by Chris Andrews
October 16, 2008
On a Monday morning last October, Michigan residents woke up to a new sales tax on an odd assortment of services.
The Sterling Corporation, one of Lansing’s issue-management public relations shops, suddenly found itself with a new mission that would dominate its schedule for the next several weeks.
Right up until the tax was dead and buried.
The agency built an “Ax the Tax” coalition in response to the tax that had been enacted by lawmakers in the middle of the night, part of a larger tax package that ended a brief government shutdown over budget stalemates. Sterling mobilized businesses and everyday citizens to visit lawmakers’ offices. It organized public forums and spread the message that the new tax would cripple landscapers, owners of janitorial services and others. It bought boxes of rubber axes — but success came so swiftly that the PR weapons remain in storage at Sterling’s East Ottawa Street offices.
The grassroots campaign was critical to getting lawmakers to rethink their action — and typical of the ways battles over issues are waged these days.
Matthew Resch
“It’s not just someone in Lansing saying it’s hurting someone. They get it when they go to the grocery store or the PTA meeting or do their normal business back in the district,” said Sterling’s Matt Resch, a former spokesman for former Republican Governor John Engler and later former House Speaker Craig DeRoche. “They start to hear from people and connect the dots from what is happening in Lansing to what is happening to real people in their districts.”
Welcome to the fast-paced, fast-growing and rapidly changing world of issue management — the crafting and spinning of messages and the marketing of political ideas. Issue management is not lobbying in the legal sense, because it generally deals with a broader audience, but it helps create an environment in which lobbyists can be more effective in their dealing with lawmakers. Thanks partly to legislative term limits, the relationships lobbyists forge with lawmakers are no longer sufficient to always seal the deal. Instead, lobbyists often turn to PR pros to help make the case for or against laws or public policy.
Kelly Rossman-McKinneyThe companies are lean, typically with a dozen or fewer employees, and led by seasoned, high-octane political pros eager to grab a client or seize an issue at a moment’s notice. Most of the principals have 20 or more years of experience in Lansing. Some emigrated from the Capitol press corps, others from elective office or key political positions.
The agencies are by no means immune to Michigan’s sick economy. But for many organizations with important issues being debated under the Dome, the question isn’t whether they can afford to be represented in Lansing, but whether they can afford not to be.
“When the economy is tight, how an issue is resolved becomes that much more critical to someone’s survival,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney of The Rossman Group, one of the early practitioners. “And they are much more tuned in to the need to tell their side of the story first and best.”
John Truscott, who formed The John Truscott Group in 2003 after more than a decade as spokesman for former Governor John Engler, says that, if anything, there’s a little more work. But it’s more demanding.
John Truscott“There aren’t easy projects anymore. You’re not going to get a project where you can just make some phone calls and set up some meetings,” said Truscott, who stays involved in elections and served as spokesman for Republican Dick DeVos’ 2006 gubernatorial campaign. “If anything, more people need help right now because there are bigger stakes.”
On the major issues of the day, multiple PR shops are engaged. With Proposal 2, the November ballot issue promoting stem cell research, Byrum Fisk Advocacy Communications and De Witt Communications are both involved on the pro side, while Marketing Resource Group is leading the opposition. On other issues such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan reform and energy legislation, nearly all the issue management shops are engaged.
Roots of Issue Management
A couple decades ago, Tom Shields’ Republican shop Marketing Resource Group and Rossman-McKinney pretty much had the issue-management market to themselves. For that, they had no complaints.
Tom ShieldsShields and three others left the House Republican staff to form MRG in 1979 (the same year that a more broadly focused policy/PR firm called Publicom was established). In the beginning, MRG focused exclusively on election campaigns. There were some mistakes along the way — they signed with John Connolly’s Republican presidential campaign instead of Ronald Reagan’s because they figured that’s where the money was (“I’m not sure we ever got to cash his check before he went out of the race,” Shields recalls, laughing) — but business was strong in 1980, 1982, 1984.
The pesky odd-numbered years were another story.
“We would get bigger every election cycle. In 1986 we had two floors of office space and 25 people,” Shields said. “But the day after the election, we didn’t have a client, and I’ve got two floors of office building and 25 people.”
