FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                               

Date: April 3, 2012                                                                      

(Orlando) -- Jim Gray scored a landslide victory Tuesday night in his bid for the Orlando City Commission District One.  Jim received 55% of the vote in a four-person race, thus avoiding a runoff.

“Jim’s victory on the first ballot is an incredible feat in Orlando City elections,” said the Campaign’s General Consultant and Consensus co-founder Tre’ Evers.  “Most city elections go to a runoff the first time an individual is elected, so Jim’s first-ballot win is a convincing mandate for his agenda for a vibrant, economically strong and fiscally sound Orlando.”

Jim’s campaigned on his success in business, and his desire to bring private sector experience to City Hall.  District One was represented most recently by Phil Diamond, and previously by former Mayor Glenda E. Hood.  Historically, District One encompassed neighborhoods just outside of downtown and the less populated areas around the Orlando International Airport.  With the rapid development of Lake Nona and the Medical City area, the population in SE Orlando has exploded and now over a third of the residents in District One reside south of the 528 (Beachline). 

After graduating from high school Jim enlisted in the US Air Force where he spent three years and another three in the Air National Guard.  In between active and reserve duty, Jim married his high school sweetheart Kathy.  Jim obtained a degree in Finance from the University of Houston and shortly thereafter moved to the Orlando area to work for First Union and Wachovia banks.  Jim is currently Vice President of Parkway Realty Services in their downtown Orlando headquarters.  Jim was a youth baseball and basketball coach, a member of Florida Citrus Sports and many other community organizations.

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From the Orlando Business Journal by Abraham Aboraya

March 9, 2012

Roy W. Reid, Jr., APR, CPRC, is an award-winning strategic business and public relations expert and the author/creator of Outrageous Trust^®, a program to help leaders and organizations improve relationships through a more intentional effort in building trust.

Crisis: A public relations nightmare.

Worst-case scenario: The Tonight Show host Jay Leno talks about a customer finding a finger in your restaurant’s chili.

Local examples: NCAA investigations at the University of Central Florida due to alleged rule violations last year; and the death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, killed by orca Tilikum during a show in 2010.

What to do: Two things are key: You can’t control the crisis, but you can control the communication. “The events are always out of your control, but what you say, how you say it and when you say it is always in your hands,” said Roy Reid Jr., partner at Consensus Communications , which does about 25 percent crisis management work.

• One big rule: Honesty is like cleanliness. It’s next to godliness. So be honest, even if it’s to say we can’t talk about this incident or we don’t yet know what happened.

• Communicate from the inside out. Figure out who you need to speak to — the community, employees, customers, vendors, the media — and prioritize.

• Agree on a message and stay on it. Speculation can lead to fear of the unknown, so again: Keep on message.

Committee Action Kills Casino Bill in House for 2012 Session

(Tallahassee) – The Florida House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee today voted to table a controversial proposal to expand gambling in Florida by introducing high-stakes Vegas-style casinos to the state. The action today kills the proposal in the House because there are no more scheduled meetings of this committee for the 2012 Session.

“The fact that this bill was killed in the House is a victory for the people of Florida, for our economy, our quality of life, our public safety, and the character of our communities,” said No Casinos President John Sowinski. “We applaud the House members for looking beyond the promises and the hype, weighing the social and economic costs of expanding gambling, and reaching the only logical conclusion – that expanding gambling would be bad for Florida.”

South Florida No Casinos Chairman Dan Gelber said, “Failing to get out of its first committee is a stunning but well-deserved defeat proving sometimes that money can’t buy you love”. Gelber added, “I suspect these casino interests won’t give up and expect them to reload with more money and bigger guns. We’ll be ready”.

No Casinos leaders vowed to remain vigilant, saying that while the subcommittee vote is likely a fatal blow to the idea during this year’s legislative session – gambling interests will likely continue to target Florida so long as the economy is weak.

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Contact:

John Sowinski (407) 608-5931 Sowinski@onmessage.com

Dan Gelber (305) 345-7879 dan@dangelber.com