Gerry Nicholls: ‘Libertarianism and me’

A read-the-whole-thing by one of the good guys:

What did convert me wasn’t a book, it was an individual, an individual named Arthur Finkelstein.

Arthur was an American political consultant who worked for the NCC, he gave us political, media and fundraising advice. He was, in fact, truth-be-told, one of the chief reasons behind the NCC’s success.

He was also the top Republican political consultant, if not the top American political consultant period.

Arthur worked for just about every major Republican candidate in the 1980s and 90s. He worked for Ronald Reagan, and Jesse Helms and George Pataki and Al D’amato and for many other freedom-oriented causes.

He was also the guy who basically invented the negative ad. His nickname was the “Merchant of Venom.”

Now you might be asking yourself, “If Arthur was so great, why haven’t I ever heard of the guy?”

Well, let me tell you a secret about political consultants. The ones who promote themselves a lot, the ones you see on TV talk shows and speaking at seminars are not usually the top consultants.

That’s why they need to get the public limelight. That’s why they self-promote.

The really top consultants don’t need to do that. The insiders know who they are and they are always busy.