Noah Dyer’s campaign website looks like any other political site: A picture of the candidate, a short bio, a page asking for donations.
But Dyer, who’s running for governor of Arizona in 2018, is unique because his site has one section no other politician probably has ever had — one highlighting his dirty laundry.
Under the tab marked “Scandal and Controversy,” Dyer lists a full page of what he calls the “nitty-gritty details” about his personal life. And boy is it personal.
He admits to casual (and “deep”) sexual flings with women and is OK with open relationships.
Group sex? Been there.
Sex with married women? Done that.
Oh and he’s been known to sext and to video record his sexual encounters from time to time.
Dyer doesn’t name names though.
He’s put his financial woes on there too. He’s got $100,000 in student loan debt. He’s used credit card cash advances to pay his child support. He sold his house in a short sale. And once he was even homeless.
“I’m not embarrassed by it,” Dyer told CNN. “I don’t think it matters. The voters want an honest politician. I’m working to be honest and transparent with people.”
Dyer, a marketing executive, believes campaign scandals are just distractions that divert political conversations from what’s really important. He thinks the voters in Arizona can separate what’s important from what’s not.
He knows some people might not consider voting for him based upon the things he’s revealed, but he’s OK with that because he’s committed to being totally transparent.
Just one request
Dyer, a Democrat, announced his campaign on February 14 with a “love letter” to Arizona (“I want to make dinner for you, rub your feet …”). His campaign website, with the Scandals and Controversy section, was up and running a few days before that.
When he first pitched the idea of revealing his secrets, his campaign advisers thought he was nuts.
“They were all universally against the idea,” he said. “They were worried that I’d just be branded as a sexaholic and we wouldn’t be able to talk about the issues. But that’s not the response that we’ve gotten. People admire the courage.”
OK, he feels the voters are going to be OK with it, but what about the people in his personal life? Won’t some names eventually come out, as the media glare grows during the campaign? Dyer’s not worried about that, even if some of the people in his personal circle are.
“Everybody was incredibly excited to know that I was running,” he said. “They were also worried.”
He gave friends, family and others a heads up that he was running. They just had one request — that he protect their privacy. He promised not to “out” anyone and hoped the media would do the same. But if names from his past do leak out, he’s ready to deal with that too.
Now that the secrets from his personal life are all out in the open, Dyer wants to focus on the issues voters care about (education, the budget), fundraising and prepping for the state’s Democratic primary next summer.
