Investigative Report: Richard Berman (Corporate front-man makes a fine living attacking charities)

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/news/2010/05/investigative_report_berman_1.html


LIVING LARGE—The McLean, Va., mansion that is home to Richard Berman, who has established a web of organizations to attack public interest charities and groups on behalf of hidden corporate clients and their agendas. The HSUS


Editor's note: Millionaire PR operative and lobbyist Richard Berman and his shadowy web of corporate-front organizations rake in large sums of money in attacking public interest groups, including The Humane Society of the United States.

The HSUS hired independent journalist Ian T. Shearn to write an investigative report about Berman and the workings of his groups. Shearn, as statehouse Bureau Chief of the Newark Star-Ledger, led a team of reporters that won a 2005 Pulitzer Prize for the newspaper in recognition of its coverage of the resignation of then-Gov. James McGreevey.

Shearn’s distinguished career spanned 29 years as reporter and editor. He is now a freelance writer based in Hillsborough, N.J.

Shearn’s contract required him to identify himself in all encounters as preparing a report for The HSUS. The final product, however, represents his independent reporting and judgment.
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If charity does indeed begin at home, in the case of Richard Berman, it starts in a $3 million, 8,800-square-foot mansion he shares with his second wife in McLean, Va. One of his first decisions in a day of many is whether to drive the Bentley or the Ferrari to work. On this particular spring morning, he goes with the Bentley.

Capable of zero to 60 in 4.4 seconds, the commute to his Washington D.C. office is no doubt enjoyable, even if the car’s 500-plus horsepower is bridled in congestion. He glides into his parking garage in the K Street corridor, gently backs the Bentley into a reserved spot and exits the car, clutching a bundle of newspapers under his arm.

He walks with a quick, determined gait to the elevator that takes him to his office, Berman and Co., a public relations/lobbying firm that consumes the entire eighth floor. According to one visitor, the bustling office has all the appearances of a political boiler-room operation, a roomful of 25 to 30 young adults fervently attending to their computers and phones. The walls are covered with ornate, mill-worked wood, and there is a constant stream of visitors.

But this is no ordinary PR operation. This is where white-knuckle lobbying and media buys merge with a handful of public charities Berman has created to spin and cajole public perception on a variety of issues. But for the most part, he attacks and intimidates those with contrary views, and under the banner of the public good serves the agendas of corporate America.

FULL 4 page story and video at link.

She SHREDDED the slimeball. :thumbsup:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rick_Berman
the only human worse than Cheney

Same way. Make it up and print it.