Tafuro Communications

Mark Sharp gave a presentation at today’s Exchange Club luncheon addressing the need for a transit plan for the Tampa Bay area and really seems to understand the value of providing mobility options and how it will affect people and organizations decisions to visit, relocate or do business here.

I commended him on Facebook where he is currently the most actrive local elected official, consistently utilizing the medium as a platform for discussion.

In serving five years on the National Ad 2 board I have had a part in planning Ad 2 conferences in eight different cities; San Francisco, Nashville, Phoenix, Orlando, Louisville, Denver, Atlanta and Cincinnati.

Each conference required a mix of meeting space, catering, office and printing services, restaurants and entertainment options as well as required a simple transportation plan.

Each year we improved our process for selecting a host city and have had as many as four different Ad 2 chapters bid to host our mid-year retreat.

Each year one of largest deciding factors is mobility. Can we get around on foot or use some kind of transit option?

Coordinating 40 people in cabs is difficult and expensive and chartering a bus would be risky due to the fluidity of our attendance numbers over the course of the retreat.

I am looking forward to being a part of what unfolds for Tampa Bay.

I attended the lunchtime Tea Party in downtown Tampa today and was impressed by the turnout and enthusiasm of the crowd.

The crowd while mainly Republican was a solid mix of independents, Libertarians and Democrats  based on my observations of signs and shirts at least.

While I am encouraged by the outpouring of support and the civil unrest being voiced towards rampant spending and a disregard for the wishes of the people; I just don’t know if I believe people will follow up with real action to induce changes.

I agree with organizers and protestors that spending is outrageously out of control, that elected officials are not acting in the best interest of our country and that we are bankrupting future generations.

That said, change will not come from Washington and it is that misplaced focus that frustrates me the most.
The only way true change will occur and real Democracy be restored is if the citizens and the consumers of America participate in the process fully.

I noted signs at the rally held by children stating “hands off my piggy bank” and “stop spending my future” that do illustrate the long term effects of current decisions.

Voter turnout for the Hillsborough County School Board election last August was a pathetic 6% and should be prompting just as large of an outcry for more people to participate in local elections.

Until the non voting public is held accountable for their consistent inaction, I don’t believe that we will be able to hold our elected officials to any higher of standard than we hold ourselves.

As we continue to bail out private industries and prepare to file our taxes (or extensions) next week, I am reminded by the following two quotes that this is probably not how the founders (or at least Jefferson) intended it to be.

The first relates to the lessons we can learn from our founder as we are continually pressured to dip into the people’s pockets to bail out private for profit industries.

“I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Taylor Monticello, May 28, 1816
Source: University of Virginia Library Charlottesville, Va.

His first inaugural address can also be a lesson for today about making private industry pay its own way and to lower taxes on the income of our employees.

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
Source: University of Virginia Library Charlottesville, Va.

Are the income taxes we pay today not completely in defiance of this?

According to the Times, State Senators were not pleased to find that VisitFlorida outsourced marketing services to a company outside of the state.

VisitFlorida budgeted about $600,000 for one year to USA800, a Kansas City telemarketing firm, to field calls from and send brochures to tourists interested in vacationing in Florida.

A Senate panel overseeing tourism spending discovered the expenditure while reviewing spending by state funded agencies. The Kansas agency won as the lowest bidder while a consideration should have been made to secure a Florida firm.

The article today on political consultant Mich Kates highlights a point that seems to indicate a change in local political races going forward.

The Beckner campaign tapped another, relatively inexpensive, means of reaching voters. While he raised nearly $200,000, the campaign spent none of it on television and little on the radio.

While I do not think that TV in local races is done, it certainly indicates that money should be redirected to new media to help reach voters that do not tune into local broadcast and cable news programs and channels.

Money spent on new media can be directed to better creative that targets specific voters with relative messages. This combines the effectiveness of targeted direct mail with the connectivity of the human voice and image established via traditional TV spots.

According to the Tampa Tribune eight local police and rescue agencies spent at least $175,000 since April during campaign visits by Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton.

Tampa police spent $100,826 on nine visits.

