A Prince Maker Strikes Again

Garth mixes Machiavelli, McLuhan and Damon Runyon

If three of last week's big election winners--Ed Koch, Brendan Byrne and Carol Bellamy--got together with Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, New York Governor Hugh Carey and Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz, they could form a little association. Its name: the Davey Garth Fan Club. All those potent pols are, or have been, the clients of David Garth, the nation's most sought-after campaign strategist. His record this year: five winners among six clients. Garth's secret? Says the hard-working consultant: "There are ad agency guys more creative than I and professional pols more skilled in mechanics. But there aren't many who know both ends the way I do." Or who are willing to bleed through seven-day weeks.

Yet Garth revels in his labors and savors his influence both during and after campaigns, just as he enjoys his own fac,ade as the rat-tat-tat tough guy, breaking off aphorisms between puffs on his twisted black cigar. (Typical mot: "Reality dictates your strategy. There are no brilliant choices in most situations.") At 47, he conveys an impression of boundless energy in search of new elections, new impact. Indeed, what distinguishes Garth from other political consultants is his influence on some clients after they have won and his immersion in their campaigns. He plots the candidates' advertising, with emphasis on television, and gives them candid advice on issues, strategy and other weighty matters (Koch lost 15 Ibs. at Garth's suggestion).

Koch and Byrne were good fodder for the TV commercials that Garth writes and directs. He favors blunt, factual spots with few frills; He also subscribes to Marshall McLuhan's theory that "cool" images are more effective than "hot" ones on TV. Koch and Byrne, both plain-spoken and low-keyed, fit the Garth format.

Garth's original and enduring love is the TV tube. He dropped out of Columbia's graduate psychology department 20 years ago to produce local TV sports programs in New York City. A liberal Democrat who grew up on Republican Long Island, he got into politics in 1960 as an organizer of the Draft Stevenson movement. After working as the unpaid television adviser in John Lindsay's successful 1965 mayoral campaign, he plunged full-time into political consulting.

Often Garth takes on customers whose causes seem hopeless and turns down apparent front runners. "We only accept people we like," says the old Adlai fan, who still prefers liberal Democrats but occasionally works for "progressive" Republicans. Four years ago, Hugh Carey, then a Brooklyn Congressman, seemed a poor bet--he was virtually unknown. Last year Koch looked like an even worse prospect. But in each case Garth's analysis of polls showed that more prominent rivals had relatively little support. "That's a situation with a vacuum," says Garth. "You can move in with the right candidate."

How completely Garth and his 14-member staff move in depends on the customer's needs. Koch started with no organization and little money. Therefore, Garth supplied professional staff and research aides. A reporter writing something unpleasant could even expect a caustic phone call from Garth, using his Edward G. Robinson manner and Damon Runyon dialogue ("You guys are putting out a lotta crap, y'know?"). When Koch did a live interview with a TV personality high on Garth's low list, Koch got a loud complaint. "Garth called me and was really furious," Koch recalls with a chuckle. "David is very warm and has become a close personal friend. Of course, he can be volatile and dictatorial too."

For having sound advice yelled at them, candidates eagerly line up to pay the Garth firm $15,000 a month as a retainer, plus 15% of the cost of commercial air time. In the Koch campaign, the commission came to roughly $120,000. Though he tries to keep it quiet, Garth occasionally donates services to an impecunious politician whom he admires, like Bellamy. He pays himself a salary of $130,000 a year.

There is no charge for Garth's post-election consultations. After Carey won, he chose five top aides who had been proposed by Garth. Now friction has developed between Garth and other Carey staffers; as a result, Garth has talked about withdrawing from Carey's 1978 re-election campaign. Last week Koch's first appointment as mayor-elect was his city hall press secretary--Maureen Connelly, 29, until now Garth's research chief.

How long Garth's honeymoon with His Honor will last is an open question. Garth, a student of Machiavelli as well as McLuhan, keeps a passage from The Prince on his office wall: "Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself." Waving his cigar, Garth says of his 16th century political consultant: "I live by that son of a bitch. He's never wrong." Luckily for Garth, every campaign brings along new potential princes.

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