Campaign Advice From a Friend
(You get what you pay!)

Well, my friends have been giving me advice on my campaign for Salado Public Library Board. Michael Briand, founder of PublicKnowledge in Colorado weighed in with this advice:

"Love the campaign announcement. But you know, it’s OK to sell beer with good-looking girls (actually, it’s not, but I have to continue this line of thinking now that I’ve started it), but running for public office using a girl showing a bare midriff?! Shocking!

Of course, I can tell from your announcement that you realize being qualified for office is completely irrelevant. You understand the marketing of a candidate—showing bare midriffs, allowing chocolate ice cream in the library (promise ‘em anything, they’ll soon forget), and so forth. Can you trace your family’s roots back several generations to when your great-great-great-grand-daddy Salado founded the eponymous town where you live? If not, make it up! Who’s gonna check it out?"

Well Michael, I could try that "family founder of Salado" bit, but I'd get caught for sure. Turns out (how's this for irony) that this small village's first white settler was an Archibald Willingham.

He's buried in The Willingham Cemetery, also known as Three Chimneys Cemetery near the Willingham Branch of the Salado Creek.

So I could follow Michael's advice and claim my legacy, except that Archibald's REAL descendent is the town dentist and we've yet to find a connection. I'd hate to get caught in a lie in my first campaign.

But my own well-documented family connections aren't half bad. My parents were Salado Citizens of the Year this year. That's pretty good stock!

Ben and June Willingham
2007 Salado Citizens of the Year

Thanks, Michael. I won't rely on my family connections to get me elected, but I'm pretty proud of them nonetheless!