When Ron Sachs launched his Tallahassee-based public relations firm in 1996, his first order of business was rebranding himself. A controversial editor at his college newspaper, Sachs had worked as a newspaper and TV reporter before going into politics and honed his communications skills working for two Democratic governors and the statewide teachers union.
But with a new Republican majority running the Legislature at the time, Sachs knew he had to change the perception that he was just a Democratic hack — and began a transformation that has seen the one-time liberal firebrand make nice with an array of causes and politicians across the entire political spectrum.
Sachs' first step upon going into business for himself was to avoid all partisan political work — no election campaigns and no partisan political issues. "I had a big enough challenge as (Lawton) Chiles' former communications director. It would have been as if we'd erected a giant neon 'D' on top of my building for the perception that I was a Democratic communications company," Sachs says.