by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
They devote hours of spare time pledging support and never take home a dime. They are the volunteers working behind the scenes of a political campaign, and despite the absence of a paycheck, Dist. 5 candidates Jay Jabour and Art Shad said an appreciated and respected volunteer is a hardworking and valuable volunteer.
“If someone is donating several hours of their time to your campaign,” said Shad, “you better make sure you treat them wonderfully. They’re using their names to get you elected. They’re an asset.”
The financial planner referred to a piece of advice a friend passed along to him.
“[Former City Council member] Jim Tullis told me, ‘If you don’t have enough people to volunteer for you, you shouldn’t be running for office.’ ”
Jabour agreed.
“If you want to know the truth, a campaign is put on by the volunteers,” he said. “My game plan from the beginning has been to get help and work hard. I don’t take them for granted. These are people who believe in the same things you do. They believe in you.”
According to Shad, who previously volunteered for the campaigns of current Dist. 5 City Council member Matt Carlucci and School Board chair Kris Barnes, the key to maintaining a positive and productive relationship with a volunteer is the ability to properly manage employees.
“You don’t want to overwhelm them,” he said. “It’s really common sense, but it’s very important that volunteers are assigned manageable tasks and given strong, clear directions so you both feel comfortable. If you start out giving someone a list of 500 homes to call, it won’t work.”
Shad works with a core of eight volunteers, but retains the services of around 40 on an as-needed basis.
Jabour said it’s also important to recognize that a volunteer, who can work anywhere from 10 to 40 hours a week, has a life outside of the campaign.
“When things come up and I need help,” said Jabour, “I just try to be considerate of their schedules. Some of them have full-time jobs and families and I understand that. I’m pleasantly surprised that people want to give up any of their time to help me get elected.”
Jabour estimates he has about 50 people on his volunteer list.
Volunteer work is as varied as the men and women electing to do it. On a given day, a mailer may need to go out or phone calls will be made. The men and women walking with the candidates door-to-door and waving signs on the side of the street are volunteers, too.
Jabour said he’s been lucky to find men and women who are no strangers to politics.
“Many volunteers working for me have been with other campaigns in the past,” said Jabour. “That works out great because they know what is expected. They tell me to call them when I need them and I definitely do.”
Aside from the pledged support of veteran volunteers, the largest pool of unpaid supporters usually have a personal, vested interest in the candidate they support.
“I’m a native of Jacksonville so I’m lucky to have a large network of friends in the area who I’ve known for a while,” said Shad. “I’m also lucky to have a large family who have been helpful.”
Shad even credits his volunteers for a small victory in the primaries.
“The Supervisor of Elections Office mails out absentee ballots,” he said. “We got a list of those names and we did a special mailer for them that was hand-addressed. I think that helped us win a lot of those votes.”
Nearing the end of the election season, both candidates say while they have learned a lot about how to properly manage a campaign, they’re happy with their volunteers and the collaborative work they’ve done.
“I don’t think we made a lot of mistakes,” said Shad, who also read “a library” of books on how to run for office. “We ran a very efficient campaign.”