Professional History

Technology

In 1979 Agust Gudmundsson used Cassette Powered Terminals (CPT) to develop mailing lists for county candidates. In 1982 the system was split for a WV US Congressional campaign. Voters on a mainframe computer and supporters on a PC. The PC revolution had begun.

In 1986 Gudmundsson applied a higher level of math to a Cook County, IL race, using computer modeling to profile and target voters and set vote goals for every precinct. In-house targeting for telephone, door-to-door and direct mail was proven possible. The computer work was split between a mainframe, a mini and PCs. The campaign was a success and the vote total was within one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the projected target.

By 1988 PCs had finally evolved to the point that the mainframes and minis were no longer needed. The age of desk-top power had dawned. The caucus tracking system for Bob Dole's victory in the Iowa presidential primary was designed on a PC. The entire interactive voter contact campaign for George Bush's Chicago Lake Front General Election effort was managed on PCs.

After the 1990 election APS began developing a version of VCS that could be used by anyone at any level in politics.

In the winter of 1991 the Austin Professional Voter Contact System v1.0 was released to the public. Until now it was only available on a contract basis. This single move forever changed the face of direct voter contact campaigns. By the end of the 1992 Illinois primary, 30 VCS customers moved to the win column, including some notable upsets such as State Representative Nancy Kazak and Illinois Supreme Court Justice Nickels. At the other end of the political spectrum Jack Roeser, a pro-family tax fighter introduced this high-tech grass-roots technology to the emerging Christian Coalition.

Version 1.1 was introduced in time for the 1992 general election, and the results were just as impressive. State Senator Steven Raushenburg ran his program on a laptop. State Representative Angelo Saviano used two PCs to enter nightly canvass results. U.S. Congressman George Sangmeister provided workers with uniform walk sheets across his entire district, a district that stretched from Chicago to the beyond-collar rural counties.

In Chicago, U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush mailed his message to a district that housed over 300,000 voters, and U.S. President Bill Clinton was able to provide his workers with up-to-date election day runner, phoner and checker sheets one week before election day.

By April 1993 we added another 50 satisfied Township and Municipal clients. With version 2.0 we proved that we can support the small up-start campaigns as well as the giants. The remainder of 1993 was dedicated to the development of the ballot referendum and initiative sector - school bonds and gaming.

In 1994 APS moved into the mainstream of Illinois politics. Clients included Governor Jim Edgar, Attorney General James Ryan, Congressman Dan Rostenkowski and Secretary of State George Ryan. Twenty state legislators were added including State Senator Kathleen Parker. APS also began to expand beyond the Illinois boundaries by providing election services for two successful referendum to bring Riverboat Gambling into Indiana.

In 1995 APS provided all of the campaign software and voter contact services to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. APS was also engaged in 27 of the 42 contested Chicago City Council races. 26 of those 27 are now Chicago Aldermen. Mayor Schultz of Joliet and leaders of other municipalities also were added as successful APS clients. 1995 also marked the official movement of APS into the local school board and bond referenda campaigns, with notable success such as the Arlington Heights Casino Referendum.

In 1996 APS added Optical Scanning and Internet data transfer to their campaigns. The entire Illinois Senate Majority (31 Senators) now enjoys the progressive power of APS.

Just as Winchester cannot claim to have killed the buffalo, we cannot claim full responsibility for these victories. In all fairness to our customers we have to admit that they had a winning attitude and a plan before they met us. We are honored to have been a part of their victories. They all made good decisions, and we think one of those decisions was to use our products and services.

Selected Clients