My cable company gives me access to watch cable access channels from a variety of different cities. Thus I have the ability to watch a number of City Council meetings, of which I have no interest whatsoever. Except sometimes blog material.

So I was watching this council struggle with a very big issue. The council nor the issue, are of importance to the lesson. On this sitting council of 8 members plus a Mayor, only one person came to the meeting with a strategy what the council should do with this issue. One.  That’s it. One.

One person was willing to stick their neck out.

One person show leadership skills.

One out of nine.

That’s it.

That’s not enough.

I found this Fiscal IQ quiz. 

It ain’t easy.

It makes you think.

See how you do.

Just for the record I scored an 85.

Thanks to Fiscal IQ for the quiz!

An often asked question is  … where are all the good candidates for public office?

Well, approximately:

55% of citizens vote

20% Write or call elected officials

10% contribute to political campaigns

5% are active in a political party

Less than 1% run for office.

Where are the good candidates for public office?

Hoping someone else will do it.

Like everyone else I am intrigued, in a morbid curiosity way, by the Jerry Sandusky case.  It also has got me to thinking about my hometown’s version of Jerry Sandusky when I was a kid.

In my hometown we had an attorney who would cruise the night away, up and down Main Street, on the prowl. I can’t even remember how old I was when I was first warned by an older boy to stay away from the bald headed guy, smoking a big cigar, driving the convertible. I wasn’t even sure why I was suppose to stay away at the time, I just knew I was suppose to. As I got older I learned why.

It came as no surprise a few years later when he was murdered in his bed. I’ll forgo the rest of the details. You can guess what happened.

How many Jerry Sandusky’s are there out there?

Did every small town have theirs?

What happened to them?

Like I said … morbid curiosity.

I was attending a meeting where a citizen appeared to speak during the public input section of the agenda. She did a really poor job. She should have read Moving Mountains and Molehills Local Politics 101 where I write…

Come prepared to speak. I am amazed at people who come to a government meeting with every intention of speaking, and do not have their thoughts written down. They ramble on and repeat themselves. They jump from point to point in no coherent order. Good God, if you are going to appear at a public meeting, have your speech written out or notes to follow. After you have written out your speech, practice it. Yes, practice it. You know what happens when you practice your speech? You get better at reading and giving it. You naturally will find out where you should be changing your tone or inflection. Practice, Practice, and Practice some more. Your speech will more than likely only be a couple of minutes long. You can practice it ten to twenty times. You won’t be sorry, and neither will the audience. 

Use a “bullet point” approach. Since you are speaking, and the audience is not reading, up to six bullet points are allowed. 

Keep it as short as possible. I really don’t care what the issue is. At a local government meeting, you can say everything you need to say in a maximum of five minutes.  If you have a “visual presentation” to make, more time can be allowed. A “visual presentation”, by my definition, means PowerPoint, overheads, old-fashioned posters and graphs, etc. With visual aids, you may need 10 minutes. Run over 10 minutes at your own risk. Members get bored real easy at meetings and if you get them bored, your job just got tougher.

Good Luck! 

I’m often asked why anyone would run for public office.

How about:

1. Civic minded

2. Money

3. Challenge

4. Single Issue

5. Ego

6. Nobody else did

Any other reasons that you can think of?  Please comment if you do, so I can add it to my list.

I read with interest an article about how the state of Indiana “discovered” a missing $320 million. A mistake of some kind. A big mistake, but nevertheless a mistake.

What was most interesting was the sentence “Democrats in the legislature are asking for an investigation into how this happened and demanding assurances that it can’t happen again.”

You gotta admit that is funny. They are demanding that mistakes never happen again.

Good luck with that one.

Searching for a Christmas present for that local politician or citizen activist on your list?

Look no further… Moving Mountains and Molehills Local Politics 101 … is the solution.

When you order direct from the author (that would be me) the book will be signed and personalized if requested.

Volume discounts available for multiple purchases! Contact me for details.

In my last post I mentioned my card file. I’ve used a card file ever since my high school debate days. I was proud of my card file back then. I had a card in there to crush any opponent.

Later when I first ran for public office I revived my card file. I put one issue on each card and my short 2-3 sentence answer to that issue on the back. I would use them like flash cards. Whenever I came across a question I didn’t have in the file, I made a new card. I memorized those cards. When I was knocking on doors, or had a questions thrown at me, I was ready. I had the same answer today that I had yesterday for the same question. I always sounded like I knew what I was talking about, even when I wasn’t.

If you are running for office I recommend the same system. A little old fashioned maybe, but tested over the years. It works.

I keep a file box with quotes and sayings and tips and stuff. One of the cards I have in this box has the following leadership tip. I don’t know where it originally came from and can find no source for it now. But I’ve always liked it when I thumb through the cards.

Never leave it to a group to decide between spontaneous suggestions presented to it without forethought. While you should not insist every time that your proposal be adopted, you should have a proposal ready for each critical point of decision. That is the essence of leadership.

Leadership … It is almost like it is a lost art.