Sue Black has assembled quite the team for herself.
The former county parks director, fired by County Executive Chris Abele last week, has not only hired veteran Milwaukee lawyer Frank Gimbel, she’s also employed a prominent Madison PR firm, Putnam Roby Williamson Communications, an experienced hand at both lobbying and what the PR profession calls “crisis communications.”
PRW’s first public act for Black was to release a statement on Tuesday calling Abele’s firing a “betrayal” and promising that “some level of justice is being pursued.” She also says, “I find it unbelievable to have been unceremoniously bounced from a calling I cherish.”
This weekend, Black sent a letter to the county alleging she was wrongfully terminated and asking for what extra money she would have made had she taken the top parks job in Chicago, as offered by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel last year. Black has not yet filed a lawsuit.
Until now, she’s been vocal with local news media, offering interviews to a variety of outlets, but that openness appears to have changed, at least for the time being. Roger Putnam III, PRW’s CEO, says Black is granting no interviews at the moment. “For now, the statement is all she’s doing,” he says.
Black’s cautiousness could be a prelude to a lawsuit or some more serious legal maneuver. Abele, though initially vague as to why he fired Black, has acknowledged that there were tensions between his office and Black, who was known for sometimes bucking the county executive’s authority, particularly under Scott Walker.
One of the firm’s partners, Mark Williamson, was in the news earlier this year, criticizing a plan by American Transmission Co. of Pewaukee to build three new high-voltage transmission lines in northeastern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at a potential cost to Wisconsin power customers of $700 million. (Williamson is a former ATC vice president.) The firm also lobbied on behalf of payday loan companies during the protracted 2009 legislative fight that led to new state regulations for the industry.
