If your corporation is in trouble, who do you turn to for advice? Ask big-time corporate PR firm Edelman and the answer will be: Fringe environmental groups like Greenpeace! From a New Yorker story on Wal-Mart:

[PR guru Leslie] Dach and Edelman have been innovators in their field. A press release issued in 2000 outlines a strategy that Dach has used repeatedly to good effect. “You’ve got an environmental disaster on your hands,” the document reads. “Have you consulted with Greenpeace in developing your crisis response plan? Co-opting your would-be attackers may seem counterintuitive, but it makes sense when you consider that N.G.O.s (non-governmental organizations) are trusted by the public nearly two to one to ‘do what’s right’ compared with government bodies, media organizations and corporations.” The document goes on to describe Amnesty International, the Sierra Club, and the World Wildlife Fund as “brands” that the public believes “do what’s right.”

Needless to say, Dach–who has left Edelman’s payroll for Wal-Mart’s–is a lifelong liberal activist himself.