Online Public Relations Thoughts

Sticking to a course only goes so far when one is in the wrong. That is what the Mayor of Detroit has learned. He tried to continue in a "business-as-usual" mode with scandal swirling around him. It worked for a few months, but the storm claimed him yesterday. The plea deal he took was onerous, which indicates that prosecutors were not giving him much slack. That might have been in response to his effort to brazen his way through the charges against him. In this case, perception was not reality. Reality caught up.

The better part of PR for the mayor would have been to step down when the city council asked him to -- or before. He would have been embarrassed but the long-running horror show he precipitated would have ended sooner. One wonders why he decided to push through a scandal he could not contain. Was it stubbornness or arrogance -- or both?