Not practicing what you preach is likely to leave you needing crisis management
Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler, a frequent advocate of stricter laws against underage drinking, landed himself in hot water after pictures of him at a wild party full of teens toting the ubiquitous red Solo cup went viral.
The photo wasn’t the only thing that contributed to this crisis management mess, as Gansler’s response to reporters made an already bad situation even worse. According to the Baltimore Sun, he had this to say about his responsibility to put a stop to what appears to be quite a bit of underage drinking:
“Assume for purposes of discussion that there was widespread drinking at this party,” Gansler said. “How is that relevant to me? … The question is, do I have any moral authority over other people’s children at beach week in another state? I say no.”
The public clearly didn’t like that angle (shocker, right?), and Gansler tried to back out with an incredibly weak followup statement. He said he “stopped only briefly at the party in Delaware last June to see his son and left without asking the teenagers — including shirtless boys and a girl dancing on a tabletop — about the red plastic cups scattered around the party.”
Gansler also told reporters, “There could be Kool-Aid in the red cups, but there’s probably beer in the red cups.”
The pictures tell another story, as Gansler is shown repeatedly in the midst of a crowd of gyrating, half naked teens. In one shot he even has his cell phone out and is clearly taking a picture of a young girl dancing between two shirtless males, not exactly the behavior of someone who disapproves of what’s happening all around him.
Oh, did we mention this genius is vying for the spot of Governor of Maryland? Bet his PR team is just loving this.
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]