be a stretch to say that he could have kept his position by handling the situation differently, but his silence and refusal to cooperate is certainly adding to any jail time he may serve if the allegations prove to be true.

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* Photo from Flickr

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