Sign up now to subscribe!
A Dead End Job No More? Spitzer Takes the Helm Grannis Pushing Comptroller Bid Now For the Count: How many kids are sleeping on our streets? Editorial: By the Numbers Faso's HQ Burgled Bloomberg' Political Contribution Investments Come Up Short First Spitzer Transition Team Meeting Set Up in the Air, Up in the Sky, It's the Mayor of New York? Fight for Billboard Business Billions Reaction To Bell Shooting Highlights Lingering Council Tensions State of the Unions: DC Election Set for January Harrison Eyes Fossella Rematch Fossella Retools for Life in Minority New Legislators, Great Expectations Lanza Moves from Super Minority into Powerful Majority The XX Factor Back in the District: Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell
The Year in Pictures Predictions for 2007 Imagemakers: Source Communications New York Young Republicans Look for Young Blood Mixing Progressive Politics, and Drinks In the Chair: Bill de Blasio Editorial: A New Yorker in the White House Higher Salaries, Lower Ethics and Public Opinion by City Council Member Tony Avella The View from Albany: The Member Item Dilemma by Alan Chartock New General, Same Battlefield by Robert Polner
The public memory of last year’s fight to save the Plaza Hotel is mostly that of rallies in front of the landmark structure, consisting of politicians, union leaders and hotel workers, all trying to save the hotel from becoming condominiums and retail space. While the public focus was on the rallies and statements from former Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan) and others, behind the scenes, a pair of former aides to Rudy Giuliani worked to prep the union leaders to make their case to the press in order to sway public opinion.
Ken Frydman and Richard Schwartz formed Source Communications last year, calling it a law firm type of communications firm. Drawing on backgrounds that encompass government, journalism and public relations, the pair said they work to prepare their clients for the “court of public opinion.”
“We have a reputation as fighters,” Frydman said. “That’s our nature. Too many people are not willing to spend political capital or get their hands dirty on behalf of their clients.”
Schwartz double checks with the waiter at Pershing Square that his coffee is decaf, while discussing his firm’s work on behalf of the Delta pilots’ union. The impact of additional caffeine on Schwartz’s high energy level is clear as he multi-tasks the entire conversation, bouncing between his constantly ringing cell phone and a play-by-play of the Delta issue, at times doing both at once.
"We have a reputation as fighters." -Ken Frydman.
He notes that the high amount of calls and e-mails are because of the small nature of the firm: Schwartz, Frydman and a director, along with two administrative assistants, are the only employees. The pair insists on handling each client personally and not hiring junior level people to handle the work.
“That’s not what clients want,” Schwartz said. “They don’t want someone to just give a statement, they want strategic consulting.”
During the Delta pilots struggle to overcome the airline’s bankruptcy petition and salvage pension and health benefits, they worked to position the pilots for meetings with editorial boards. Schwartz said they worked to identify the issues surrounding the pilots, and helped discover that on behalf of the airlines, the pilots exercise management duties while on the planes.
They helped craft a communications strategy to bring these issues to the forefront of the editorial boards in order to sway public opinion to the pilots’ side. Schwartz said work like this explains the analogy of Source as a law firm equivalent, with their giving advice to influence the editorial boards and public rather than a jury.
“We give our clients a 360 degree view of the environment they face,” Schwartz said.
Frydman and Schwartz met during Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign. Schwartz was deputy campaign manager and Frydman was press secretary. The two parted professionally after the campaign: Schwartz followed Giuliani to City Hall, and Frydman headed towards the private sector.
Schwartz spent four years at Giuliani’s side as a senior advisor, working on welfare reform, education policy, CUNY issues, capital construction, and quality of life issues. He left to found a workforce development corporation, where he stayed four years before becoming a columnist and editorial page editor for the Daily News.
Frydman’s post-Giuliani years focused on a series of public relations posts with Dan Klores, Edelman New York, Golin Harris, and then as head of corporate communications for the Daily News and U.S. News & World Report.
Frydman that noted their backgrounds in journalism and government define their philosophy of knowing as much as possible about their clients, and knowing the businesses as well as possible. Perpetually glued to their cell phones, their days are more often spent out in the field than in their offices near Penn Station.
In a way, they fit the stereotype of the typical New Yorker. One could assume that they would be treated as aliens if dropped into the genteel countryside of upstate Niagara County, or really anyplace outside metro area. Scrappy, direct, high energy and loquacious—that, Frydman explained, is the secret to their success so far.
“You can’t be afraid to fight, I mean fight aggressively and passionately,” he said. “That’s our model and our model could work anywhere, but it’s New York. That is what we know and who we know.”