Elected Office Representative

Job Description: Elected Office Representative ("EOR"), Full-Time Temporary

Reports to: The electorate

Benefits: Excellent, including generous vacation, complete health and dental coverage (depending on level of government), full travel expenses, and various discounts and other perks, opportunity for book deals during or following service

Description of Duties: The EOR will work with a team of other elected officials and experienced staff to craft legislation to improve the functioning of society. Will be assigned to one or more committees that monitor one or more aspects of executive branch operations. These operations are undertaken by skilled civil servants overseen by an elected Chief Executive. The EOR and the committee(s) on which s/he serves will provides advice and consent as required or requested to the Chief Executive, various boards, committees, and commissions. The EOR must effectively communicate public policy, and progress in solving current societal issues to the general public, as well as to co-workers engaged in other aspects of oversight. In addition, the EOR must effectively seek input and feedback from constituents, many of whom have little interest in or understanding of the complexities of the social problems the EOR and his/her colleagues have been assigned to address.  The successful candidate will have experience in effectively identifying and negotiating solutions to a complex and inter-related societal challenges.

Required Skills and/or Experience:

Communication skills, Must be willing and able to read, understand, and comment on voluminous amounts of written legal material on wide-ranging subject matter, from economic development to education to health care. Other necessary communication skills include extemporaneous oratory, and ability to build trusting relationships with co-workers. Good listening skills, politeness, and even-temperedness, as well as ability to negotiate and compromise are essential, as is a healthy sense of humor.  

Ability to work effectively as a member of various teams. The EOR will be assigned to one or more committees, but will also be under pressure to meet the more narrow re-election and fundraising goals of the EOR’s sponsor/party. In order to be effective on the job, it is essential that the short-term goals of the sponsor/party be secondary to the longer term societal goals identified collectively. This tension can sometimes become extraordinary, yet performance evaluation will be made on the EOR’s demonstrated commitment to and effectiveness in serving the larger society rather than the more narrow and self-serving goals of the sponsor/party.

Ability to fundraise. Separate from, but related to, to the specific duties of the EOR is the ability to raise funds for frequent re-election campaigns. Dependence on financial sponsors whose demands are not aligned with the EOR or his/her constituency raise frequent, if not constant, ethical dilemmas, requiring an exceptional degree of honesty and integrity. Fundraising duties are an accepted part of any EOR’s life, but must be undertaken outside the course of normal duties, on the EOR’s own time. Failure to do so can result in censure, public humiliation, and in extreme cases, legal prosecution.

Other desirable qualities for the successful candidate:

Appealing personal history

Photogenic appearance

Memorable, unembarrassing name

Appealing spouse (heterosexual strongly preferred)

Personal wealth (particularly for candidates not already in office)

Ease with constituents from all socio-economic classes

Ability to repeat oneself repeatedly for speeches

Willingness to spend long periods of time away from home

Respect for the political process

Ability to build and effectively supervise a team

Familiarity with State and/or Federal Constitutions