“I value my friendship with Ken, and I wouldn’t be caught dead representing Van Jones…I’m not going to change who I am or who I work with based on what other people say. Glenn’s somebody I’ve known for a long time, and I’m very comfortable with my clients.”

– Publicist Matthew Hiltzik in a light-hearted response to his friend and fellow power publicist Ken Sunshine.

Matthew Hiltzik, who represents Glenn Beck, Katie Couric and Don Imus, among others, talked to PRNewser’s Joe Ciarallo for mediabistro.com’s series Media Beat. And responding to his pal Ken Sunshine, who told the Washington Post in a Hiltzik profile he “wouldn’t be caught dead representing Glenn Beck,” Hiltzik joked back using Beck frenemy Van Jones.

Hiltzik pressed how long he’s known Beck, and that the FNC host is someone he feels “very comfortable representing” – as opposed to other potential clients he doesn’t take “because I don’t feel comfortable potentially even exploring relationships with people.” It’s an endorsement of Beck, who certainly must keep Hiltzik busy (along with his other high profile clients). As for his most challenging client, he changed the wording but seemed to imply Harvey Weinstein.

As for how the Obama administration is doing so far, Hiltzik (a “a Democratic power player” according to USA Today Weekend) differs from one of his top clients: “There were so many things that needed to be addressed in the country it’s almost like, where do you start, how do you actually do this?”

Here’s part 1 of Media Beat – Part II comes out today and III tomorrow on PRNewser:

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So how is it that he wound up with a PR rep whose résumé includes successful representation for a number of Democratic politicians, including “a key role in electing Hillary Rodham Clinton to the U.S. Senate”?

A fascinating Washington Post profile of Matt Hiltzik, Beck’s PR guru, provides a few answers. Among the revelations:

• As a young Cornell grad, Hiltzik’s record successfully pushing for Democrats like Carolyn McCarthy and Chuck Schumer caught the attention of Miramax heavyweight Harvey Weinstein, who created a hybrid job for him so he could “widen his footprint in Democratic politics.”
• This, in turn, led to even bigger gigs for Hiltzik, repping for Hilary Clinton and Eliot Spitzer, among others
• But! In 2001, his father, George Hiltzik, put him in touch with an obscure wannabe conservative radio host named — you guessed it — Glenn Beck. The rest is history.
• Hiltzik’s Democratic friends, naturally, are not really feeling this alliance. Said one: “I value our friendship, but I wouldn’t be caught dead representing Glenn Beck.”

Gawker, a site usually noted for its cloying, sunshiney attitudes towards PR people and Republican politicians, calls Hiltzik a sellout: “it’s almost as though Hiltzik is more interested in making money, or accumulating power, than in devoting his life to advancing the political ideals he has claimed in the past to endorse,” sez John Cook.

Though Hiltzik’s fence-crossing is a little surprising, that’s an uncharitable take, to say the least: From the start, the profile paints Hiltzik as a man of action rather than a dewy-eyed idealist, and political operatives are called ‘operatives’ for a reason. In DC, campaign professionals regularly jump from candidate to candidate to stay in the hunt.

Say what one will about Hiltzik, but the amount of ink and links spent on his client over the past year show that he’s definitely doing his job.

(image via CityFile)