Here's another example of a joint piece of campaign literature for Will Rossbach and me. We printed 10,000 copies, and most of them were distributed to Maplewood doors by volunteers last weekend. (The remainder have been done throughout the week and this weekend.)



We wanted to do a piece that talked about our shared vision about how political leadership should be exercised in our city. While neighbors have different goals and wishes about individual projects and policy decisions, and those disagreements are part of a healthy "marketplace of ideas," we think there really is common ground that unites most of us all across the political spectrum, in terms of how we want decisions to be reached in our government. Unfortunately, what we've seen in the past couple of years has not lived up to our civic expectations. Tuesday gives us all as voters a chance to fix that.

Labels: campaign 2007

Posted by John Nephew on 11/04/2007 10:46:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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In my project to post all the campaign lit we've produced, I probably should have started with this one. It's a "palm card" -- designed for handing out in person while knocking on doors, or leaving behind if no one is home. We produced it before the primary in September, and designed it for use in both the primary and general campaigns.

Labels: campaign 2007

Posted by John Nephew on 11/03/2007 08:36:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This morning I received this e-mail from City Clerk Karen Guilfoile:

Subject: Polling Place Change Notification

Good morning -

Yesterday I learned that the Ramsey County Nursing Home, which is the polling place for Maplewood P10, will be unavailable for our use at the general election next Tuesday due to a construction project there. After consulting with Joe Mansky and Bruce Thompson from Ramsey County Property Management, we have come up with an alternative site, namely the Ramsey County Extension Office (aka The Barn) which is located just north of the nursing home.

The following steps have been taken to ensure that all affected parties are fully aware of this change.

1. We will mail all registered voters in the precinct a post card notifying them of the polling place change. This post card should go out in the mail tomorrow.
2. We will post a notice of the polling place change on our web site and Ramsey County will do the same on their web site.
3. Property Management will change the message on the marquee sign located at the entrance to the nursing home indicating that the polling place location has been changed.
4. Property Management will provide voter parking spots near the entrance of the extension office.
5. We will contact each affected candidate and inform them of the polling place change.
6. Maplewood will put up signs directing voters to the new polling place location.

Please let me know if you have any questions concerning this situation.

Karen

A prominent notice of this change has also been posted on the front page of the city website. If you live in the 10th precinct, or have friends there, be sure to let them know about the change!

Posted by John Nephew on 11/02/2007 03:26:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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The Channel 19 cable website has a schedule that includes rebroadcasts of this week's League of Women Voters forum (I'm watching one on TV right now, in fact). Look for "Maplewood C.C. Forum" on the listings; it looks like there are multiple daily broadcasts to choose from between now and the election on Tuesday.

Labels: media

Posted by John Nephew on 11/01/2007 10:15:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Today I have another example of campaign literature to share. I'm pleased with all of the literature we've produced for this campaign, but "Bad Apple" is my favorite.


Even before I decided to run for city council, I met a lot of Maplewood residents who would admit to me, sometimes rather sheepishly, that they had voted for one or more of our present council majority. When I began door-knocking, I met a lot more. To say these folks had "buyer's remorse" is an understatement; feelings ranged from disappointment to anger and feelings of betrayal, of being deceived and used for other agendas than these voters had thought they were supporting. People who had felt some dissatisfaction with the old order had thought it might be good to shake things up a little bit -- but what has happened is not at all what they bargained for.

I wanted a campaign mailer that would tap into this sentiment, but I also felt it needed a light and whimsical touch, to transform feelings of anger and bitterness into laughter and hope for a better future through this year's election. We needed something that acknowledged voters' negative feelings about Maplewood's situation, but did not wallow in it, and humor seemed like the best approach.

Michelle and I talked about a few different visual concepts. The right image can communicate an idea much more quickly and effectively than a lot of text -- and candidates can't rely on getting a long attention span between the mailbox and the recycling bin. I proposed that we use a little girl with a grossed-out expression, and Michelle's idea of the wormy apple as the source of the grossness was visually perfect and also inspired fun turns of phrase. Our friends' daughter Zoe turned out to be the perfect model for the image as well, I think.

When we showed early drafts of the mailer to people and they reacted by instantly laughing out loud, we knew we were on the right track.

Labels: campaign 2007

Posted by John Nephew on 11/01/2007 10:06:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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