We can find a simple solution by applying sound planning practices.
First, identify the cause of this big spending by so many candidates for APA or AICP President–Elect.
The cause: Postage to 30,000 members. The cost of postage alone to send postcards or brochures to the entire APA membership runs from $6,300 to over $10,200, depending on whether the card requires 21 cents or 34 cents postage. Skip to suggested solution
The Details of the Cause: Pure Politics!
Over a decade ago, the majority of the APA Board and AICP Commission sought to counteract the totally independent, grassroots newsletter Inside APA, that your editors of this website published. For details, click here. We were sending our newsletter to a mailing list comprised of APA members we met at APA conferences — people who told us they wanted to know about the issues before the Board and Commission met and voted. It was a way to inform regular ol’ members in advance to enable those of us then on the APA Board to report their views to the full Board and Commission. It was the only way APA’s governing boards heard from regular members rather than just from the APA power elite, for lack of a more descriptive term.
Now most members get their news about internal APA matters through their chapter newsletters and, formerly, from Planning magazine. Both print only the official line. Chapter newsletters have tended to speak with a single voice. We often published an issue of Inside APA prior to APA/AICP elections in which we made recommendations and revealed the inside scoop on how candidates actually voted when they were on the Board or Commission.
The candidates slated to run against the independents had no desire to do the hard work necessary to build their own grassroots mailing lists. So they got the majority of the APA Board and AICP Commission to authorize distribution of the APA member mailing labels to candidates. It did not take long for the first establishment candidate to spend a few thousand dollars on mailings. The escalation in spending has become pretty intense.
A solution that most effectively addresses the cause:
Stop giving candidates the APA mailing labels.
Without the labels, there really is nothing to mail, and nothing to buy stamps for — unless you want to build your own grassroots effort.
A Workable, Affordable Alternative:
Instead of giving out mailing labels, APA/AICP should provide free space on the Internet for all candidates to establish websites of their own. The URLs should be published with the candidates’ position statements. Problem solved — at virtually no cost to members or candidates.
Return to The Cause.