Shields said he got started in issue management when Rick Cole, then a partner with David Hayhow at Publicom (and later press secretary, then chief of staff for Governor James Blanchard), asked him if MRG would be interested in representing the tobacco industry, which was fighting a cigarette tax hike. Publicom had clients on the health care side and couldn’t represent the tobacco industry.
“We sat down with them [the tobacco industry clients], and it was exactly like a campaign. It was on an issue rather than a candidate,” Shields said in his South Washington Square conference room decorated with marketing campaign awards. “For us, it gave us cash flow and put us in the black. We haven’t looked back since.”
Before launching her firm in 1988, Rossman-McKinney had been a public relations leader on high-profile projects in the administration of Gov. Blanchard, a Democrat. She was the voice of the extraordinarily popular Michigan Youth Corps, orchestrated festivities for the Michigan Sesquicentennial celebration and managed the message as the state began closing mental hospitals. Perhaps she was ready to move on anyway, but circumstances forced her hand.
“It was really an easy decision. I was one of (First Lady) Paula Blanchard’s closest friends in town, and she and Jim were getting a divorce, so I had been sent to Career Siberia,” she said.
Many of Rossman-McKinney’s first clients were local. She managed the Lansing Public Service Department’s PR efforts as it revamped trash and garbage collection. She represented the Lansing Center and the Lansing Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. She seemed to spend more time at the Lansing State Journal than some LSJ reporters did, as she took a steady stream of clients to editorial board meetings. Over time, she shifted toward state issues.
Dennis Muchmore, a longtime lobbyist who is now executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said he began to see the importance of public relations assistance to lobbying efforts in the late ’80s. He noticed that lawmakers were spending less time in Lansing, leaving less time for lobbyists to build relationships and make their pitches.
“The most obvious thing to me was to look at the issue you were doing as if it were a political campaign, as opposed to a quick 10-minute conversation,” Muchmore said. “When you looked at it as a political campaign, you had to have a program in place that was going to be able to communicate.”
Robert KoltOver the years, the number of issue-management and crisis-management shops has grown steadily. The quote machine known as Bob Kolt, spokesman in the Treasury and Transportation departments during the Blanchard years, left state government about a year after Engler was elected and formed Kolt Communications in Okemos.
Kolt worked on Democratic campaigns, often the counterpoint to Shields and MRG, and projects for the Michigan Education Association, among others. Sterling, Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications, the Lansing office of Troy-based John Bailey & Associates, The John Truscott Group and De Witt Communications have all opened within the past 10 years.
Most recently, former House Minority Leader Dianne Byrum and her former spokesman, Mark Fisk, set up shop in East Lansing. Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications is fully involved in the fall elections on behalf of Democratic candidates and “progressive” ballot issues.
Dianne Byrum“We are now working seven days a week until the election is over. But it’s kind of the way both of us are built,” Byrum said. “We pack our lunch, we come in in the morning, and we drink lots of pots of coffee and have a great working environment here.”
Different Tactics
At the core, issue-management firms sell their ability to maximize support and minimize opposition to their clients’ causes — by whatever strategies necessary.At times, the PR shops make a lot of noise. Such was the case of last year’s Stop the Ticket Tax campaign against a plan to apply the sales tax to sporting events, movies and other entertainment. MRG’s Shields, representing the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, and Roger Martin of Martin Waymire, representing the Palace of Auburn Hills, double-teamed the measure at stadiums and concerts across the state and smashed it before it could gain any traction.
“It was a great summer project. We had all our interns working. We had people outside of Comerica Park virtually every night passing out fliers against it, plus announcements on TV, and the radio personalities got involved,” Shields recalled. “We opened up a website and our clients were notifying ticket-holders. We were sending messages out to, I’m guessing, half a million people at virtually no cost.”
In other cases, the campaign is intentionally low-key. Rossman-McKinney won a Silver Anvil, the industry’s version of a Grammy, for a successful campaign to require hepatitis B vaccinations. Because the measure only required administrative approval, proponents sought to build support quietly without raising the ire of the vocal vaccine opposition.
