CAN YOU SAY "BUSTED"?

Lakeland Ledger political columnist Bill Rufty slams the young'uns who are seemingly making some of the decisions on the U.S. Senate campaign of Congresswoman Katherine Harris (R - Sarasota) today:

It is perhaps a lesson that inexperienced or untried campaign workers not only should not be allowed to run heavy equipment, but should not be allowed to run the big rigs of a campaign either -- at least until they grow some common sense.

Young campaign workers without life experiences or an understanding of ethics can hurt a candidate worse than all the negative campaigning in the world.

Here's the scene: It is a glorious day to start a senatorial campaign -- sunny day, children, a school. The candidate is touting the virtues of education and the importance of educating our children. Harris is expounding some of the education issues she hit on during her time in Congress and in the Florida Senate. The press, of course, is eating it up.

Then it is over. The camera lights go off, the children leave and a couple of school mothers come out of the school in Manatee County mad as heck.

It seems there was a misperception here.

The school did not give permission for the campaign to use its facilities or its children for Harris' Senate campaign kickoff.

So some bright-eyed, freshly scrubbed campaign worker posed the candidate on the right of way and bused in the children.

A sharp reporter from WMNF radio, who stayed behind, begins recording and taking notes. A Harris staff member says the press misunderstood. Misunderstood? You pose in front of a school with students not from that school and the press misunderstood?

Well, she said when pressed, it wasn't the media's fault. (Glory be).

Rufty reminds anyone considering a run for office of some excellent advise:

But maybe candidates, who ultimately will receive the blame, can begin by making their people repeat that shopworn phrase: "Honesty is the best policy.
"If that doesn't work, how about the following for the staffer in the Harris campaign that came up with the school scam: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first strive to deceive."