The right-wing roots of Scott’s press strategy

Rick Scott at an Americans for Tax Reform event (Pic via Facebook)

Florida newspapers have so far unanimously endorsed Democrat Alex Sink for governor over Republican Rick Scott. There have been 17 newspaper endorsements to date, many written with surprising directness.

Sink “stands head and shoulders” above Scott, The Miami Herald wrote. The Florida Times Union, meanwhile, bucked its traditional inclinations: “This editorial page isn’t known for suggesting Democratic Party candidates for governor in November elections. But we heartily support Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink over Republican challenger Rick Scott as the superior choice.” The Orlando Sentinel bluntly called Scott “wrong on the facts. And absolutely wrong for Florida.” All mentioned his forced resignation as CEO from the hospital chain Columbia/HCA during a massive Medicare fraud investigation which resulted in $1.7 billion in fines and settlements.

Scott, however, can claim he lost the endorsements by default — he didn’t sit down with one newspaper editorial board. That was a strategic decision, according to Scott’s Communications Director Brian Burgess.

“Almost all of them endorsed Obama,” Burgess explains in an email. “They praised his health care plans. So you tell me, what is the point in trying to win over people who are so wrong? Rick Scott gets better use of his time going straight to the voters [rather] than trying to convince misguided editorial board members to endorse him.”

Instead, Burgess says, the campaign is making an end-run around the tradition of answering questions from editorial writers. “We go straight to the voters by using ads, Facebook, and other social media, grassroots events. And of course it’s a myth that we don’t talk to the press. We do that too,” Burgess writes. “We just don’t waste time with editorial boards because they have already shown a failure to understand reality when talking about health care, or the negative impact of Barack Obama’s policies (which Alex Sink supports).”

Burgess, who has been working with Scott since before the governor’s race, knows about non-traditional media campaigns.

He is a 1992 graduate of Friends University, a Christian college in Kansas, and a former U.S. Army communications specialist. In 2007 he began work as spokesman for Johnson County, Kansas, District Attorney Phil Kline, a crusading anti-abortionist who had earlier, as attorney general, attempted to prosecute abortion provider George Tiller. Tiller was later killed by an abortion rights opponent.

“Kline was known for surrounding himself with people with the same political views,” says Chuck Kurtz, who covers Johnson County for Sun Publications. “If you didn’t share those views … you were out of the office.”

On his LinkedIn profile, Burgess writes that while working for Kline he “established alternative methods for communicating with the public, including mass email, web site development and public town hall forums.”

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