In need of a shoe shine?
Assemblyman Das Williams is at your service.
The Santa Barbara Democrat is inviting his donors to get their footwear polished and fixed at Russo's Shoe Repair across from the state Capitol tomorrow.
"They're just one of those places that, I bring them a pair of shoes that looks like it's on death's door and they make 'em look magical," said Williams, who is even offering to shine some himself.
An invitation touts the 5 p.m. fundraiser as a birthday celebration, but this party favor doesn't come cheap.
Tickets to the event, which benefits Williams' re-election bid, start at $1,000, though he says he's letting invitees come for less.
Williams isn't the first legislator to use fashion or style to lure donors to an event. Fundraisers last year featured custom suit tailoring and a designer trunk sale offering discounted items from St. John, Chanel and Gucci.
The first-term lawmaker said offering shoe shining at his reception seemed like a creative and cost-effective way to allow supporters to put their best foot forward.
"Really, the idea just came from wanting to make sure that in this age of austerity that we have fun events, but ones that don't cost a lot of money," said Williams, who turns 38 next week. "And it's a fun little birthday shindig and allows people to do what they need to get done, which is probably that they'll have time to get their shoes shined or bring their shoes in to get repaired or whatever, but still get a chance to do that and hang out, and just have a drink and take a load off."
Jim Sanders contributed to this post.
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