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In the future, I plan on running for office. I love New Jersey and America, and I feel both can use a vision. I don't want to run for statewide office, just town council, Mayor, then freeholder. My top priorities would be to;
- keeping taxes low, reducing taxes
- creating a friendly business environment
- improving infrastructure
- having accountability in education
- combating illegal immigration
- balancing the books
Good luck. Just curious, is illegal immigration a big issue in your town? Or is this just important to you from an ideological perspective?
The U.S. spends $110 billion annually on illegal immigration, and that is a lot of money. Furthermore, illegal immigration is not fair to those who come here legally. So, it is really just my belief, ideological and just my view.
In the future, I plan on running for office. I love New Jersey and America, and I feel both can use a vision. I don't want to run for statewide office, just town council, Mayor, then freeholder. My top priorities would be to;
- keeping taxes low, reducing taxes
- creating a friendly business environment
- improving infrastructure
- having accountability in education
- combating illegal immigration
- balancing the books
If I run, it will be as a republican.
I am sure you will succeed. You sound like a politician.
If we just don't look at #1. All your other items requires increase in staff, which will increase the size of government. So how are you able to keeping taxes low?
Balacing the books is easy for politicians, revenue = expenses. Their revenue come from tax, and they just increase tax and the book is balanced.
The U.S. spends $110 billion annually on illegal immigration, and that is a lot of money. Furthermore, illegal immigration is not fair to those who come here legally. So, it is really just my belief, ideological and just my view.
I'll bite. Just what would your ideological plan entail in order to fix the issue, especially considering your looking to run for a local office.
In the future, I plan on running for office. I love New Jersey and America, and I feel both can use a vision. I don't want to run for statewide office, just town council, Mayor, then freeholder. My top priorities would be to;
- keeping taxes low, reducing taxes
- creating a friendly business environment
- improving infrastructure
- having accountability in education
- combating illegal immigration
- balancing the books
If I run, it will be as a republican.
Good luck! Isn't that the agenda for most of the politicians?
It is easy to write 6 bullet points but how do you actually plan on doing each of those? Can you shed some light on your action plan?
Take a few moments to think about your past, your online postings, what you did in school, what your relatives and friends do/say, your spouses background and if you have kids, what their situation is. Deciding to become a politician, especially if you are seen as a legitimate candidate means that people will start to look for the skeletons in the closet and finding things in your past or among your associates that they can use to paint you as a hypocrite.
Additionally, you will now be considered a public figure and lose the anonymity of being a regular person. This has broad implications for not only you, but everyone around you. Make sure your spouse is onboard and ready to deal with that, including people saying mean things about you and if you have kids take some time to really consider whether it is best for them.
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I love New Jersey and America, and I feel both can use a vision. I don't want to run for statewide office, just town council, Mayor, then freeholder.
Visions are great, but each of those levels requires a slightly different vision. What is good for your town is not necessarily what's good for the county, etc. Having your "values and vision" is great, but you need to find specific actionable items that will appeal to voters that you can then apply these "values and visions" to. Often in local elections this means pandering to people who have specific problems that they hope you will address. In an average town of say 10k people, MAYBE 500 will actually vote. You need to find who those people are and what they care about or try to do the impossible and enfranchise a new voting block.
Basically, you need to realize that getting elected has nothing to do with your character, vision, values, etc. and everything to do with getting elected. Think about that, it is the thing that most people who want to get into politics fail to realize.
You ultimately have two ways to go about it:
1. Find a leverage issue that is pissing enough people off that you can take the populist stance on and get elected under the mandate to fix it.
2. Find out who the actual voting block is in your town and find a way to get yourself aligned with them. In most towns, there is a "cabal" of power brokers made up of the incumbents (the sitting council/mayor), existing public officials (police/fire chief, town admin, etc.), town centered associations (business association, volunteer fire, etc.) and the school board. These people "annoint" the candidates and put their weight behind the people they like.
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My top priorities would be to;
- keeping taxes low, reducing taxes
- creating a friendly business environment
- improving infrastructure
- having accountability in education
- combating illegal immigration
- balancing the books
Those are all great soundbites, but none of it matters and you are probably better off not talking about them. If you are going to run on a national party ticket, then you will adopt their general standpoints on these broader issues even if your specific ideas on how to address them differ. You need to find a way to show how these stances can be applied to better the town you want to run.
Some of your stances ultimately have no impact or actionable ability at the local level. For instance, accountability in education and combating illegal immigration are not things the town council tends to deal with or has any real power over.
The rest comes down to your towns particular situation. Is the business environment bad, why is it bad, what can you do to change it? what infrastructure does the town actually control, how can you improve it, how are you going to pay for it? You want to keep taxes low and/or reduce taxes, how are you going to do that, is it even an issue in your town?
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If I run, it will be as a republican.
Who runs the show now in your town? At a local level the general political affiliation tends not to matter as much as the other factors. However, the same party tends to be entrenched at a local level for decades with little movement. If you live in a 'D' dominated town, you are going to have a very hard time getting elected outside of a major wedge issue as described above. If you live in a 'R' dominated town or an area that is drifting that way, you need to get yourself aligned with the 'R' machine in the area.
If you are in a traditional 'D' town, chances are no one even runs on the 'R' ticket, so getting yourself on the ballot is as easy as talking to the local 'R' party folks who will do a little vetting and then let you run, but chances are won't provide much support. If your town is a traditional 'R' town then you need to get affiliated with the party and start earning your stripes working in elections and getting involved so that when an opening happens they will consider you for it.
Overall, nothing wrong with wanting to run, but you don't sound like you have much of an agenda other than wanting to be in politics. Do you currently attend the council meetings? Do you read and understand the town budget? Do you actually have any specific ideas that would provide positive change?
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