Anticipate negative issues and plan
Too often, candidates for public office either minimize the significance of mistakes they have made in the past, or, they hope those mistakes won’t become public.
But in public life, there is no such thing as a secret. What there is, though, is spin. That means something that happened in your past could surface during your candidacy for public office and either be spun by your critics to harm you or spun by you to minimize the damage.
The damage in having the media or your opponents reveal your past problems will be far worse than the damage that will be experienced if you take control of your past problems.
Congressman Dan Lipinski and challenger Marie Newman debate at a forum hosted by Moraine Valley Community College in February 2018. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
A good example is the most recent disclosures about the past business practices of Marie Newman, who challenged U.S. Congressman Dan Lipinski for the Democratic Nomination in the March 20, 2018 Democratic Primary. (In Illinois, voters select in “primary” elections the candidate that will represent their political party, Democrats, Republicans and Independents. The primary election winners in each party then go on to face-off in the General Election in a subsequent date.)
The contest was very close with polls showing 12-days before the Democratic Primary election that Dan Lipinski, the seven-term incumbent, only had 43 percent popular support prior to the important party election while his challenger, business woman Marie Newman, had 41 percent. With a 3.9 point margin of error, the contest was up for grabs and both candidates were equal in the polls. That is an amazing achievement for a challenger to a veteran incumbent with strong Chicago Democratic Machine backing.
But 12 days before the election, the Chicago Tribune published an article which disclosed some negative aspects of Marie Newman’s business past. Click here to read the full story.
Basically, the lengthy story spelled out how Newman and her husband had entered in a restaurant business relationship, four years prior, with a “convicted felon” who was allegedly involved in “large-scale mortgage fraud.”
The timing of the story suggest that it may have been leaked to the Tribune by Lipinski’s allies. A negative story like that raises serious issues that Newman will have a tough time responding to and clarifying. It was published just as “early voting” was taking place, and could have a potentially negative impact on voters’ view of Newman.
Yet, Newman knew about the story. Did she hope that no one would know, or that her opponents wouldn’t throw it in her face days before the election.
It is not unusual for rivals to throw negative attacks at each other in the final days, especially if polling shows that the elections are close.
Newman could have taken control of the story by releasing it herself when she announced her candidacy many months ago. But she didn’t. She would have controlled the story. Certainly, the fact that it happened would impact some voters, but she would have had more than enough time to off-set some of the damage by showing voters that she is honest. And, in disclosing self-criticism, you also show a side to voters that you are honest. Not disclosing it creates a feeling of dishonesty, that you hid the negative news, or even lied about your past by not disclosing it.
Of course, Lipinski immediately issued a press release attacking Newman for her working relationship with the convicted felon. And Newman responded in the article explaining that she did not know of the business partner’s past.
Newman’s response would have greater impact had it come months sooner as she controlled the disclosure of the negative information. But in the wake of it being disclosed by the Chicago Tribune, it looks far worse.
The story will have a serious impact on the Primary election.
The lesson: Don’t hope that your negative past will not surface. Assume it will. Control the message about it and control the delivery. It will come out so control it, deliver it yourself in a manner that will build sympathy for your candidacy. Don’t run from it hoping it will go away. It won’t go away and 95 percent of the time, the negative that you try to hide is exposed and your efforts to hide it end up making you look worse. Assume it will get out and present it to the public, your target audience, in the best way possible.
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