New Rochelle, NY
My candidate, Margaret Soter, loses the nomination fight to New Rochelle CPA Joseph DioGuardi, a partner at NYC accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
I did the only thing I could do: go knock on his door. His wife and daughter were home and welcomed me in. I was told DioGuardi was out campaigning but ended up staying for over an hour. Several days later, Dick Behn, DioGuardi’s pollster and media consultant called. The fact I’d already been hired by Soter helped me land a gig with DioGuardi.
I was hired to write speech cards for general election candidate forums and drive with the candidate when necessary prior to public appearances.
Several months later — mostly by default and happenstance — I was asked to be press secretary at $250 week. “Hey, you wanna be the press secretary?” asked Tim Carey, a lead consultant. “What do I need to do?” I asked, while banging out speech cards with a sad, two-finger, 15-20 word per minute typing technique. When Carey explained, I said, “Yeah, sure.” That’s how I became a press secretary.
Democratic candidate, Oren Teicher, Ottinger’s former chief of staff, was heavily favored to hold the seat against first-time candidate DioGuardi