Glossy leaflet Fidelma’s foreplay to woo voters

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Politicians love glossy leaflets. They love nothing more than using glossy leaflets to tell the electorate what they want to hear.

Glossy pamphlets are the politicians’ equivalent of foreplay.

They use them to have their wicked way with the electorate; they use them to seduce voters into giving politicians what they want – their vote.

But pamphlets are a more subtle, gentler way of seducing voters, than, say, calling to the door and asking for your vote. They’re more nuanced.

With an election looming, the political equivalent of aphrodisiacs will be increasingly landing through our letterboxes.

Like a tax on contraceptives, many of these puff-pieces are paid for by you.

Fidelma Healy Eames, the Oranmore-based senator, was engaging in a bit of foreplay in recent weeks sending a new sleek pamphlet to supporters.

One even made its way to Bradley Bytes. It has a shiny cover, with a mug-shot of FHE smiling.

‘An Independent with a Plan’ is her slogan.

Except, FHE doesn’t appear to be entirely sure of what that plan exactly is.

The plan appears to be: Fidelma uses the pamphlet to tell supporters what her policies are, and then, if people don’t like those policies, she’ll change them and produce a new pamphlet.

A letter accompanying the leaflet, on Oireachtas headed paper, informs us that it is just a draft “which sets out my platform”.

The letter adds, “I would greatly welcome your feedback about its content and the overall impression you have of same.”

In particular, she wants to know: “Do you like the leaflet? What is the overall message you get from the leaflet? Where should it be improved? Is there something that could be said better/more effectively? Any other thoughts?”

The number 0612 is printed on the back of the leaflet – and this indicates that it is printed by the Oireachtas . . . sure isn’t it a great little country we live in all the same.

So, Fidelma is effectively having a ‘dry-run’ at it.

But that’s not all: we, the taxpayer, fork out for glossy draft trial-run pamphlets, which are then sent to her supporters for approval. Then, presumably, whatever feedback she gets about the leaflet and its contents, will feed into the design of any new (taxpayer-funded) leaflet that she’s planning to send out to woo – sorry, inform – voters ahead of next year’s election.

Seems about right, doesn’t it? Because Fidelma’s worth it . . .

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.