Getting Organized

It is Daunting

Yesterday, I blogged about fraud and money and how it raises the costs of all campaigns. You might call it “trickle down costs”. As every campaign at the top of tickets gets more expensive, lower ticket races get more expensive. If there is fraud, like we talked about yesterday, the price gets artificially inflated, but it affects all prices in the entire campaign stack.

When you are a private citizen sitting in your armchair and you make the decision to jump into a race, you are confronted with a huge tableau of rules and laws that I guarantee you don’t understand. In many states, those things are designed to trip you up and stop good people from entering the race. It’s just another barrier to entry.

In some cases, they are there for transparency. Even though there is cheating in some places, no one likes cheating. At least, even if they like cheating, they won’t admit it.

So, if you decide to jump into a race, who should be your first hire?

I thought about that a lot. I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of advice from people very experienced in the game. People who knew told me two things.

Because I networked at different places, I was very lucky to meet a couple of people who were able to make some very good introductions, and now they are continuing to do so, which helps quite a bit. I have told them how appreciative I am of them, but I am doing so publicly now. If you are going to win even a small election, you need a lot of people pulling on the rope.

The first thing you will do if you are a newbie like I am is interview consultants and find one that fits with you. If you don’t know anyone, your local party chairperson will definitely know a few. You need to know that person anyway, not because they will raise money for you, but because they know people. They are amazing resources and fascinating people in their own right. It’s fun to get to know them and listen.

Make sure the consultant has the knowledge and time for you. See what advice they give you in your conversation. Consultants approach things differently, and it is not that there are good ones or bad ones; they are just different. Consultants are worth a blog post on their own. It is a game I had heard of, but truly didn’t understand.

Number two, hire a compliance/treasurer. Since you are dealing with money, you do not want to mess it up. You can hire this person before you hire your consultant. Any good consultant will have a go-to compliance person they work with.

My first real hire was the compliance person. Wherever you live, there are firms dedicated to compliance so you don’t run afoul of any local, state, or national laws. You are trying to go from citizen to public servant and help people. The last thing you want is to do a perp walk in an orange jumpsuit.

When most people start to think about the organization of a campaign, they think in terms of purpose, the way they will deliver their message, and marketing. That is certainly important, but frankly, it’s centered on you. You need to leave “you” out of it. The job you are trying to get isn’t about you anyway; it’s about citizens.

That’s why I find it funny when I see so many career politicians say they want to “serve,” but it is more about “serving themselves”. They are first in the chow line.

Just like any great restaurant, the plumbing is crucial, and it has to work. That’s what the compliance people make effortless, so you can worry about the front of the house.

You cannot do this unless you have the back office set up and organized.