Scott Paton

2010 Election Campaign

Margaret D. Rappaport, Clerk of Court - September 17, 2010

Margaret D. Rappaport is an extremely popular civil servant in Howard County, Maryland. For more than two decades she had served as the Clerk of the Circuit Court without facing any real stiff challenge during re-election cycles. In 2010, however, her opponent was a young attorney who wasn't hesitant to take swipes at Margy's age or to incorrectly ascribe unpopular state-mandated policies and procedures to Ms. Rappaport's office. She was adamant about serving one more term before retirement so she and her staff could complete a decade-long project of transferring all county records into a state-wide database that would make them accessible by any computer to government employees and the general public alike.

I was engaged by Ms. Rappaport's team to define her message through website content, campaign speeches, editorials, signage and collateral materials. Working closely with her and her daughter, Amy, who served as her campaign manager, we clearly were successful as she came from behind in the polls to win the election by a substantial margin.

(Document 1 -- As Ms. Rappaport's website was taken down after her re-election, in the attached document, you will see the entire written content of the site, including the original directions to the web designer indicating placement of copy, photos, testimonials and other supplemental elements.)

(Document 2 -- Campaign door hanger copy)

(Document 3 -- Ms. Rappaport's daughter and campaign manager got a last-minute invitation to speak before a community group and asked if I could possibly cobble together a speech for her for that same evening.