Whenever a candidate comes to me for advice (and it happens more often than you’d think), the first thing I tell ’em is to engage the press. And I try to explain that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to do it either. Given the cuts most newsrooms have had to endure, they’re looking for stories to come to them.
And Mr. Martinez did just that.
By addressing a “rumor” that, not only was Deputy Coroner Loren Carera supporting his campaign, but he was dropping her name faster than a Republican ring bearer at a gay wedding, Martinez managed to get some face time in the local newspapers.
Of course, he disavowed any notion of anyone playing favorites and called for the corornership to be a non-partisan position, but the truth is, who gives a flying you-know-what about any deputy coroner endorsement?
Then GOP candidate Rob Russell stepped right into it by claiming he wasn’t sure what Martinez was so concerned about and that various and sundry coroner staffers had privately come out in support of him.
This is Engaging the Press 101 folks. I figured Russell was a lock, but now I’m not so sure. Not only is he absolutely nothing to get excited about, but if Martinez can mobilize Elgin and Aurora while continuing to get his name in print, you never know.
And he has the best political name I’ve heard in years. Say it with me “Tao Martinez.”
My advice to the candidate would be to call Sheriff Pat Perez for exactly that kind of advice. And who knows what that kind of endorsement might do.
