Ways & Means/ Public relations Committee Meeting
January 26, 2024 Minutes
Attendees: John Bree, Peggy Bree, Lisa Rotte, Linda Coulter, Martin Coulter, Richard Daly, Sue Griffith, Rich Koziara, Less Koziara, GG Crisculo, Audrey Hudson, Barbara Valenzuela, Ray Burton, Tom Herron, Jim Gormley, Michelle Visconti, Michael Connett, Rob Visconti, Jacob Carborough (HCYR), guest of Ray Burton- Jeff Goodman
- Welcome- John Bree, Chairman
- Meeting called to order at 1:34pm
- Introductions of committee members present
- Business:
- Public Relations Committee Purpose overview
- John handed out a printed copy of the “focus of the Public Relations Committee” and explained the purpose to both committees.
- John proposed to have “key Leads” on all activities to keep both committees apprised of what is happening within those activities to both committee members.
- He noted that we need to work closely with other HC organizations (HCRW, etc.) to avoid date conflicts and strive for max participation at events
- Fundraisers: should be broken down in 3 levels
- Specific funds – e.g.- scholarship or new building
- General Funds– events and planning by the party
- Support Charities– to support specific charitable organizations throughout the year.
- Questions asked:Did the HCGOP receive any funds from state from the joint Christmas Party? It was mentioned by Sue Griffith that the HCGOP was not asked to contribute any money towards planning the event and the HCGOP received half of the money raised from the 50/50 at the event. Rob Visconti was going to check with Reese.
- Mike Connett- Chair of the Public Relations Committee
- There has been no Public Relations Meeting since November.
- Ways and Means is the Oversight committee of all committees
- Since October all Public Relation Committee Events and electronic advertisements have been handled by Reese Boyd- not sure if anything is planned as of now.
- Public Relations has not been informed or involved in any information posted on the website, Facebook or any newspaper articles.
- It was acknowledged that Rob Visconti does put information on the Facebook page and from now on he will forward anything he posts to Popeye to post on the website.
- Ray Burton posts on Nextdoor for the North End- Cherry Grove; Lisa Rotte posts on Nextdoor for Myrtle Beach
- Discussed concern that there is still confusion on which Horry County Republican Party is the True Republican Party. It was reported that Roger Slagle and Chad Caton have been having many events under the guise of the Republican Party and are taking dues. Their group appears to be getting stronger and are more active.
- It was agreed upon within the 2 committees that we need to start working together as a team; especially in committees.
- We need to raise awareness of the HCGOP. The HCGOP needs to start doing more events and have more press releases.
- Press release on an event can be written by anyone in the committee but needs to be submitted to the Committee Chair for consideration and any changes. Once approved by the Committee Chair the press release then goes to Chairman for final approval. Once it has final approval is can be released to the public.
- St Patrick’s Day Festival is Saturday March 16th.
- Need volunteers to march in parade, man booth and sign up new Republicans
- The Horry County Young Republicans won chapter of the year for South Carolina. They are only 1 year old.
- Tom Herron was recognized:
- 15 months to Reorganization
- 5 months until the General Election
- 3 weeks to the Republican PPP
- Asked Who put out the last Press Release that had all the misinformation? It was said that the Chairman did.
- 3350 new registered voters; have we contacted them? Are we in regular touch with the media?
- One of the main purposes of the Public Relations Committee is to be in constant contact with the press.
- Mike Connett emphasized he has a very good relationship with many of the media outlets. He noted we have had no help from the SCGOP. The state GOP will not help us file a law suit against the old leadership who still have the HCGOP money, all the social media information and contacts, and comes up first in social media searches.
- The Committee agreed that we need to 1- Raise Awareness of the true HCGOP, 2- need more help from the state, 3- get in touch with the voters
- John Bree suggested a banner at all the voting precincts at the PPP so voters will see this when they come in to vote and/or exit.
- 61 voting precincts for PPP
- instead of banner, a corrugated yard sign
- on sign, it should have the correct QR code, website URL, Facebook address, phone number, logo and say something like: HCGOP Welcomes You!
- Double sided and should cost $1000 or less and ready for the PPP.
- Rich Daly and Peggy Bree suggested we have something posted in the new communities where new voters are moving into.
- Business cards or a pocket you hang with a post card they can take out to get info about the HCGOP
- Motion was made to purchase yard signs that are printed double sided with the HCGOP logo, QR code, Facebook page url, website address, phone number for $1000 or less for as many as we can get.
- Motion was seconded and voted on- all agreed
- Mike and Lisa will contact Brad at Genesis printing to get a price
- Need Volunteers to put out signs and pick them up for the PPP on 24 Feb. Will ask Reese to contact EC’s to do this and have a central pick-up and drop off site
- HCGOP stuff is being stored in Rob’s garage but he is almost out of room. The HCGOP needs a storage unit.
- John Bree & Ray Burton – Golf Outing
- Need to get the golf outing in motion & combine the outing as a money maker for the HCGOP and a Charitable Organization
- Ray has planned these outing before.
