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Blessed
03-19-2010, 04:16 PM
I'm struggling here... my brother-in-law is running for Alderman in our city and decided last night that he does want a flier - it will be 4 1/4" x 11" - his name, picture, etc...

The part I'm having trouble with is the brief "here's why you need to vote for me" thing. I have too stiff, and too cheesy - suggestions on how to rework this a bit?

First too stiff: (and sounds just like everyone else out there - including his opponent in the race)

• I will represent the constituents of Ward 1 and will
not be tied down by any political affiliations.

• My primary goal is to work with the Mayor and
other Aldermen to create a balanced budget for
Greenwood and ensure that we have an emergency
fund in place

• Secondarily I will work to see our roads and other
infrastructure repaired, improved and upgraded

• Finally, I will help develop a strong Economic
Development Committee who will work to bring
new business into our community.


Finally - too cheesy - in an effort to make him sound more like just a regular guy who wants to try out being an alderman for 2 years but has no further political aspirations:

I am a businessman who loves my family and cares about my community. My experience on the Planning and Zoning Board has let me see the potential our community has to grow and improve, but the political in-fighting between Aldermen who are aligned with special interest groups and the Mayor have stifled our city and left us with an out-of-control budget, pot-holes and weak economic development. I want to see that change, so I am asking for your vote on April 6th and then I want your input on how to make Greenwood a great place to live and raise a family.

I realize this kind of advice is hard to give without having the whole background story to the political issues in my small town, but... I really think the key is to land somewhere between the first and the second copy I've written. Any tips would be appreciated.

Spider
03-19-2010, 05:16 PM
I don't think the second one sounds cheesy.

Break it up with paragraphs and I think it will come across just fine.

vangogh
03-19-2010, 06:54 PM
I agree with Frederick. I think the second one sounds really good actually. It comes across as being an honest reason for why he's running for Alderman and also happens to be about something I think most people could rally around.

Blessed
03-19-2010, 08:15 PM
thanks guys - I'll play with the formatting and make it look good then!

Patrysha
03-19-2010, 09:42 PM
Yeah, the second one is one I'd want to read...

Don't tell me about the issues, tell me why they matter...

Peter Zink
03-22-2010, 05:29 PM
Blessed,

Did some tweaking on this. I rearranged and tried to hone down the writing a little bit to really get the points across. I tried to pull out the main point of each bullet and then immediately follow with some elaboration:

Quote:
• CONSTITUENTS FIRST.The people of Ward 1 will always come before the needs of any political group.

• A BALANCED BUDGET. Together with the Mayor and the city of Greenwood, we will create a balance budget with an emergency fund for any rough times ahead.

• SAVING INFRASTRUCTURE. I will fight to have your roads and infrastructure repaired and upgraded without breaking the bank.

• STRONG BUSINESS. With the help of a new Economic Development Committe, we will attract new businesses into our community.


I am a businessman who loves my family and cares about my community. My experience on the Planning and Zoning Board has let me see the potential we have to grow and improve. Unfortunately, political in-fighting between special interests has stifled our city and left us with an out-of-control budget, worn infrastructure and weak economic growth. I want to see that change, so I am asking for your vote on April 6th.

I know it won't be easy, but with your help we can make Greenwood a great place to live and raise a family.

Blessed
03-22-2010, 07:10 PM
Thank you Peter - I'm not sure I have room for all of that, but I appreciate the input and will post back with an image of the completed flier.

Peter Zink
03-22-2010, 10:35 PM
No problem, hope it helps! Look forward to seeing the flyer!

Blessed
03-22-2010, 11:24 PM
We played with a bunch of different arrangements of the pieces - he decided that he didn't want the flier to say much, he has supporters volunteering to walk their streets and pass them out to the neighbors - so basically this is just something for us to hand to people when we talk to them - a way to help them remember his name when they get in the voting booth and have to pick between him and the other guy.

Here it is - thanks again everyone for your help.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/CrazyDogsBlog/BusCardSamples/PoliticalFlier.jpg

Peter Zink
03-24-2010, 12:11 PM
Looks good, glad it worked out!

KristineS
03-24-2010, 01:13 PM
I think that will work. Let us know how it goes.

vangogh
03-24-2010, 10:37 PM
Yeah, Jenn let us know how everything turns out. Will you be able to track the influence of your work on the campaign?

Blessed
04-07-2010, 12:23 AM
Well - he lost only getting 36% of the vote. His opponent took 62%.

However... I really think this is more a case of the guy that spent the most money is who won. My brother-in-law spent $104, his opponent spent an easy $1000. He had big banners all over town - at least 10 of them, a few hundred signs, a handout that he went door-to-door with and t-shirts with his name and "alderman ward 1" on them that he gave out to the kids. My brother-in-law refused to take any donations because one of the big problems we've had in this town is people donating to campaigns and then expecting the candidates to dance to their tune. The other guy is new to town and is neighbors with one of the worst offenders and one of the biggest problems we've had in town for a long time. She is very sweet to your face, but is the biggest back stabber around and has been bought off by the company the town just won a 13 million dollar judgement from too.

Throughout this campaign we've seen the other guy try to distance himself from those supporters and he and my brother-in-law have actually developed a healthy respect for each other. Hopefully the man can stand on his own two feet and will refuse to dance to the piper's tune now that he's in office. Only time will tell.

As for my influence on the campaign... I think that garnering 36% of the vote with what we did against what we were up against isn't bad. True, all of that 36% didn't come from my work, but some of it did. The rest of it came from people who know my Brother-in-law or who he talked to and won over by stating his platform, his goals, his agenda for the city.

vangogh
04-07-2010, 10:28 AM
Oh well. Can't win them all. You were outspent 10-1 which is a big difference. Is your brother in law thinking of running again in the future?

Blessed
04-07-2010, 01:56 PM
hard to say if he will run again - it depends on how things go in the next year. He might. He's been on the P&Z board for 2 1/2 years and is definitely planning on staying involved there!