A Further Word on Paul Lang

I’ve been intending for some time to write another entry on Paul Lang, Democratic candidate for the 6th state senate district. It’s a little challenging for a number of reasons. He has been at some of the events I’ve been at but we haven’t had any extensive conversations. I’ve heard him speak a few times and he is a very good at that, knows the topics, keeps the audience’s attention, throws in a little humor. (blog entries on events Paul attended or spoke at here and here)

My primary point of contact with Paul has been via email. Thus this posting won’t have the usual links and references. For that see the Paul’s interview in a previous entry. In a fairly consistent email exchange over a period of time you do get a feel for people. Eventually you can pick up tone and mannerism that often gets lost in a brief correspondence. So here are few things have impressed me about Paul.

He’s good with money. When I posted a note on business magazines I read, he sent an email saying he started reading Fortune in high school, to the amusement of the rest of his baseball team. A few months ago his 12 year old vehicle died. He wrote a very entertaining and mournful eulogy and sent it around to a number of family and friends, in which he mentioned that he slept in it for 3 weeks while waiting for a real estate deal to close. No pricey hotels and room service for him. He now drives a 1996 station wagon. This is someone who is careful with his money, and is likely to be careful with the state’s. Granted I may be biased towards frugal prudent people because I consider myself one, but frugality and prudence are two qualities I’d like to see in elected officials. Generally when people are careful with their own money they are careful with other people’s money, too.

Another quality I see in him is his ability to create connections and disseminate information. I’ve written before on how hard it is to find out information on candidates, races, and events. More than one of the event postings I’ve written were possible solely because Paul sent me the specifics of what was taking place when and where. There are races I’ve written about solely because Paul brought them to my attention. Not in a “you must write about this” way but in a “this is interesting” way with no attempt to prejudice me towards a particular candidate within the party. He knows what is going on regionally, and doesn’t see politics solely through the blinders of his own state senate race. Of all the candidates I’ve had contact with, Paul has shown the greatest knowledge of area party organizations, races, and so on. I’m not saying the others don’t know as much, but Paul has gone out of his way to let me and other bloggers know what is going on and he has become one of the first people I go to for information.

His attention to detail is also surprising. He remembers something I mentioned in an email weeks ago and references it or refers to an article on it. Because I know how busy and all-consuming political races can be I usually take care to remind people of the context of something in an email if it took place more than two days ago. Paul’s ability to keep track of so many things is truly remarkable. Keeping in mind that he is not only running for office but helping plan his wedding, his multitasking is amazing.

Paul is one of those people who are very calm on the surface and yet there must be a million things going on in his mind; he is able to keep a number of mental threads straight and organized. It would be easy to underestimate him but it is often those who are able to accomplish things quietly and without fanfare that get the most done.