By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Cartoon by Jeff
MacNelly
Those who follow the humor columns of the Miami Herald's Dave Barry (seen in the Sunday Advertiser) will recall
that last summer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist announced his candidacy for president of the United States. Then on July 4, 1999, Barry used his column to introduce his official national press secretary. "His name is Vincent 'Vinny' Setala, " wrote Barry. "And if I Had to summarize, in one sentence would be: 'He's in Jail.'" Barry said Setala, an inmate at Halawa Prison here, "would be a perfect press secretary, because he's not allowed to talk directly
to anybody but his lawyer. So when the press wants to ask me some pesky trick questions such as what my opinion is, I can just say:
'You'll have to ask my press secretary about that.' Then they'll have to figure out how to reach Vinny. their best bet would be tunneling." Barry's official campaign Web site (www.herald.com/davebarry) includes Setala's official press announcement and a link to the July column, headlined
"Any complaints, see Vinny - on visiting days." We tried to interview Setala, 44, at Halawa to find out how the campaign is going. But the slammer is next to impossible to break into. We settled on a phone interview. Q:Have you ever voted? Q:What are you in for? Q:What has been the greatest challenge in running the Dave for President campaign? Q:Are your campaign funds legal tender or prison cigarettes? Q:Have many of your fellow inmates made a commitment to the Barry campaign?
Setala: "No, but if I were legally allowed to, I'd vote for Dave. I'm loyal. If Dave weren't in the race, I'd either vote for 'Other' or 'Sample Ballot.'"S
Setala: "I'm serving time for shoplifting. In fact, I'm the only person I've ever met who's done five years for shoplifting. Oh and there was that credit-card thing, too."
Selata: "So far, I'd say it has been the number of letters. The one, actually. That was from my mom. She's been very supportive."
Setala: "A lot depends on the brand of cigarettes contributors smoke. If things work out, we might even branch out to candy bars. However, we don't expect to be asking for matching federal funds."
Setala: "It took a while, but most of them have come around. In fact, there are more committed people around. In fact, there are more committed people here than I've ever seen before. It's like 100 percent."."