First of all, I was happy to see that the photo was removed from the official’s Facebook page.  I knew it was not something they would allow if they had known it was there to begin with.  Although they are not currently running for public office, I think any politico understands that is not the sort of photo one wants on anything connected with them.  There are a certain segments of the population, especially older folks and the religious right who vote in higher percentages, who would be offended.  Such things can come back to haunt at the most inopportune moments.  Image is everything.

And the necessity of creating a professional image is the real point to this post.

There has been a bit of a discussion on one post about the importance of proper grammar and spelling by candidates.  I will relay a couple of related stories.

I have used this example before on the blog.  I don’t have children so school board elections do not garner a lot of attention from me.  The way I cast a vote in a school board election is that I first go through all the candidates’ statements in the voter’s pamphlet.  Any candidate who has a  statement with a grammar, style, or punctuation error in it gets disqualified.

My reasoning is that schools should be providing proper education including proper use of the English language.  If a school board candidate does not care enough about the English language to even make sure his/her own statement is without errors, then he/she is likely not going to care sufficiently about basic education.  I’m an advocate of the three R’s and Science and History first and foremost with all else taking a backseat.

My second example is from the 2008 election for the First District Supervisorial seat.  I had volunteered to work on Rita Vogler’s campaign.  Her husband Al, being the untrusting type that he is, didn’t really want anyone’s help, which helped to assure her defeat.  People who know me know how incredibly anal, Type A, I am about work product (the blog doesn’t count).  I am not afraid to red-line anyone’s work product if they ask my opinion.

After Rita’s first campaign piece came out I took a lot of ribbing from those who read it and know me.  I had nothing to do with it but I was as appalled as the next guy at the grammar, punctuation, style, etc.  I called Al and tried as gently as I could to suggest he allow me to look at the next one before it went to print.  All I got in return from those close to Rita was that they thought it was a great piece and were proud of it.  They also said they would worry about such things when elected and could pay someone to do it for them.  We all know how well that went.

Honestly, Al’s mailers were so bad even Red County San Bernardino picked them apart.  I tried to defend them but it was impossible.  As I said above, many die hard voters are from an older generation where such things are important.  Sloppiness gets noticed and can translate into lost votes.

My point again is image is everything.

I try to monitor all of the grass roots candidates and I’m not sure I’ve seen one yet put something out that is completely clean.   I know every one of you has your heart in the right place but if you really want to play with the big boys, you have to conduct your campaigns with the highest level of professionalism.  You do not have to have a large campaign war chest to put out quality work. There are a number of us who would help.  If you’re not a grammar, spelling or format expert, let us assist. Not only are we free with our criticism, our help is gratis as well.