Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak next week at a Napa Valley event for corporate CEOs hosted by Consello, the advisory firm founded and run by Declan Kelly. The booking has drawn sharp criticism because Kelly resigned in disgrace from his previous company, Teneo, in 2021 after reports that he got drunk at a charity concert afterparty and engaged in non-consensual touching of multiple women.

The story was broken by Politico’s Daniel Lippman, who noted that Kelly faced a scandal five years ago after the Financial Times reported his conduct at the event.

Former employees of Kelly’s firms were not shy about their reaction.

Politico laid out the current speaking engagement and the criticism surrounding it:

Former President Barack Obama is slated to speak next week at a Napa Valley event for an audience of CEOs brought together by Declan Kelly and Consello. Kelly is the former Teneo chairman and CEO who left that company after the 2021 scandal tied to a high-powered charity event. He now leads Consello, the firm hosting the Obama appearance.

The criticism is coming from people who remember the old Teneo scandal. A female former employee called Obama’s decision “disgusting,” according to the report. Another former Teneo employee argued that President Obama should not be helping rehabilitate Kelly’s reputation or accepting money from someone accused of groping multiple people at a charity event. That is the political problem for Obama: this is not a random booking with no history attached. It is a corporate speaking engagement attached to a Democratic insider whose prior scandal was already public. The audience, the setting, and the organizer all make the appearance a reputational choice, not merely a routine speech from an ex-president on stage.

Kelly’s background is deeply intertwined with Democratic power. He served as special economic envoy to Northern Ireland under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011, and he advised Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign. Teneo, the firm he co-founded with Doug Band, a former aide to Bill Clinton, was one of the most connected advisory shops in Democratic politics.

The 2021 incident that ended Kelly’s run at Teneo took place at a VIP party following the Global Citizen Vax Live concert, a high-profile broadcast event celebrating COVID-19 vaccines. The party itself was attended by major celebrities and political figures.

Page Six reported the details in June 2021:

Declan Kelly, then CEO of Teneo, was kicked off the Global Citizen board after he allegedly got drunk and acted inappropriately with a number of women at the VIP afterparty following the Vax Live concert. The event itself was a celebrity-heavy COVID vaccine broadcast connected to Global Citizen. The VIP party came after that event, and the allegations against Kelly surfaced quickly afterward.

One source said Kelly acted inappropriately with as many as six women at the party, in front of other guests. The Financial Times account cited in the Page Six report described the conduct as non-consensual touching involving a number of women. A spokesperson for Kelly said he drank too much, offended people, apologized, and offered his resignation to Global Citizen. Page Six also reported that Global Citizen removed Kelly from its board, returned Teneo’s philanthropic contribution, and ended the sponsorship deal with the firm.

The fallout was swift and corporate.

CNBC reported that Kelly resigned as Teneo CEO just days after General Motors severed its ties with the firm over his conduct:

Kelly’s resignation came weeks after he stepped down from the board of Global Citizen and days after General Motors cut its relationship with Teneo because of the allegations. CNBC described Teneo as a major public relations and advisory firm with around 1,200 employees and noted that General Motors had been a client. Kelly had also served as chairman of Teneo before leaving the company.

The political ties are part of why the Obama booking is drawing attention now. CNBC reported that Kelly previously served as special economic envoy to Northern Ireland from 2009 through 2011 under Secretary Hillary Clinton during the Obama administration. He also advised Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign. Teneo was co-founded by Doug Band, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, making Kelly’s old company and career deeply connected to Democratic power circles long before the Consello event.

After leaving Teneo, Kelly founded Consello, the firm now hosting the Obama event in Napa Valley. The audience will reportedly consist of corporate CEOs assembled by Kelly’s new operation.

Matt Stoller’s observation cuts to something real. A former president of the United States lending his name and presence to a room organized by a man who left his last company over allegations of drunkenly groping women at a charity event is a choice, not a necessity.

This is the same Barack Obama who built his political brand on being a champion of women, a voice against harassment, and a moral authority within the Democratic Party. He released a statement during the #MeToo movement calling it a cultural turning point. He publicly praised women who came forward with their stories of being mistreated by powerful men.

Now he is reportedly collecting a speaking fee to address a room full of executives assembled by a man whose own former employees say he should not be anywhere near. The hypocrisy is not subtle. It is the kind of thing that reminds ordinary Americans that the rules the elite class preaches are meant for everyone except the people in the room.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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