When your career includes Emmy-winning broadcasting and Congressional press secretary duties, what do you do for an encore? For Carson Chandler, the answer is his new position
as vice president for The Aker Partners Inc. in Washington, DC.
Yet Chandler doesn't feel like a lost soul in the wilderness. "Half of the people I know on the Hill go into PR," he observes.
Chandler seems to have the knack of being in the right media place at the right time. He was reporting at the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, FL, during two of the
region's most important news stories - the Elian Gonzalez controversy and the 2000 presidential election brouhaha. He won a regional Emmy Award for his work, and from that work
came the opportunity to branch into public affairs.
Relocating to Washington, Chandler was deputy press secretary to Florida's Senator Bob Graham from 2002-2004. During this period, Graham was the chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee investigating the 9/11 attacks. Chandler later worked as press secretary to Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford.
Yet the move to PR feels like a natural progression for Chandler. "It's all about telling stories," he says. "And combine that with the best things I liked about the news
business."
Chandler's new responsibilities involve public affairs information campaigns on behalf of the Association of Oil Pipelines and the Newspaper Association of
America. He acknowledges his inside understanding of how Congress operates will benefit his work, and he adds anyone claiming knowledge of public affairs is not something you
can just wing.
"You definitely can't learn it as you go along," he says. "I came to the Hill four years ago and the learning curve is very steep. You have to experience it first hand - it's
almost like it has its own foreign language."
Indeed, Chandler is skeptical of many PR agencies that claim to offer public affairs support but lack the staff with experience in that field. "A lot of agencies say they have
a handle on it, but I think there is room for improvement," he observes.
But don't think of Chandler as being strictly inside the Beltway. One of the key lessons he learned from his work with Sen. Graham was maintaining a proactive and positive
relationship with the local media back home in Florida.
"We have 15 different TV markets in Florida," he notes. "The notion that they don't set the tone is ridiculous. The major thrust of my public affairs effort was to develop
relations with the guys in the local markets. You cannot ignore the local markets!"
Contact: Carson Chandler, [email protected].