The lobbying and media relations staff at Flaherty & Hood has been hard at work generating press coverage regarding the need for high-quality broadband throughout the state. Broadband expansion is one of the top legislative priorities for the Greater Minnesota Partnership, an advocacy organization that is a client of the firm.
Senior media strategist Glen Fladeboe, communications specialist Julie Liew, analyst Chris Henjum and lobbyists Tim Flaherty, Dan Dorman and Mike Miller put together a comprehensive media strategy to help drum up interest and support for legislation that would help bring high-quality broadband to unserved and unserved parts of Minnesota.
The media campaign kicked off with a news conference at the State Office Building on Feb. 26, in which business owners, health care administrators and educators talked about the challenges they have faced due to inadequate Internet service. The new conference generated a lot of press coverage statewide, and led 17 newspapers to write editorials in support of the broadband legislation. The editorials can be read here.
In addition, Dorman teamed up with Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who is president & CEO of the Minnesota High Tech Association, chair of the Governor’s Broadband Task Force and a former DFL legislator who served as Speaker of the Minnesota House, to write a guest column calling on legislators to create and fund a broadband infrastructure fund this session. The column, which can be read here, was published in eight newspapers.
The media blitz continued in late April, when Dorman and Flaherty led a conference call with media outlets to discuss the current state of the broadband legislation and the next steps that lawmakers need to take to get it passed this year. Again, several newspapers wrote articles and editorials following the conference call, which helped to keep legislators and the public aware of the need for better broadband throughout Minnesota.
