Initial Campaign Strategy


A.     Message:     "Let's return City Hall to the Residents."

1.     Throughout his twenty-five years of public service Bernie Moorman has consistently championed the interests of residents over the desires of special interest groups.

2.     The real strength of Bernie Moorman's leadership lies in his commitment to listening to his constituents and their concerns.  He recognizes that an effective leader is one who takes the time to listen and learn, making decisions based upon a thorough understanding of the issues and how they affect the people he is entrusted to represent.

3.     While under the control of Jim Eggemeier and Butch Callery, the Covington City Commission became a tool of special interest groups, with the voice of residents silenced, and their interests ignored.


B.     Strategy:     To convince voters that Bernie is their voice.

1.     Bernie must be prepared to respond promptly to constituents' complaints, suggestions, inquiries and pleas for assistance.  This establishes the credibility of the message.

        a.  Each letter addressed to Bernie must receive a prompt response.

        b.  Bernie must be accessible to voters via telephone, and constituents should be invited to call him at home.  However, he should not personally answer any calls, and either a campaign volunteer or a paid worker should be recruited and trained as an operator, thanking the individuals for calling, finding out what the call is in regards to, and preparing a message for Bernie which includes the constituent's name, address, telephone number, and reason for calling.

        c.  When, for example, a group of protesting voters appears at a meeting of the Covington City Commission, a campaign volunteer should be present to get the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the constituents so that a letter from Bernie is sent to each individual.  In order to acquire this information, a "petition" should be circulated among the attendees. 


        d.  A period of one hour should be set aside each day between the hours of nine and five, and another one hour period should be set during the evening hours between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. for Bernie to return calls to constituents.  He should be provided in advance with a list of the messages he will be returning, along with a briefing as to how to respond.  These calls should not be used as an opportunity to defend a position, nor to define an issue, but rather, should be viewed as an opportunity to prove Bernie is a listener.  Each of the calls must be followed up by an appropriate letter.

        e.  Bernie should be scheduled for at least one campaign appearance daily, with weekends allowing for three or four daily gatherings.  It is important that he spend no more than thirty to forty minutes at these events, each of which must be carefully scripted.  The intended impression should be that  Bernie is an extremely important and busy individual, but has taken time out of his schedule to meet with, and listen to, his constituents.

        f.  Volunteers must be identified in each precinct to distribute campaign literature, and host a coffee, barbecue, or other event enabling the candidate to meet the volunteers and their neighbors.  

        g.  Bernie must appear at meetings of veterans' organizations, civic groups, arts groups, Parent and Teacher Associations, and business and professional organizations, as well as at church festivals and other public events attracting groups of potential supporters.  A campaign scheduler must be identified and given the task of preparing a calendar of meetings and events and arranging for the candidate's appearance.

        h.  The candidate's message must be consistent - that he is grateful for the opportunity to meet the attendees, that he believes the strength of his leadership lies in his commitment to listening to his constituents, and that he will take City Hall back from special interest groups and return it to the residents.  He should not engage in a discussion of the issues beyond asking for the opinions of the attendees.  However, each attendee at an event must receive a letter from the candidate thanking them for their involvement, civic responsibility, and input.


2.     To address controversial issues, a PAC, separate from the campaign, should be organized.

        a.  Letters, brochures, and a cable television spot should be produced linking Bernie's opponents to special interests.  The message should be - "Back room politics and cronyism."

        b.  A letter from the P.A.C should be mailed to all registered voters detailing the opposition's tax evasion.  The message should be - "The commissioner used his political connections to evade paying city taxes," further linking the opponent to cronyism.  In order to prevent an effective response from the opponent, this letter should be mailed no sooner than five days prior to the election.

        c.  Should the issue of the $850,000 settlement with Wessels Construction and Carroll Properties be raised by one of Bernie's opponents, the response will be to condemn the need for the settlement, praise the settlement's goal of saving the taxpayers millions of dollars, and likening the opponent to Clyde Middleton by illustrations of the Covington City Commission's give-aways to Bill Butler.

        d.  The PAC will be utilized to frame the issues raised by Bernie's opponent, and to disseminate all negative responses and messages.  Bernie will not deviate from the defining message "Let's return City Hall to the residents."

3.     As much as possible the candidate should take advantage of the media for free coverage, from campaign press releases, appearing on talk radio to discuss OKI transportation issues, to writing commentary for the newspapers.  Identifying and utilizing organizational newsletters can also be effective.

        a.  Concerning the mass transit issue, Bernie should talk about the process used to identify light-rail as the preferred choice - how the involvement of business and political leaders and the input of individuals impacted the process and the final decision.  The debate should not be about mass transit, nor about defending OKI's decision.  Rather, the focus should be on the process, and how Bernie made it inclusive, gathering ideas and opinions from a broad cross-section of the community.


Continue to the Discussion of Reasoning and Efficacy