Advice for PCOs #4: Avoid Sleaze

Avoid Sleaze.

This bit of advice might seem to conflict with Advice for PCOs #3, but the matter is more subtle than that. On a local level, we do not advise our operatives to engage in smear campaigns involving the deployment of attack ads, or to bend campaign finance regulations. The first, aside from being obnoxious, can backfire severely precisely because of the obnoxious character of such a tactic, especially on the local level. On such a level of political operations, there are few people who have the patience for such polarization, and it can do more harm than good for candidates in such offices, in that such campaign methods can leave a very bad taste in the mouths of voters.

This is because that at this level of politics, more voters are more likely to know each other personally, including people who might suddenly find themselves on different sides of the political fence. If two neighbors find themselves on opposite sides of such a fence, and they are incited against each other by one or more irresponsible campaigns, they will still have to be neighbors after the campaign is over, but now with the possibility of not being on speaking terms. Therefore, wiser voters might choose to avoid speaking or dealing with any campaign entirely for the sake of avoiding such a situation, resulting in candidates losing such prospective supporters.

Two exceptions to this philosophy include the tactic of using an opponent's bad record to define them from the start of a campaign, though at the local level, this is unlikely to be beneficial in the long term for the reasons mentioned above. It can certainly be effective if the opponent with a bad record is an entrenched incumbent, and if the candidate is running as a reforming firebrand, but this is a rare situation for which there is no guarantee. The second exception is to only use attack ads if the opponent uses them first.

The other main source of sleaze to avoid is failing to adhere to campaign finance laws. Such failure can sink a campaign entirely, especially if an opponent is savvy enough to take advantage of such a scandal. Although this problem has dogged politicians of all affiliations, a relevant example that comes to mind is that of conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza infamously got jail time for financing a Republican political candidate via straw donors. The last thing any political organization needs is a reputation for such shady dealings.

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