To be precise, only “type four” voters (the rare breed who study the contenders thoroughly before voting) can be counted on to actually read election flyers - and there aren’t many of those. [“Type one” votes against one candidate by marking an ‘X’ for someone else; “type two” voters (my nemesis) support the candidate who will provide them with a personal benefit (for example, a job, tax reduction, recreation facility, microwave, toaster, peaches, or a meal); and “type three” supports an individual they identify with - because they belong to the same political party, club, or church, or with whom they share an occupation, hobby, alma mater, viewpoint, or something else deemed important.] For these dedicated individuals, I provide the following analysis of Greg Dionne’s 2009 civic election pamphlet, followed by an analysis of Brian Clavier’s main Ward 2 campaign flyer. Click each image to enlarge it.
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General Impression
This is an expensive flyer. Never mind the glossy (coated) paper stock, it’s in colour. The viewer first sees a picture [not a very recent one, since it was also used on the fridge magnet/note pads he gave away three years ago] that makes the guy look REALLY big. That’s helpful if people need a city councillor to wrestle for them - or, in this case, act as a personal on-call security guard [Nordale residents lap that up]. The photo imagery is thus directed at the type two constituency - seniors, specifically, who want personal security - and is reinforced by the double reference below the photo to his close association with the police function of the state, as well as the lengthy, prime-position “Community Safety” section on the back of the flyer.
Although the back of the flyer repeats the wavy banner we see above the photo on the front, its impact is diminished by the monotonous grey colouring. What’s worse, the overall graphic design easily surpasses the criteria required for entry into the ‘Extremely Boring’ category of election literature.
Fortunately, the front of the pamphlet has minimal text. This visual plus is overwhelmed, however, by the wordy, ungrammatical, over-wrought text crammed onto the back. Reproducing excessive verbiage for public consumption is meant to create a positive impression on type four voters, but even they can’t be asked to read this much. Remember, the majority of voters don’t read election pamphlets, so giving them an essay-length text is pointless.
Individually-Numbered Items
1. This is a perfect example of writing so inept that it totally misconstrues the thought it tries to express. If “Police Service call volume showing approximately 40% from outside our city” was truly a fact, then the PA Police Service should have handed those calls to the RCMP, since the PA Police Service has no jurisdiction “outside our city.” What the writer means [and I know this from having attended multiple PA Police Service presentations in the past five years, and reading the local daily newspaper] is that 40% of the calls that the PA Police Service members attend to involve police interacting with people who are not residents of Prince Albert. Of course, we can’t bill their home towns for having to deal with them, so the statement is meaningless - other than as justification for continuing the tradition of giving annual police budget increases that are larger than those given to any other city department [9% in 2009, when everyone else was restricted to 2%].
2. It would be helpful if this member of the Prince Albert Board of Police Commissioners knew the correct name of the body he sits on [as one of three city council members appointed to the five-person Board, itself just one of 63 committees, boards, and commissions that council members were appointed to in 2008]. Citizens should personally thank the councillor for advocating and approving increases to the police budget that total over 25% since 2006 - for a department whose budget shamelessly shows spending of less than $200 on fuel and oil for its fleet of gas-guzzling Chrysler and Ford vehicles in both 2007 and 2008 [a miracle of biblical proportions].
3. As President of the Canadian Association of Police Boards [odd, that the President of the CAPB doesn’t know the name of the organization he’s supposed to lead - see http://www.capb.ca], the councillor is supposed to ensure the Association works “diligently to achieve the highest standards as the national voice of civilian oversight of municipal police.” Apparently, being a cheerleader for federal legislation to create a new class of crime against seniors constitutes “oversight.”
4. Sibilants saturate this sloppy sentence. Is it really that difficult to write “so that the transit system services the needs of the community”? By the way, he didn’t “speak on behalf of the residents” when the new busing contract was approved at the November 23, 2009 council meeting.
5. Even at the municipal level of government, election advertizing is supposed to be authorized by a candidate’s official agent - not the candidate. If no one wants to do that simple job for the candidate, it usually means he’s a one-man show. The post office box referred to here is the only contact information in the pamphlet: no street address, e-mail, web site, or phone number is provided. The subliminal message to the reader? I don’t want you to contact me.
6. It’s fairly obvious that his lack of language skills is compensated for by his desire to please, provide, and protect. As for his time, it is amazing how he can manage a mall in Prince Albert, one in Saskatoon, and a third in Regina and still attend to all his council duties.
