By David Brimm

If there’s one thing on which all panel members at the June PCC Executive Roundtable agreed, it’s that public affairs is underutilized by public relations organizations and companies. The Executive Roundtable, held at the 410 Club, featured a panel whose members consistently help set the agenda for politicians, corporations and issues.

Panel members included:

• Jay Doherty, head of the Haymarket Group and president of Chicago’s City Club;

• David Axelrod, one of the nation’s leading political consultants and head of Axelrod & Associates; and

• Carolyn Grisko, head of her own agency and who specializes in representing not-for-profit clients.

Jim Terman, president of the influential firm Jasculca Terman, served as moderator.

Jim Terman

In his opening remarks, Terman suggested that public affairs is far more encompassing than many realize. It includes strategic counsel, grass roots mobilization, crisis communications, creating media strategies, government relations, customer relations, community relations, affecting issues referendum, producing advocacy materials and offering political advice.

Day Doherty

Jay Doherty added that public affairs is also "where the money is." As a result, PR firms are looking for niches to add more services to their agencies, and public affairs and government relations are becoming popular new core competencies. It’s not a stretch, said Doherty, to believe that almost any company can use public affairs. It can be valuable for cutting through red tape that threatens a new corporate site, making friends with government agencies that may impact regulatory matters or just providing a local "lay of the land" for companies unfamiliar with a new market.

Doherty outlined five factors that will determine the outlook for a political campaign:

• a viable candidate;
• being able to weigh in on issues and identify the hot buttons;
• create an organization that can get out the vote;
• develop a powerful fundraising mechanism; and
• work with a good media relations/press person.

He concluded that the best lesson he ever learned was: "Tell somebody you’re going to do something, and then go out and do it. And then tell them that you did it."

Carolyn Grisko

Carolyn Grisko noted that affecting the passage of favorable legislation for a client is the result of exceptional issues management. "The message is the key. You need to identify the crucial points you want to get across; find ways to communicate that message; build a coalition and galvanize the group to take action. It is critical that companies or clients stay ‘on message.’ This is a reflection of a successful company."

David Axelrod

David Axelrod suggested that it was no coincidence that all the members of the panel had a political background, since public affairs sprang from politics, and they have a lot in common. "To achieve public policy goals, you need to rely on political strategies. The election process is all about getting information out to the public, and hoping that this leads to a favorable decision. You need to construct a message that drives the conversation to your candidate. Know who you’re talking to, and realize that some people may have already made up their minds. But through research, you can identify a group that hasn’t committed one way or another and are in position to move to one camp or another. Which demographic group is most likely to change their minds? What can I do to make this happen?"

Axelrod cautions that the media are the most uncertain audiences of all, because reporters will bring along their own biases and interpretations of your messages. "And never forget that elections have a finite ending date. There’s always a sense of urgency, because you will be tested for all your work on that single date."

General Discussion

Crisis management is a topic that must be included when you talk about public affairs, according to Jim Terman. "Training in politics is the perfect preparation for crisis management. You learn how to work a market and size up a situation almost immediately. You gain an instinct for getting a handle on the situation…identifying all the key issues."

With crisis counseling, warns Terman, comes the inevitable friction between lawyers and PR people. Yet, the better clients are those that can balance the inherent benefits of PR with the legal ramifications of a crisis and have both teams work together.

Doherty added that when law firms hire PR firms, strategic alliances can be formed that work to the client’s advantage.

The panel agreed that technology has impacted the practice of PR and public affairs. Carolyn Grisko believes that while new technologies can be a valuable tool, it’s also an expensive one, and one that has made issues tracking and management much harder to control due to the immediacy and the multiple channels impacting issues and opinions. "Which email do you respond to? Technology creates confusion because it’s harder to break through the new clutter."

Axelrod concurred that the Internet has had a profound effect on public affairs. Now political handlers are emailing reporters in real time during political debates to refute the statements made by the competitor even before he or she stops talking.

Since the Glenbrook North hazing incident was newsworthy, the panel presented their viewpoints on the situation. Grisko admonished the school board for changing policies as events unfolded and then meting out punishments for an incident that took place off school grounds, which was a mistake. Then nobody at the school or the board took charge of the situation or took responsibility. Ultimately, the video proved the undoing of the entire incident.

Axelrod and Terman both agreed that no body in a position of authority took responsibility for the situation. Where was the mea culpa? Some body had to get up and say: "Mistakes were made."

Another timely issue, the closing of Meigs Field, also drew a consensus. "Don’t look for any planes ever again landing at Meigs."

The panel was most animated when it came to weighing in on the decision by the FCC to do away with regulations that restrict multiple media outlets being owned by large, single media entities. (see FCC story elsewhere in Dateline)

"There is no question that we will see a dramatic drop in the number of media outlets for public affairs programming and opportunities to present serious discussions of important public affairs issues," predicted Terman.

"This ruling is a travesty and makes the U.S. a worse place. The airwaves belong to the people, not corporations. We may get more media outlets, but fewer voices filling those outlets," suggested Grisko.

Terman addressed the strategic alliance that Jasculca Terman has with Burson Marstellar. His agency will be available to Burson for public affairs support for clients, and Burson will be available to Jasculca Terman clients that might require more traditional PR competencies such as product promotion and investor relations, complementing the range of services each offers to clients. "This is not unique and doesn’t affect what we do. It’s merely another tool for firms to use to seek new business opportunities," noted Terman.

The session ended with moderator, Jim Terman, thanking PCC for giving much needed visibility to the often under appreciated area of public affairs.

SPECIAL THANKS TO PCC-MEMBER TOM MULLANEY FOR COORDINATING THE SEMINAR.