“I don’t care what the newspapers say about me, as long as they spell my name right.”
The quote has been attributed to many people, including Mae West, P.T. Barnum and W.C. Fields.
But a growing number of folks now believe it almost certainly was first said by Timothy “Big Tim” Sullivan, a high-profile and controversial political figure who was part of the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City.
The quote itself is important because it reflects the importance of the media, the power of publicity, and/or the chutzpah of those in power, like politicians.
In other words, politicians thrive on their name being continually printed, no matter how inappropriate the reason.
Nationally, Donald Trump is using this game plan. For now, it’s working. He is rising to the top of the polls for the Republican presidential nomination.
Locally, we also have a politician who is hoping to take advantage of this axiom. It’s Mary Benton. She’s running for the District 2 seat on the county council. Her strategy is a slight variation to the “spell my name right” approach.
It’s not her name that she is hoping we spell right. It’s her husband’s name, Don Benton.
Don Benton, as many of you know, is a Republican state senator. He is also the county environmental services director.
And his name is in the news a lot! Mostly for all the wrong reasons.
For example, Don Benton can’t seem to shake the bad publicity after he was handed the $115,000-per-year environmental services director’s job even though he knows little about the environment.
Crazy.
Shortly after Mary Benton announced she was running for the county council seat, I sent her an email and asked if I could ask her a few questions. I never received a reply.
One of the questions would have been about eliminating the very department her husband is running. She’s running as a conservative Republican, and the elimination of that department would save the county $750,000 a year!
Sounds like a no-brainer for a conservative Republican, right? Well …
I wrote a column about some of this a few weeks ago, and former Democratic County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris rushed to Mary Benton’s defense. I suspect Morris felt I was trying to define Mary Benton by her husband’s actions.
“I thought the whole point of (the women’s liberation movement) and the progress women have made since was to let women be who they are, rather than just reflections of their husbands.”
In theory, Morris is 100 percent right, of course. But in practice, here’s where it all goes wrong:
o If someone tries to get a candidate to speak for herself, but she refuses, what is one to do? What are voters left with to decide?
o But here’s the real delicious irony to Morris’ comment. Mary Benton’s campaign strategy is to do exactly what Morris was asking not be done. As noted, Mary Benton hopes to win by using Don Benton’s name.
One well-connected elected Republican said Don Benton has told a few community folks he expects his name to put Mary over the top.
Will it work?
Personally, I was never a devout believer in the “just spell my name right” concept. I do believe it works, to a point. But there is a tipping point where it all goes terribly wrong.
Trump soon will reach that tipping point.
Democrat Anthony Weiner (remember him?), the former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York City, reached the tipping point. He was involved in two sexual scandals related to sexting. He eventually resigned his House seat but later ran for mayor. His name — unfortunately for him — was always spelled right and printed thousands of times. He was crushed in the mayoral race.
I suspect Don Benton — and his wife, Mary Benton — also have reached the tipping point. The name Benton no longer will work for them. It will work against them.
Now, in Mary Benton’s defense, because she isn’t giving out much detail on her positions and not speaking much to the press, she’s playing her hand just right. Why? Because it’s the only hand she has to play. Lie low and hope the Benton name isn’t all that toxic.
We’ll know soon enough.
In the meantime, we’ll do our best to spell the names right.