“Instead of doing something highly visible, our theory was go below the radar screen, do it as quietly as you can so that the folks who understand the science get all the information they need, hear from the people they need to,” Rossman said. “We reached out to health care providers, pediatric health care providers in particular, public health clinics. We were very low key.”
MRG, which has won five Silver Anvils, including the campaign that led to construction of Detroit’s Comerica Park, succeeded with a similar strategy in helping Nestle Company’s Ice Mountain secure a controversial water bottling plant in Michigan. It helped the company work with state and local officials to build support and identify a site before environmentalists were aware of their intent and able to muster opposition.
Term Limits
Term limits, passed by voters in 1992, have ousted career politicians but built demand for issue-management public relations for this reason: lobbyists can’t rely any longer on long-standing relationships to make the sale themselves.
Chris De WittLobbyists still work endlessly to build the relationships and present their cases directly to lawmakers, but they often count on PR shops to frame the message and build support through events, constituent communication, op-ed pieces and other tactics. In some cases, lobbyists and PR shops develop informal agreements to work together —Rossman, for instance, has such an arrangement with lobby firm McAlvey and Merchant on West Michigan issues.
“What I can help do is work with lobbyists as far as delivering messages to the legislator or to the public. There is a lot of work that goes into that,” said Chris De Witt of De Witt Communications, who set up shop after serving as spokesman for legendary Attorney General Frank Kelley and his successor, Jennifer Granholm. “If somebody does not look at how the public fits into an issue, they’re making a big mistake.”
The line between lobbying and issue management can at times be fuzzy. Rossman was once accused by anti-tax zealot Bill McMaster of being an unregistered lobbyist. She ended up paying a fine to avoid an expensive legal fight but refused to register as a lobbyist.
“Issue advocacy definitely puts your toe right on the line sometimes,” Rossman said in an e-mail. “But that’s why we’re lucky to partner with so many great lobbyists who do the heavy lifting and direct communicating.”
More Uncertainty
Term limits have also put new meaning into the saying, “It ain’t over until it’s over.”Because lawmakers have less experience and weaker relationships with each other, groups advocating for or against something can’t count on the votes they think they have.
“It’s much more difficult to have any certainty in the process. Anything can happen,” said Truscott, whose Boji Tower office is across the street from the Capitol. “Just when you think an issue is resolved, five people pull their votes when they have promised them, and you are back at it again.”
Emily PalsrokYou don’t have to tell that to Emily Palsrok of John Bailey & Associates. The company has been managing the message for the Campaign for Smoke-Free Air, an effort to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.
The House and Senate each passed versions of the bill this year but disagreed over whether it would exempt casinos and cigar bars. Finally it appeared as if supporters had mustered more than the 56 votes needed in the House to concur with the stronger Senate measure. Palsrok returned from a maternity leave a day early to watch the vote from the House gallery. Some of her clients were ready to uncork champagne.
“We had commitments from 58 lawmakers who said they were going to concur and not support any amendments to create exemptions,” said Palsrok, who was a House Republican staffer before she opened Bailey & Associates’ Lansing office five years ago in an office building at the corner of Washington and Michigan avenues. “We were most disappointed that we lost a couple of lawmakers that we thought we had, and there are a handful that didn’t vote that day.” Palsrok is looking forward to another vote, with a better outcome, during the lame-duck session.
Changing Teams
At times, you need a scorecard to keep up with which players are with which PR teams.Sterling’s Steve Linder, David Waymire of Martin Waymire and Rossman Group President Mark Pischea all worked at one time or another for Shields at MRG. Martin was a partner with Rossman-McKinney before leaving to create Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications, a move that stunned Lansing when it was announced.
Dave Waymire
Roger MartinFor Martin and Waymire, forming the company was the chance for two longtime friends to stop beating each other up professionally and work together.
The two battled for scoops in the 1980s when Martin worked for The Detroit News and Waymire for Booth Newspapers’ Lansing Bureau. Then they fought over issues after Waymire left journalism to join MRG and Martin teamed up with Rossman-McKinney – Waymire triumphed over his future partner by helping defeat ballot proposal 4 in 2000, a health care funding initiative that Martin was pushing. Even as they fought like young bucks, their families socialized on weekends.