7. In Prince Albert, “perfect attendance” by council members is an abused concept: from 1980 until the November 23, 2009 council meeting, every council member was permitted to miss meetings during three weeks each year, and still have their attendance record publicly reported as “100%.” Naturally, this policy generates more fiction than fact. While the average number of regular, special, and committee meetings of council is two per week, there are fewer of them in June, July, and August. So if a council member was away for three weeks in March, he could miss seven or eight meetings, while a colleague who was away for three weeks in August might only miss two or three meetings. Nevertheless, if they didn’t miss any other meetings, both would have “100%” recorded [and publicly flogged] as their official attendance record. This ridiculously self-serving policy was finally terminated by a motion passed at the November 23, 2009 council meeting.
As for the councillor’s “perfect attendance,” his meretricious claim neglects to account for or explain the three-week-absence policy, or specify the time period for which he claims to have had perfect attendance - all omissions that devalue his claim. In fact, he was absent from the January 12 and May 25 regular council meetings in 2009, and missed the special meetings of council held on January 19, 2009; December 17, 2008; and August 23, 2007 [the City Clerk still keeps meeting minutes].
8. Again, there is no such thing as the “Canadian Board of Police Commissions.” Being elected President of the Canadian Association of Police Boards brings no benefits to residents of the City of Prince Albert; it does award the officeholder with additional meetings to attend and chair [and the opportunity to engage in self-aggrandizement].
9. A big “Please don’t say that!” for this all-too-common error: the correct expression is “In regard to . . .” [Think about it: the speaker doesn’t need multiple looks at the one item being presented.] This “Quick Look at the Voting Process” is truly condescending . . . read in its entirety, the section reveals self-reflection at its most banal.
10. Apologize? Okay. But tell people what you will do differently if elected!
11. Pray tell, on which motions did the penitent pontificator cast an “imperfect” vote? Was he, in fact, “unsuccessful” in voting “correctly”? Unless people attend council meetings, they don’t know how a councillor voted on every issue, since the Shaw cameras don’t show how everyone votes; recorded votes are rare [and have to be researched on the city’s web site]; and this councillor sometimes abstains from voting [famously, on the Northern Spruce housing project on 22nd St. and 5th Ave. West, in August 2009].
12. I guess everyone just knows that he manages the Gateway Mall, and they phone him there; otherwise it’s impossible to make this claim. [It’s hard to find his home phone number, since it’s not in the paper phone book or online directory. You can get his number by calling 411 - and pay 75¢ for the privilege, as noted on the phone bill below - or searching the City of PA web site.]
Given how fast and loose the pamphlet is with the truth, I’d feel better if we could see a summary of the complaints he’s received, one that includes the issues that were resolved. [A spreadsheet, such as the one I designed this year for use by MLAs, could easily convey such detail.]
The Loser’s Campaign Flyer (generally speaking)
This is what you’d expect when the candidate has limited campaign funds: while it’s printed on heavier paper (24-pound, 96 brightness), which alleviates the see-through problem that often arises from printing on both sides of a sheet, the inkjet printer used to print these gives a product whose ink runs when wet, and it just doesn’t have the cachet of three-colour offset printing.
You can tell that the itinerant councillor has worked on election campaigns, since the text is brief; the front photo shows intensity, and is mildly flattering (in front of a recognizable landmark in the ward, taken on August 23, 2009 ); it borrows, alters, and repeats a slogan from a successful campaign [Barack Obama made more headway with “Change you can believe in,” but he had the financial backing needed to get his message drilled into the electorate]; and the visual presentation is simple yet full of (straightforward) graphics [evidence of the De Stijl art movement’s influence on the candidate]. The use of four typefaces, in at least five different sizes, works because of the carefully segmented text and the large areas of empty white space [just like any good résumé].
Type four voters would be pleased to see that this guy is educated, can write a meaningful, grammatically-correct sentence, and doesn’t blather on about anything. Directed specifically at type four voters, he has to repeat the reference to more information being available on his blog. Actually, there’s also ample messaging directed at type one and type three voters, with a lack of consideration for the needs of type two voters clearly the pamphlet’s weakest element.
