Just over two years ago, I moved into my home in Lake Forest Park, WA (just north of Seattle). As it turns out, the guy who lives next door – Jeff Johnson – decided in late May of this year to run for Lake Forest Park City Council.

He was motivated to run because in August of the prior year, the City Council put an initiative on the primary ballot – Proposition One (Prop. 1) – that would have increased the levy rate in the City’s portion of property taxes by 38%. There was a general feeling that they put it on the primary ballot to sneak it by the community and because they weren’t willing to make the tough budget decisions that municipalities all over the country are having to make.

Prop. 1 failed by an overwhelming 78% to 22% rejection of the tax increase, even though six of the seven Council members supported it.

When I went to college, I decided I wanted to major in both Political Science and Marketing because I wanted to run political campaigns. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. And while I did get into marketing, I’ve never had the opportunity to run a campaign.

When my neighbor told me he was going to run, I told him, without even thinking about it, that I’m going to run his campaign.

Thankfully, I think for both of us, he let me, and I became his Campaign Director. A lot of fascinating challenges faced us over the months that followed – ones that I think are worth sharing. The series of posts to follow will recount some of those challenges and what we did to overcome them and win the election.

Click here to go to part two…

-My name is Jon Friesch, and I blame myself.