Page 3 of 3
Interns at Large
There's no telling when someone will get bitten by the politics bug, but for two City Weekly interns, it was basically thrust upon them in the course of working this cover story about the Salt Lake City mayor's race. Sam Florence and Tiffany Frandsen, both political newbies, volunteer for a shift with each of the mayor candidates-working with the staff and volunteers and, in some cases, with the candidates themselves. These are their reports.
Ralph Becker:
Knocking at a Door Near You
I hadn't volunteered on a political campaign before and was curious to have a look inside the machine. I felt excited to learn about the many small details involved in a campaign.
I met up with the volunteers in front of school rather than at the headquarters. Ralph Becker rode his bike to the front lawn of Clayton Middle School. The volunteers, some of whom were on his campaign team while others were regular supporters, were waiting to chat with him before we started canvassing.
I had the idea that Becker might be aloof, but I was wrong. He was personable and easy to talk to. We had a comfortable conversation about how the campaign was going; it felt more like talking to a neighbor. "I'm going to lock my bike up before we go," Becker said.
Almost every evening before they knock on doors, Becker gives a pep talk to get his canvassers ready, sharing his appreciation of their support and talking about current events, such as what's going on with the Mountain Accord issue, city news and even local news, depending on the political atmosphere.
What do voters want to talk about? "The most common comments
people talk about are things that are very local, like traffic," he says. "A lot of the time, it's people liking or hating the bike lanes." They also talk about parking and what's going on downtown.
Even though he canvasses almost every day (Monday through Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings), he doesn't get very far down his list, because everyone wants to talk with him. "It's not, 'Thanks for stopping by,'" he says. "It's, 'Why don't you come in?'"
Becker's volunteer doorstep conversations tend to be shorter, unless the voter has an issue or a concern. It is a simple, "Hello," followed by a brief statement of support for Becker and a question to measure (and garner) the voter's support.
Campaigns use a program called VoteBuilder to decide which doors to stop at. The technology, available to all registered
candidates, gathers voter information and organizes it by the voter's address. The finished report reveals names, addresses, phone numbers, political affiliation and voter history in the past three primaries and general elections. In some cases, age and gender also show up.
Laura Anderson, Becker's deputy campaign manager, says they plan to visit every neighborhood in the Salt Lake City area. The east-side neighborhood where volunteers were concentrating their efforts this night not only actively voted, but actively voted for Democrats. Since all the mayoral candidates are so far Democrats,the conversations were generally positive.
The evening canvassing session was just over two hours long, which is shorter than the sessions on Saturdays. Afterward, volunteers met back at the parking lot for some water, where they turned in their packets and said goodbye to Becker.
Would I vote for him? I try to keep my political preferences as private as I can. It will be determined by a few factors, such as how much influence a candidate will be able to achieve once in office. That said, my experience on the campaign didn't have a negative effect.
By Tiffany Frandsen
Jackie Biskupski:
Building a Dream Team
It was almost like a covert operation, walking into an Italian restaurant/market early on a Saturday morning and going past the kitchen and bathrooms into the back of the restaurant, to Granato's Deli conference room, where a long conference table with cushy, high-backed armchairs awaited volunteers.
Had it not been for the bright green "Vote for Jackie" signs out front, the eager, friendly faces of volunteers, the campaign
materials spread out on the table and a life-size smiling Biskupski portrait in the corner of the room, it would have been a perfect setting for Goodfellas. But this was OK, too.
Along with the information and survey packets, volunteers were given fliers of campaign literature that were divided up and put into Trader Joe's bags (let's hear it for recycling).
In addition to mayoral candidate Jackie Biskupski and her team, about 10 volunteers showed up for the pre-canvassing training. And then there was the restaurant's proprietor himself, Sam Granato. "I'm here supporting the right person at the right time, who should be the next Salt Lake City mayor," he said. Granato ran for U.S. Senate in 2010 and is currently on the Salt Lake County Council, representing District 4.
Biskupski's campaign manager, Lindsay Barenz, met Biskupski when the two were working on political campaigns in 1996 (Barenz, a congressional race in the 1st District, Biskupski on Democratic state Rep. Patrice Arent's team). Barenz has been working on campaigns in Seattle, but when Biskupski told her she was running for mayor, Barenz says she "wrapped up [her] stuff there and came back to Utah to work on her campaign."
"I always wanted to participate in a campaign of hers," says Barenz. "She's really smart and genuinely cares about people and has a real desire to serve, which I think is oddly rare among our elected officials."
A few days earlier, the team brought on Carly Thornton, who served as finance director on the Doug Owens for Congress campaign, as financial adviser. Jefferson Campbell, field director, met Biskupski working with her at Equality Utah and says he has been crossing his fingers in hopes of her running for mayor for years. The team also includes Joe and James Gonzales, who advise the campaign as political consultants with The Target Group, and two interns, Kim Gabbitas and Chris Harelson.
Prior to volunteering as City Weekly's "intern at large," I imagined Biskupski would have a strong, collected presence, and she did. But she is also funny.
Her volunteers seemed glad to be there. Before sending them out to canvass for votes, Biskupski told them that even though she spends a lot of her time raising money—"because I have to," she says—it's the work done face-to-face on doorsteps that gets people on board.
While the campaign headquarters are in the 900 South & 900 East neighborhood, they met at Granato's because it was closer to where they would be knocking that day: a neighborhood on the west side, where it seemed like the majority of houses had dogs (which volunteers took note of, as one of Biskupski's plans involves dog parks).
