Jay Townsend - So You Want to Run for Public Office?: Things You Should Know and Do if You Want to Win

The Townsend Group Inc.

2012 All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 9781620954317

http://www.jaytownsend.com

Contents

About the Author

Speechwriter, debate coach, spokesperson, polltaker, television, print and radio advertising strategist, Jay Townsend has worked in four presidential campaigns, scores of U.S. Senate, Gubernatorial and Congressional races, and a myriad of County Executive, Mayoral, legislative and judicial contests.

Townsend has scribed speeches and award winning advertising copy for Patrick J. Buchanan, Senators Jim Jeffords (I-VT), Phil Gramm (R-TX), Pete Wilson (R-CA); Governors Mike Hayden (R-KS) and Pete Wilson (R-CA); Lt. Gov Peter Smith (R-VT); Congressmen Bill Lowery (R-CA), Bob Lagomarsino (R-CA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sue Kelly (R-NY) and Nan Hayworth (R-NY); Attorneys General Ken Eikenberry (R-WA), Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Robert Stephan (R-KS); San Diego Mayors Maureen O'Connor and Susan Golding.

Business clients include the Del Mar Partnership (shopping center in San Diego County), Kansas Consolidated Professional Resources, Circus Circus, San Diego Gas and Electric, Pioneer Advantage Corporation, Falcon Seaboard Resources, The Pyramid Companies and the Palisades Center Mall.

Hex owns JayTownsend.com , a website for public officials and frequently posts communications and writing tips on his blog .

His national awards include the nations best television commercial aired in a Gubernatorial race (1990), the best persuasion mail piece produced for a Presidential campaign (1996) and the nations best newspaper ad (2002). He has lectured on politics and political warfare at the United States Military Academy, the Marketing Research Association, the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, and numerous colleges and universities. He also has served as a guest commentator on FOX News since 2008. In 2010, he handily defeated the choice of the GOP establishment in New York for the right to run on the Republican and Conservative line against entrenched Senator Chuck Schumer. He received 1.5 million votes and forced Schumer to spend $19 million to defend his seat.

Townsends Story:

The Improbable Journey of a Hoosier Farmboy

U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy had no way of knowing that an impromptu speech delivered on the back of a flatbed truck in the ghetto of Indianapolis on April 4, 1968 would forever alter the life, the career and the destiny of a 13 year old Indiana farm boy watching television 100 miles from where he stood. In that moment Jay Townsend saw the power of words change the destiny of a city and the course of history. As other cities burned the night of Martin Luther Kings assassination, Kennedy beseeched the people in Indianapolis to refrain from violence and instead go to their homes and churches to peacefully honor, remember and celebrate the life of Dr. King.

Kennedy spoke for less than five minutes, ending his speech by offering to people in pain the words of Aeschylus, Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God. After Kennedy spoke, thousands of people quietly joined hands and went to their homes and churches to pray.

Inspired by Kennedys eloquence and power to move people with words, Townsend began entering speech contests. At age 17 he won Indianas statewide speaking competition and was named outstanding Senior in Forensics at his high school. He helped earn his way through Purdue University by winning speech and debate contests and was named the top debater in an international debate competition held in Alberta, Canada his senior year.

After finishing his B.S. degree at Purdue, he began graduate studies at Cornell University. While there he entered a writing competition sponsored by the New York State Senate and was awarded a fellowship to serve on the Senate Finance Committee during New York Citys fiscal crisis. He later served as a legislative assistant in the United States Senate. In 1980, he began his career as a wordsmith crafting speeches and advertising copy for a gubernatorial candidate.

Mr. Townsend served as a senior associate and partner in communications consulting firms before forming The Townsend Group in the early 1990s.

Since 1982, he has helped scribe the words and advertising copy for more than 300 different political candidates and business clients in more than 25 different states. Townsend is known for his ability to paint pictures with words, evoke the emotions of an audience and his crisp, concise, compelling copy. He has helped scores of public figures and business leaders advance their cause in the court of public opinion, manage crises, increase market share and compel their audiences to do the extraordinary.

Mr. Townsend earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from Purdue University in 1976 and 1982. He resides with his wife, Rebecca, and sons in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY.

Introduction

There are, by some estimates more than 500,000 people in the United States who hold elective office.

Half a million?

Yes. Our President. One hundred (100) Senators and Four hundred thirty five (435) members of Congress. Plus each of the 50 states has a Governor. With one exception (Nebraska), each state has two legislative bodies and some of those include as many as 400 members. There are more than 3,000 counties in the United States with a County Executive or County Board of Trustees and/or County Legislature. There are cities with a Mayor, Villages with a Mayor and nearly all have an elected City Council or Village Board. There are school boards, library boards, Town and Township Supervisors, Town and Township Trustees, District Attorneys, Sheriffs and Judges, Clerks, and Tax Collectors.

Nearly all stand for election at least once every four years, some every three, some every two and a few who must run each year. At election time, many draw one or more opponents, which simply put, means that over the course of four years in the United States there are as many as three million Americans who seek public office.

So You Want to Run for Public Office is a beginners guide to the process. And if you are thinking about running there are a few things you should know before you take that first step, before you spent a dime on a political consultant, or put your name on the ballot.

American politics is a game with very few rules but there are a few that have stood the test of time.

Chapter 1:

Things You Should Know, and Do, Before You Run

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Rules That Have Stood The Test Of Time