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.

That being said, I’m not particularly ready to throw in the towel and sit back while so many completely corrupt incumbents have an easy time of it, spending their war chests on criminal defense and living the high life.  Some of them are incredibly cocky about their expected victories before even knowing the entire list of candidates running against them.  They know they have the big bucks to finance their campaigns if they need it.  We know who they are and who the contributors are who will give them unlimited funds to assure they stay in office.

But as was recently proven in Massachusetts, we really shouldn’t give up.  Shoe-ins can be shooed away.  There are some fine grass roots candidates whose hearts are in the right place even if they don’t have wealthy developers and Indian casinos behind them.  What we can’t match in millions of dollars in contributions, we can make up for with some volunteer time and our votes.

I have been talking with the candidates and I have some ideas where we could give them some help.  If you are interested in donating a few hours of your time to help elect men and women of integrity to public office, email me at sharon@iepolitics.com.

Also, we are considering starting a grass roots political action committee—something very small—just enough to offset expenses.  Because of all I have gone through in the past few months, I want no part of handling the money for now.  We would need a treasurer.  And of course, we would need some donations.  Because we are looking to involve people, not their checkbooks, we are more interested in a few hundred people that could donate $5 or $10 or $20.  We want this to be an effort of the people, not of the already powerful.

For the candidates that I haven’t already spoken with in person, if you are not currently an officeholder, we want to involve you whether you are running for water board, city council, board of supervisors, the state assembly, Congress or any other elective office whose base is somewhere in San Bernardino County.  There is power in numbers, and if we all work together, I believe we can kick the bums out.