'Political consultant' aids Akufo-Addo's presidential bid

Larry S. Gibson will be jetting off to Ghana Wednesday night to give a presidential candidate closing days' advice in advance of the African nation's election on Sunday.

It's a trip that Gibson, a University of Maryland law professor and attorney in Baltimore, has made several times in recent months on behalf of candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. And Ghana marks the third country in sub-Saharan Africa where Gibson has advised candidates for top office since 2001.

His previous clients, in Madagascar and Liberia, won their elections, and prospects look good for Akufo-Addo, whose platform stresses education and health care.

Before taking his campaign consulting to the skies, Gibson ran the successful campaigns of former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke in 1987, 1991 and 1995.

Though Baltimore and Africa are a world apart, one thing about campaigns remains the same, said Gibson, who is of counsel at Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler.

“It is amazing how similar people are worldwide in what they want from their leaders,” he said. “People vote for people they like. That's universal.”

As a result, Gibson added, the more successful candidates are not necessarily those with the most popular policies. Rather, winning politicians are those who relate on a personal level with the electorate.

“Policies are important, but for elections people want a sense of the person,” Gibson said.

“Far more important is the assessment of what type of person this is,” he added. “The voters understand that they are electing a person more than they are electing a program. That's universal.”