Contested Communication

"Ya' gotta do what you're good at." 

Record of success:

Item:                     2006 Cecil Field Referendum

Client:                 Neighbors Protecting Neighbors Committee

At Issue:            Charter Amendment

Our position prevailed 60% to 40%.  We served as pollster and general consultant. 

Item:                     2006 Judicial Elections

Clients:                Libby Senterfitt, Dawn Hudson

At Issue:            Local judgeships:  Circuit Court Judge Group #33, County Court Judge Group #17

Libby Senterfitt was elected Circuit Judge and Dawn Hudson was elected County Court Judge - each by a margin of 57% to 43%.  We served in a candidate development and strategic advisory role in each campaign. 

Item:                     2006 Escambia County Commission

Clients:                Grover Robinson IV Campaign

At Issue:            Escambia County Commission

Robinson unseated three-term incumbent County Commissioner Tom Banjanin by a 62%-38% margin.  Our firm served as pollsters and strategists in the campaign. 

Item:                     2006 Community Maritime Park Referendum

Client:                 Friends of the Waterfront Park Committee

At Issue:            Local $70 million dollar waterfront development in downtown Pensacola

Overcame entrenched and bitter local opposition group in defense of the Pensacola City Council's action authorizing the development of the Vince Whibbs Community Maritime Park.  Our position prevailed 56% to 44%.  We served as pollster and general consultant. 

Item:                     2006 School Tax Referendum Campaign

Client:                 Sarasota Citizens for Better Schools

At Issue:            One mill property tax for school operations

Item:                     2006 Infrastructure Tax Extension

Client:                 Pensacola Penny for Progress

At Issue:            One cent local option sales tax

Successfully advised community leadership group in the 64%-36% eleven-year extension of a local option sales tax for community infrastructure.  We served as pollster and general consultant. 

Item:                    2005 St. Lucie County

Client:                 (local political committee)

At Issue:            Continuation of a half-cent sales tax to fund school construction.  

We served as pollster and general consultant in this effort that won 80%-20% at the ballot box.   

Item:                    2005 Survey of Florida Business Leaders

Client:                 Florida TaxWatch

At Issue:            n/a

A multi-channel survey of business executives in the State of Florida regarding the success and importance of the voluntary Universal Pre-K initiative in the State.  Barcelo&Company employed outbound and inbound business-to-business telephone interviewing methodologies supplemented by web-site data collection. 

Item:                    2004 Marion County School Tax Referendum

Client:                 C.A.R.E. Political Committee

At Issue:            $100 Million  

A campaign for a 5-year sales tax for school construction – passed in the wake of a disastrous hurricane season.  The brave but seriously underfunded campaign committee was successful in passing the tax by a 53%-47% majority.  We served as pollster and message design consultant. 

Item:                     2004 Lake County Land Preservation Bond Referendum

Client:                 The Trust for Public Land

At Issue:            $36 Million  

An innovative campaign for a 20-year bond issue aimed at Clean Water Protection, Over-Development Prevention, and Natural Land Preservation.  In the 2004 general election, Lake County voters turned out at a 77% rate and approved the measure by 71% to 29.  Our client won all but one precinct, which it lost by a total of three votes.  We served as pollster. 

Item:                     2003 Lake County Impact Fee Initiative

Client:                 The Nolan Group / Lake County Public Schools

At Issue:            County Commission Approval of Impact Fee Hike

One of the fastest growing counties in Florida, Lake County’s impact fees for school construction had consistently lagged behind the cost impact.  Working with the Superintendent, we developed a grass-roots message strategy that resulted in the approval of the State’s highest local impact fee for schools.  We served as message advisor in the effort. 

Item:                    2003 Sales Tax for Schools Referendum

Client:                 Citizens for Quality Education

At Issue:            $ 450 million

Following closely on the heels of 2002’s successful referendum to convert the School Superintendency from elected to appointed, we were successful in designing a winning strategy to enact a half-cent sales tax to pay for renovating schools, purchasing technology, and improving student safety, achievement, and conduct.  We served as Pollster and message-design consultant for the effort. 