“Going into business together was something that Dave and I talked about literally for 15 years. Every year, we would sit down in the summer and go somewhere with our families and pop beers and wines and talk about it, and nothing would ever come of it,” Martin said. “Then we decided we were going to take the plunge and try it on our own. We believed we could do it as well if not better.”
Finding Their Niches
While the various PR shops may compete for clients and battle over issues, each has developed a niche:Rossman-McKinney, whose company has 10 full-time employees, runs a nonpartisan company with flash and flair. While helping Lansing-based Bioport fend off charges that its Anthrax vaccine was dangerous, she arranged through the Department of Defense to get four doses of the vaccine herself to demonstrate to reporters and others that the vaccine is safe. “I use that as an example to students all the time. If you don’t think you can enhance your credibility, you can always enhance your credibility.”
Deb MuchmoreMRG, which includes veteran PR executive Deb Muchmore, continues as a Republican-oriented company that mixes election work and issue management. This fall, MRG is helping Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor’s reelection campaign and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jack Hoogendyk. The company has been involved in a multitude of other campaigns, including Comerica Park, casinos and Ice Mountain.
Kolt Communications, with five employees, specializes in advice, counsel and advertising, but now steers away from campaigns. Kolt says he is frequently quoted because, “I usually can succinctly say something in five to seven words that really offers some perspective. I’m not afraid to criticize anyone.”
Sterling describes itself as nonpartisan, but Linder adds: “we are for small government, less taxes, less regulation.” Its major clients include AT&T and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. Linder says the company’s fundraising capability offers an additional service. The firm also boasts two former Republican legislative leadership chiefs of staff: Suzanne Miller Allen and Lori Wortz.
Martin Waymire, which has 11 employees, is a nonpartisan shop that Martin says promotes policies that will help Michigan prosper. It led the unsuccessful effort to defeat the affirmative action ban on the 2006 ballot and fought the state’s major utilities’ successful effort this year on re-regulation. Its clients include Greektown Casino, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association and Michigan State University. Both Martin and Waymire have reputations as fierce battlers in the political arena. Said Martin: “We are not for the faint of heart. We are not for the timid.”
Chris De Witt, who was the spokesman for Granholm until she became governor (and before that for former Attorney General Frank Kelley) opened his one-man shop in 2002. Granholm remains a major client; others include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, AT&T and Consumers Energy — companies that stand to benefit from someone who understands how issues might play in the Attorney General’s Office.
“People obviously closely associate me with the governor. I do not get involved in things going against her,” De Witt said. “If somebody is going to hire a PR firm to go after Gov. Granholm, they don’t come to my door.”
Truscott formed The John Truscott Group, with four employees, and emphasizes his experience in the governor’s office as well as the House and Senate. His clients include Pharma, the pharmaceutical trade association, and the Environmental Defense Fund.
One of his favorite campaigns helped the Michigan wine industry preserve its ability to ship wine directly to customers. “We were passing around ‘Free the Grapes’ stickers with a grape shackled around the ankle,” Truscott recalled.
John Bailey and Associates, based in Troy and well grounded on Southeast Michigan issues, opened the Lansing office five years ago. Its clients include the Campaign for Smoke-Free Air, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the Community Health Association. “Part of the business plan is to grow business here. We’ve done a lot with public affairs, but we’ve also worked to expand to the community,” said Palsrok, who runs the Lansing office.
Byrum and Fisk orchestrated House Democrats’ surprising ascendancy to majority in 2006, but term limits prevented Byrum from seeking re-election and becoming speaker. They opened Byrum & Fisk, which has six employees — all but Byrum have experience in journalism. They are managing several state House campaigns and are heavily involved in the statewide ballot issues to legalize medical marijuana and ease restrictions on stem cell research. She also served as point person on this season’s Democratically engineered Reform Michigan Government Now! ballot proposal that the courts knocked off the ballot.
“Our focus and our intensity are really different and set us aside from most of the public-relations firms in town because we come out of the campaign side of things.” Byrum says. “We’re just built differently.”
Chris Andrews is a journalism instructor at Michigan State University and the award-winning former politics editor of the Lansing State Journal.
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