Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Social Media and Political Campaigns

During this last election I made a number of comments to facebook, blogs and twitter. I questioned the methods of those who refused to embrace the idea of social media. I have thought a lot about the questions that came back to me from candidates and readers. As we head into a new world flattened by technology, I believe we will see more candidates and political pundits embracing social media. At the same time we will have many nay sayers to the idea of new technology. The old days of writing letters and phone calls will still exist (for awhile), but are quickly being replaced with emails, twitter and facebook profiles. History is full of examples of people and groups who refused to embrace or even look at change.

Some examples:

  1. Western Union. They stated the idea of letter writing would never catch on and telegrams would always be the preferred method of communication.
  2. Kodak. They thought no one would ever use a digital camera. Digital is dumb.
  3. FranklinCovey. When I worked there they would say, "Paper has been around for 3000 years no one will ever use a digital planner or smartphone."
Each of these companies and their CEO's made fundamental decisions to not look nor embrace changes in technology. In fact they did everything they could to avoid it. You will also notice most of the CEOs left their companies once profits tanked.

Here is an interesting video and article on this very subject posted in UtahPolicy.org .



If you are newly elected or thinking about it, get involved with social media. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish. Don't push it away and write it off as a fad. Really look into this and see what it is all about. It isn't the solution to the best campaign or the best politician. But it is an amazing tool to push to the next level.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Legislative Distritict 10 Community Meeting

Rep. Brent Wallis is reaching out to the people this week. He is holding another one of his well attended Community Meetings. The meeting is scheduled for this Thursday at 6:30 pm at the South Ogden City Offices. Mr. Wallis said, "The intent of the meeting is to give a brief overview of some of the issues the 2010 Legislature will deal with as well as give me opportunity to listen to the people and the concerns and issues important to them."

Due to a scheduling conflict, I will be out of town; so I expect a full report from our readers. Should be a great meeting.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

And the winners are...

Jim Minster wins with 1114 Votes

Also Bryan Benard and Russ Porter enter the council with a high number of votes.

Final Totals:

  • Jim Minster 1114
  • Vickie Mattson 810
  • Russ Porter 1548
  • Bryan Benard 1240
  • Lamont Camp 763

Congrats to the winners!!!

Bryan and Russ getting a council orientation from Scott Darrington

Vickie talking to everyone after the announcement - she worked hard.


A blurry photo of Jim after his big win.





Election Results 2009

Just arrived at the City Offices to gather the results for tonights election stay posted to her or my twitter page for updates 

www.twitter.com/benjoem2

Monday, November 2, 2009

A few endorsements

I have decided to make a few personal endorsements of this years candidates. After much research and consideration the following would be my best choice for mayor and city council:

For mayor I am officially endorsing Jim Minster. Though I have enjoyed getting to know Vickie Mattson and wish her the best. Jim's campaigning has been impressive and I feel he has a deeper understanding of the local government; having worked directly for the police and fire departments. I wish him the best.

On the city council side I have decided to endorse Bryan Benard and Lamont Camp.

Bryan brings a great level of communication, listening skills and professionalism to the table. I love his passion and his desire to serve.

Deciding between Lamont and Russ was a tough decision; in the end I went with the person whom reached out to me best and connected with me on a personal level. As a matter of full disclosure, Lamont is my neighbor and I know him personally. I have made some attempts to connect with Russ, but in the end I was never able to finalize anything. Therefore I am going with the person I know best, that is Lamont Camp.


Sunday, November 1, 2009

Who is donating to your candidate?

This past week the financials of your favorite candidates were released and some interesting information can be concluded from their reports.
  1. There is a stark difference in the number of donors (and amount of money) from our top two candidates for mayor vs. our failed attempts by Mr. John Bradley and Mr. Rick Westmoreland. I found it interesting the number of donors and money spent. Over all the Mayoral Race has cost more than $10,000.
  2. One fact that can't be ignored is the number of donors and whom has donated. Many of the candidates only have themselves and a few close associates donating to their campaigns. But Jim and Vickie have a number of local residents (and some not so local) who are donating to their campaigns. This is encouraging to me that people in the community feel strongly enough about their candidate they are willing to donating.
  3. Jim Minster eats out a lot with his campaign staff. Every other expenditure was to a fast food joint. His fast food place of choice-McDonald's. Jim's campaign partook of the golden arches a number of 8 times out of 16 restaurant stops. Overall he spent $175 of his $3000 war chest on food.
  4. Russ Porter and Rick Westmoreland are reporting negative numbers for their campaign. Why? Either they have spent more than they have or haven't reported everything. I have an email into Russ about this. It is not uncommon for candidates to end up in the red, but since the spending level is so low in these races it concerns me, it is not like this is a million dollar race.
  5. Vickie wins the prize for most special interest groups with three donating to her campaign. Not sure if you can count Reagan Signs since they traditionally donate to everyone, but the Realtors Association and Northern Utah Realtors donated to her. No surprise with these donations, Vickie has worked as a Realtor and has many connections in the area.
  6. Lamont Camp's financials do not make sense. He has spent $444 and has had no donations, yet he his campaign balance is at $0.
For a complete look at all the financials please use the links below: