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By JAN LOOMIS, Special to the Daily Transcript
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
The political fund-raising/government relations sector has faced challenges and has refocused since 9/11, reports Tom Shepard, CEO of Tom Shepard Co., which does political consulting, campaign strategy and government relations.
He has found political fund raising difficult this year and results have been depressed by events and the economic downturn. "Even with the increased patriotism evidenced by flags and rhetoric, voters did not show much interest in the March primary," Shepard said.
He found that turnout was low and incumbents seemed to fair a bit better than usual as voters stayed with the tried and true and voted for candidates they knew. "It remains to be seen if the fall election will follow the same pattern," he said.
"Local governments focused on increasing security and protecting their constituents from further acts of terrorism," he said. This meant "priorities and budgets shifted, as the dimensions of the problem became known." His example: "In San Diego, the decline in the visitor industry dampened all debate about raising the transient tax this year."
In Shepard's view, the public relations business overall was hard hit by last year's terrorist attacks and the economic downturn, as many corporations reduced budgets. Even in instances where PR budgets were not reduced, corporations slowed down the decision making process and acquiring clients became an even lengthier project than usual.
"However," Shepard said, "my own business, because of its specific niche, remained strong throughout the last year." He feels that the effects of 9/11 "seem to be dissipating, but the slowdown in the economy is still a concern both nationally and in San Diego."
Loomis is a free-lance writer based in Poway.
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