Item:                2002 County Charter Referendum
    Polk County, Florida

Client:               Citizens for Quality Education

At Issue:           Superintendency Conversion - Elected to Appointed

Polk County was the largest school district in the United States who still elected its Superintendent of Schools.  Referenda to convert the Superintendency from elected to appointed had failed six successive times in the past.  We used our integrated campaign messaging process to win this initiative on their seventh – and our first - attempt.  We served as Pollster and General Consultant in the effort. 

Item:                2002 School Tax Referendum
   Manatee County, Florida

Client:             Citizens for Manatee Schools

At Issue:          $ 376 million

Served as Pollster and Senior Consultant for the successful local referendum authorizing a local option half-cent sales tax for fifteen years to fund school construction.  

Item:              2002 School Tax Referendum
                     Sarasota County, Florida

Client:   :        Citizens for Better Schools

At Issue:         $ 108 million

Served as Pollster and Senior Consultant to this one-mill property tax referendum for four years to support operations.  

Item:               2001 One-Cent Sales Tax Extension 
   Lake County, Florida

Client:             Lake County Cities and Schools for the Future PAC 

At Issue:          $ 280 million

Barcelo&Company served as pollster and General Consultant for this successful public referendum re-authorizing a local option one-cent sales local option sales tax to fund a fifteen -year public infrastructure development effort.  The effort overcame significant opposition from a locally elected constitutional officer and from an anti-tax PAC.

Item:               Jacksonville Port Authority Restructuring  
            Jacksonville, Florida 2000-2001

Client:             Jacksonville Port Authority

At Issue:          Organizational re-engineering of Independent Authority
         

Developed and managed message strategy for a successful multi-phase effort to spin-off the Jacksonville Airport Authority from the Jacksonville Port Authority.  The message strategy gained a six-to-one majority vote on the Port Authority=s governing Board a unanimous endorsement from the City Council and a problem-free passage by the local legislative delegation and Florida legislature.  

Item:               2000 Better Jacksonville Plan
              Jacksonville, Florida

Client:             John A. Delaney Mayor 

At Issue:          $ 1.2 billion

Served as Senior Consultant to this innovative and dramatically successful public referendum authorizing a local option half-cent sales tax increase to fund a twenty-year public infrastructure development effort.  

Item:               2000 Children Services Board
            Broward County Florida 

Client:             Citizens for Broward's Children

At Issue:         $ 47 million (annually)

Served as pollster and Senior Consultant to this successful public referendum authorizing a local option half-mill property tax increase to fund children's services in the county.  In one of the largest and most complex local political jurisdictions in the nation this campaign moved grass-tops support and public opinion to favor a politically difficult increase in local property taxes.  

Item:             1999 Public Works Improvements Package
                    Sarasota County, Florida

Client:            Department of Public Works

At Issue:         $ 600 million

Developed and implemented a research schema including focus groups covering four county regions and a countywide public opinion survey designed to convince the County Commission to enact a sweeping public transportation capital outlay program.  The resulting analysis was sufficiently persuasive that the County Commission voted in early December 1999 to endorse the entire public works program as a package and to move forward to detailed project planning for the following February.  

Item:               1999 Sales Tax Extension Referendum:  
            Osceola County Florida 

Client:             Citizens for a Better Osceola III

At Issue:          $ 970 million

Successfully planned and executed an extension of the local option one-cent infrastructure sales tax.  For the first time the tax proceeds were authorized to be expended for Osceola County's public school system.  

Item:               1997 Sales Tax Extension Referendum
            Sarasota County, Florida

Client:              Sarasota Penny-Wise and Invest-A-Penny Political Action Committees

At Issue:          $ 650 million

Developed the message and managed the campaign for continuance of the half billion dollar sales tax.  The referendum passed with a resounding 61% in favor of extending the infrastructure improvement and education enhancement tax.