by Jack Lee
As you may already know, I was entertaining the idea of running for the State Assembly in District 3. Maybe you have thought about running for office too at some point in your life? Well, it’s a big decision and here’s some of my observations on the process of just considering to be a candidate. Ok, aside from the fear factor of having your entire life on display and subject to criticism and mudslinging, you better love red tape….
If you love paper work, running for election is going to have you in hog heaven. You’ll be reading and filing all sorts of legalistic forms and doing it in triplicate half the time and you better be good at it too, because one serious mistake could potentially send you to jail or get you a big fat fine!
Of course if money is no object then you can just hire some people to take care of all that….not to worry.
In my case I have to worry! I don’t have much money, so here is a sample of what I would have to deal with as an Assembly candidate…Form 400 (1/05) — Slate Mailer Organization Statement of Organization Form 401 (1/05) — Slate Mailer Organization Campaign Statement Form 402 (1/05) — Slate Mailer Organization Statement of Termination Form 410 (1/05) — Statement of Organization Form 425 (1/01) — Semi-Annual Statement of No Activity for Non-Controlled Recipient Committees Form 450 (1/05) — Recipient Committee Campaign Statement-Short Form. Form 460 (1/05) — Consolidated Campaign Disclosure Form. Form 461 (6/06) — Independent Expenditure Committee and Major Donor Committee Campaign Statement Form 465 (1/05) — Supplemental Independent Expenditure Report Form 470 (1/05) — Officeholder/Candidate Campaign Statement-Short Form and Form 470 Supplement Form 495 (1/05) — Supplemental Pre-Election Campaign Statement Form 496 (1/05) — Late Independent Expenditure Report Form 497 (1/05) — Late Contribution Report Form 498 (1/05) — Late Payment Report (Slate Mailer Organizations) Form 501 (1/05) — Candidate Intention Statement Form 511 (1/02) — Paid Spokesperson Report Form 900 (6/05) — Prior year versions of campaign disclosure forms.
And this brings us to the Candidates Manual #1 issued by the Fair Political Practices Commission and it’s only a mere 144 pages long! !
This election process also involves the Secretary of State. You go there to get your candidates application packet. That packet hasn’t been prepared yet for the 2008 election, but I am told in 30 days it should be ready and they will mail it to me. I am the first on their list…imagine that? First.
No, I haven’t made a decision to run yet, but there’s still plenty of time, the primary is not until June of 2008. So, I’m still in the gathering of information stage and speaking with friends and family trying to decide if we should undertake such a huge effort.
Part of that gathering will be a couple of interviews with professional campaign consultants. These are the people that assess a candidate’s strong and weak points, then they try to package that in some easy to understand product that will resonate well with the voter. “Uh, but I don’t want to packaged!!“, that was my first reaction. Then I thought hey, I’m me, what you see is what you..thats the package! But, I also understand that having some professional advice is going to be necessary if I am going to make a credible run…otherwise I am just going to be a marginal candidate of no consequence. I will be wasting my time and my supporter’s time…if I allow that to happen. So, IF I run, I have to make a real committed effort! I have to run to win (but I refuse to do whatever it takes to win). I will have to assess what I have to offer, refine it and put it on display for the voter’s approval. It also means I better be really careful that I never change my core values to fit the situation or violate my personal prime directive (see above in parenthesis).
I can see what Dan was talking about in his previous comments, he’s right and it’s what I hate about politics!
When you think about running for office it sounds easy at first, but it’s not… as we are all finding out. There’s a lot to do and a lot to consider. And it’s not just about me running, if it was, this decision would be a whole lot easier. It’s about my friends and family. It’s about us giving up a lot of our time, energy, money and privacy. So if I run, I better worth it and have something to offer or it could turn into something I will seriously regret for the rest of my life…but, then there is the flip side. This is the side where people ought to reach a little higher, try a little harder and do the right thing for the right reasons when the time comes. It’s easy to see how my time has come, heck I’m 60 years old and as age and politics go, it’s probably now or never.
More to follow….