By Paul Leroux
July 2, 2012

Dr. Frank Luntz, a Washington consultant who specializes in message creation and image management, addressed The U.S. Conference of Mayors in Orlando on June 15. He provided a 40-minute workshop on how mayors can best connect with their citizens.

Conference of Mayors President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa noted that Luntz had worked with mayors before, particularly helping them to craft a united message on infrastructure and investment. According to Villaraigosa, "Frank was so well received in our leadership sessions that I asked him to speak to all of us at our annual meeting."

Luntz began his presentation by screening six short videos of mayors successfully communicating with their constituents, and explaining what they did well. The series included Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, Conference of Mayors Second Vice President Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, Conference of Mayors Vice President Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and Villaraigosa.

Luntz commended the mayors for the urgency of the messages they projected, the ways in which they challenged the status quo, and their willingness to put themselves on the record with certain commitments. "You in this room have more support and more credibility than any other elected official of any level," he told the group. "But that also means you have greater responsibility. The public is watching what you do, skeptical if not cynical, and that's why language matters."

After the series of videos, Luntz stepped off the dais so that he could engage better with the crowd, challenging mayors to do the same. "If you do another speech from behind a podium, you deserve a 30 percent approval rating," he said.

Along a similar vein, he challenged mayors to be "personal not ideological," and noted how powerful it is when Villaraigosa "differentiates what you have to do every day from what Washington fails to do every day." Luntz then explained that the two most important questions mayors had to answer in everything they said were: "Can we afford the path we're on?" and "Can we be great again?" According to a variety of statistics that Luntz produced, constituents care about these questions much more than traditional political differences.

Specifically, he implored the mayors to use phrases like "open for business" and "healthy economy" when addressing these questions, citing how important word choice can be. Luntz addressed this theme throughout his lesson, saying that the phrase "public safety" is much better than "crime" and that "infrastructure" should be replaced in the political discourse by "quality of life." According to Luntz's firm's slogan, "It's not what you say, it's what people hear," that matters.

Luntz, as he insisted mayors do, finished with a few "calls to action." He asked mayors to remember to be "real, authentic, genuine" in their words and actions, since that is the best way to avoid language manipulations. He also told mayors to pursue action imagery. "If you put on a tie and stand by a flag, you're a politician," he said. "If you're actually doing, if you're listening, if you're engaging, then you're a leader, you're a mayor, you're a real human being."