Even famous consultants like Karl Rove, James Carville, Ed Rollins and Joe Trippi are ultimately hired hands who can become fired hands.
If it were otherwise, it would be Rove who would call Bush, "Turd Blossom," not the other way around.
Remember the golden rule: he who has the gold, rules. But hire wisely in the first place, so you don't have to exercise the nuclear option in the middle of your campaign.
Hear are three rules to keep in mind the next time you or someone you care about runs for office:
Political consultants are a necessary evil.
They are necessary; only their fees are evil. As Larry Sabato observed in his book, The Rise of Political Consultants, a campaign that pits a professional against an amateur, no matter how gifted, usually wins.
Rove, Trippi, Rollins, and Carville are four of the most famous consultants and in some respects are typical of the breed. Of course, 99% of the nation's consultants are nowhere nearly as famous nor as wealthy. However, the gap in ability between the most famous and the least is much less than you might think. The important thing is that you have a real pro on your side who is willing to put his reputation--however humble or exalted--on the line for you.
In choosing a consultant, it is instructive to look at what these famous consultants were like before they became famous.
Most consultants begin as volunteers, cut their teeth on a major presidential campaign at a low level, and then make their bones with city council, state legislative, and congressional campaigns. The few who run senatorial and gubnatorial campaigns form the pool from which presidential campaign managers are drawn.
After a consultant has run (or been part of) a dozen or so campaigns, he or she is probably about as good as he or she is going to get. Consultants' expertise levels off and may even decline as they go up the ladder of wealth and fame. Therefore, this is Rule #1
Try to hire great consultants before they become famous. Trippi, Rollins and the rest in either party didn't get any better when they hit the big time. And make sure whoever you get has both feet in your campaign; you want the whole world to know who was responsible if you lose.
Hire your next consultant as you would a surgeon, lawyer or CPA. Imagine you are going to die if the operation fails, go to prison if the case is tried poorly, or live the rest of your life in inescapable debt, running from liens and attachments, if the tax audit goes wrong. In these situations, the expert is your boss; you'd better listen carefully to the advice you get.
In another important way, however, you are the boss because you do the hiring, you pay the bills, and you do, if necessary, the firing. That leads to Rule #2:
Negotiate the best price you can, but be sure to leave room for a reasonable profit. Any professional in any field will lose interest if you have driven too hard a bargain. The point is to win, not get a great deal.
How much should a campaign consultant earn? About what lawyers and other professionals in your community earn. If you are young, a homemaker, or a government employee without business experience, you may be shocked by how much even small-time operators have to charge to stay in business. Remember, even a carpet cleaning service gets about $55 an hour.
Just as a kitten or a puppy tries to take over your house, consultants want all the power. Remember who's in charge, and lay out responsibities carefully and in advance. Get a book from the library,and look at some examples of service contract agreements. You can use the one offered by the consultant, but be prepared to add, delete and modify its clauses.
After you have discovered what it costs (for example) to litigate a three-month jury trial in your town, you will realize that you can only afford to pay a consultant to consult, not manage, your campaign.
If your campaign is no more than a gleam in your eye--if you have no supporters, no contributors, no volunteers, no endorsements--don't hire a consultant. You won't win. Build a campaign that might win on its own, and then hire a pro to make sure you do.
You should probably have at least one full-time staffer (paid or volunteer) before you hire a consultant. And while the consultant may be able to suggest some campaign staffers to help you, this can be like letting Long John Silver pick your crew.
Rule #3:
During negotiations, don't be afraid to say, "You're not the boss of me." But once you've agreed on a contract--and even small children must know that you need a written contract--leave the operations to the experts.
If you think you'd be a better campaign manager than the one you hired, go find a candidate and run his or her campaign.
One important clause in your contract should cover commissions and buyouts. When purchases are run through the consultant's books, you should expect to pay a markup of 17.65% to yield a 15% commission. You should reserve the right, however, to pay for postage and large media buys directly.
You can also ask for a cap on total fees and commissons for the campaign so that the consultant's compensation does not exceed a certain amount.
Clear, written contracts keep everybody happy.