School turns ‘regular’ people into candidates

When Jean Anne Guiliano was contemplating running for school committee in East Greenwich, she enrolled in the Candidate School offered by Operation Clean Government.
With no prior experience in running any kind of campaign, she signed up for the one-day school to listen to politically seasoned Rhode Islanders speak about their experiences, both positive and negative, and learn about everything she would need to know about running a campaign.
“It was after going [to the school] that I decided I really was going to run for school committee,” said Guiliano, who attended the school in 2006 and was later elected to the town School Committee, despite being a Democrat in a community where Republicans often dominate.
Guiliano, who is speaking at this year’s Candidate School about how to run as a member of a minority party, said the idea of running a campaign was daunting at first, “until they spell it out for you [and] you realize that you can do it,” she said. “It’s really formatted for people that are just citizens that want to run. You realize it’s not that lofty of a goal.”
Participants are educated, through both instruction and discussion, on topics ranging from the rules and regulations governing campaigning and contributions, to when paperwork needs to be filed and how to go about doing person-to-person campaigning.
The school, which will take place on Saturday, April 12 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Quonset ‘O’ Club in North Kingstown, has been held every election year since 2002. It is geared toward anyone running for any kind of office, whether it be the local school committee, city council, or federal office.
This year’s, faculty includes Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, former U.S. Congressman Robert A. Weygand, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, State Rep. Carol Mumford (R-Cranston), and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, among many others.
“We’re expanding a little bit,” said Arthur “Chuck” Barton, president of Operation Clean Government. In addition to campaign issues, “we’re having discussions about taxes and spending, problems facing the state, and education.”
“It’s not just designed to cheer people on,” said Barton. “It’s to make it realistic too, and to give them the tools they need.”
A panel made up of candidates who have won and lost elections will discuss why they ran, what they learned and if they would do it again. Barton, who has been on the panel discussion in the past, said: “It gives [candidates] a sense of how much goes into it, but also that it’s manageable.”
J. William Harsch, a member of the faculty for this year’s event, recalled his experience as an enrollee in a past school for candidates.
“I thought it was interesting and impressive the extent to which it was really non partisan. It’s basically an education,” he said. “I liked what I saw which is why I agreed to participate when they asked me,” said Harsch, who is currently practicing law and has an impressive resume of political experience, including two runs for attorney general in Rhode Island, and a stretch at the White House during Jimmy Carter’s term as president.
“The problem I think the school addresses is the fact that the inside of the political system is alien terrain to anyone who isn’t in it,” he said.
“[Rhode Island] is extremely unhealthy politically, which has led to the kind of government outrages that we have at the moment, Harsch continued. “OCG’s school is a good step in trying to develop people who will question, who will challenge. But I think we need more.”
Dan Beardsley, executive director of the R.I. League of Cities and Towns, is also among the faculty speaking at the event and will be explaining the role of a lobbyist. “I think it’s imperative if one runs for public office that they don’t enter the race with the belief that everyone who wears a lobbyist badge will be able to sway their votes,” he said.
Other topics to be discussed at this year’s Candidate School, which costs $95, including meals, include: Former candidates: Why I ran, what I learned, and would I do it again?; special interest groups – how to use them successfully – advantages and disadvantages; effective leadership – regardless of party; education – issues of importance to every candidate; and the importance of addressing financial issues, fiscal responsibility and today’s reality.
Guiliano said the school gets “regular people, who really want to contribute to be a part of the process. And it gets more regular people to get up and say, ‘You know what? I can do this.’ It’s a positive thing.”
Now she’s looking forward to giving advice to this year’s newcomers.
“I’m happy to give my experience back since I got so much out of it before,” she said. •