Brian Rudman: 'Independent supporters' back up for V8s race

COMMENT

Sweet-talked by the biggest and smartest events and promotions empire in the world, it's little wonder Auckland City politicians have succumbed to the exotic fumes of the IMG-backed V8 Street car race.

Now the organisers are moving in to mop up the supplementary opposition using one of the oldest tricks in the PR book, the "independent" supporters' club. And who seems to be the backroom supremo of this little exercise? None other than the old maestro himself, Klaus Sorensen.

So good is his spin-doctoring, that he sometimes leaves even fellow tradesmen gasping. His pro-logging campaign on behalf of Timberlands West Coast during the 1990s was so, shall we say, enterprising, that his peers in the Public Relations Institute ruled, after a drawn-out inquiry, that he had breached the code of professional practice by calling opponents "extremists".

It was a farcical end to a farcical process. The very idea of the PR industry having a code of ethics beggars the imagination. It is a contradiction in terms, like putting social conscience and the Act Party in the same sentence. Mr Sorensen certainly thought so. He and his off-sider spat the dummy and loudly resigned from the institute.

What is fascinating about the Timberlands battle are the leaked PR campaign plans detailed by the anti-logging campaigners, Nicky Hager and Bob Burton, in their book Secret and Lies: The Anatomy of an Anti-Environmental PR Campaign.

Ten years on, it seems they're being dusted down and resurfacing in the battle for the hearts and minds of Aucklanders over the V8 car race.

I hasten to add that Mr Sorensen, on hearing I was asking questions about his involvement in the V8 supporters club, emailed me to put my mind at rest. "I am not being paid, simply assisting the supporters committee because I believe this will be a damn good event for Auckland."

But the Sorensen hallmarks are beginning to show.

Hager and Burton says his strategy focused on four central elements; neutralising opponents, creating public and political credibility for Timberland, building the impression of an independent public campaign supporting Timberlands, and lobbying at a political level."

The leaked papers revealed that to overcome "some of the unevenness in local support for West Coast forestry" a community front group would be set up that could appear to be a "West Coast voice", for the Timberlands agenda.

It got off the ground, says Hager, "by calling in favours from local businesses reliant on the company".

Jump forward 10 years and we have the V8 Street Race Supporters Club, press contact, Klaus Sorensen.

It emerged early this month with an opinion poll claiming overwhelming support for the race in North Shore City. Spokesman was Mike Bitossi, a past president of Milford Rotary who tells me he was so angry at North City City's opposition to the race that he rang the organisers, who said a supporters committee was being formed, would he be chairman? He chose to go on the committee instead. For more details, he said, speak to Klaus.

Last week the club launched a flash website. "Within hours, hundreds of responses had flooded in," gushed a same-day press release. Talk of spontaneous combustion.

"Supporters club members," says the site, "are a group of ordinary Kiwis who decided to get together and positively promote the international street race festival idea."

Somehow this "stand alone, financially independent, non-political" group of ordinary Kiwis have persuaded the race organisers to give them all sorts of gifts and concessions as reward for their support.

As per the Timberlands text-book, certain enemies are being targeted.

Transit New Zealand and North Shore Mayor George Wood are named as "the major anti-street race opponents". They also plan to front Labour Party president and Transit board member Mike Williams "to show him the overwhelming support for this event".

Instead of business operators who owe them a favour, they seem to be targeting born-again petrol heads who stand to benefit richly from the race. This roll call of supporters includes Judith Tabron, owner of Soul Bar, Warren Stewart of The Drake bar and Robert Van Heiningen from Alert Taxis.

The textbook PR campaign is in place. The only wonder now is, will it bomb as disastrously as the pro-logging campaign? On that point, we can only sit back and hope.