Council Member Marion Barry’s Media Consultant/Communications Director is upset that I emailed him. And it wasn’t even spam.
After Bruce Johnson broke the Tim Page – Marion Barry story late last night, details were few. I sent the following email to Andre M. Johnson, listed on Mr. Barry’s Web site as “Media Consultant” and described by the Post as “Communication Director”:
Sent: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:32 am
Subject: Tim Page
Mr. Johnson:
I wondered why Council Member Barry’s office sent a press release to Tim Page. Was it about a Classical Music event?
Regards,
Mike Licht
_______________________
Mike Licht
NotionsCapital.com
Box 15346
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546-9659
_______________________
I received this reply this morning:
Sent: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:44 am
Subject: Re: Tim Page
First, Who are you and why are sending emails to me?
I have never heard of you and truly don’t understand why I am getting emails from you.
This email address is only provided to legitimate members of the press corp [sic]. So I truly don’t understand how you got it. I do not appreciate nor will I entertain such foolishness. In the future please reserve your sarcastic comments and ridiculous questions for someone else.
Andre M. Johnson
President
ProImage Communications, LLC.
910 17th Street, N.W. Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 486-8072
_______________________
By 1:00AM details about the email blast were on the web, and I knew it was about the Southeast Hospital purchase. Classical music events do occur in Ward 8, represented by Mr. Barry, however, so I was puzzled by Andre Johnson’s reaction, especially given the nature of the current controversy. I replied:
Sent: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:59 am
Subject: Re: Tim Page
My affiliation was clearly identified in the email I sent you. Bloggers are legitimate members of the press — ask the DC Council attorney, if you still work for Council Member Barry.
My question was a legitimate one, posed before further details of the story emerged.
Thank you for providing me with another exclusive story.
Sincerely,
Mike Licht
Writer/Editor
NotionsCapital.com
PS: I had never heard of you before, either.
____________________________
I got a reply at Noon:
Sent: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:01 pm
Subject: Re: Tim Page
Please do not send any more emails to me. Is that clear.
Andre M. Johnson
President
ProImage Communications, LLC.
910 17th Street, N.W. Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 486-8072
_______________________
Just like Tim Page! Well, almost.
A few more facts:
The chief clients of ProImage Communications, LLC seem to be boxing promoters PMG Boxing, Inc. headed by NBA Star Steve Francis and sports agent Nate Peake, corporate lawyer Jeff Fried and (perhaps; details are unclear) Rock Newman.
ProImage Communications, LLC shares an address with the DC office of the American Symphony Orchestra League. Tim Page is on their mailing list, too.
Image by Mike Licht. Definitions from Merriam-Webster Online dictionary.
NotionsCapital 
November 12, 2007 at 4:14 pm
oooo – sharing mailing lists led to this!? do you really think so?? wow
November 12, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Please send him an email correcting his misuse of punctuation.
That company sounds like one of the plethora of phony “consultant” companies set up by the associates of crooks like Barry. The ones that get huge contracts from the city and have nothing to show for it once the Post comes around to ask about it.
November 12, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Actually, Anon, in this case it might be the other way around. The Media Consultant may be working for the DC official between boxing matches promoted by the official’s cronies. While campaigns and boxing matches have much in common, governing is a different kind of sport.
November 12, 2007 at 7:27 pm
This guy is such an idiot.
I love his “how dare you email me” attitude, and his failure to end questions with an “?”
November 12, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Ok, so he’s a communciations firm w/o a website……hmmmmm. I wonder why. Just put this firm on the blacklist. Hope they get their act together, but it doesn’t sound like its going to happen any time soon. Thank you for putting people like this on the ‘net! Maybe Mr. Johnson doesn’t understand neticut. If old man Barry isn’t a crook and this firm isn’t helping him then I’m the tooth fairy.
November 12, 2007 at 11:14 pm
how hilarious and ironic that he’s complaining about getting emails from somebody! that’s ludicrous.
November 12, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Dude your way to nice- you need to post his email, I want to send one too!
