AT&T Acknowledges Mistakes Over Cohen Hiring, as Quinn Departs in What Some Call Scapegoating

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, in a companywide memo Friday, said the vetting process by AT&T's regulatory team in Washington "clearly failed," and External and Legislative Affairs would now report to General Counsel David McAtee, with head of ELA retiring. Quinn started as an Illinois Bell operator in 1980 and after law school and time at a private firm returned to the company in 1993, according to AT&T's website. He succeeded AT&T Washington office head Jim Cicconi.

The timing worked out well for AT&T, since Quinn was likely thinking of retirement anyway when "this significant perception issue" came up, said Rehr. Now the company can say it didn't vet Cohen properly and also look like it took substantive steps to ensure such issues don't happen again, Rehr said. While Cohen likely seemed like a good resource as someone close to Trump's thinking, "Now they're probably thinking 'too close,'" Rehr said.

"The Cohen chronicles have a lot of innings left, but I doubt there are a lot in which AT&T is going to be a player," said Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Blair Levin. "I don’t think there’s a long-term impact on AT&T, either in terms of their performance in the market or any kind of legal liability.” As for Quinn, Levin said, "Cohen will undoubtedly hurt the reputation of a lot of people who interacted with him, but in Bob's case, that unusual mistake -- and in the context of November 2016 it was less of a mistake than it appears now -- should not take away from Bob's long track record of being a very talented, well-liked and tough but fair advocate for AT&T."

Sympathy

Quinn drew sympathy from various quarters. "There but for the grace of God go I," emailed an ex-telecom lobbyist. "If I were still lobbying, I might have hired Cohen too -- if nothing else, to conflict him from being hired by one of my competitors. But now that I'm an outsider, the whole thing reeks of the swamp."

"I think it’s ridiculous. This goes on all the time," said a Republican industry representative. "What Cohen was doing was no different from what every other lobbyist, consultant and, frankly, reporter, is doing: which is you get paid to get your hands on information and turn it around for someone’s benefit."

"This goes on all the time," agreed a former Obama administration official. “The only reason that it's news is because it’s Michael Cohen and his ties to the president."

It's rare for a head of government relations to be fired for hiring the wrong firm or lobbyists because it's rare for lobbying scandals to erupt in ways that put the company on the spot, said Jeffrey Berry, professor of political science at Tufts University. He said there aren't long-term implications of the Cohen controversy because his hiring is standard practice in Washington and companies won't stop doing what they can within the law to gain influence. Retaining Cohen "was unsavory" but not illegal, Berry said. "Why wouldn't you want somebody who ostensibly has the president's ear?" AT&T is unlikely to become a pariah among lawmakers and policymakers, Berry said. He said Quinn's leaving raises questions of possible scapegoating, especially with the Time Warner merger being so central to AT&T that it's unlikely Cohen's hiring was done without knowledge of headquarters.

"Stephenson is clearly correct that ATT made a huge ethical and political mistake," emailed Andrew Schwartzman, senior counselor at Georgetown Law's Institute for Public Representation. "But he places too much blame on Bob Quinn and not enough on himself."

CWA, CLC React

The Communications Workers of America slammed the AT&T-Cohen arrangement as the union Friday announced an executive board vote to approve possible strike by 14,000 workers covered by AT&T Midwest and Legacy T contracts. “AT&T paid six-figure sums to a shady consultant who provided nothing of value to the company but is unwilling to commit to family-supporting jobs in the communities that it serves,” said CWA District 4 Vice President Linda Hinton. The workers' contracts expired April 14 and they had voted April 10 to authorize a strike (see 1804160039). The board decision lets CWA President Chris Shelton set a strike date if negotiators can't reach agreement, CWA said.

AT&T-Cohen underlines to the public that lobbying oversight and disclosure requirements are poor, emailed a spokesman for the Campaign Legal Center. CLC said Quinn's exit doesn’t necessarily tell the public whether AT&T will change its transparency practices or is simply doing damage control. But the group said AT&T can start fixing the damage by making public what Cohen's specific deliverables were, so the public can decide whether his contract sounds like an ethical way to conduct business in Washington.

AT&T "has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged," Stephenson said. Hiring Cohen "was a big mistake [and] a serious misjudgment," though AT&T's actions were "done according to the law and entirely legitimate," he said. He said McAtee's top priority will be making sure the people and firms AT&T uses "in the political arena are people who share our high standards and who we would be proud to have associated with AT&T."

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed suggestions that AT&T's deal with Cohen had any effect on Trump's position on AT&T/TW or other matters affecting the telco. Trump “isn't going to be influenced by outside interests,” she told reporters.