Advice for candidates and political hacs of all stripes
So, you've decided to participate in our political system and run for office or something. Great, fine, whatever, good on you. I used to say I had only one piece of advice for aspiring candidates:
- Don't be surprised when a jerk like me who works for a newspaper calls you up and asks about stuff like prior convictions, unpaid tax bills or why you haven't voted in a bunch of elections. Yes, we check that sort of stuff and yes, in some cases voters even care.
Now, I have two:
- Save your money for direct mailings or television or getting your campaign staff boozed up. There's no need to get a letter like this one (PDF) the SBOE sent to the North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesalers recently. The beer and wine lobby was facing $21,500 in fines Wednesday simply for filing campaign finance reports late. (That figure was dropped to $5,000 by the state board, by the way).
File your paper work on time and save your dough for something useful, like that 3,000th yard sign you can plop illegally in the right-of-way on Wendover Avenue for that extra bit of name recognition. Hmmm, come to think of it, you should probably use your money for something that doesn't give me license to use the word "illegally."