“Well, There Are Certain Things That Government Can Do to Encourage an Economy
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Date: January 16, 2012 To: Interested Parties From: Marcia Hale, President Re: New Hampshire & South Carolina Pilot Program-Week 19 Update With the New Hampshire primary over and the South Carolina primary just six days away, I wanted to provide you with an update of our efforts to promote the infrastructure issue in those two critical states. As you may remember, the purpose of our pilot program is to create an environment for moderates, conservatives and progressives to join together to support infrastructure investments in an era of hyper-deficit sensitivity. I am happy to report that we have made a tremendous impact since we began our New Hampshire campaign in October by: • Growing the coalition from three members at launch to over two-dozen prominent local leaders, including State Senate President Peter Bragdon (R-11), State Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Rausch (R-19), and Concord Mayor Jim Bouley (D) • Conducting over 20 radio interviews, placed four op-eds, and been the subject of eight separate news reports • Directly engaging leading presidential candidates, resulting in statements that publicly affirm their support for infrastructure investments • Growing the number of Facebook followers from zero to over 2,400 in a single month • Inserting the first infrastructure question of the election cycle during a nationally-televised presidential debate We continue to build on New Hampshire’s success as South Carolina is poised to take center stage over the coming days. In the pages that follow, you will find the details of the coalition’s achievements. We have clearly made progress in changing the debate and we have demonstrated that there is bi-partisan support for improving and investing in our infrastructure. “Well, there are certain things that government can do to encourage an economy. And rebuilding an infrastructure that’s aging is one of those. We had in my state 550 structurally deficient bridges. We’ve got to improve our bridges, improve our roads, improve our rail beds, improve our air transportation system in order to be competitive…” (Mitt Romney, ABC News/Yahoo!/WMUR New Hampshire GOP Debate, 01/07/12) “… Let’s stick with infrastructure then, because I think it’s a very big, very important topic. You cannot compete with China in the long run if you have an inferior infrastructure. You’ve got to move to a twenty first century model. That means you’ve got to be -- you’ve got to be technologically smart and you have to make investments…” (Newt Gingrich, ABC News/Yahoo!/WMUR New Hampshire GOP Debate, 01/07/12) TABLE OF CONTENTS: Opinion Survey Research p. 1 Coalition Members p. 2-3 Earned Media p. 4-6 Social Media p. 7 Television Advertising p. 8-9 Intercepts p. 10-12 Open Letter p. 13 2 OPINION SURVEY In September and October, we conducted four focus groups in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Charleston, South Carolina, among RESEARCH: “2012 Republican Primary Election Likely Voters” and then fielded statewide surveys in both states among the same populations. The conclusion we came to from our research is that voters are open to infrastructure spending, and even increased infrastructure spending, if it is coupled with reforms – the most important being increased accountability. The issue needs to be localized to voters and billed as a collaborative effort between federal, state, and local governments – along with the private sector – to accomplish these reforms. Our challenge is: 1) To convince voters that a real reform agenda exists on infrastructure spending. 2) To convince voters that opposing reform-oriented infrastructure is bad politics. Quite dramatically, our research in New Hampshire and South Carolina shows we can achieve these goals. In thinking about the economy and infrastructure, a simple formula explains voter perspective: Strategic Planning + Smart/Innovative Infrastructure Strengthened Economy The key is positioning the message around reform – and then driving home that sentiment through the legs of the message. How? Transparency, accountability in cost overruns, planning, on-time performance, and consequences for failure to deliver. What? Innovative infrastructure that is built to last. Who? The private and public sectors working together. These elements combine to make support for infrastructure very powerful. 