[shaubold]

I work for the President of a well known firm in my town. He is getting phone calls from Schedulers of political candidates asking for his time to do a "meet & greet" so they can inform him of thier political platforms. How do I graciously decline some of these invitations? He does not have the time, nor the interest, to meet with many of these candidates? I certainly can't tell them his calendar is full between now and the 2010 elections. Please help!!

[Robin Holtson]

These requests need to be handled with care. The candidates are most likely looking not only for your bosses endorsement, but also a contribution to their campaign - both can cause heartburn for your boss and the company. My recommendation would be to have a blanket policy for all of these requests. It can be very cordial, but to the point that his personnel policy is to not meet with any candidates. If they pressure you about reviewing their platforms, you can remind them that he can read their platforms on their websites. Once you let one candidate "in" the rest will know and then it starts to get ugly.