By John Kennedy
The News Service of Florida
Florida’s effort to count its 18 million-plus residents was off to a combative start Monday – with a handful of firms vying for a piece of a $2.8 million public-awareness campaign scrapping among themselves.
The Florida Legislative Black Caucus has weighed-in on behalf of the state’s NAACP, which had submitted losing bids in a pair of categories focused on assuring that black Floridians are effectively counted in this year’s U.S. Census.
The winning firm in the black Floridian categories was Moore/Ketchum Partnership, led by Tallahassee’s Moore Consulting Group and Ketchum, the international public relations firm.
Sen. Gary Siplin, the Orlando Democrat who chairs the 26-member Legislative Black Caucus, is demanding that a representative of Gov. Charlie Crist’s office speak to the caucus Tuesday about how the NAACP was shunned from the black reach-out.
The 2010 Sunshine Census effort is part of the governor’s office. The so-called Statewide Complete County Committee, a 45-member panel appointed by Crist, has been charged with targeting hard-to-count segments of Florida’s population.
“I respectfully request an explanation of how this selection was made,” Siplin said in a letter to the governor. About Moore/Ketchum, he added, “This is a company that is unfamiliar to the members of the Legislative Black Caucus as a company that has any experience in the state of Florida marketing to these segments of the population.
“It also concerns me that no public information about this company is available,” Siplin concluded.
The NAACP finished seventh among firms submitting bids in one black-oriented category, and eighth in another. Also trailing in the bidding to assure that black voters are counted was the Urban League of Greater Miami.
The NAACP is not alone, however, in criticizing the bid results. Among the 12 categories for which bids were accepted in the public awareness campaign, unsuccessful firms in six categories have filed intentions to protest and have until Feb. 22 to formally act on the threat, said Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey.
The public awareness campaign’s kick-off is likely to be slowed until the bid challenges are resolved. While the categories up for grabs included a wide-range of ethnic groups, the homeless, college students and rural residents across the state, the winning firms were generally white-controlled companies based in Tallahassee.
Ron Sachs Communication was the top-ranking company for American Indians, Asian-American and Pacific Islanders and migrant farm workers.
Moore/Ketchum was selected for blacks, college and university students, part-time residents, and rural residents.
The Florida Association of Broadcasters was the highest-ranked firm in the category to bring the homeless onto the census rolls. Tallahassee’s Salter-Mitchell was picked to reach-out to disabled Floridians.
MGSCOMM, a Miami-based marketing, communications company, was selected to lead public awareness efforts in Florida’s Hispanic community.
