In Milwaukee, AirTran Holdings Inc. is commonly viewed by local businesses as a corporate bully, an unwanted predator and an unwelcome nuisance from the South.
After all, they’re the guys who want to take over Midwest Air Group Inc., the Oak Creek-based parent company of Midwest Airlines.
AirTran is in the midst of a hostile takeover bid for Midwest. And it is getting hostile, with both sides trading jabs about the other’s business model and track record.
So, if you were a Milwaukee-based law firm, you surely wouldn’t want to help AirTran’s hostile takeover attempt, would you?
I mean, depending upon your perspective, Milwaukee is either the largest small town or the smallest large town in America. Either way, doing business in Milwaukee is a provincial proposition, and people hold tight to their allegiances, sometimes for generations.
Quarles & Brady LLC must not be looking at it that way. The Milwaukee-based law firm is providing local legal counsel for AirTran in its attempt to acquire the hometown airline.
If you apply the George Bush mindset to this equation, you’re either with Midwest Airlines or against it. And if you’re harboring … Well, you get the idea.
When asked why the company would provide legal advice to Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran, Quarles & Brady spokeswoman Kris Naidl, who is executive vice president of Zeppos & Associates Inc. in Milwaukee, issued the following statement: “The firm (Quarles & Brady) is representing AirTran in this matter, but as a policy, it does not discuss the nature of work done on behalf of clients.”
I asked several other public relations professionals in Milwaukee for their insights about whether or not Quarles & Brady was making a long-term strategic mistake by representing AirTran against Midwest Airlines.
One of those PR pros, Tracy Johnson, a principal at Johnson Public Relations in Milwaukee, called it like she sees it. “Air Tran’s business would have gone to another law firm if Quarles & Brady hadn’t accepted it -- and for all we know, others may have been offered. I'm sure the ramifications were considered.”
This being such a tight-knit town, however, most of the local PR people did not want to comment on the record, because they either have done work with Quarles & Brady or they have relatives who are employed there. Most of them shrugged off the assertion that Quarles & Brady might be making a mistake by representing AirTran. It’s a glass house thing. After all, just about every PR professional, at one point or another, represents a corporate client with -- I’ll say it politely -- a checkered past and a soiled reputation.
In other words, business is business, a paying client is a paying client and cash is king. Even if that client happens to be perceived as an unwelcome predator.
Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes in Milwaukee and is past president of the Milwaukee Press Club. BizTimes provides news and operational insight for the owners and managers of privately held companies throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
Steve has won several journalism awards as a reporter, a columnist and an editor. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
When he is not pursuing the news, Steve enjoys spending time with his wife, Kristi, and their two sons, Justin and James. Steve can be reached at steve.jagler@biztimes.com.
