Wanted: Candidate - Career Politicians Need Not Apply
Posted May 27, 2014 04:05 am | Public News Service
PORT
ORANGE,
FL - Campaign season is kicking up, with the Florida
primaries approaching this summer, and on the ballot
will be a handful of candidates who have never held
public office before. Instead, their experience comes
from their jobs as police officers, municipal workers
and teachers. They are part of a program from the
Florida AFL-CIO that hosts candidate training classes to
encourage union members who are active in their
community to run for local office.
Retired Port Orange police officer Scott Stiltner is one of them. He's running for City Council this year.
"It's really something that for probably the last third of my career I always had interest in and envisioned myself maybe running at some point," Stiltner says. "So I've had a really good, unique look, that most candidates would never have the opportunity to get that."
This is the second election cycle during which the AFL-CIO has hosted the training. In 2012, six candidates were elected to public office.
Phyllis
Garrett, legislative political coordinator, Florida
AFL-CIO, says the goal of the program is to offer
candidates who come with life experience, versus
seasoned politicians.
"They just bring a fresh point of view to any position
they hold, because they're not career politicians,"
Garrett says. "They're just everyday working people."
Teacher and union member Elizabeth Albert participated
in the candidate training in 2012 and was elected to the
City Commission in Holly Hill. She says she could not
have done it without the union's help.
"I didn't have big money behind me. I was obviously not
the incumbent. They gave me the tools that I needed to
feel comfortable about what I was doing and to have a
confidence and a self-assurance that I don't think
everybody has, the first time out," Albert says.
This year, six people are participating in the program.
They go through intense training on fundraising, public
speaking, recruiting and managing volunteers, and policy
research.
Photos/graphics, layout added by the Observer
Graphic: National Archives, from a 1924 Cliff Berryman cartoon
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