Top AT&T Lobbying Exec Resigns, CEO: Payments 'A Mistake' AT&T has chosen top lobbying and policy executive Bob Quinn as the fall guy in the wake of the Cohen scandal. AT&T's decision to pay $600,000 to Trump's shady NYC fixer's shell LLC for "insight" into the President quickly came back to bite the company, forcing the company to hold somebody accountable. That somebody was Bob Quinn, a top lobbyist and policy man that had been spearheading several of AT&T's sleazier efforts on the net neutrality front, including trying to pretend AT&T actually supported tough net neutrality rules.

Quinn had been in his position less than two years. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, meanwhile, was also forced to more clearly address the payments in the wake of the scandal, calling AT&T's decision to pay Cohen "a mistake" in a memo sent to employees this week. “To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate,” Stephenson told employees. “But the fact is our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment." Reports indicate that Special Counsel Bob Mueller was investigating these payments as early as last December, and he'll likely be the one to determine whether banking or lobbying laws were violated when his final report emerges. Meanwhile, claiming you didn't violate the United States' flimsy lobbying and lobbying disclosure laws isn't saying too much. It's akin to stating that you're an incredible high jumper because you cleared a bar set an inch off the ground. There's a universe of lobbying and influence peddling that occurs daily (AT&T-funded think tanks, consultants, academics, economists) that our existing laws don't even get close to addressing in any meaningful capacity. It's a major reason why gutting popular net neutrality rules -- despite overwhelming public support -- was so easy for AT&T to accomplish. "In this instance, our Washington D.C. team's vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that," Stephenson said, before announcing to the AT&T staff that Quinn would be "retiring." Of course Quinn's behavior, while often arguably sleazy, pretty consistently was a direct reflection of AT&T's "values," and the behavior Quinn just got canned for represents just a tiny, tiny portion of the kind of influence peddling AT&T routinely engages in on a daily basis. For those interested, here's a full copy of the memo AT&T sent to its employees: quote: All AT&T employees worldwide Team, Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged. There is no other way to say it -- AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake. To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate. But the fact is, our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment. In this instance, our Washington D.C. team’s vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that. Here is more information on this issue, if you’re interested. For the foreseeable future, the External & Legislative Affairs (E&LA) group will report to our General Counsel David McAtee. Bob Quinn, Senior Executive Vice President -- E&LA, will be retiring. David’s number one priority is to ensure every one of the individuals and firms we use in the political arena are people who share our high standards and who we would be proud to have associated with AT&T. To all of you who work tirelessly every day to serve customers and represent the brand proudly, thank you. My personal commitment to you is -- we will do better.







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Most recommended from 61 comments

tpkatl

join:2009-11-16

Dacula, GA 43 recommendations tpkatl Member The mistake was getting caught AT&T would have been perfectly happy paying this money and being silent about it, even if no work had ever been done by Cohen on their behalf.



The problem for AT&T is that this became public. Quinn had to go. What the heck was he thinking, anyway? soothsayer15

join:2002-03-01

Irving, TX 1 edit 23 recommendations soothsayer15 Member AT&T Social Media Team If someone from the AT&T Social Media Team reads this, please refer this to one of your outside firms. I can provide you with my analysis into the mind of Donald Trump. I only charge $40,000 a month. boredsysadm

join:2012-01-11 18 recommendations boredsysadm Member The sacrificial lamb Quinn is clearly the fall guy in this. Willing to bet the approval for this and direction came from all the way from Randall himself, but it's very unlikely to ever be proven.

Ut98Ex

join:2012-07-11

Georgetown, TX 18 recommendations Ut98Ex Member Draining the swamp What was the chant/slogan about draining some said swamp? All I ask tRump supporters is this: if this had been HRC's personal fixer that was caught getting money from att instead you would be totally cool with it right?

Economist

The economy, stupid

Premium Member

join:2015-07-10

united state 14 recommendations Economist Premium Member Poor AT&T I paid Cohen $600K for merger insight and all I got was sued by Trump's DOJ.

Anond20a2

@myvzw.com 5 recommendations Anond20a2 Anon at&t scapegoat 2 "But the fact is, our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment. In this instance, our Washington D.C. team's vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that."



So he retires someone else? How is that taking responsibility? He had that responsibility last fall when Mueller questioned them, when his company decided to pay a government employee's personal attorney, and in budgeting the groups in legislative affairs throughout the states and establishing ethical standards throughout at&t. T-Mobile merger was apparently lost because company may have liked to FCC. This merger with Time Warner may fail now. If a company has the appearance of trying less than ethical means, is their word on the stand saying they wouldn't stifle competition be believable?

Anon0ee80

@myvzw.com 3 recommendations Anon0ee80 Anon at&t scapegoat? If at&t was interviewed last year by Mueller team and knew then what they (at&t) had done, why did they wait until now to determine it was a bad decision? But a lawyer is in charge now? Does that mean any other wrongdoing can be attorney client privilege or time for shredding memo's and email. Perhaps at&t can pay Hillary for her bleachbit/ computer cleaning skills. Money for Republicans and Democrats. Fair and ballanced!

Trimline

Premium Member

join:2004-10-24

Windermere, FL 114.5 12.1

1 edit 3 recommendations Trimline Premium Member It's going to a bigger mistake - Financial Torpedo Many of the boards I read have AT&T customers jumping ship like crazy. That is a lot more than 600k worth of damage - best they hold tight to they have now and hire some good PR folks. Too late for lobbyist or lawyers. This is a financial torpedo to their bottom-line. Frodo

join:2006-05-05 2 recommendations Frodo Member Full text of the memo qz.com/1275907/read-att- ··· b-quinn/