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It’s interesting to those of us who watch and talk elections. There are people and candidates who would claim elections knowledge, yet exhibit none in actions, ads or commentary. Being remotely plugged into the process would yield more knowledge than many are showing us in this Primary Election season.
Example one: just last week a former candidate and would be political influencer confused the roles of the county commission and the city council in Florida government. He wasted his time and that of the county commission by addressing them on a city of Palm Bay issue. This man has run for office at the state level (thank God we didn’t elect him) and apparently thinks city governments answer to county, and arguably the county and cities to the state. We saw enough of that with Richard Corcoran’s Florida House. I wonder if this guy knew just how Republican he seemed.
Example two: several candidates failed to list contact information with election authorities forcing those wishing to make contact with them away from an expected path of information to what? Google searches? Even with that, when you are lining up interviews and treating all candidates equally, you like to have a consistent path of information like email for all. When that fails and you have called for an email and get no response, it makes you wonder just who may be minding the campaign store. Absent that contact, the interview schedule is posted and promoted for their review. Still some do not respond.
Example three: This comes from various campaign actions, ads and I have seen. People with apparently zero knowledge of campaigning in Brevard, or at times campaigning in general, are making obvious mistakes. Things like:
Highlighting an opponent’s name and photograph in ads YOU pay for
Mentioning the opponent 4 times in an ad before YOUR NAME is even mentioned
Featuring issues that are not BREVARD issues in BREVARD races
Highlighting state or national issues in a local campaign
Initiating a fight with Brevard’s most powerful lobbyist as a campaign tactic
Sending campaign mailers long before people are interested in the election
There are some folks who are clued into politics in Brevard. The people orchestrating these stunts are not those people. Hiring some clown from Tallahassee, Tampa or Miami, no matter their previous experience outside of Brevard, is a huge mistake. They don’t know Brevard issues. They don’t know Brevard voters. They don’t know Brevard campaigning.
I am sure there are other examples forthcoming. I almost dread seeing them. And I certainly dread us electing anyone hiring those folks whose only interests are making money off of campaigns and not seeing Brevard to good choices in the election.
If I were a candidate I would find an advisor who knows the drop dates for mail ballots and how to work them with ads and mailers and can show that success. I would find one who knows and understands the duties of the office sought and what it takes to be successful in that role. He would know that I am the candidate and I will always be in charge of my image and the tone of my campaign, for I, not he, am ultimately responsible. I would hire an advisor who would be the on the ground person IN Brevard for my race and not try to direct it from afar. He would know and understand Brevard issues and follow my direction on how those issues would be addressed. And, he would know that my hard earned campaign dollars, be they from me or from donors, would not be giving my opponent any name recognition whatsoever. If this advisor could not do all of those things, he would not be the person for the job.
So far in this season, this person is absent from campaigns in Brevard.