Susie Wiles has devoted a lifetime to politics. From her early days as a scheduler for Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign to her tenure as chief of staff for Mayor John Delaney, she has been involved in politics for over 20 years. Most recently, she worked for the international public affairs company, APCO Worldwide. The Jacksonville office recently disbanded and Wiles is in the process of taking her clients and opening her own operation at the beach. She has also jumped into the 2003 mayoral race as a member of candidate Michael Weinstein’s campaign. She recently met with Daily Record staff writer Glenn Tschimpke to discuss the issues.
Question: At this point, raising money is at the forefront of mayoral campaigns. Sources say John Peyton is doing quite well compared to his competitors. How does that bode for Weinstein?
Answer: Frankly, it’s going to be very, very easy when you and your family [the Peytons] have been business leaders in the community for a generation. You have so many cooperative relationships with the business community in Jacksonville. You’re naturally going to have an easier time raising money than somebody who has not enjoyed that kind of advantage. Having said that, what you want as a candidate, any of them, you want enough money to be competitive. At a certain point, each campaign decides how much that is in your own campaign plan and your research and all that. Then you raise it. If you look historically, he who has the most money does not necessarily win. He who does not have enough money to get competitive doesn’t win. There’s a balance somewhere in having what you need and having the most.
Q: The assumption is that Weinstein, among others, has already picked the low hanging fruit in terms of donations. What’s next?
A: There is a point in every issue, whether it’s philanthropy or a political campaign or whatever, where the fund raising culture goes from those who want to give to you and those that you go out and prospect. When you go into phase two, that’s when it gets hard. Often times, your friends are the last ones that give you money or you want to ask for money. For the first reporting period, we were in the phase of, ‘These are the people who easily came to us and said we want to support you.’ Whenever the time comes that we flip and we’re now prospecting, I think that’s when it’s going to get hard. We did not, because folks were coming to us, call friends and twist arms and all that sort of thing. It wasn’t necessary. It may become necessary to get more aggressive when that culture flips, but so far it hasn’t.
Q: So far there are four Republicans in the mayoral race. Do you think the Democrats have the Republicans right where they want them?
A: I do. The more Republicans that get into this race, the better the Democrats’ chances are. It just stands to reason that if you have four or five blue people standing here and one red person standing there, the red person is going to stand out. If I were a Democrat, I would be happy with all these Republicans jumping into the fray. I hear, on a daily basis, that there are more looking at it all the time. At a certain point — the incoming Duval County Republican Party chair Tom Slade — I can’t believe he won’t look around and say, ‘You know, I just have too many people in the race to be competitive. I’m, perhaps, advantaging the Democratic party by having this many people.’
Q: What’s Weinstein’s stance on negative campaigning?
A: It’s going to be interesting to watch because negative campaigning has been a part of the political vernacular. If Mike is determined, as I’m convinced he is, not to participate, it raises a broader political question of, ‘Can a guy who is only going to go positive win?’ If he does, you say yeah, it doesn’t have to be ugly like that. If he doesn’t, the pundits and the watchers will say, ‘If he only responded to that charge...’ We’re under very, very strict orders not to be negative.
Q: Your first political job was working with U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp. How did you hook up with him?
A: My dad [sports broadcaster Pat Summerall] knew him from pro football. So when I got ready to get a job, that’s how I got my first job. We all have a story.
Q: It was a break, but you’ll take it?
A: Oh sure. If you didn’t work hard, you couldn’t keep it.
Q: What was the next step for you after Kemp?
A: When Reagan decided to run for president in 1980, I got hired to be his scheduler in 1979. I scheduled President Reagan and the entourage in 1979. It was very cool. I wish now I was old enough to enjoy it and know what I was doing back then. I was just a kid, which was the only reason I could do it because it was so grueling — seven days a week, 16 hours a day.
Q: How did life change after you met your husband Lanny?
A: We decided that when we got married, we would leave Washington because he’d been President Reagan’s traveling aide for many years. He was about ready to give it up. I wanted come where it was warm and we didn’t have jobs or anything, so the sky was the limit. We said, Jacksonville. They have a beach, they have a lot of golf courses, they have a river. I’m sure we can earn a living there. So we moved down here. My husband is a lobbyist, so he commutes back and forth to Washington. We came down here and two kids later, we’re kind of doing our thing.