Every February the powerful Public Affairs Council [3] (PAC) holds its annual National Grassroots Conference for Corporations and Associations [4] in some lovely southern location. PR Watch wanted to attend and report on this year's confab in Key West. We covered the 1997 conference and uncovered a goldmine of hidden information on how corporations wage powerful campaigns at the grassroots to promote their special interest agendas. So-called "corporate grassroots" is where PR, corporate power and lobbying all come together, and other than PR Watch almost no one reports on it. Unfortunately, Doug Pinkham the president of PAC has informed us that because "you are no doubt planning to
run another special issue about grassroots programs ... you won't be permitted to attend." That's a shame, especially given the 80 degree temperature difference in February between our home in Wisconsin and the PAC conference in Key West. To get a flavor of the meeting we did cover, read our reporting in the first quarter 1997 issue of PR Watch [5], to which Doug Pinkham refers.