They planned to knock on doors using on a list they got from VoteBuilder, but volunteers were encouraged to talk to everyone they met on the street, regardless of affiliation. Many of the volunteers, like me, were there for the first time, and the afternoon round brought in new folks, including a couple of kids and a member of the Salt Lake Police Association Union, which recently endorsed Biskupski.
Overall, I felt like Biskupski genuinely cared about people and aimed to be responsive to each resident's concern.
By Tiffany Frandsen
Luke Garrott:
Small Office, Big Ideas
I came to this assignment wondering how hard it could be to get elected as mayor of Salt Lake City? We're not exactly Chicago or New York. Nor is liberal Salt Lake in sync with the state's more powerful conservative state politicians. So who would even want to be mayor? Not much competition, I figured. Getting elected seemed as easy as winning a T-ball game. All you'd need is a good business suit, a "Why not?" attitude and a few desperately hungry interns willing to get their feet wet.
But after spending time on Luke Garrott's
campaign, I began to see the effort is more like an episode of House of Cards. It involved a dizzying array of public appearances, phone calls, neighborhood canvassing and even impromptu visits from crazy-haired
journalists at alternative newsweeklies.
To be honest, I didn't have strong feelings one way or the other about Garrott before I visited his office; the mayoral candidates all seem to be running on a relatively similar platform, so it's tricky to distinguish them. However, when I visited Garrott's campaign office—a small, chic apartment storefront in Central City—I was pleasantly surprised by the staff's earnestness, work ethic and genuine desire to see Garrott's campaign promises come to life.
My initial reaction upon seeing Garrott's rather small, packed campaign office was, "Hmm, they seem to be running on quite a tight budget." However, this frugality could play to Garrott's advantage. Garrott's staffers displayed an air of confident, collected energy that truly caught me off guard. I was impressed with how much they're managing to accomplish with such comparatively scant resources.
Though the primary doesn't take place until Aug. 11, the city's mayoral campaigns are in full bloom. Campaign manager Richard Jaramillo and staffer Dahni Dy mapped out the upcoming month's canvassing and public-outreach events. With candor and insight, they mulled over platform changes, up-and-coming political issues, and their opponents' moves on the political chessboard. I was impressed with staffers' knowledge of current issues within the city and heartened by their passion and energy for spreading Garrott's message. It's hard to sit in a room full of inspirational people and not have a bit of it rub off on yourself.
I'd have to say that was my takeaway: I was
heartened by my experience with the campaign. It is common to see young people completely apathetic to the political process, especially on a local level. It was positively smashing to see Garrott's young staffers so engaged, compassionate and knowledgable about local politics.
After putting in my time at the office, I still had yet to actually meet the candidate himself. I had hoped to do so by showing up at Salt Lake's Nihon Matsuri Japanese Festival, where Garrott was also making the rounds, shaking hands, and asking and answering questions. Yet again, I missed my chance to speak with Garrott but I did watch him work the crowd.
Not only is running for mayor more grueling and high stakes than I imagined it would be, but running against an incumbent is harder yet. Would I vote for him based on what I experienced? It's hard to say; I haven't spent much time researching other candidates' platforms. The odds would certainly be in his favor.
By Sam Florence
The Mayor's To-Do List
Ever wonder how the Salt Lake City mayor spends his or her day? City Weekly was curious what each candidate thought the job entailed, and which roles or duties the candidates felt were more important. We gave them a list of 20 mayoral duties and asked them to prioritize them.
As an incumbent, Ralph Becker obviously has an advantage. He not only ordered his 20 tasks but added several that were not on the list.
Luke Garrott's list was somewhat similar to Becker's in that both highly ranked "working in the public interest" and being a "civic leader." And both lowly ranked "executing official documents" and "using their veto power." Biskupski opted out of playing (her comments are below).
Mayor Ralph Becker's To-do List
1. Work in the Public Interest
2. Public Health & Welfare
3. Civic Leader
4. Watchdog of Public Dollars
5. Futurist
6. Realist
7. Ombudsman/Problem Solver/Mediator
8. Advocate/Lobbyist
9. Open-Meetings Champion
10. Spokesperson
11. Prepare the Annual Budget
12. Manage Municipal Property
13. Sounding Board
14. Personnel Officer
15. Supervise Law Enforcement
16. Preside Over Meetings
17. Execute Official Documents
18. Ceremonial Head of City Government
19. Use Veto Power
20. Anything we left off? Yes:
a. Exemplify Civility
b. Convene Stakeholders
c. Build Consensus
d. Address Unequal Opportunity
e. Pursue Social Justice
f. Work With All levels of Government forBetterment of City
g. Partner With Private Sector
h. Seek Efficiency
i. Maintain Compassion
j. Preserve Environmental Quality and Sustainability
Councilman Luke Garrott's To-Do List
1. Work in the Public Interest
2. Civic Leader
3. Realist
4. Ombudsman/Problem Solver/Mediator
5. Advocate/Lobbyist
6. Public Health & Welfare
7. Open-Meetings Champion
8. Futurist
9. Watchdog of Public Dollars
10. Prepare the Annual Budget
11. Supervise Law Enforcement
12. Spokesperson
13. Sounding Board
14. Manage Municipal Property
15. Preside Over Meetings
16. Ceremonial Head of City Government
17. Personnel Officer
18. Use Veto Power
19. Execute Official Documents
20. Anything we left off? (No response.)
Jackie Biskupski's
"No Thanks" Disclaimer:
One of the most important skills of a leader is knowing when and how to prioritize time and resources. At different moments in a mayor's term, she will be called upon to address crises, manage staff, listen to constituents and attend to thousands of other tasks. In that moment, the immediate task is the mayor's most important duty. There is a time and a place for prioritizing the roles of a mayor, and that time and place is not this questionnaire.