Ad Consultants Reaping Biennial Election Harvest

With just 16 days left until Election Day, billboards, placards and advertising space are filling up with the faces of candidates running for everything from Congress to a seat on the local water district.

Personally addressed, cleverly crafted mailers are clogging mailboxes throughout the county, urgently requesting funds or extolling the virtues of one candidate and denigrating the record of another.

Politicians go from one public appearance to the next, firing off verbal jabs at their opponents and reciting a litany of good works they will accomplish if elected.

Meanwhile, back in their offices, the strategists who orchestrate Orange County campaigns wonder what they’re going to be doing on Nov. 5.

These are the political consultants, and every two years their business blossoms. From months before the June primaries through the general election in November, they work six days a week, 15 hours a day, spearheading the tasks of raising money, conducting surveys, organizing phone banks--all so their client candidates can successfully navigate the sinuous road to political victory.

But despite the excitement of the hard-fought election battles, campaign consulting is no way to make a steady living--as virtually all of the county’s political consultants have learned.

Diversification Move

In the mid-1970s, Howard Adler was the co-founder of one of the county’s three largest campaign firms. But in the early 1980s, Adler said, he and his partner, Fred Droz, began diversifying out of political work, and now, Adler says, “we give more away in political donations than we get in fees.”

Adler’s rationale for changing the thrust of his business was simple: “I found the seasonal nature of (running campaigns) really mitigated against developing a stable business.”

Another of the county’s more notable campaign consulting firms, Butcher-Forde, has lowered its political profile and changed its name to BFC Direct Marketing. The firm now sells Bill Butcher and Arnold Forde’s longstanding reputation as direct-mail experts to a wide array of political and nonpolitical clients.

The problem for campaign firms is the seasonal nature of the business. While the ranks of contract workers, paid campaign flacks and clerical workers swell during an election year, come Nov. 5 they are out of a job. Revenues for political consulting firms jump dramatically, and then fall off to nothing after the election.

To counter the seasonality and the plummet in revenues, firms traditionally associated with running campaigns have diversified, representing business clients in the off years by helping them vault bureaucratic hurdles or accomplish other, more oblique, objectives.

Other firms specialize in one aspect of campaigning like direct mail, fund raising or polling. Others keep overhead low by maintaining small one- or two-person firms. Some consultants even fold up shop in November, returning to governmental or other jobs until the next cycle of elections comes around.

All in all, very few of the campaign consulting firms in the county can afford to devote their time exclusively to candidates and political issues. But there are exceptions.

Stuart Spencer, who, along with former partner Bill Roberts, opened Spencer-Roberts political consulting in 1960, is one of the pioneers of the campaign consulting industry.

After splitting with Roberts in 1973, Spencer set up shop in Newport Beach and offers about 30 years of political experience to a number of national- and statewide-level Republican clients. Those include Ronald Reagan, whom Spencer and Roberts got elected California governor in 1966 and helped reelect in 1970. Spencer was on the campaign trail with Reagan for both the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections.

On the Democratic side, Englander Communications in Newport Beach has scaled back its other areas of business to devote more time to political races.

In March, Harvey Englander said he decided that his firm’s diversification into commercial advertising services for a number of clients was forcing him to spend too much time in meetings with bankers and accountants.

Revenues Fall

He sold off the bulk of his advertising business to return to his first love: political campaigning. Although he said his revenues will fall from about $6 million last year to $3 million this year, “the ratio of expenses to billings has gotten better,” since he has scaled back the company from 24 employees to six.

Formerly a partner of Howard Adler and Droz in that firm’s political heyday, Englander is managing five campaigns in the November election. Among his clients are Anaheim Mayor Donald R. Roth’s run for county supervisor and Irv Pickler, Anaheim’s mayor pro tem, who seeks reelection to the City Council and Roth’s job.

Englander is also coordinating Jim Young’s campaign to unseat Republican incumbent Don Rogers in the 16th state Senate District, which encompasses Kings County, sprawling as far south as Pasadena and as far east as Barstow. The reelection bid of state Sen. Alan Robbins in the San Fernando Valley and a City Council race in Indian Wells round out Englander’s client list for November.

He helped six out of his seven clients in the June elections win their races and, counting both money paid to him by those candidates and the elections he is handling for November, Englander said he estimates he has received about $1.5 million in revenues.

