The McCourts and public opinion: Image is everything

All that money spent on PR, and now we now await the next titillating TMZ revelation to top Frank's 'Dear Jamie' letter.

Image has always been at the forefront for the McCourts, going through public relations directors Derrick Hall, John Olguin and Gary Miraneau, hiring media manipulation specialist Sitrick & Co., before turning to Tipper Gore's former press secretary and later Dr. Charles Steinberg.

All that money spent, and a la Jon & Kate, we now await the next titillating TMZ revelation to top Frank's "Dear Jamie" letter.

How long before TMZ identifies the "direct subordinate" and describes Jamie's "inappropriate behavior" with him or her, as Frank noted in his dirty-laundry list of reasons for canning his wife?

"This isn't funny," said yet another Dodgers' PR type, Josh Rawitch.

No, it's now hilarious.

"Has someone changed the lock on Jamie's office?" I asked Rawitch on Friday.

"No, it's been at least a month since any locks have been changed," said Rawitch, and there's a tip for TMZ: Who got locked out of their office at Dodger Stadium about a month ago?

TMZ later reported the lock on Jamie's door has now been changed.

I hope I'm not the one to blame for giving Rawitch any ideas. The only other conclusion is that he's just another Dodgers PR guy who isn't in the loop, thereby making him useless.

In his "Dear Jamie" letter, the Parking Lot Attendant noted he was firing his wife because of her "insubordination" -- taking a stand, I guess, where most men would not dare.

By the way, I can't tell you how reassuring it is to know Frank had nothing to do with this split.

Divorce is not funny, of course, given the impact on so many lives, but it's the McCourts who have elected to make this a public farce. The scary thing is -- knowing them -- maybe they think it will improve their Hollywood image.

Instead of conducting private business behind closed doors, the McCourts went public with their disagreements, Jamie taking Row 1 in the owners' -- or is that owner's? -- box at Dodger Stadium, while Frank took Row 3.

I'm guessing Hall, or maybe Olguin or someone from Sitrick and most certainly the Tipper Gore Lady, would have suggested they sit on Level 5, out of sight in the owners/owner luxury suite.

Someone suggested they probably sold the suite for the playoffs to make some more money, and I wish I had thought of that first.

As you know, this debacle, still in the making with attorneys now starting to get paid, took an even funnier twist this week with the announcement just hours before the firing of Jamie that Ned Colletti has a new contract.

This makes so much sense because the last image maker, the Dentist -- a.k.a. Dr. Steinberg -- got the boot.

Who better to become organizational spokesman than the Schmoozer -- a.k.a. Colletti -- who worked previously as a PR guy for the Chicago Cubs.

Right away the Schmoozer was telling a crowd of reporters as documented by Associated Press, "I have no inclination that anything will change from how the Los Angeles Dodgers do business."

I guess locking the CEO, or former CEO who claims she's co-owner, out of her office is business as usual around Dodger Stadium.