Gerry Wilkinson
His 1973 Political Campaign
The following is written by Gerry Wilkinson
In 1973, I ran for political office. I was actually on the ballot in the May Republican Primary in a three way race for the GOP nod for Township Treasurer. It was a thrill to walk into the voting booth and really see my name actually printed on it. In order to get on the ballot, you needed to gather voter signatures and file it in the county seat, which was Norristown, PA. After the filing deadline, there was a drawing between all the qualified candidates, in this case three, to determine the order the names would appear on the ballot. I drew second place.
There were three people running for the Republican nomination for Township Treasurer in Lower Merion Township where I was living at the time. Republicans always won in Lower Merion so that if you had the GOP nod, normally you won in November. There was myself, the guy who current held the office and an area doctor. I had no organization expect a couple of friends and basically no money other than my own. My idea was to use the media to get free publicity which turned out to be much harder than I thought. There were two newspapers serving the community, The Main line Times and The Main Line Chronicle. I received no television or radio coverage, but neither did the other candidates. I issued press releases each week and received very limited coverage in the Times but I stopped in to meet "Uncle Ben," local publisher of the Chronicle and he took a liking to me. Each week, a received a little story in the paper.
The issue of the Chronicle just before the election, I was shocked to find that the newspaper had endorsed me. Maybe it was that I was just better than the others. Sort of the worse of the three evils. Who knows?
March 29, 1973 article in the Chronicle
May 10, 1973 issue of the Conronicle - Front Page
May 10, 1973 Chronicle Editorial
A Photo from a Spring 1973 Political Shoot
The outcome of the election was: KERSHNER....4,447 (59.77%)
WILKINSON....1,913 (25.72%)
CIARANTE....1,079 (14.01%)
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