Dead Drop: May 28

SPOKESMODEL CANIDATE FOR PROFESSIONAL LIBILITY INSURANCE: Did you ever notice that almost every insurance company has a mascot or gimmicky spokesperson to represent their brand? There is the Geico gecko, AFLAC duck, Limu the emu from Lincoln Mutual – not to mention Flo from Progressive and Jake from State Farm.  The one sector of insurance companies that hasn’t joined the trend are the ones that sell professional liability insurance to government employees.  They might consider hiring Ambassador Gordon Sondland for the gig.  You may remember Sondland gained his 15 minutes of fame in 2019 when he had to testify in the first House impeachment probe of Donald Trump. Sondland was U.S. Ambassador to the European Union when he was subpoenaed and ended up testifying that there was a quid-pro-quo involved in the president’s discussions with Ukrainian officials. We won’t re-litigate that matter – but what caught our eye is that Sondland is now suing to get the State Department (officially) or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (personally) to pay his $1.8 million in legal bills.  Fortunately, Sondland is a hotel magnate, so if he loses – he can probably pay the fees – but for most of us — $1.8 million sounds like serious money.  Imagine if you were a typical government employee who found themselves in that kind of mess.  So, our marketing recommendation to some of those companies who sell “get out of debtor’s jail free” policies to government officials – is to make some ads with Sondland playing the role of your gecko.

THUMBS UP FOR IC:  The Chicago Council on Global Affairs just published a paper analyzing a University of Texas-Austin survey measuring U.S. public opinion regarding the nation’s intelligence agencies.  The most recent survey, conducted in the summer of 2020, indicated “high levels of public support for the intelligence community (IC)” which “have proven stable and remarkedly resilient” despite persistent criticism from the former president and his political allies.  Among the findings: 64% of Americans think the IC plays a vital role in protecting the nation, 85% evaluate the IC as being effective or highly effective in preventing terrorist attacks and 83% credit it for uncovering the plans of America’s allies.  But just 52% say the U.S. intelligence agencies are effective in safeguarding the public’s privacy and civil liberties rights. The study examines trends in public attitudes about the IC over the past four years and how they differs among age groups.

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