The N.C. Ports Authority, fresh off backtracking on an ill-fated proposal to build a $3 billion deep water port, has hired a Raleigh powerhouse public relations agency to handle public relations.
The Authority hired Capstrat on July 1 at $375,000 a year, with a three-year option to renew.
Authority spokeswoman Shannon Moody said Capstrat will work on business development for the shipping terminals in Wilmington and Morehead City.
The NC General Assembly started its short, even-year session Wednesday, which meant lobbyists started flocking to the Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh on Jones Street again. Our Wednesday story started like this:
"Swank steakhouses, stock up. Big-time lobbyists, polish up those Gucci loafers....The North Carolina legislature gavels into session today."
That prompted an e-mail from Ken Eudy, CEO of Capstrat, the communications firm:
"I haven’t lobbied in years, but it strikes me that perpetuating the lobbyist-in-Gucci-loafer myth, as y’all did today, is a slur. Sort of like calling a person of Arab descent a towelhead.
"You guys know, or should know, that the majority of lobbyists get away from 'the building' as fast as they can to get to their kids’ soccer practice, to choir rehearsal or to the emails that accumulate when they’re out of the office. They’re not overrunning the steakhouses.
"It was a tired, pejorative stereotype that gives your readers a false, negative impression. Come on."
Some of our best friends are lobbyists. For sure, lobbyists dress better than reporters. But that's not saying much.
--John Drescher
The green beer must already be flowing at Capstrat, and for that we here at .biz are grateful.
The Raleigh communications company has created a nifty little tool to help us all discover our "Leprechaun Name." For example, Capstrat's head leprechaun Ken Eudy is “Wee CEO McBossypants."
We played around on the site a bit in the name of research and found out that Triangle CEO's have some interesting Irish names. Twitchy Knickers O'Banjax and Wee Tater Tot O'Luckleaf are just two that showed up for local pharma execs.
The boss here at .biz is Twitchy Puddin'Head O'Boy. Find out your name here
— Runty Blinky O'Mama