The total is only slightly more than Sarah Palin’s wardrobe blunder which was paid for by the Republican Party not our tax dollars.

These events were merely pep rallies for candidates; had they been town hall style forums of some similar format the public expense might be justified.

Jessi Miller pointed out Michael Moore’s latest public statement; where he revels in the glow of change, thanks activists for their efforts and emphasizes that more work is still to be done.

I want to thank everyone who gave of their time and resources to make this victory happen. It’s been a long road, and huge damage has been done to this great country, not to mention to many of you who have lost your jobs, gone bankrupt from medical bills, or suffered through a loved one being shipped off to Iraq. We will now work to repair this damage, and it won’t be easy.

Will Moore take this opportunity to be just as critical of the citizens of the country, who are fans that might boycott, regarding civic involvement as he has been on the leaders; who are easily targeted public figures that do not drive sales.

His next film could be “Fahrenheit 6%” and highlight the meager 6% of my county who voted for school board over the summer.

Something tells me his fans wouldn’t be too happy with that kind of truth.

I’ve put considerable though into what I think of this election and its results regard president. As a politically active  citizen I was unhappy with either of my options and place the blame squarely on those of you who do not participate or follow your local election.

If you want to know who I voted for read this before asking, as there were only roughly 6% of you that voted in the August primary.

I regularly harp on people to “vote local” which is exactly what the local Democratic Party has been pounding home in message after message this year.

I feel this is important because just four years ago Barack Obama was a virtually unknown Illinois State Senator who was running for US Senate. He was given the opportunity to be the keynote speaker for John Kerry’s 2004 nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Our own Ernest Hooper dedicated a column to the speaker, whose “words (were) felt by every American” following the event.

According to Hooper:

Obama, 42 and likely the next U.S. senator from Illinois, gave a keynote speech not just for the Democratic Party, but for America. The buzz of his heartfelt sincerity and poignant personal story began reverberating across the nation.

The son of a Kenyan immigrant and Kansas native, Obama is the product of a interracial marriage. His Ivy League pedigree – degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School – belies his humble upbringing. A University of Chicago law professor and state senator, Obama carries considerable political and legal experience.

But on Tuesday, he was simply a son of the United States. He was us. All of us.

Some quotes and thoughts from Tampa Bay locals at the time:

• Delano Stewart, an Army veteran said “I wanted to go put on my uniform and salute him.”
• Todd Schnitt, a conservative syndicated radio host based in Tampa, had to concede this is a man with a successful political future.
• Frank Sanchez corrected an opinion that Obama could someday be America’s first black president by stating instead “He’s a man who could be president. Period.”

I suggest watching the speech not as example of what beliefs you should or should not have but rather because it illustrates perfectly my argument for local involvement.

To witness an unknown State Senator become the face of a political party and just 48 months later (less time than many people’s car loans) become the President of the United States simply by giving one inspirational speech is absolutely the best example I can think of.

With the election of Obama this week Advertising Age has reported that our industry could feel some “pain” under the new administration.

“Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride,” said Dick O’Brien, exec VP of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

Much of the needed health care reform our country needs could affect Direct to Consumer pharmaceutical advertising and privacy concerns could change how marketers profile consumers.

The affects of a shift in policy could be expected in some of the following places.

• Drug ads
• Privacy
• The FTC
• The FCC
• Net Neutrality
• Justice Department
• Congress

Hopefully responsible advertising and self regulation will help us avoid government regulation.

If Barack Obama is elected president next week his tax plan for the wealthy will target our own Tampa Port Authority director who with this year’s bonus will earn over $250,000 in 2008.

That’s more than the yearly salary of the US Vice President ($208 thousand) and more than half the amount paid to the US President ($400 thousand).

According to the St Pete Times:

Tampa’s port director will get a nice bonus check after his bosses on the Tampa Port Authority board rated his performance as outstanding last week. The $7,350 “performance incentive award” for Richard Wainio represents 3 percent of his $245,000 base salary. A revision to the incentive program that went into effect two years ago made the awards a one-time bonus instead of adding them to port authority employee annual salaries.