Talk about strange bedfellows. When PRSA Oregon opposed a new governance proposal in 2017 to eliminate district representation on the national board, one of PRSA's fiercest opponents, Jack O'Dwyer, jumped on to the bandwagon. O'Dwyer has had a axe to grind with PRSA for years.
Some background: O'Dwyer, a longtime critic of PRSA, shared transcripts from the 1993 PRSA annual conference to criticize the speaker's ethics for promoting the use of advertising spent to influence editorials at major newspapers. The speaker subsequently sued O'Dwyer for copyright infringement.
In 1994, things really got ugly. When members wanted a copy of any PR-related document, including O'Dwyer's, they would call and it would be mailed to them for a fee. Jack got hot, claiming his own case of copyright infringement. O"Dwyer has been at odds with PRSA ever since.
So imagine our surprise when several of the PRSA Oregon leadership assembly delegates were quoted In O'Dwyer's as saying "hell, no" to proposals of the society's national board. Jack had even called several of us on our home phones for a quote. All refused. Then, it got worse.
"GonzoPR has cracked the PRSA Oregon website: In the city known for the Boston Tea Party and 'no taxation without representation,' PRSA will decide whether it should be a 'top down' or 'bottoms up' organization. Should leadership become highly centralized or grassroots?"
But just to be associated with someone who was so unsympathetic and hostile to an organization we hold in such high regard was, in a word, embarrassing.
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