UPDATE 1-Clinton strategist quits amid Colombia trade flap
(Adds campaign source comments, background)
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, April 6 (Reuters) - The top campaign strategist to Sen. Hillary Clinton, under fire for his meeting with a Colombian diplomat to discuss a free trade deal that the presidential candidate opposes, quit his post on Sunday, the campaign said.
"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign," Clinton's campaign manager, Maggie Williams, said in a statement.
She said Penn and his polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates Inc., would continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.
News of Penn's March 31 meeting with Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco Isakson, in which they discussed a free trade deal, first surfaced on Friday.
Penn apologized for the meeting, which he said he held in his separate role as CEO of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, a lobbying firm hired by the South American country to help win the approval by the U.S. Congress of a free trade agreement with the United States.
But the issue plagued the campaign of the New York senator, who is vying with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to become the Democratic nominee to run against Republican John McCain in the November election.
A Clinton campaign source said the candidate had been "disappointed" over Penn's meeting.
Over the weekend, Penn decided he should step down, and "Sen. Clinton agreed with him," the campaign source said.
Clinton was attending a private fundraiser in New Mexico on Sunday.
The two Democratic candidates have sparred over the issue of trade, with each questioning the other's credibility in their pledges to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Skepticism about free trade runs deep among the working-class voters Clinton and Obama are courting, and both Democratic candidates oppose the deal with Colombia.
The president of the powerful Teamsters union, James Hoffa, said Penn's meeting with the Colombian officials undermined Clinton's stance on labor and trade issues.
Obama also has said Clinton has close ties to lobbyists who might wield undue influence shaping policies, should she become president.
The Penn controversy prompted an angry reaction from Colombia, which took offense when he called the meeting "an error in judgment."
The Colombian Embassy in Washington said it was ending its contract with Burson-Marsteller, which it hired a year ago.
The Clinton campaign has asserted that Penn's meeting was "independent of the campaign."
Penn served as President Bill Clinton's pollster and political adviser and also worked on Hillary Clinton's successful first campaign for the Senate. She was elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2006.
He had been blamed by critics for taking an aggressive tone in Clinton's presidential bid, including trying to make an issue of Obama's drug use as a young man, which the Illinois senator has admitted.
The Clinton campaign was criticized earlier over Penn's dual roles by labor leaders who said Burson-Marsteller was involved in anti-union activities, including helping a corporate client resist union organizing.
It has been reported that Penn and other members of Clinton's top campaign staff did not get along and frequently disagreed over tactics and strategies. (Editing by Chris Wilson)
