Atlanta, Ga. – Sept. 19, 2011 – The Metro Atlanta Transportation Education Network, Inc. (MAVEN) and Citizens for Transportation Mobility, Inc. (CTM) announced today a team of professionals hired to support the work of the metro Atlanta regional Transportation Investment Act (TIA) referendum going before voters in 2012.
The announcement of the strategy and staff team coincides with the expected release of the Regional Roundtable’s transportation project list in October.
Two Georgia strategists – Paul Bennecke and Kevin Ross – were tapped by a working group to hire staff and to provide direction for the educational and election components of the transportation initiative. Hill Research was selected earlier in the year to provide polling and research to the campaign.
Ross and Bennecke, in turn, hired a staff that will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the regional transportation referendum efforts.
Che Watkins will become Campaign Manager for MAVEN and CTM, leaving her post of Vice President of External Affairs at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Media and communications consultant Liz Flowers was hired as Communications Director, and a team of highly regarded fund-raising professionals, Candice Franklin, Kristin Oblander and Rebecca Cummiskey, have been tapped to raise money for the effort.
In addition, to the staff, a broad base of nearly 80 businesses and community organizations meet regularly to provide input and support to the regional transportation effort.
Paul Bennecke, who worked this summer to find the right staffing mix, said he’s excited to see the team come together.
“Metro Atlanta residents know we have a serious traffic problem that’s only getting worse. If we want to retain and create jobs and improve our quality of life, we must take action now. This team will use our combined local knowledge and diverse experience to educate the public about this critically important transportation investment solution that will get Metro Atlanta moving again,” Bennecke said. ###
Strategists and Staff Background
Paul Bennecke is Principal of Red Clay Strategies, a public affairs and issue advocacy firm. He most recently served the Republican Governors Association (RGA) as deputy executive director and political director where he was responsible for strategy and operations including candidate recruitment, independent expenditure campaigns and candidate-committee coordination. Bennecke managed over $135 million in political expenditures in all fifty states, while helping raise an unprecedented $160 million. Before joining RGA, Bennecke served as executive director and political director of the Georgia Republican Party and was Political Director for Governor Sonny Perdue in 2002.
Kevin Ross, a longtime Georgia political consultant and member of the Georgia Bar since 1980, has advised numerous private and public sector clients on matters of public affairs, government relations and media relations over the course of his professional career. Ross has practiced law with three major commercial law firms in Atlanta and served for four years as the Managing Partner of the Atlanta office of an international law firm. He has managed over a dozen successful political campaigns, including three winning mayoral, and two winning congressional campaigns and a host of other state, county, municipal and judicial races. Ross has managed two successful referenda, one for Atlanta infrastructure repair and the other to fund capital projects for Atlanta’s school system. A graduate of Dartmouth, Ross has served as an adjunct Professor at Emory University School of Law.
Che Watkins will become Campaign Manager for MAVEN and CTM, leaving her post of Vice President of External Affairs at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Watkins has managed the Greater Grady Task Force, served as interim Executive Director for the Regional Business Coalition, and was instrumental in the passage of HB 277, the Transportation Investment Act of 2010. Previously, Watkins worked in Wachovia’s Business Banking Group, with a focus on companies with $5 to $50 million in revenue. She also worked for Bank of America and JP Morgan on Wall Street. Watkins community involvement includes the 2009 Class of Leadership Atlanta, co-chair of the Atlanta Jewish Coalition, which brings together young leaders in the African-American and Jewish Communities. She also served as President of the Board of Directors of Art Papers, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding the role and prominence of art in Atlanta and she is currently a member of the Hammonds House Board of Directors. Watkins holds a degree in Economics from Spelman College, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Liz Flowers was hired as Communications Director. Flowers has worked for both profit and not-for-profit companies in Georgia, North Carolina, and California. Flowers is Principal of e/flowers and associates, which provides media and communications consulting and support. Her clients have included Atkins Global, MARTA, the Georgia Senate and House Democratic Caucuses and Grady Health Foundation. She has worked on numerous political campaigns, including two Atlanta mayoral races, helping to shape messages and create legislative agendas. A writer and journalist, Liz has also worked for a number of newspapers and magazines and she published and managed The Post, a weekly community newspaper in North Georgia. Atlanta Magazine honored Flowers as a woman making a mark on the city.
Candice Franklin is the owner of the Coleman Franklin Group, a fundraising and event planning firm specializing in fundraising, planning and management. Franklin’s experience includes city and state campaigns – former Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Gov. Roy Barnes, the King Paper’s Society, and the Democratic Party of Georgia. Her clients, among others, include Georgia WIN List, Raising Expectations, Congressman John Lewis, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis.
Kristin Oblander is the president of The Oblander Group L.L.C., a fund-raising firm specializing in Democratic campaign fundraising. Named by “Campaigns and Elections” magazine as a “Rising Star in Politics 1998″, Oblander has built a reputation as one of the nation’s top young Democratic fund-raising professionals. Prior to opening her Atlanta-based firm in February 1999, Oblander served as the Finance Director for the Roy Barnes for Governor Campaign. A graduate of Georgia Technical Institute, she also served as southern finance director for the John Kerry for President Campaign, the southeastern finance director for the Democratic National Committee.
Rebecca Cummiskey, principal of RGC Consulting, began her career in 2001 in Washington, DC focusing on PAC and national fundraising for a number of Republican Senate candidates including Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Elizabeth Dole. Returning to Georgia, she was named finance director for Governor Sonny Perdue’s 2006 reelection campaign and coordinated the $15 million fund-raising effort. She also assisted in the additional $17 million effort that same year for the Georgia Republican Party. Cummiskey served as Finance Director for State Sen. Eric Johnson and most recently, held the position of executive director for Gov. Nathan Deal’s Inauguration. Cummiskey provides consulting services for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
Hill Research
Dr. David B. Hill, Director of Hill Research Consultants, is a leading pollster and research-based strategist. For the past 25 years, in addition to polling for top Republican candidates across the nation, Hill has polled for more than 100 successful ballot measures, from Alaska to Florida. In Florida alone, his research was instrumental in the passage of six amendments to that state’s constitution. Hill has polled and conducted focus groups for winning tax referenda initiatives in a dozen states, including a sales tax that was Michigan’s largest tax hike ever, and for a first-ever local option sales tax that funded nine Polk County, Iowa school districts. In Colorado, Hill’s clients have secured voter approval for more than one billion dollars in increased taxes for bonds and mill levies.
An academic as well as a working consultant, Dr. Hill has authored or edited three books and published numerous scholarly papers. In the past year, he has been an invited lecturer at Stanford University and the University of Florida. He has also served as Director of the Public Policy Resources Institute at Texas A&M University.
Hill Research possessed the most extensive transportation election background and had a proven track record on regional campaigns. The strategy and tactics provided demonstrated a clear understanding of the issues that Metro Atlanta will face and what data and research will be needed to move towards victory.
