RSC Partners, Inc.

This morning, an op-ed I wrote about California’s early presidential primary was published in the Los Angeles Times.

Normally, I would not be considered an expert in California politics. I know my way around, but there are many others who could give a similar point of view for the paper.

However, because of my blogging at Spot-on and LA Voice, the opinion editors took notice and when they were looking for a certain perspective on the issue, approached me and asked me to submit something.

The lesson here is that getting a blog and writing is a good way to establish an expertise and get noticed!

If it is a sign of the times, I am not sure what it means. However, Scholarships Around the US has an announcement for a $2000 Political Blogging Scholarship. Here are the guidelines:

• Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about political issues, current events, opinions, etc. No spam bloggers please!!!
• U.S. citizen;
• 3.0 GPA;
• Currently attending full-time in post-secondary education; and
• If you win, you must be willing to allow us to list your name and blog on this page. We want to be able to say we knew you before you became a well educated, rich, and famous blogging legend.

I’ve never considered blogging to be academic–although many academics have been known to blog. Nontheless, this is a good opportunity to help someone pay for school, so if you know anyone, feel free to pass it along!

The Political Blogging Scholarship [SAUS]

Following Senator Barack Obama’s YouTube-inspired Presidential announcement this week, the media is noticing that more and more, voters are looking online to fill the information gap.

Based on a survey of 2,562 adults after November’s midterm election, most of the study’s findings confirm the continued growth of political doings on the Internet, with 31 percent of Americans — more than 60 million people — going online to get political news and discuss the races…

Researchers found that 71 percent of respondents who used the Internet for campaign information said convenience was the major reason; 49 percent said they could find information there not available elsewhere; 41 percent said newspapers and television didn’t provide all the information they wanted.

Candidates should start thinking ahead about how to capitalize–by optimizing their website for search terms, reaching out to online information providers such as influential weblogs and becoming established players in the medium themselves.

The National Journal’s Blogometer quotes my recommendations for political campaigns under the headline, “THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Link = Traffic = Happy”

“Take a look, for example, at Governor Schwarzenegger’s blog. Were they to ask, I would tell them the truth-it’s AWFUL. The posts are too long, it’s not updated often enough, it has no synergy with the press operations and they don’t have pictures. But what’s really missing are the links. Both Howard Dean’s Presidential campaign and Bob Hertzberg’s campaign for Mayor of Los Angeles understood something that campaign bloggers seem to have overlooked-the relationship with the blogosphere is a two-way street.”

“Dean and Hertzberg would link to blogs, news articles, and their own press releases like it was going out of style. In the case of Hertzberg, for example, I can say firsthand that I was more likely to write about local Los Angeles politics (and admittedly look more favorably towards Hertzberg’s point-of-view) because I believed they’d link to me. And in the blogosphere link = traffic = happy. If the problem with “netroots” is that small self-selected groups of like-minded people are only “speaking” among themselves the solution for political campaigns (or businesses or even bloggers) would seem to be simple. Link.”

That basic philosophy–create synergies within the networks of the blogosphere and leverage them for your business, political campaign or what have you–is what we preach to clients every day. Of course, we’d be more than willing to help out if a business or political campaign needed guidance on implementing this seemingly basic strategy.

6/28: Deal Or No Deal? [National Journal]
Netroots’ Missing Links [Spot-On]

After joinging forces with the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, one of Los Angeles’ premiere business advocacy groups, two months ago, I am pleased to let you know that VICA has now asked RSC Partners to take over their day-to-day public relations efforts.

VICA has long been a go-to source for the local media on business issues, especially when it comes to the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles City Hall. We’re looking forward to raising the group’s profile both in the mainstream media and in the online world.

Two months into the job, President Brendan Huffman has shown himself to be adept at building consensus among Board Members and understanding the political world both within the organization and outside it–and with the organization positioning itself for leadership roles on ballot measures coming up in the November elections, we’ll have plenty to keep us busy!

Previously:

RSC Partners joins forces with VICA

Today it became official at the Board of Directors meeting of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.  RSC Partners will be coming on board to help VICA’s new President, Brendan Huffman, with the transition–providing Public Affairs and Government Relations services.

While in many ways, I (Scott) will be doing my old job on a consulting basis–helping manage the organization’s numerous committees and working with their volunteer leaders to identify issues and develop positions–we’re also bringing some new ideas to the table.

One way we hope to add to the organization’s advocacy efforts is by creating a new issues tracking system–an idea put forward by the new VICA Chairman Bob Scott.  By using an online user interface for an issues database, we hope to be able to identify issues that are relevant to San Fernando Valley Businesses, put ideas in the pipeline for the development of positions for the organization and then follow up on what’s being done.  This will all be in one place on the internet and will be searchable by those who have access. 

If it sounds like a weblog to you, well, that’s because the software to do this will be remarkably the same–we’re just being creative in how that software is put to use to facilitate a discussion among VICA’s volunteer and professional leadership.

Yes, it’s true. As Kevin Roderick writes on his blog, L.A. Observed–perhaps the most influential media website in Southern California–Ryan and I are Republicans, and we’re working for a Democrat (gasp!).

Although some people might find the very thought to be offensive, to us it is really quite simple–what makes a blog a good blog is the same regardless of whether you’re Republican or Democrat, or writing about entertainment, sports, politics or your cat.

Barry Gordon has his weblog, Barry Talk, to go along with his radio show on a Southern California Air America outlet. He wanted to know if and how he could leverage the power of the Internet to grow his audience both for the radio show and the weblog.

The idea isn’t so far in left field. In fact, it’s because of his embrace of bloggers that Hugh Hewitt became a household name among bloggers.

So, among the many things we’re doing for Barry is helping him make Barry Talk a better blog–from content to presentation to being “linky” and becoming “sticky.” The basic theory is that in blogging Link = Traffic = Happy.

The same rules apply whatever letter you have after your name, and at RSC Partners, we’re working with our clients and successful bloggers to make a formula that works.