November 12, 2007 at 11:55 pm
can we all just get together and send this guy one email from a different blog every day for the rest of the year? i mean, it’s fun to watch people’s heads explode, right? 🙂
November 13, 2007 at 12:04 am
davidpatterson1: It would be unprofessional and unsporting to post the gentleman’s email.
Of course, I found it, and you can too.
November 13, 2007 at 12:58 am
[…] NotionsCapital Ideas on Events and Culture from Washington, DC « Sour Note Coda […]
November 13, 2007 at 8:30 am
NOTE: If this media consultant (without a web page, hilariously) is listed as Communications Director anywhere for councilman Barry, then he is acting in a public capacity. I would encourage you to post Mr. Johnson’s e-mail address, as the contact information for people WE the taxpayers employ should be available.
November 13, 2007 at 9:18 am
MrJay: Even though Mr. Johnson is listed on Mr. Barry’s press releases and Web site staff page as the Council Member’s “Media Consultant”or “Communication Director,” his name does not appear on the contact page.
One problem with government consultants – from the annoyance in question up to Blackwater – is their lack of accountability. Civil Servants don’t always do a better job, but we do have the right and means to demand a direct accounting of their actions; they know that and usually behave accordingly.
My suggestion: If you live in Ward 8, contact Mr. Barry’s staff directly. If you live elsewhere in DC, contact your council member and/or the at-large members and Council chair about this matter.
And thanks for your comments.
November 13, 2007 at 12:13 pm
[…] and also publicly shamed by Executive Editor Len Downie. In addition, Marion Barry employs the worst communications director working in politics today. When a question was posed to him about the Page situation via email, his first response was: […]
November 13, 2007 at 1:01 pm
My bet – Mr. Johnson is somehow connected to Harriette Walters and her DC Tax Office crew and trying to figure out how quickly he can stuff the money into a bag and get the heck outta Dodge. Your emails are only a distraction from his life of larceny!
November 13, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I think Mr. Andre Johnson has possibly been bombarded with phone calls and emails since this whole fiasco came out. Hence, the relative crankiness of his emails. Washington DC should be ashamed at Marion Barry at his behavior. Then again I’m from Boston, MA. We have Thomas “Mumbles” Menino as Mayor, “8-Ball” Deval Patrick as Governor, John “Flip-Flops” Kerry, and Ted “Splash” Kennedy as our illustrious Senators.
Yay, me!
November 13, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Wow. Nicely done, Mr. Licht. That guy is a huge hypocrite, and possibly the least effective communications director ever, considering that he refuses to communicate.
November 13, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Kia: I emailed Mr. Johnson right after the story broke. His contact information is privileged, odd for the listed “Communication Director” of a public official. A Communications Director handles incoming queries as well as outgoing releases – that the job description.
November 13, 2007 at 3:33 pm
What else can we expect in this age of corporate media and pc sensibilities? The POST, rather than just telling Page privately, “ya know, don’t write stuff like this on company e-mail again,” and leaving it at that, caves in to the pathetically immature and manipulative Barry and his staffers. Racism? Racism?? Are you kidding me? I wish I could say I don’t believe it; alas, I believe it all too well.
Political correctness is the new McCarthyism, but everyone’s afraid to admit it. As a usually proud Leftist, I can only hang my head in shame — and then raise it in defiance — every time an example of this p.c. idiocy arises.
November 13, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I think it would be highly amusing to turn over all this information to the IRS.
November 13, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Islamorada Girl: I think the FTC would be more appropriate — they handle the CAN-SPAM Act and decide when to turn complaints over to the DOJ. That is usually done for volume offenders but, as I recall, the fine is about $10,000 per offense.
November 14, 2007 at 7:59 am
Nice
November 17, 2007 at 11:05 am
i love it when that happens. nice job!
November 19, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Mike, first of all, who are you? And how did you find this very secret and private Blog? And how dare you use the comment section to attemp communications with me!
Outraged! I’m completely outraged!
November 28, 2008 at 7:47 pm
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