If Eddie Perez loses in September, it will have been nobody's fault but his.

 

Aside from the shady deals, the egomania, and the bullying and strong-arming, there's the propaganda.

 

Relying on the deep pockets of the taxpayer during the past six years, Perez has created a potent brand image, portraying himself as a powerful leader. One of these brand image vehicles has been four-color glossy quarterly mailings called "The Mayor's Update."

 

That tactic has backfired though, as his own campaign has shattered his brand with its first official mailer, a poorly designed, badly color-corrected, flimsy, unvarnished two-color 8.5" x 11" flyer that appeared in my mailbox Saturday, April 28.

Maybe my expectations for candidate communication are unreasonable because I suffered through the multi-million dollar escapade known as the 2006 election.

 

Glossy flyers from Jodi Rell, Ned Lamont and Perez's best friend Joe Lieberman stuffed my mailbox, demonstrating that a credible candidate must use card stock, four colors, UV coating and flashy graphics.

 

Granted, Mayor Perez is the first mayoral candidate to bulk mail Hartford voters this election cycle. So chalk one up for El Alcalde.

 

But it lands in our mailboxes moments after front page stories on the state's leading daily newspaper implicate the Mayor in potential corruption scandals and illegal back-room deal making. The timing could make his campaign appear to be responding quickly, but no doubt this direct mail piece was probably in the works for a week or two beforehand.

 

Printing is a fast business, but you can't design, buy press time, print, label and mail 10,000 pieces in less than a week. It appears thrown together, so maybe that is the case. The black and white photos on a blue background seem minor league, so contrary to the carefully cultivated image of 3-1-1 magnets and Mayor's Updates.

 

At first glance, the flyer - featuring the union bug - made me wonder, "Who is this man?" The campaign answers with themes familiar to those featured in the Mayor's Updates: crime is at 25 year lows; school construction is up; four straight years of lower unemployment.

In short, the world is a prettier place because voters have trusted him to run the city. Although, to many living in this city, the picture of economic success may be a fun house mirror.

 

This blindly loyal portrait of the city's chief executive officer and his achievements is a familiar attempt to reinforce the talking points of the Mayor's Update, but it fails because it is of such lesser quality than residents are accustomed to.

 

The medium is the message here. And this medium - two color, black and white - is unfamiliar. While the canned grip-and-grin photos are the same, his campaign is trying to reintroduce Perez to voters, maybe as someone more down to earth than who currently runs City Hall.

 

But that's the problem here. The political campaigns like Perez is waging represent information warfare. There's nothing personal here. Not once has anyone I know in the last four years said they were going to volunteer for Perez's campaign. There's no door knocking, phone calling or word of mouth buzz other than the guy's a bum.

 

For him to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to convince us otherwise, well, that's democracy. Or a really well-funded political machine ready to use all its connections to raise money to crush any opponents.