Conservative lobbyist set to spin the FAMU Presidential selection process?
Get the Point!
Who is Barney Bishop and why does it matter for FAMU right now?
Barney Bishop III (above) is a longtime Florida political insider who once led Associated Industries of Florida, a powerful business lobbying group, and previously served as Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party before switching affiliations. Today, he runs a Tallahassee-based public relations firm, Barney Bishop Consulting, and has a history of controversial media stances, including his role in ousting the leadership of Tallahassee Classical Academy for showing depictions of the nude Statue of David—a sculpture that's a Western Civilization staple—but one that conservatives like Bishop argued ran contrary to their positions on the “culture wars,” which include their push to dismantle “Woke” and DEI.
In full disclosure, I have worked with Bishop previously on a state level litigation against Big Pharmaceutical companies regarding the Opioid crisis, and have found him to be extremely intelligent and affable while aligned on that issue. But I also know him to be a conservative who is aligned with many of the MAGA actors that I oppose on multiple policy issues, including Gov. Ron Desantis. To that end, Bishop recently wrote a full-throated defense of the controversial FAMU presidential appointment in the Tallahassee Democrat despite having no formal connection to the university for well over a decade since leaving the FAMU Board of Trustees.
Now, sources have intimated that Bishop is set to be hired to manage FAMU’s growing public relations crisis in the wake of the presidential search that led to lobbyist Marva Johnson's selection last month over the objections of tens of thousands of FAMU alumni, students, donors, and supporters. If true, such a move would raise some very serious questions, including:
—> Who authorized the hire?
—> What message does this send to alumni, students, and donors?
—> Is this truly about crisis management, or about messaging control?
Again, stay alert, Rattlers, and stay tuned; lest we forget that we deserve transparency—not spin!
 | A guest post by
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Barney Bishop’s editorial is not the flex that the pro-Marva Johnson camp believes it to be. Instead of strengthening support for her selection, it has galvanized FAMU students, faculty, alumni and supporters to become more vocal in our opposition. His commentary only reinforces longstanding concerns about the questionable motives driving Johnson’s selection and blatant political influence in Florida’s education system. It deepens skepticism toward so-called “FAMU supporters” like Bishop and the nine Florida A&M University Board of Trustees members who approved Johnson’s selection and/or her unreasonable employment compensation contract — Jamal Brown, John Crossman, Natlie G. Figgers, Emery A. Gainey, Deveron Gibbons, Kelvin Lawson, Raphael Vasquez, Nicole Washington, and Michael White.
It’s essential to be aware that Bishop also led unknowing readers to believe he is a Democrat based on his past affiliations and leadership position. Bishop is, in fact, a Republican. His strategic positioning attempts to obscure his current ideological leanings and lend credibility to a deeply unpopular selection to lead Florida A&M.
In truth, Bishop’s involvement doesn’t lend legitimacy to Johnson’s candidacy—it amplifies the very concerns that students, alumni, faculty and supporters have been raising all along.