Battlelines

 Recently, started working for a congressional campaign. I met the candidate through a veteran's issues forum and was soon hired on as a fundraiser to help the campaign reach it's fundraising goals. 

During my first week I asked the candidate if he wanted me to reach out to my contacts - was there any sort of publicity (radio, podcasts, written articles) he was steering away from? He said he'd take anything. As the underdog running a grassroots campaign he's looking for all the name representation he can get out there.

I also cleared this with the campaign manager.

So, I reached out to various progressive and veterans organizations regarding meeting and/or interviewing the candidate.

I just heard this was not welcomed by the "comms" team. Gabby, the comms director was upset that I had reached out to organizations she was courting - I'm not sure if she courted them before or after I reached out - but she apparently felt I was encroaching on her turf.

I'd already cleared such actions with the campaign and the campaign's manager told me to be as proactive as I could, so I was caught off guard when this came up this morning. 

I told the candidate that I would probably just stop mentioning them on social media altogether. He said not to worry about it, it didn't sound like I crossed any lines.

It's simple: I'm here to get the candidate elected. If that means reaching out to contacts and using my status as a veteran or just as someone who has engaged with them before to make that happen, that's what I'll do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a jerk or step on anyone's toes, but I don't have access to what the "comms" team is doing (and to be fair I've had to correct them a number of time since I started with the campaign: from dead links, to misspelled URLs, to entire portions of a website that should exist but don't).

For example: This Twitter Account Doesn't Exist

For the most part, since I came on board, it looked like the "comms" team was working half-assed and not checking their work, but I made a few comments and things were corrected, but putting the wrong URL in? That's amateurish at best. Putting URLs in the posts that went to 404 Page Not Found notices? Also amateurish. Not having updated information for events or special occasions for the campaign? Again, amateurish.

For example, I had to ask the "comms" team where the link to an event that was scheduled for two weeks out was as it was not on the website, not on the FB page and not on the Twitter feed. Where was someone supposed to know about this event? How were we supposed to send messages to supporters asking them to join the event without having something to direct them towards? Why wouldn't you have it front and center for people to find? It is a fundraiser for crying out loud!

But sure, I'm stepping on people's toes - not staying in my lane, as it were. 

I told the campaign manager I'm actively trying not to be too dominant (it's a character flaw) but sometimes I see a problem that needs to be fixed or an opportunity that needs to be exploited before it can be approved by committee.