senior uber executive said at a private dinner that uber should pay a million dollars to hire opposition researchers to dig up dirt on journalists writing negative pieces. silicon valley blogger sarah lacy one of the apparent targets of the scheme. >> i've covered powerful tech companies for a long time and powerful moguls for a long time. and i've never heard a plan like that detailed before. >> reporter: later tweeted the executive's comments were terrible and do not represent the company. can these pr problems bring down the company? >> they could, if they continue to get out of control, and this f there are more of them and the company doesn't address them. so this robin hood might turn into a darth vader if they're not careful enough about how quickly these things get out of control. >> reporter: uber has likened it's struggles to a political campaign, which is why they i.r.a..ed plouffe. part of plouffe's job to get unabomer in cities where the powerful taxi industry has been