While he does hire employees to work on the individual campaigns he supervises, the five-person staff of Englander Communications will continue year-round, “God willing,” he said.

‘Lucky Number in Hebrew’

Englander charges only in increments of 18, he said, because he is Jewish and “the lucky number in Hebrew is 18.” The lowest fee he charges is $9,000, and he will take a standard agency commission of 15% on such commissionable items as mailing and printing services.

His fee for the Roth race was $18,000 in the primary, Englander said, and another $18,000 for the runoff in November. Jim Young’s campaign is much more expensive because of the size of the territory he has to cover, Englander said. In a race where Young will probably spend close to $1 million for the primary and general election, Englander will receives $72,000.

Like Englander, Dennis DeSnoo, 37, of the Broadway Group in Santa Ana signs Democratic clients almost exclusively. Formerly with Adler’s firm, DeSnoo has a healthy stable of clients in the fall election, including Mark Rosen, who is challenging incumbent Doris Allen in the 71st Assembly District and several city council races in Santa Ana and Anaheim.

DeSnoo said his firm runs fairly lean, with a four-person staff and two employees handling the field work for the various campaigns. While he admits the campaign side of the business is “very seasonal” and will result in a 25% drop in revenues next year, DeSnoo will not have to cut loose his field people this year, he said, because of the firm’s financial success.

Active During Off-Season

Aside from “taking long vacations and spending all that money,” DeSnoo said that the firm’s expertise in municipal elections and school board races will allow him to keep his hands in politics during the off-season by doing fund raising for a variety of political causes.

Even Englander, despite his preference for politics, sustains himself in the off years with commercial clients, as do most other campaign-related firms.

Nelson/Padberg Consulting in Costa Mesa, founded in 1978 mainly as a political consulting firm, has made a similar effort to diversify.

Although partner Eileen Padberg coordinated Clint Eastwood’s successful campaign for mayor of Carmel in April and led Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks, Sheriff Brad Gates and Assessor Bradley L. Jacobs to healthy pluralities in the June election, she said that even in an election year, 75% of the firm’s revenues come from corporate clients.

“In an off-election year cycle, almost 100% comes from corporate,” she said.

Her partner, Bob Nelson, manages the firm’s Arizona office and is currently creating the advertising campaign for one of the gubernatorial candidates in Wyoming.

Deciding to court corporate clients, she said, was done for financial reasons. “If you have a firm like ours and court only candidates, you aren’t going to make it very long,” she said. “You’ve got to expand to see yourself through the off years.”

Padberg’s success in June means that the firm is managing only two fall campaigns, both in Huntington Beach: Henry Yee for City Council and Gail Clifford Hutton for city attorney. Padberg’s fee to coordinate the Yee campaign was $10,000 for the general election, she said, and Eastwood’s race cost $25,000. Eastwood’s campaign cost more, Padberg said, because of the on-site work it required and because she was asked to help in December--short notice for an April election.

Still, neither fee is the sort of money a political consultant gets rich on.

But the firm’s 15 active clients, including Anheuser-Busch, Irvine Co. and the California Angels, more than make up for the small number of races this November.

The firm, Padberg said, “acts as a public affairs strategist” for its clients, specializing in direct mail and contracting with other firms to provide voter surveys. It does not do fund raising.

Nelson/Padberg employs a total of 12 people, of whom three are account executives who have responsibility, like Padberg, for dealing with clients. Padberg said she predicts no decrease or increase in employees after the election.

Produces Broadcast Ministry

In Anaheim, Nason, Lundberg & Associates is well-insulated against the seasonality of politics because partner Mike Nason is the executive producer of Robert Schuller’s profitable television ministry. Lundberg handles the political side, representing a variety of Republican causes and candidates--mostly in Anaheim.

David Wayne Communications in Orange, run by David Wayne Vaporean, receives about 70% of its revenues from commercial clients in the off-election years, Vaporean said. In election years, Vaporean said, that figure reverses. This year he is running five-term Rep. Robert E. Badham’s reelection campaign.

But Vaporean is also courting several national political clients for whom he can carry out fund-raising efforts next year. A potential client is the political action committee of former U.S. Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., who has expressed interest, Vaporean said, in becoming president. In the past, Vaporean said, he has done projects for the William Lyon Co. and has ongoing business conducting fund-raising for nonprofit and educational foundations.

Other campaign firms stay small to minimize costs.

