Taking the Plunge

Homepage > Politics Magazine > April 2009 > Taking the Plunge

Consultants are increasingly emerging from the background and running for office.

By Jeffrey Bukowski

When Republican political consultant Charlie Gerow hosts a monthly off-the-record meeting for Pennsylvania’s Republican elite, it’s clear who’s in charge. Though the meetings at his Harrisburg office typically draw more than 60 state insiders—one recent meeting featured presentations from Sen. Arlen Specter’s Chief-of-Staff Scott Hoeflich and state Sen. Robert Wonderling, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee—Gerow is the straw that stirs the drink.

Working the room, Gerow demonstrates not only his quarter century as a consultant, but also shows fl ashes of the natural politician. It’s easy to assume he has experience beyond his consultancy and, in fact, he does. Gerow is a member of a small but growing fraternity of consultants who have run for office.

Nationwide, consultants are emerging from behind the scenes to seek electoral glory. Some do so with great aplomb, others are more reluctant. All, however, seem to share a binding sense of duty that many outsiders would be reluctant to attribute to the consultant’s mercenary image. And all—successful or not—emerge from the experience with a changed perspective of both the politician’s role and the consultant’s.

“It’s impossible to run for office and not gain the utmost respect for anyone who puts their name on the ballot,” says Gerow, who ran for Congress in 2000. “Had I not run, I wouldn’t have as great an appreciation for the time and energy it takes to face the voters, and my business would not be as successful.”

So, You Want to Be a Politician?
Despite the obvious rewards, politics remains a contact sport, and consultants face not only the obvious risks every budding candidate faces, but also the fact that they are, on some level, known quantities. Unlike a businessperson, lawyer or other professional running for public office for the first time, consultants know how the game is played, and the sword is decidedly double-edged.

It would be easy to assume, for example, that having spent years on the campaign trail in the employ of various candidates gives consultants a special insight into what the electorate is thinking. It may also seem obvious that the consultant uniquely understands the strategies and tactics that comprise a successful campaign. Not necessarily. These assumptions may very well be true, and may certainly have their merits in a campaign. But it’s equally true that the opposition can paint the consultant candidate very easily with that political curse word—“insider”—and can seed the electorate’s thought process with the idea that because of the candidate’s consulting background, they are less than trustworthy.

“Their career in politics as a consultant is fodder and fair game,” says Heidi von Szeliski, a Democratic consultant who ran unsuccessfully for the California Assembly in 2004. She currently runs Heidi von Szeliski & Associates, the San Diego–based consulting firm she founded in 2006. “It’s almost as if you had a voting record. In this era when people can find anything online, being a consultant is almost like being in office.”

The current race for lieutenant governor in Virginia provides a virtual case study in the perils of running for office as a consultant. Having spent 20 years in state politics as a Richmond-based direct mail consultant, Democrat Richard Savage entered the race in early 2009. Given his experience and what most observers consider a wide-open race in a Democratic-trending state, Savage began his campaign with an optimism rare for most first-time candidates. To his surprise, Savage found himself almost immediately criticized—well, savagely—in the blogosphere for being a consultant.

“People are used to seeing you in a different role,” says Savage, who runs his own firm, Media Directions. “It is difficult, at first, to gain acceptance that you are not running as part of some political agenda.” Savage dropped out of the race in early March, citing inability to raise enough money to stay competitive.

Why Run?
With the pitfalls of running for office—taking, at the very least, a short-term break from consulting and the resultant loss of income, having your good name and reputation dragged through the mud and, don’t forget, the very real potential for losing—why would consultants want to put everything on the line to run for political office? Is that really a dream of the sane?

Consider: You’ve got a solid business that provides comfortable, perhaps even lucrative, compensation. Your advice is valued and you have legitimate aspirations to get on the talk show circuit, write books and release your inner Dick Morris. It would be hard to argue that yours is not a fulfilling profession, or at least has the very strong potential to be.

On the other hand, you could throw your hat in the ring, have to formulate not just strategies and tactics, but also articulate your actual ideas for public and media consumption, be ready to answer awkward questions at the drop of a hat, and find yourself on the rubber-chicken circuit for the better part of a year. Oh, and you’re going to have those pesky consultants providing an endless loop of polling results, talking points and tips for exploiting your opponent’s weaknesses.

Most consultant candidates seem to prove the old axiom, “Scratch a cynic and you’ll draw the blood of a disappointed idealist.” For all of their world-weariness and over-familiarity with the process, entering the political fray on the frontlines seems motivated by a genuine desire to help the country, tackle tough issues and serve something beyond their own bank account.

Doug Guetzloe, president of Orlando, Fla.-based Advantage Communications, ran for the Florida Senate in 1986 after a relatively brief stint as a Republican consultant. In a heavily Democratic district, he won 49 percent of the vote against a solidly entrenched incumbent and, more than 20 years later, still holds on to the idealism that led him to run.

“You can’t do it if you’re not 100 percent committed to your beliefs and don’t have a genuine desire to make things better,” Guetzloe says. “I was able to communicate my beliefs effectively and almost won in a district with 32 percent Republican registration.”

Similarly, Gerow cites his long-running desire to emerge from the background, as well as his ideological devotion, as a strong impetus toward a run. “I had always wanted to serve the public,” he says. “I had very strong ideas, and I’m not smart enough to be reluctant, so I entered my run enthusiastically.”

