At a time of unprecedented public scrutiny that will serve only to attract further interest of the folks who have a habit of looking for causes to support that will score points with the public, the NFL has hired a new lobbyist.
The press release doesn’t describe former Deputy Assistant to the President and Counsel to the Vice President of the United States Cynthia Hogan as a lobbyist. But that’s what she’ll be. And lobbyists work their contacts aggressively within the political universe to advance the causes of their clients. (Officially, Hogan is the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs.)
As further evidence of the siege mentality currently engulfing the precipice of the NFL’s organizational chart, the announcement was made not by Commissioner Roger Goodell, but by executive V.P. of communications and public affairs Paul Hicks.
“We are pleased to welcome Cynthia to our leadership team,” Hicks said. “Cynthia’s broad experience on a wide-range of public policy issues will help advance our initiatives in Washington and around the country.”
On some issues, such as ensuring that the league’s sensitivity to concussions will trickle down to all lower levels of the sport, that’s a good thing. On other issues, such as getting Senator Rockefeller off the NFL’s back on the question of domestic violence or pushing back against the effort to scuttle the blackout policy or the effort to change the name of the Washington franchise or a potential assault on the league’s tax-exempt status or the ever-present threat that Congress will decide that the NFL no longer should enjoy a broadcast exemption for the antitrust rules, Hogan will be serving the self-interests of 31 billionaires and a publicly-owned (sort of) billion-dollar corporation.
Given the current sense of gloom that has transformed 345 Park Avenue into 1313 Mockingbird Lane, some will assume that Hogan’s job directly will entail improving the NFL’s handling of issues of domestic abuse and other misconduct. The truth is that she’ll be in charge of making sure that the political fallout from such scandals won’t be as bad as it otherwise could be.
Last week, Politico reported that the NFL was moving toward hiring a new chief lobbyist, explaining the complex issues that the eventual hire will confront. While the seas may eventually calm for the league, Hogan definitely will be earning her salary in the first several weeks she’s on the job.
