By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – How quickly can a candidate spend over $300,000 in a local election for sheriff?
That happened easily for Sheriff-elect Randy Smith after he raised that much money to defeat incumbent Jack Strain in the recent Nov. 21 runoff.
However, the inside workings of the Hartman & Associates political consulting agency, which engineered the big victory for Smith over Strain, made it clear the decisions about where each dollar is spent are backed by an incredible amount of research.
“Everything that we do has a science behind it,” said James Hartman, founder and owner of the company.
Hartman has a book on every one of his candidates that researches extremely detailed voting information on each person.
“We want to make the most of every dollar the candidate is spending,” Hartman added. “People don’t realize the science that goes into every piece of advertising we do.”
The Smith campaign spent most of its money in TV, cable, radio, direct mail and local newspapers. Approximately $100,000 of the money went to TV and cable, approximately $100,000 went to direct mail pieces, and the rest was split between radio, newspapers and other expenses.
However, the Hartman team made it clear they target specific markets by where they are advertising.
“TV stations have different markets for different shows so we have to consider what is right for the candidate,” he explained. “Even the direct mail pieces, depending on the message, might go only to seniors, or parents, or Republican voters—depending on the message.
“We had one TV ad that talked about him being a ‘Christian crime fighter’,” Hartman said. “With some of our direct mail, we did not send negative pieces to the evangelical market. I like to say politics is an art based on science.”
Working with Hartman is Ray Sutherlin, 38, an LSU graduate who went to St. Paul’s and did sports radio work, then radio sales work before being hired by Hartman four years ago.
Adam Eversole, 27, joined the agency three years ago after graduating from the University of Dayton. He worked for House Speaker John Boehner for two years and met Hartman in Washington D.C., leading to the job offer.
Emily Martinez is a graphic and web designer who went to school in Mandeville and has been with the team for two years.