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Mirroring Reality
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Apr 25, 2005 Posted by Rich HarwoodThis candidate for mayor of San Antonio may have failed the test of where to draw the line. How far will voters go?
Last week I told a story (see below) about where to draw lines on matters of convenience and ease. Well, last Friday, I read an article about Julian Castro, a candidate for major of San Antonio who couldn’t make it to the annual River Parade through downtown.
So what did he do? He sent his brother to fill in – only it was his TWIN! Unbeknownst to anyone but those on the parade barge with him, the twin was taken as Julian himself, the candidate. In fact, a television anchorman hosting the parade identified him as the candidate.
Now, this could be an innocent mistake. But, to me, it crosses the line. Here is a candidate running for mayor who sends his brother, a twin, to fill in for him at a parade. What are we to think? I can come up with all kinds of excuses and explanations, but each one begs the fundamental truth.
At a minimum, one would expect the mayor-to-be to make every effort not to appear as if he is trying to sneak one by the voters. His campaign could have easily told the TV anchorman, for instance, what was happening. But they didn’t.
And so what happened next? What every good campaign consultant would suggest.
Julian, and his brother, Joaquin, showed up at a press conference the next day in T-shirts, making fun of the situation and cracking jokes about it.
The line was drawn in the wrong place on this one.