Political Consulting & Self-Opposition Research

The need:

Are you working on candidate recruitment, and you need to know if the opposition will find stories, images, quotes, or videos to discredit the candidate you’re considering? Do you want to know if the candidate you’re considering managing the campaign of or the candidate you’re weighing an endorsement of might have engaged in sexist, racist, abusive, or otherwise problematic behavior? Do you want to do self-opposition research before filing to run, or before getting too far in your campaign, to know what might come up, so you can make an informed decision regarding whether or not to run?

I can help find this kind of information out, so that you can be thoughtful about your choices, and so that Alaskans — particularly moderates to progressives — can put forward candidates whose behavior matches the values we want to see in our leaders. We on the center-left can prevent electing any future policymakers whose behavior requires their removal from office and prevent electing policymakers who put staff in unsafe positions; we just have to invest in strategies like this early on in the process.

What makes me qualified to do this work?

For years, people have asked for or listened to and trusted my opinions on political candidates, and campaigns have sought my advice or support. In many political races and with many elected leaders in office, I have learned — through trusting relationships, through an ear-to-the-ground approach with women and members of marginalized communities, through my understandings of gender and race dynamics and my experience with social media — many liabilities about candidates/elected officials and campaigns, particularly male candidates and male elected officials, as well as male staffers.

Far too often in Alaska, candidates and prospective candidates defer doing a self-opposition reports to understand these liabilities because these are cost-prohibitive, performed by out-of-state firms that charge tens of thousands of dollars. I offer a local, more economical, and more relationships-based approach with particular areas of focus around dynamics of power.

My approach:

We start by having a conversation about who you or your candidate/prospective candidate is, potential areas of concern or focus, and scope. I then interview the candidate, conduct online searches, and speak with others.

This process can identify not only problems that might prohibit someone from running, but also, for someone who is a strong candidate but who needs to build a better coalition, potential roadblocks or people whose trust needs to be earned/earned back.

I am straightforward, direct, and compassionate, and can help candidates — particularly men — understand and respond to these liabilities.

I also offer political consulting to established campaigns on my content areas of expertise for policy (e.g. early childhood systems, childcare, domestic and sexual violence), and on multicultural and multilingual voter outreach. I am fluent in Spanish and have worked cross-culturally throughout my career.