Bridging Politics and PR: A Candidate's Perspective

Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall comes from a marketing background, having owned her own agency in downtown Fort Myers prior to her career as an elected official.  Hall shared her insights and experiences with campaigning and holding public offices in Fort Myers and Lee County government at the FPRA luncheon on May 4th at the Broadway Palm.

Hall explained that there are vast differences between running in a city council, single-member district race and county-wide, at-large, party-affiliated race.   Those differences not only include budget and geographic/demographic scope, but also the dynamics.  The city council race required door-to-door contact with voters, and a small budget to cover a small geographic area, whereas the candidacy for county commissioner required a much larger budget, advertising campaign and navigation of partisan politics.

In becoming the first female county commissioner in many years, Hall had to overcome gender stigmas and stereotypes of her predecessors, several of which had been involved in scandals.  She also had to deal with attempts to smear her reputation.  At one point, someone hacked into her AOL account and set up a very promiscuous profile.   Thanks to a consistent reputation, and strong relationships with the local reporters and assignment editors, she was given the benefit of advance phone calls and the story was either downplayed or not reported at all, in most cases.  When the same person/group also sent an email blast accusing her of questionable activities, the media chose not to cover it - mainly due to the credibility she had built.

Hall encourages candidates to always act with integrity and character (including online), and to keep open lines of communication with the media.

This is one of three posts covering the presentations at the May 4th meeting.  Be sure to check out the recaps of Will Prather's and Sharon Harrington's presentations, too!

Bridging Politics and PR: Elections Office Public Outreach

Three of Southwest Florida's political insiders shared their insights at FPRA's local chapter luncheon on Tuesday, May 4th at the Broadway Palm in Fort Myers: Sharon Harrington, Tammy Hall and Will Prather. This is the first of three posts reviewing their presentations.

Lee County Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington discussed how legislative changes in the election process over the years have impacted the way her office communicates with voters.  Some of those pieces of legislation include the National Voter Rights Act of 1965 which outlawed discriminatory voter practices and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (a.k.a. "motor voter") whereby those registering to vote no longer had to do so in person.  Both of these Acts required the elections office to shift the way they communicate with voters.

Another national political event which caused a PR firestorm, and many changes in the election process was the November 2000 election, which Harrington called, "the election that will never go away." The notorious butterfly ballot, which was necessary due to the number of local elections in several counties was approved by both parties, and everyone involved in the process.  Despite that, it caused confusion among the voters.  The ensuing recount debacle in Palm Beach County spurred the Help America Vote Act in 2002, which caused changes in the physical process of voting by eliminating punch cards and lever systems.  The Lee County Elections Office rolled out electronic voting machines, requiring a major educational push for employees, poll workers and the general public.  Shortly thereafter, the Florida Legislature outlawed the electronic voting systems, causing the change to an optical system.  Two entirely different voting systems over the course of just a few years was a challenge, but the Elections Office's public outreach efforts helped the transitions go smoothly.

One last piece of PR advice Harrington had was aimed at candidates -- stay away from negative campaigning.  In her experience, she's seen how rather than hurting the opponent, it works against the person spreading the negativity. Candidates should stick to the issues and facts about themselves, and also steer clear of potentially embarrassing situations.

...Be sure to check out our other meeting recaps on the presentations at this meeting by Will Prather and Tammy Hall.