Why MAPS Passed

A bitter global recession. Unemployment reaching 7.1 percent at home. Wind, rain and cold conditions on election day. Opposition led by the heroic people who protect us.

Like my college basketball coach used to say, “find a way to win.”

The third edition of MAPS found a way with 54 percent of the winning vote. It was a team effort, with voter turnout topping 30 percent – a high number for a municipal election.

So why was it so important to pass MAPS?

The MAPS brand has defined the last fifteen years of progress in our community and a vote against this MAPS would have slowed down recent momentum. Critics argued that money should be used for public safety, a valid request. Unfortunately for them, MAPS has never been about catching up, it has been about leapfrogging the competition.

Show me another community investing like this? It doesn’t exist.

Voters chose to look past current shortfalls and ahead to vote for game-changing projects that will impact a generation of residents. It was visionary, flawed in some respects, but worthy of our trust. The public relations, marketing, messaging and advertising was spot on. Kudos to the Chamber team who ran the effort.

Where did the opposition led by police and fire unions go wrong?

Opposition didn’t get their message out and they didn’t have enough money (outspent approx. 5:1). City officials tried to negotiate to meet their demands, but offers were rebuked. One observation, from a public relations pro at Saxum who supported, is that the union (perhaps inadvertently) woke up a business and Chamber community that may have taken MAPS passage for granted. The organized opposition actually united the “yes” coalition. Also, the union didn’t tell the truth in their messaging that did get out. They tried to promote the easy-to-sell “tax increase” message – false because the tax is already on the tax rolls and voters have liked the results from MAPS. They argued against the need for a new convention center (an admitted tough sell, but absolutely needed), but no one heard.

Passing this MAPS was about trust and momentum. Voters trusted city leaders, almost all of whom endorsed the initiative regardless of party affiliation. Secondly, the momentum of Oklahoma City is well documented and the perception that a “no” vote would harm our image as a growing, prosperous was accurate and a great message to play.

Now, we have a lot more unanswered questions:
1. Will unions get their additional police and fire through a use tax?

2. Will we pick a better position for the convention center that doesn’t take it further away from Bricktown?

3. Will Mayor Cornett go down as the greatest mayor in city history?

4. Will Oklahoma City continue to be one of the best examples of a growing American city?


Stay tuned.

Potpourri

A few thoughts about several issues:

On social media today: Be careful about talking in circles. When trying to make a point to clients about how few people they know, I ask how many contacts they have in their CRM (Outlook). They generally say, “about a thousand.” I then ask how many unknown numbers ring on their cell phone. They say, “very few.” A false sense of security can be achieved in social media circles by communicating key messages to a small, yet focused audience without other tactics. If you are going to talk in circles, however, social media is the place to do it for many reasons. Just understand it is not an all-encompassing tool – yet! This conversation could look different a year from now.

On Tulsa’s new mayor: Dewey Bartlett and Tom Adelson battled it out for the right to be mayor of Tulsa last week, along with Independent Mark Perkins. In the hotly contested election, Bartlett beat Adelson, a reverse from the state senate seat won by Adelson a few years back. We wish Mayor Bartlett the best. Tulsa has a ton going for it right now with the BOK Center drawing national acts, a strong small business and entrepreneurial community and downtown baseball (Saxum client, OneOK Field), a hallmark of great communities, just a few months away.

On the projected shortfall in Oklahoma state budget: We knew it could happen, but hoped things would improve. State revenue projections look like they’ll be off for the rest of this fiscal year and next. The legislature should work with agencies to cut as much as possible and then tap the Rainy Day Fund for the rest. In talking with a large school superintendent friend, he shared that this year’s budget, which is concentrated with teacher salaries, is already set. More cuts threaten core services. If the gap is partially covered this year, then he can make difficult hiring decisions next school year. Kudos if leaders of both parties can come together and work on this tough issue.

On MAPS: A good friend of mine is an OKC firefighter and was front and center at last week’s Not this MAPS press conference. As a big supporter for passing MAPS on Dec. 8, I am curious why anyone would oppose this initiative after the proven success of the past two decades of MAPS initiatives. I like the Oklahoman’s editorial from 11/17 explaining the opposition’s strategy. I understand the police and fire’s desire for more officers. Heck, I even think the city and chamber could have done more up front to quell this potential problem.

Representatives from each group did sit down last week and negotiate prior to the anti-campaign announcement. The city offered the police and fire everything they had requested, but it wasn’t good enough. There is skill in knowing when you won! The offer, I’m told, was rejected because the city did not cave on adding one more taxpayer funded union representative. Interesting.

MAPS, I believe, will pass, and then the political consequences will kick in. Maybe union bosses will wake up and realize the risk of fighting the city and chamber far outweighs the reward of defeating MAPS.

Earning Trust in a New Normal

I recently attended the Council of PR Firms Critical Issues Forum in New York. I’m new to the council, whose mission is to advance the business of public relations firms by building the market and firms’ value as strategic business partners. As a small firm by industry standards, it was a treat to rub elbows with some of the industry giants, including Dave Senay from Fleishman Hillard, Melissa Waggoner-Zorkin from Waggoner Edstrom and Ray Kotcher from Ketchum, who was serving his final meeting as chairman.

The topic for the forum was Aftershock: Rebuilding Trust and Confidence in 2010. A Socratic debate format was used with the clever and brilliant Len Schlesinger, president of Babson College, moderating. Panelists included Beth Comstock, SVP and CMO for General Electric, Susie Gharib, anchor for Nightly Business Report, Steve Harris, VP Global Comms for General Motors (ret.), Margery Kraus, CEO of APCO Worldwide and James Wiggins, ED for Corp. Comm. for Morgan Stanley.

Len Schlesinger asked the audience, what is the role of public relations in building trust?

My answer was, public relations role is to serve as a clear voice that ethically and transparently serves as a guide for the public conscience and engages discussion about important issues facing society. People were all over the place on this issue, which turned out to be the point of the exercise.

The panel engaged in a spirited discussion and we learned how gray this issue is for our industry. The following were some of my observations:

On the role of leadership in rebuilding trust – Companies must lead by voluntarily taking action. Washington will continue to exert a strong hand in new regulations, including cap and trade legislation, curbing executive pay, etc. Bold, proactive moves that can serve as industry benchmarks will be rewarded even though it is difficult to go first. Some felt (correctly, in my opinion) like business can never do enough to satisfy critics.

On the role of language in rebuilding trust – There is a major disconnect, perhaps larger than corporate America thinks, between main street and Wall Street. The trust has been shattered by greed and stupidity. Use simple words that people understand to tell your story. Get rid of the fine print disclaimers that consumers have such a difficult time understanding. Be authentic with outreach programs, and don’t forget that community begins with being in the community. This year’s graduating class from Harvard MBA School took an oath around the idea that their professional careers would be dedicated to benefiting the social good before stakeholder value (or maybe one drives the other?).

On the role of change in rebuilding trust – The “new normal” is the idea that we’ll never go back to the way we were, which was widely acknowledged as accurate. Critics must be engaged because their distribution platform for publishing content is so fluid. Corporations and leaders that are insular are at risk of being out of touch. Finally, “there is not much time” according to Steve Harris from GM. America is a forgiving country, but not to those who ignore the realities of “new normal.”

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