"I'll tell you that Cintas is pleased with the work that Burson has done," she said.
Cintas had $3.7 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2007, and it has 34,000 employees, of whom about 400 are union members. Its founder and chairman, Richard T. Farmer, has given heavily to Republican causes, including a $25,000 contribution to the Republican National Committee in March.
It is not clear whether Hillary Clinton will face forum questions today about Penn's dual roles. Questions will come from the audience, from members writing to the AFL-CIO website, and from the moderator, MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann. The forum is at Soldier Field; about 15,000 union members are expected.
In the days leading up to the event, union officials said they were not appeased by arguments in Penn's defense.
Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America, which represents about 700,000 workers, said: "CWA and other unions do have concerns about Burson-Marsteller and the anti-union campaigns they support.... We have questions about this, and we've asked for direct discussions with the Clinton campaign."
peter.nicholas@latimes.com
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AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum
* Broadcast live 4 to 5:30 p.m. PDT on MSNBC and XM Radio (channel 130) from Soldier Field in Chicago.
* Scheduled participants are Democrats Joseph R. Biden Jr., Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Christopher J. Dodd, John
Edwards, Dennis J. Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.
