UPRA to Walker aide Cynthia Archer: Keep Trap Shut

The Second Rule of Crisis Communications: When in doubt, be quiet.

First, to catch up ... A member of Governor Scott Walker's inner circle, Cynthia Archer, leaves her job in the Department of Administration for a political appointment at the Department of Children and Families, and goes on medical leave. The FBI visits her home at 6:45 on a Wednesday morning, taking photos, removing at least one box of stuff, and grabbing a hard drive from a computer Archer had sold to a neighbor. Media assumes this has something to do with an ongoing investigation of political work being done by Milwaukee Count employees on County time on Walker's watch as County Executive, even though Archer has previously said she was "not involved in any way" in that investigation. The raid was reported online Wednesday and in print Thursday, and follow-ups with Archer's protestations of innocence were published Friday.

You've heard of a thing called "crisis communications?" Yeah, this is the time for that. Any time the FBI is mentioned in the same sentence as you, it's crisis communications time.

My first rule of crisis communications is Don't Panic. Neither Archer nor Walker panicked on Wednesday. Good for them.

My second rule is, as mentioned above, When in doubt, be quiet. While they haven't said much specific, Archer did talk, and email, the very next day.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker said in a sharply worded email Thursday that "I have done absolutely nothing wrong" in connection with an FBI raid of her Madison home. ...

"I have done nothing wrong," Archer wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel. "I have nothing to hide. I feel no need for legal representation.

"I fully cooperated yesterday and intend to cooperate with law enforcement in any way that they need." ...

"This is becoming character assassination and I cannot stand for it," Archer said in a separate email. Archer also said she couldn't discuss Wednesday's raid at her home upon instructions from law enforcement. 

 First of all, "sharply worded" is obviously an inappropriate editorial insertion by the JS. Still, don't give reporters a reason to describe your words that way!

Second, by this time, Archer had been ordered not to discuss the investigation. That means don't discuss the investigation, including your involvement or non-involvement. It also gives you a convenient excuse to shut your pie hole.

And why must the pie hole remain shut? Even if you're telling the truth and you don't know what the investigation is about, you don't know what the investigation is about, and you shouldn't talk publicly about things you don't know about. There may be something on that computer that you didn't even know was there, or something that you didn't know was illegal. And you may be right -- maybe you aren't the subject of the investigation. But someone close to you almost certainly is, someone you're loyal to, someone you will want to help and protect. And that person does not need you talking, at all, about anything. And it would have been good for all involved for it to fall off the front pages for a day. If Archer had followed the second rule and stayed quiet, there's a decent chance that there wouldn't have been a story at all on Friday.

Yet Cynthia stood outside and talked to reporters, trying to play the victim. And she sent at least two emails to the Journal Sentinel.

Look, Cynthia. I know you want to "clear your name" or whatever. This stuff gets under your skin and pisses you off. But one way or another, you'll be able to respond. But you didn't need to do it that day.

And to my readers ... next time the FBI shows up at your house, cooperate, call your lawyer, and keep your trap shut.