Mark Howell, 27, said that this year he and his partner David Ellis, 29, will--for the first time--not have to work for a politician in the off year. Although Howell said he estimates at least a 50% drop in revenues next year, the two men keep the overhead low in their firm, the Eastbluff Group, which is composed of themselves, their computers and the answering machine in their Corona del Mar office.

“We’ve got a secretarial service right next door,” Howell said, “and that takes care of our clerical needs.” They handle most local campaigns themselves, hiring no additional staff.

With average fees on local campaigns of between $3,500 and $5,000 plus 15% commission on any printing or direct-mail work they do, Howell said the two of them expect to garner revenues of $300,000 this year.

Overall, including the primary, they will coordinate 13 local races in 1986, including city council races in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Cypress. Howell said they have also been contracted by Mike Curb’s lieutenant governor campaign to conduct research. Ellis, Howell said, also handles most of the press responsibilities for Curb.

In business four years, Howell said that next year he and his partner will go the route of their competition and “probably do some commercial advertising.”

After all, Howell said, “that’s really what political consulting firms have become is advertising firms that specialize in political advertising.”

Some of the smaller consulting firms--smaller even than the Eastbluff Group--specialize in one aspect of campaigning. During an election year, they will operate as contract laborers, selling their services to different campaigns for a fee and/or a 15% commission.

A full-time lobbyist by trade, Frank Caterinicchio, 31, also operates American Mail in Santa Ana, a direct-mail firm. Direct mail, he said, in a local race in Orange County is “probably the most important aspect of the campaign.”

After handling direct-mail responsibilities for Nelson/Padberg for four years, Caterinicchio opened his own firm 18 months ago.

Now, he said, he sells “people all kinds of lists--precinct walking lists, phone bank lists, labels, computer laser-printed letters, self-mailed brochures.”

Some clients have included Nathan Rosenberg in his unsuccessful primary run against Badham, and Ben Bay who is running for mayor of Anaheim.

Like Howell and Ellis, he takes a small fee of not more than $4,000, garnering most of his profits from the 15% commission he charges on the projects he creates for different candidates. If commissionable services are high, he will not charge a fee, Caterinicchio said.

This year, Caterinicchio said, he expects to earn $15,000 to $20,000 in income from his direct-mail operations.

Describing himself as a “subcontractor” and basically a “salesman” representing an array of different direct-mail products, Caterinicchio said he plans on staying a one-person shop because “important candidates want to work directly with the person who has the expertise.”

Love for Organizational Side

Another specialist is Ron Rogers. Previously on county Supervisor Bruce Nestande’s staff, Rogers used to take leaves of absence every two years, he said, to indulge his love for the organizational side of politics. This year, Rogers is the titular campaign manager for Nestande’s race against incumbent March Fong Eu for California secretary of state.

Like a lot of consultants, the commodity Rogers sells is his experience. Despite what his firm’s title suggests--Ron Rogers & Associates--he is the sole proprietor and only employee.

His specialty, he said, is helping candidates be most effective in “actual contact with the voters, at the door, through the phone or leafleting.” He organizes volunteer efforts, and coordinates get-out-the-vote-drives, working as a consultant on a variety of campaigns.

The California Republican Party is Rogers’ main client, he said, which puts him a leg up on some other political consultants since the Republican Party is not only well-heeled but also recruits voters and embarks on the kinds of organizational ventures Rogers specializes in during both election years and off years.

Rogers declined to state how much he will make this year from his consulting efforts and said he didn’t know what he’ll do in January. But he did acknowledge that his earnings were enough to make it “unlikely” for him to return to government work.

But even though the firm of Adler Droz Inc. has disappeared from the political arena, its two partners are still providing some competition for the independent consultants and the smaller firms.

Adler and Droz earn most of the $1.5 million Adler said he expects the firm to reap this year from managing trade and employee associations such as the California Dental Hygienists and the association of Taco bell franchisees. Between 1976 and 1981, he said, almost 100% of their revenue stemmed from political work.

The two men still have their hand in, though. They are planning Democrat Bruce W. Sumner’s strategy in his campaign against Badham in the 40th Congressional District. They are running his campaign gratis--a sign of their success and the esteem they hold for Sumner.

“I’m happier,” Adler said, “being out of the day-to-day business of running campaigns, but even though we’re 95% out of it professionally, we’re still as active in politics as we were.”