The Rahm Factor
Another motivating factor for many consultants on both sides of the putative aisle is the dazzling success of erstwhile consultant Rahm Emanuel. After gaining fantastic visibility as a key political advisor to President Bill Clinton, Emanuel won Rod Blagojevich’s former Illinois congressional seat in 2002, where he served until being tapped as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff. Emanuel serves as the gold standard for political consultants who aspire to elected office. His meteoric rise helps provide inspiration and justification for all who would follow in his footsteps.

“In 1993, this was a guy who could’ve stayed outside and made a lot of money,” says Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican who represents Oklahoma’s 4th District and had a successful consulting career of his own before winning office in 2002. “You can’t help but respect the guy that goes inside and loses the opportunity to cash in on probably the greatest prize there is.”

While the reader is free to ponder how much Emanuel has actually lost, it’s beyond dispute that he has carved a unique niche in American politics. Following his template could lead to a new generation of consultants cum politicians.

Adaptation
When the consultant hat is replaced with the candidate hat, changes are required. Ironically, one of the more substantial shifts that need to occur is listening to consultants. By their very nature, consultants are going to enter a race with the reasonable assumption that they understand the strategy as well as—if not better than—the consultants they hire. They’ll also be inclined to provide (and listen to) their own advice. Cole has the interesting distinction of having his consulting career sandwiched by his political career—he served as an Oklahoma state senator, opened his consultancy, then ran for Congress. Yet he warns against trying to play both roles.

“A former consultant is probably the nightmare candidate for a consultant,” he says. “There can be a dual role the candidate plays, and he has to respect the people around him and be professional enough to listen to good advice and focus on being the candidate.”

To illustrate the point, Cole recounts a race in which he sought a media buy in three different media markets that cover different parts of his district, with a prolonged focus on more Democratic-leaning areas and a shorter and less intensive focus on more solid Republican regions. Cole’s media consultant Kim Alfano-Doyle, however, urged a more uniform buy and advised him to “hunt where the ducks are.” Cole took Doyle’s advice and won the seat handily.

“I told her afterward that she was absolutely right and that following her advice helped push us into a comfortable lead,” Cole says. “My consultants have saved me from myself on more than one occasion.”

This being a story about political consultants, it’s not difficult to find opposing points of view. Guetzloe, for example, didn’t use a consultant for his state Senate run and questions the wisdom of using one in every race. “If I were to have hired another consultant, there may have been a situation where you had more of a confl ict,” he says. “From a strategy and tactics standpoint, I felt confident in my abilities.”

Regarding his narrow loss, however, Guetzloe concedes that he “ran and directed more than a candidate should,” but holds firm that “what position you’re running for dictates what level of [consulting] help you need.” If a consultant–candidate’s first foray into elected office, for example, is for county supervisor in a rural locale, additional consulting help may not be required.

Assuming a consultant does require another consultant, it’s important for both parties to set expectations and boundaries early in the relationship to ensure the smoothest working partnership. Part and parcel of doing that is being honest with yourself. “[My consultant and I] agreed going into it that there would be certain elements of the campaign that would be nearly impossible for me to be silent about,” von Szeliski says. “A matter of just knowing proper roles, for me, helped define how the rest of the operation went.”

Regrets, I’ve Had a Few
Win or lose, consultants who seek political office generally regard the experience as a positive one. While consultants who don’t find themselves taking an oath of office naturally have to leave behind the bitter sting of voter rejection, it’s impossible not to learn lessons that can translate into professional life.

“Running for office gives you an empathy for candidates that you could not possibly have otherwise,” Gerow said. “It helps you understand the difference between book knowledge and street smarts, and the difficulties involved with things like fundraising. It was an invaluable experience.” Gerow cites fundraising, in particular, as a primary difference in the candidate-consultant schism. It’s relatively easy, he says, to ask for money on somebody else’s behalf, but when you’re alone in a room “dialing for dollars” on your own behalf, the task becomes much more difficult. In addition, personal canvassing can be not only tough, but humbling.

“There’s the perception that when you’re a candidate, you are always walking into a room packed with supporters and well-wishers,” Gerow says. “The reality is that you’ve got to pick yourself up on a lot of cold days and go door-to-door by yourself and ask for people’s votes personally. A good many consultants have never had to do it for themselves and don’t really understand what’s involved.”

Are You In?
That said, it’s probably unwise to run for office simply as a way to gain career experience. Electoral politics is—or should be—more than a few lines on a resume and, of course, there’s always the distinct possibility of winning, which requires an entirely new mindset. “Consultants don’t generally look past particular elections,” Cole says. “When you win office, you’re thinking more broadly about how you build a coalition and build on your success. Your world is different than the one you operated in before—it’s not just a matter of winning today’s match.”

While Cole said he thinks that seeking office can be an excellent idea for a person with the right mixture of professionalism and passion, others are decidedly mixed on whether it’s a good idea overall. Guetzloe, for example, fl atly states that he thinks the consultant who makes a good candidate is a rarity, while Gerow encourages “anybody who’s so inclined.” All agree, though, that the best starting point is likely in a smaller venue than a consultant is perhaps used to operating.

“Sometimes consultants feel like they know a lot and therefore deserve to go after prized positions,” von Szeliski says. “The best advice I could give is to start smaller. Don’t say, ‘I’m going to run for U.S. Senate,’ start at the local level and start on a smaller scale. Get your feet wet in a race where you don’t have to leave your business for a year.”


Jeffrey Bukowski is a freelance writer based in Baltimore, Maryland.