‘Nobody is totally clean,’ political specialist admits

Jeff Berkowitz, an opposition research specialist who previously served as Research Director at the Republican National Committee, spoke with KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz at the RNC in Cleveland about what it’s like to dig up dirt on political candidates.

Berkowitz says his world is misunderstood.

“I think there’s a huge misconception here,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of what we do is what we call ‘votes and quotes.’ It’s what have people voted on issues, what bills have they introduced, what have they said in the public domain?

“Even looking at character issues — we are electing people and entrusting them with power, we want to make sure we know who they are and what they say matches up with their rhetoric,” he added. “… It is an important part of the American people vet the candidates who are going to lead the country.”

Related: Jason Rantz interviewed at Republican National Convention Media Row

Berkowitz said the first thing his company, Delve, would do is perform a vulnerability study to understand the strengths and weaknesses as a candidate, as well as any potential skeletons from his own client’s past.

“The vulnerability study process is actually more brutal than what we do to our opponents because we’re less careful with the facts,” he said. “We want the candidates to understand what they could potentially be hit up with so they can prepare themselves, they can prepare their family. Politics is not softball, it is a tough business and you have to be prepared because our company slogan is what you don’t know can hurt you. If you don’t understand how your background and record can be used against you, fairly or unfairly, then you’re not going to be prepared to run a successful campaign.”

Berkowitz said his clients do “fair” attacks on opponents.

“We help them stick to the facts and help them understand what they can do and stay in that responsible space,” he said. “I would also say Republicans have to be much more careful about what they say than Democrats because the media will be much more likely to fact-check and hold accountable a Republican than they are a Democrat.

Berkowitz said the research can take weeks or months, particularly noting that the Obama administration has taken longer than the previous administration in returning Freedom of Information Act requests.

“Campaigns are about building a narrative, so you’re not just going to throwing it all out at once,” he added. “You’re going to think about how to push piece after piece into the building blocks of the narrative that you’re trying to tell voters about yourself and your opponent.”

Rantz asked how often people have entirely clean pasts.

“Nobody is totally clean,” he said. “… That’s where it really goes back to a lot of what we do is (finding) where do people stand on issues and what is their record. So it’s not necessarily we’re trying to find that secret second family… but there have definitely been times when we turn in a report that builds a narrative that we think helps our client see the path to win the election. And they’re like, ‘We didn’t want you to just tell us that our opponent is a decent guy.’ It happens. It is politics but it does happen on occasion. But that’s where really it’s not just about, is this a good person or a bad person, it’s also about you’re going to choose this person to represent you. Where do they stand on the issues? And that’s really, honestly a much bigger part of it than all of the skeleton stuff.”

As for Melania Trump’s plagiarism fiasco, Berkowitz said it could have stemmed from Democrats opposition research, since, if he were on the other side, would be looking for any potential gaffes.

“I think her speech was really strong and she made a really great case for her husband’s strength and confidence in coming into this position of leadership,” he said. “So it’s not surprising that Democrats would try and find ways to undermine that and distract that. Look, there’s only so many things a spouse can say about the candidate, so the fact that there are some similarities isn’t the biggest surprise in the world, but it does seem very, very, very similar to what Michelle Obama said and kudos to whoever keyed in on that and pushed it out. That’s the heart of what opposition researching campaigns is all about.”

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