Eleven Must-Follow Rules for Elected Officials

This doesn’t exactly constitute political campaign advice, but it is applicable to anyone who plans to become an elected official.

These “Eleven Rules” were sent in to Killer Campaigning by Joni Eastley, a commissioner in Nye County, Nevada.  While Joni writes from the point of view of a rural county commissioner, her rules can be applied to any elected official.

As a side note, it looks like Joni knows exactly what being a good elected official is all about.  In 2008, she was elected to her third term as Nye County Commissioner with the highest margin of victory out of any race in the entire State of Nevada.

Now that’s Killer Campaigning!

Eleven Rules to Survival as a County Commissioner

Joni’s Lessons Painfully Learned

1. You cannot do this job without the full support of your spouse or partner and your family. The hours are long, the time away from home is great, and the interruptions to your life are frequent. Your family’s support will be the main key to your success.

2. You don’t know it all! Always support county staff. Stay out of their way and let them do their jobs. And if you didn’t know it before, you know it now—the county manager is the board’s only employee. The board’s only employee—not yours.

3. You are only part of the power of the board of commissioners, not the base of that power. Understand and respect the Open Meeting Law.

4. Be responsive to your constituents. Return telephone calls promptly. Acknowledge every communication, even if you’re only copied and it’s not intended for you.

5. Be accessible to your constituents, but not too accessible. Be sure to establish reasonable limits to your time and boundaries to your accessibility.

6. This is what you DO, it’s not who you ARE. Recognize the difference between and doing and being.

7. You are now part of a machine with interchangeable parts. Always support your fellow commissioners and the final decision, even when it doesn’t go your way.

8. If there are town boards in your district, be available to help and support their members. Your district is only as strong as the sum of its parts.

9. Recognize the difference between emotional issues and business issues and act accordingly. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in an emotional issue that results in an emotional (translation: wrong) decision.

10. NEVER make the mistake of listening to (and believing) the first “story” you hear. There are two (and sometimes more) sides to everything. Be a good investigator and gather all the facts before you make a decision.

11. And finally—under promise and over deliver!

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