Recently, a front-page story in the best position (upper right corner) ran in my local paper. It was about a certain candidate in my town who had spent 16 times as much on the election as any of the other three candidates in the race, and seven times as much as the other three together. The campaign finance filings are public records, and I’d reviewed all four candidates’ statements.

Not coincidentally, I had contacted this reporter (whose beat includes my town) a few days earlier and suggested there might be a story here. I was involved in the campaign committee for one of the other candidates. Independently of me, the candidate I supported also contacted him.

This is what I said on a Saturday: “I think Brenda F. has set a record for most expensive town office campaign in Hadley’s history, at $18,445.79 (It might be $18,495.79–her handwriting is ambiguous). She spent $11K on Darby O’Brien to write copy… She spent what looks like $4120 on four Gazette ads, plus a later expenditure, separately itemized, of $889.90 for “personal ad reflective of the campaign” (it’s on the last page, all by itself), whatever that means. Also around $900 on three batches of signs, and $1537.37 to print one of her mailers (I think she did three). The other mailers don’t seem to be accounted for, and neither is her postage to mail them. So the $18.4K might actually be an undercount. Considering she’s trying to position herself as the frugal candidate, it’s pretty ironic that she spent 16x as much as Jane Nevinsmith. https://www.hadleyma.org/town-clerk/pages/campaign-finance-reports ”

And this is what he published the following Wednesday: https://www.gazettenet.com/Hadley-candidate-pours-money-into-Select-Board-candidacy-34297424 

Let’s look at the story angles I crammed in to that brief outreach message:

• Probably the most expensive campaign in the history of a town that is more than 350 years old
• Used an outside consultant (something not generally done in town elections here)
• Her true politics are not reflected in the public messaging

This article may have made a difference in the election outcome.

How can you seize an opportunity like this?

Think like a reporter and know the story angles a reporter will find interesting.

Make the reporter’s busy life easier—in this case, I gave the reporter the link to the relevant public records: the campaign finance reports of the four candidates. I also did some easy math to figure out the spending ratios of the candidate who was trying to essentially buy her seatto the others.

Develop contacts ahead. This particular reporter and I have known each other for more than 20 years. He provided much of the coverage of a big movement I led in 1999-2000. He often seeks me out for my take on town issues, and I feed him material that could become stories.

Have multiple people contact reporters

Use HARO, a no-cost service that matches journalists looking for story sources with sources who want publicity. I’ve just put together an ebook on how to get press, and especially how to capitalize on HARO (see “Instead of a Book Review,” below).