THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE – VOICEPAC
– Sidney Torres, New Orleans real-estate developer and host of CNBC’s The Deed, launched a media-driven political action movement that will challenge the candidates for mayor to provide detailed plans on how to address the challenges facing New Orleans. Torres’ chose to create VoicePac, which stands for Voice of the People Political Action Committee, upon deciding that he would not run for mayor this fall. Pre-qualifying polls indicated that Torres, a popular New Orleans entrepreneur and venture capitalist, was one of the leading candidates for the city’s top job. A poll by Dr. Verne Kennedy of Market Research Insight, released one week prior to qualifying, showed voter preferences as follows: Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell (23%); Torres (21%); former Municipal Court Judge Desiree Charbonnet (16%); and former Civil District Court Judge Michael Bagneris (6%).The Torres PAC is not his first venture into shaping policy in New Orleans. As he became frustrated by crime in the French Quarter, Torres invested almost $700,000 of his own money to create a GPS-based app that allowed smartphone users to report crimes in real time. He added police units to the patrol, and his French Quarter Task Force reduced criminal incidents in the historic district by more than 40%. The mission statement of Torres’ PAC notes that VoicePac “… is a movement designed to inspire policy innovation and political engagement that will lead to the renewal and consistent rise of New Orleans. VoicePac will be the spark that ignites the public conversation, interest and engagement that defines our political command and holds those leaders accountable to address complex policy issues with financially-responsible, effective solutions in a timely manner.”A :60 and :30 television commercial beginning this afternoon urges candidates to provide detailed plans on how they will enact platform planks, take stock of city assets, and offer financially-viable solutions to problems. An executive committee of VoicePac has been meeting with community and elected leaders to invite candidates to consider effective ideas and employ best practices when addressing city challenges. Following the launch commercials, VoicePac will begin television messages promoting those best practices and ideas. VoicePac, funded primarily by Torres, will begin a near $1 million media blitz this week through Election Day, October 14. Torres retained veteran political consultant Greg Buisson to coordinate the political action committee effort and manage the campaign’s messaging.
Commercial links: https://youtu.be/Gruqe-lUquA &https://youtu.be/UaryCu_iLEk
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 