First of all, I want to thank Rob, Mange, Horatio, Vlad and any others who I missed that said some nice things about my
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Mayor_Shredder — 8 years ago(November 16, 2017 11:19 PM)
Rob, I've got to say, when you do something like this, you learn a lot about yourself too. One thing I learned is that I'm easily troll-able. I know, laugh away, it was obvious to you all. But for me, I thought I had self control. Until I got trolled during the campaign.
On one of the social media apps I was using to spread my message, there was a woman who was demanding that all candidates answer her questions. We were reading what she was asking and texting each other (the other candidates) that she's a troll and to not take the bait. But me being me, took the bait to one of her questions and next thing I know, I'm in a back and forth with a troll. My replies were all well thought out and articulate, but that didn't matter. I still got the typical troll responses, that kept me responding. After the third reply, I got a text from a colleague, asking me to delete my replies. Because even though they were articulate, the opposition can still tear it apart, word for word and use it against me. So I deleted everything.
After that, my staff took away my social media privileges and told me that I'm not allowed to reply until they discussed what I should reply and how to word it first. Gotta say, I'm so glad I had these people. I can't say enough about how Awesome my staff was. Without them, my campaign would be down the toilet. -
Mayor_Shredder — 8 years ago(November 17, 2017 12:23 AM)
I'm not interested in fighting with you guys. I came back to answer questions because I thought you all might be interested knowing what the experience was like. But if not, then I won't be posting here. If anyone has any questions, I'll answer them. If not, I'll go back to my awesome life, and you all can go back to your miserable ones. Have a wonderful life.
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Mayor_Shredder — 8 years ago(November 17, 2017 01:01 AM)
I raised $15,000, spent about $5,000 of my own money. It occurred in waves. The first three months was building the infrastructure. Website, social media, forming the Committee to Elect and hiring the staff. The second wave were the ads and flyers that we mailed or handed out at various events. I probably spent just short of $20,000 total. I'll have to look at my finance report for the exact amount, but I'm too lazy to pull that out.
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Mayor_Shredder — 8 years ago(November 17, 2017 01:29 AM)
I can give you a better cost breakdown if you want. My goal was to reach 10,000 voters, but I was only able to reach out to about 5,000. So, double the 20K and I should be able to reach my goal.
To give you an idea of what I was up against. The mayor already had $30,000 in funding before the campaign started, and he doubled that during the campaign. Plus, because he's buddy buddy with several land developers, he was able to put signs up all over the city where I was not allowed to.
You said in another thread that it's hard to unseat an incumbent. That couldn't be closer to the truth when you're up against a giant with 42 years of public experience, 4 times the money and has some powerful people as connections. -
Mangekyou — 8 years ago(November 17, 2017 01:40 AM)
You said in another thread that it's hard to unseat an incumbent. That couldn't be closer to the truth when you're up against a giant with 42 years of public experience, 4 times the money and has some powerful people as connections.
Thats why you spend the next two years, biding your time build some bridges of your own raise some funds, charm some co-eds to go door to door for you passing out flyers and get the woman vote and then find some 30 something-year-old woman that claimed that she was groped by him when she was sixteen, then step in and turn to the feminist vote, discredit the old career crooked politician and claim your victory.
If you win, I will personally fly up there to congratulate you, well to visit my son (assuming he's still there, then congratulate you as well.
dont give up dude. -
Mayor_Shredder — 8 years ago(November 17, 2017 04:19 AM)
Yeah, this is an entire process I'm just beginning to learn. To be honest, I didn't want to run for Mayor. The original plan was Councilmember. But I was asked to do it and I said, "no way." I knew I wasn't going to win. There was a plan, basically, a strategy that people put together to change the current structure of the government. They were actively seeking "electable" candidates to run for offices where they wanted their own people in. So, when I was approached, I said I'd be interested in running for City Council if I could get support and mentorship, because this was completely new territory for me.
I met with a Councilwoman who became my mentor, and we began working on 'how to get ready for politics' meetings. There were three council seats going up for election, but four people running. This was going to cause problems, the party knew it, the candidates knew it, and the only solution was if one of us ran for Mayor. So they asked me, and I said, "no way." Then we had a meeting to discuss how to work this campaign, and again, the only option was if one of us ran for Mayor. And no joke, they all looked at me. This was not an easy decision to make. I spent that night on my door steps with a 12 pack of Bud Light and just drank one after another until I ran out and then stumbled to bed. The next day, I woke up and filed my candidacy for Mayor.
My job was just to ruffle up some feathers. Out of 7 Council seats, including the Mayor, our party was the minority. If we could out one person, we got the majority. So, all I had to do was run a hard campaign, and either get elected, or get the three running for Council elected. We, The Slate, ran our strategy that way. It worked. The three got elected, we now hold the majority.
So now, the question is, "what is our next step?" I know I will run again. I just don't know for what office. I want Council. But I'm willing to do Mayor again. But these are things for future discussions with my team and the party. But, thanks for your advice. I will take it into consideration when we plan our future strategy. -
Mangekyou — 8 years ago(November 17, 2017 04:49 AM)
Well anyway, you got what? 2700 votes, that's actually pretty impressive against that old fat career politician and am genuinely impressed. I don't generally say these kinds of things lightly.
Good luck in the future political arena and I think maybe starting out lower may be the best chance you have, councilman country commissioner, hell even Justice of the Peace maybe lol. -
Mangekyou — 8 years ago(November 16, 2017 10:29 PM)
All kidding aside, no my son never tried to contact you via facebook but I did mention your campaign to him since he really does live just south of Novi.
What was the facebook profile or name that you think was him, idc if you post it here or not. I dont worry about that bs anymore and he never worried about it to begin with. -
Mayor_Shredder — 8 years ago(November 16, 2017 10:43 PM)
It was nothing unusual. The standard voter questions. I didn't reply, I normally let my staff handle those types of questions. However, I looked through the profile and he didn't strike me as a Novi voter. Then, the day after the election, he deleted his facebook. Then I read on one of the threads that you asked your son to contact me or something. That's when I thought that might have been him. I can't answer any of your other questions, because the account is gone and I didn't log down all his information.