The inside of the pamphlet is less coherent than the exterior. On the interior, the visual presentation dominates the content. For example, the check-mark boxes are tacky, and awkward (because there are so many). At least the reader can readily see that the candidate cares enough to regularly attend council meetings, and puts in extensive, unpaid time and effort speaking at them about a variety of topics. [Most people elected to council have never spoken at a council meeting, and all those elected in the past ten years attended only a handful of such meetings (at best) before being elected].
Individually-Numbered Items
1. It sounds trite, but the most-asked question on a municipal campaign doorstep is “When’s the election?” This flyer reminds you of the date front, back, and inside - thoughtful, and smart. Using three different typefaces for the date was a good idea.
2. The candidate’s name should appear as many times as reasonably possible in a flyer [the worst excess in respect to this guideline is having the candidate’s full name at the beginning of every bullet point or sentence], and it should stand out from the text around it. Putting the name directly under the photo is ideal; it’s bad form, however, to scream at the reader. (In other words, using all upper-case lettering adjacent to a photo is a no-no, but elsewhere it’s okay).
3. The slogan is a simple twist on Obama’s 2008 campaign theme. It loses impact if the “you” is not visually differentiated from the rest of the phrase.
4. The candidate mentions his environmental bent on the front, the back, and the inside of the flyer, so including the plea to recycle in all three locations should be expected. Unfortunately, only election flyers that I have designed plead with voters to do the responsible thing with paper campaign material. It should be standard wherever paper recycling exists.
5. References to educational background are purely for the benefit of type three and type four voters - a distinct minority of the electorate. Types one and two don’t care if a candidate’s most noteworthy scholastic achievement was dropping out of Okeefenokee Junior High in the first week of September. This litany of learning laurels is useless on a campaign flyer (though it does lend credibility to the ambition expressed in the sentence that follows it).
6. Here we finally have a goal statement, the achievement of which is plausible given the introductory phrase. The problem is, Prince Albert voters don’t care about “sustainability.” [It could easily be argued that they care about, and are motivated by conspicuous consumption, distancing themselves from “the unwashed masses,” and guaranteed redemption at Armageddon.] The mention of financial health is good, but should have gone on to directly refer to property taxes and the city’s long-term debt.
7. This is a comprehensive listing of contact information for the candidate. [No one can say this guy’s hiding in a post office box.] It gives everyone, regardless of technological capacity, an opportunity to contact him with the technology they are most comfortable using. Locating this summary on the back of the pamphlet is the best place for it.
8. These numbers show the candidate is indeed dedicated to monitoring city council’s activities. It means more when you realize that he spoke at the podium at the meetings he attended, based on his prior reading of documents available to the public. Unfortunately, this type of intellectual philanthropy is irrelevant to all but type four voters. [Had he promised a Wal-Mart or Co-op gift card for every residence in the ward - or beer and pizza, as requested by a couple of electors - that would have generated some positive buzz.]
9. Again, the candidate indicates he does something that is of limited interest to type one and type two voters. Types three and four appreciate this work, but it does require some effort from them to verify the candidate’s claim. [If voters could be convinced that there is entertainment or educational value to be derived from reading the blog, that would be a plus. Perhaps he should have added, “Read it - and be prepared to be entertained, enraged, enlightened, and/or enthralled.”]
10. In municipal ward campaigns, it’s supposed to be important to actually live in the ward. Mr. Clavier’s emphasis on both living and working in Ward 2 means he works out of his home, so probably knows what’s happening in [and important to people living in] this geographic area. This should resonate with the electorate, except that only a select few know where the ward boundaries are, and this ward is both the largest and most diverse one in the city. Ultimately, voters want their councillor to know what’s happening on their street, in their back yard, so every candidate has to proclaim his intimate familiarity with the ward [even if he works in two other cities, and spends countless hours each week travelling between his home, multiple workplaces, and cottage].
11. Aside from providing the details for contacting the candidate, this downsized phrase gently blurts out a request for assistance (of any kind). Impoverished campaigns have to ask (as often as possible), and this four-word footnote is a tactful way of doing so. [The other guy’s financially-flush campaign doesn’t need this type of invitation on his pamphlet, which invites only an “X” on a piece of paper.]
12. In municipal councillor contests, the candidate is the campaign - not volunteers, or the broadcast or print media ads, stories, or articles. At the same time, I think it’s preposterous for a candidate to present himself on his election signs or literature as the official agent for the campaign. My official agent was the same this year as in 2006 [though the presence of his absence was particularly noticeable this year].
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