Public Policy Consultants
An integral part of what Everett Clay Associates can bring to bear for a client is public policy consulting. Government is the biggest business in America today and private business cannot avoid meeting the government bureaucrat somewhere along the line in fighting for a successful bottom line.
In order for a business to be successful, it must be able to get its message across to the regulators as well as to the media and the public. In this age of specialization, one must speak in the language that the regulator, bureaucrat and politician can understand and respect. A former public officeholder can do this.
In order to communicate effectively and to gain the requisite trust in dealing with journalists and media representatives, it helps to have a member of the so-called "working press." Journalists, like politicians, speak in a special idiom. You are either an insider or an outsider - there is nothing in between, really.
And when it comes to talking with lawyers, that is an even bigger order. They have a history of purposeful non-communication because that is what they are oftentimes paid to do. Usually, if you cannot talk with a lawyer, you have a real problem in articulating your position on any given question of public policy. And, if the lawyer is also a public official, elected or appointed, the problem of possible meaningful communication is made even more difficult by a long shot.
Edmond J. Gong heads Public Policy Consultants and is a former public official who served 10 years in the Florida Legislature, first as a member of the House of Representatives for four years and then as a member of the Florida Senate for six years. A native Miamian with a degree in government from Harvard University, Gong started his adult career as a journalist for the Hong Kong Standard and then as a staff writer for The Miami Herald. He has also done freelance writing for Time and Life magazines.
After working as a journalist for four years, he received his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, and worked in an international law firm for a year. Gong was then appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida by then Attorney General, Robert Kennedy.
As a prosecuting attorney he became interested in politics and after two years of prosecuting government criminal cases, he went into private practice. A year later, he ran and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives as the first and, so far, the only Asian-American ever elected to the Florida Legislature.
He then served as one of the nine state senators representing Dade County. He was chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and along with then Senator Lawton Chiles, wrote an article in the Florida Constitutional Revision of 1969 that requires a Code of Ethics for all state employees that was subsequently adopted and is in the Florida Constitution today. He also served as the chairman of the Senate Congressional Reapportionment Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He has served as Associate Director of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Vice-Chairman of the Florida Board of Business Regulation and elected member of the Board of Directors of the Associated Harvard Alumni. As a member of the Florida Bar, he has practiced law for nearly 50 years.
Gong brings his extensive legal, governmental, journalistic and academic background and a bicultural orientation to bear in helping ECA clients protect and promulgate their vital economic interests. His background establishes him as an advisor and counsel in the broadest sense.
ECA believes it is the only public relations firm in Florida to have this unique capability available in-house for the benefit of its clients should a need for a total approach be necessary.
Not only does this melding of multidisciplinary backgrounds with traditional public relations make any presentation, program or strategy more effective, we have found that clients can save money and time in meeting their crucial needs with Public Policy Consultants.