- Dunes Club
- Wanted a lot of money up front $9000
- Ray Burton has Azalea Sands for another outing that needs to be cancelled
- Cost is $41.00 per person the HCGOP could charge $85pp
- No deposit required and can cancel up to 2 weeks with either a raincheck or minimal charge
- $267 in insurance to have this event; $500 for hole in 1; $320 for a four some team
- Corporate sponsors are $2000
- Ray needs a committee and 25 sponsors
- Ray has March 25th reserved but after discussion it was decided that is too soon for the HCGOP and to plan on a date in the summer.
- Voted to postpone the golf outing to a later date in the summer or fall.
- Suggested that Rob talks to his friend that does charitable golf outings to assist or as a back up
- Need to get committees organized for this event:
- Set/up Organize event
- Sponsorship Committee- get sponsors
- Day of operations- registration, set up course, help golfers, run event
- Need a lot of people to volunteer to make this a success
- Ways & Means and Public relations will gather a list of all people that want to volunteer
- All further discussion tabled until PR has its own meeting- date needs to be firmed up ASAP.
- Process of Getting volunteers and Good Voter information:
- Martin commented that the best way to get volunteers, as stated in meeting, is to call and personally ask them for help.
- Noted by Lisa Rotte- that the information given to the HCGOP by the state is very outdated and inaccurate.
- Voter Info: The state gets their info from the RNC who has admitted that they are behind the times with updating voter roles
- Need better and more accurate info on voters with name, address, email, cell and landline if possible
- Lisa Rotte introduced a company that she has spoken too that will sell the HCGOP the most accurate voter role information for Republicans and Independents
- It Is hard to grow your party and reach voters if you don’t have good information to work off.
- Company is Gravis Marketing Inc, Randy Stevens, campaign services specialist at 407-454-8600 x 304 or 1-800-371-3129 Quoted $1300 for all lists
- GG made a motion to purchase the list of voters from Gravis marketing
- 2nd by Audrey Hudson
- Discussion followed; John asked Rob if he was aware if Congressman Frye has this type of data and if so, would he provide it to the HCGOP. Rob will follow-up with Frye’s office. Several members stated that we should introduce this company and its capabilities to the ECs. Request made to have Randy zoom into an EC meeting to discuss this list before purchased. Need to do this sooner rather than later- time is of the essence.
- EC’s should be allowed to have their voter’s information in their precincts so they can be in communication with them.
- Mike brought up the disclosure form and passed around a copy.
- Mike will bring copies of the disclosure form to the next EC meeting
- Suggestion was made to have all contact details for all Precinct EC’s and Presidents be listed on our website so voters/ Republicans can see who they can contact in their precinct.
- It was suggested that EC’s or Presidents may not want their personal information out there
- Discussion was had and the consensus was if you are in one of those positions you should at least have an email listed.
- John Bree is going to draft up a letter for Reese’s signature to send to all EC’s to get their permission to have their info on the website.
- Suggestion was made to have Business Sponsorships pay to advertise on our website and sponsor events. John noted that churches charge ~$180 /year for a 2 inches wide by 1-5/16″ high advertisement in a weekly bulletin which seems reasonable for an advertisement on the website. Rob mentioned the possibility of having various levels with different costs.
- We all agreed that ALL Donors (unless they choose not to) should have their names listed on a “Donors Page” on our website. Popeye to add this page
- Need to have a sub-committee established to get party sponsorships.
- Upcoming Events- suggestions of events to plan
- February 24th– Republican Presidential Primary Watch Party- The Boathouse is secured and the party will start at 6pm- cash bar and people order their own food.
- March 5th– Politics and Pints Super Tuesday Even- The Boathouse is secured and the party will start at 6pm- cash bar and people order their own food
- Sept 26th– 1st Annual Chairman’s Dinner- Steven Wright from Dorchester can help us with this. Barefoot resort & Conference Center. $25 per person- sit down dinner and cash bar. Rest of the ideas are on the sheet handed out and attached to the minutes.
- Looking forward: all agreed on having in February 2025 – 1st Annual HCGOP Lincoln Reagan (Formal) Dinner to be further developed by a tbn committee.
- Reese contacted John and noted he was unable to attend so it was decided to close the meeting and provide him a detailed briefing afterwards.
- Martin Coulter- announced that he is having a book signing of poetry he wrote on Feb 3rd from 12-3 at the Next Chapter in Conway and all are welcomed!
- Meeting adjourned at 3:27 pm
- Voter Info: The state gets their info from the RNC who has admitted that they are behind the times with updating voter roles
- Mike Connett emphasized he has a very good relationship with many of the media outlets. He noted we have had no help from the SCGOP. The state GOP will not help us file a law suit against the old leadership who still have the HCGOP money, all the social media information and contacts, and comes up first in social media searches.
- Public Relations Committee Purpose overview
Very respectfully,
Lisa Rotte
Secretary of the Ways and Means Committee