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June 21, 2008
Marti Rutherford is already running again?
I received a campaign mailer today; you know, one of those glossy, double-sided, 6 X 9, red-white-and-blue deals with a picture of the candidate on it.
The slogan on one side, poised over a big red "vote" check mark, says:
YOUR REALTOR
The other side provides her contact info, real estate affiliation and a mission statement.
Now, this may* be harmless, albeit long on gimmick; but one would think that the to-do over her using double-sided business cards as an elected official (showing her Realtor® info on one side, and her City Council info on the other), taken with her public comments to the effect that she has not ruled out running for city office in the future, would have prevented this particular advertisement from being chosen.
Then again, this is Marti Rutherford. She knowingly ran for election to represent a district in which she did not reside; she has been observed advising people to fill out official petitions by adding names from outside the jurisdiction, or simply making them up; and so we know she is not exactly a stickler for propriety.
*Thinking about this some more: I want to know exactly how the addresses used for this mailing were obtained. If they were from leftover (and/or future) political campaign lists, that's a serious problem, isn't it? Our household received two of them, each with one of our names on it: the same way that we receive political mailings (but not, generally, commercial ones). Most real estate advertisements are made out to "Homeowner" rather than addressed to each registered voter in the home. Hmmm.
Chattanooga City Elections | By joe lance | 6:59 PM
Comments
She got the mailing list the same place everyone else gets it, on a CD from the Election Commission for $35.
Funny part is since two of you at the same address got one, it shows how not savvy politically and business-wise Marti Really is. It's called 'householding'. A term that means you remove duplicate addresses to cut down on postage cost. That's the first thing you learn in Direct Mail 101.
Marti is wasting money again, although this time it's her own.
Posted by: Adam at June 22, 2008 10:30 AM
I should clarify that by 'everyone' I mean politically involved people. It just so happens a lot of these people are also involved in commercial and civic activities. Registration data purchased by these people no doubt ends up used for these other purposes (as we see Marti has likely done).
And I think the City of Chattanooga shouldn't get a free pass. They apparently broke this law as well.
http://civicforum.chattablogs.com/archives/2007/08/ben-cunningham-on-the-littlefield-newsletter.html
Posted by: Adam at June 22, 2008 12:45 PM
No, the City should not get a free pass. I was going to tie in to that, and somehow lost my way. Thanks for bringing me back.
Posted by: joe lance at June 22, 2008 12:57 PM