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE In implementing our strategy to make infrastructure more palatable to conservatives, we assembled a diverse, bi-partisan COALITION coalition of influential leaders in each of our pilot states. In MEMBERS: New Hampshire, this meant signing on Senate President Peter Bragdon as our co-chairman early in the process and using his stature to recruit others. We also enlisted Concord Mayor Jim Bouley and State Representative Sherman Packard to pen letters to their colleagues asking them to support the coalition and its goals. Infrastructure spending has been mired in pork for too long; the results of which we see every day on the unsafe bridges and crumbling roads we drive on. We need to change this system now and make “spending choices based on need not political favors.” – Rockingham County Sheriff Mike Downing, BAF-New Hampshire Coalition Member State Senator Peter Bragdon, Senate President (R-11), Councilor Ray Burton (District 1), Executive Council BAF-New Hampshire Coalition Co-Chair of the State of New Hampshire Garth Corriveau, Manchester Alderman, Councilor Dan St. Hilaire (District 2), BAF-New Hampshire Coalition Co-Chair (D) Executive Council of the State of New Hampshire Kevin Smith, GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Chairman John Lyons, New Hampshire State Board State Senator Chuck Morse (R-22), Senate Finance of Education Committee Chair Chairman Maureen Barrows, Rockingham County Commissioner State Senator Jim Rausch (R-19), Senate Transportation Rockingham County Sheriff Mike Downing (R) Committee Chair Hillsborough County Sheriff Jim Hardy (R) State Senator John Gallus (R-1) Tony Giunta, President/CEO of American Energy State Senator Bob Odell (R-8) Independence Company State Senator Gary Lambert (R-13) Former State Senator Bob Letourneau (R) Strong infrastructure in New Hampshire will State Representative Candace Bouchard (D-11) improve our neighbor’s safety, support local State Representative John Cloutier (D-4) “ businesses and commerce, increase global competition and help create jobs. Building State Representative Sherman Packard (R-3) America’s Future understands that the first step State Representative Norman Major (R-8) to rebuilding our aging infrastructure is to State Representative John Graham (R-18) demand reforms and increase accountability.” State Representative Kathleen Stroud (R-19) - New Hampshire State Senate President Peter Mayor Jim Bouley (D), Concord Bragdon (R-11), BAF-New Hampshire Mayor Paul Grenier (R), Berlin Coalition Co-Chair Town Councilor Bill Boyd (R), Merrimack 2 SOUTH CAROLINA In South Carolina, where the Charleston port is a keystone to the state’s economy, we recruited leaders, including COALITION state senate Transportation Committee Chairman Larry Grooms MEMBERS: (R-37) and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley Jr. (D). We are here to support reform measures and a robust long-term infrastructure package that will generate economic growth locally and make us more competitive globally…I am proud of the work our port has undertaken“ to remain competitive and I’m proud of the work we’ve been doing here in Charleston. But the time for a long-term national plan has come; federal policymakers from both parties need to make this a priority.” - Charleston Mayor Joe“ Riley Jr., BAF-South Carolina Steering Committee Member. State Senator Larry Grooms (R-37), Brad Dean, President/CEO, Myrtle Beach Senate Transportation Committee Chair Area Chamber of Commerce State Representative Kenny Bingham (R-89), Scott Fant, Vice President, Sloan Construction House Majority Leader Jake Rasor, President, Whitefords, Inc. State Representative Alan Clemmons (R-107) Allison Dean Love, Principal, ADL Consulting State Representative Bill Herbkersman (R-118) Marty McKee, Vice President, Thrift Development Corp. State Representative Gary Simrill (R-46) Randy Snow, Vice President, United Infrastructure Group, Inc. State Representative Murrell Smith (R-67) Mark Ashmore, President, Ashmore Bros. State Representative Leon Stravrinakis (D-119) American Automobile Association Carolinas State Representative Rick Quinn (R-69) State Representative James Smith (D-72) From BMW in the Upstate to our port in the State Representative Chip Huggins (R-85) Lowcountry, infrastructure is the lifeblood that Mayor Joe Riley Jr., (D), Charleston “ keeps South Carolina’s employers growing. For too long, Washington has fought about the best Mayor Steve Benjamin (D), Columbia way to fix our economy while wasting time Mayor Bobby Horton (NP), West Columbia and money through misguided earmarks and Mayor Randy Halfacre (R), Lexington short-sighted spending. It is time to attack Mayor Joseph McElveen (D), Sumter the challenges facing our port and the issues Mayor Billy Swails (R), Mt. Pleasant surrounding our crumbling bridges and unsafe roadways with a long-term strategy that Lewis Gossett, President/CEO, invests our infrastructure dollars in an accountable SC Manufacturers Alliance and transparent way.” John Hassell, Vice Chairman, SC State Ports Authority Board – South Carolina House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham (R-89) 3 NEW HAMPSHIRE EARNED MEDIA SUMMARY: • Opinion-editorials in Nashua Telegraph and Concord Monitor • Stories in the Union Leader, Concord Monitor, Lobby New Hampshire,