Bob from Cleveland

This article in the New York Times Magazine does an excellent job in documenting how a communications team and political campaign manager create the “brand” of a Presidential candidate.  From historic packaging, to daily messaging, to decision making;the process is outlined in its entirety.  I guess we will see if this effort pays off in a few weeks.

This is the stuff that most voters never take the time to understand about a campaign but what campaigns spend the most time in crafting.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the Shaker Square Home Tour.  Thanks to my friend Jason Lansdale for inviting me!

I’ve spent plenty of afternoons and evenings on the square but I had never been able to enjoy so many apartments, condos, and homes.  This neighborhood has it all!  If you’re in the market for a sophisticated and enjoyable urban lifestyle I highly recommend the square.

We should all congratulate Connie over at thunder::tech for reaching her goal of 99 Dum Dums in one day.  The video says it all!

Eaton recently launched their new slogan: “Powering Business Worldwide.”  The central hub for this power has been located in Cleveland since 1914 but will now be generated in Beachwood.  There will be plenty of arguments in the coming months on why this is horrible and how this is another nail in the coffin for the business environment in Cleveland.  This does not have to be the case.

We in Northeast Ohio need to stop viewing this as Beachwood vs. Cleveland or Westlake vs. Avon.  The game is now between major metropolitan areas both within and outside the country.  Cleveland competes just as much with Charlotte as we do with China.  This is why major law and accounting firms are opening up operations or partnering with existing firms in these markets.  The governing structure of Northeast Ohio needs to catch up to this fact or we are never going to be able to move forward as a region.

The Northeast Ohio Mayors and Managers Association, through Mayors Bill Currin (Hudson), Bruce Akers (Pepper Pike), and Mike Lyons (Richfield), are working with other elected officials to draft a proposal and conduct a vote of the people on just such an idea.  You can learn more about this proposal HERE.  The simple concept is that any new business that moves into Northeast Ohio (or relocates within Northeast Ohio) would pay a portion of its tax base to a regional pool.  This pool would be used for regional infrastructure projects, regional business attraction efforts, and other regional services deemed necessary.  The purpose of this effort is to level the playing field by creating a system that does not encourage one community to offer more incentives than another to attract businesses.  A high tide raises all ships sort of thing.

The reality is this: employees of Eaton (or any other company) do not limit themselves to the amenities of one municipality.  Eaton must rely on the assets of the entire region (parks, dining, theater, sports, etc.) when recruiting talent; not just those located in Beachwood.  The CEO of Eaton does not have season tickets to the Beachwood Indians or enjoy the fine music of the Beachwood Orchestra; rather, he will work in Beachwood, live in another community (I assume), and entertain clients/executives in dozens of municipalities.

It is time that the local tax structure insert this “modern” lifestyle into how municipalities compete for and tax businesses.  I encourage everyone to review the revenue study being proposed by the Northeast Ohio Mayors and Managers Association and encourage participation by their individual municipality.

I love movies.  I love all types of movies but I only have two dates on my calendar for this fall: 10/17 and 11/14.  One of these dates represents a movie that will be hyped as being part of the political process and the other is just for fun.  Both movies involve power, wealth, danger, love, and the defense of the main characters home country.  One movie is about George W. Bush and the other is about James Bond.

Get your popcorn and enjoy the show!

This post is not about one candidate or the other in the upcoming Presidental race.  This post is simply some advice to both campaigns to make the race more interesting for the rest of us to watch from the sidelines.  This is an open letter to each candidate.

Messrs McCain & Obama:

I, an average voter from the swing state of Ohio, recommend and request that you announce a handful of the individuals that you intend to nominate to positions within your Cabinet.

Let’s be honest, neither of your “bases” are in love with you at the moment and there are considerable factions within each party that you are sill wooing.  Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to pander to these groups anymore?  Announcing a portion of your Cabinet will either make their concerns irrelevant (by energizing undecided voters) OR address their issues directly (through the characteristics of the person that you chose).  It’s a win-win!

I understand that many of your advisers will tell you that no one votes for anyone other than the top of the ticket: they are wrong.  The individuals surrounding the President (or potential President) reflect the candidates true beliefs on where he/she stands on niche issues that are important to Americans.  BTW, if you still don’t believe that these individuals can help with votes, look at the other areas that they can be helpful to you: endorsements, fundraising, media stories, fundraising, acting as a campaign surrogate, fundraising…you get the point.

You may decide which Cabinet level positions to announce but I would recommend the following:
1. Energy
2. Defense
3. Education
4. Treasury
5. Homeland Security

Enjoy the chicken dinners, endless campaign stops, and the stump speech!

Bob

I go to a few Browns games a season; typically when a friend has an extra ticket and a desire for color commentary from the seat next to him/her.  Tomorrow is one of those opportunities.  Now, I am not a huge fan of the NFL but I do enjoy watching the Browns when able and I especially enjoy the atmosphere of being at Cleveland Browns Stadium.  Tomorrow will be even better!

The Browns have not been offered prime-time TV coverage in quite some time…4 years I think.  According to the Plain Dealer, over 25 cameras, TV personalities from across the country, and John Madden’s rolling condo have descended upon Cleveland for the big game.  On a side note, Channel 8 (FOX) did a story yesterday on the mini-jail that is built into the basement of the stadium: spacious!

I don’t expect to end up in the mini-jail (do we ever) but do expect to have an amazing time and to bring home a winner!

Go Browns!
Bob

Many who know me know that I am deeply interested in the political process and the characters that play in that process.  I’ve worked for political campaigns, run political campaigns, admired the way other political campaigns are run, and genuinely enjoy participating in the process of politics.  Yes, we in the business understand that this is oftentimes viewed as an illness by those not directly engaged in politics.

One political commentator that I have began to follow over the past year or so is the Professor over at Political Science 216 (LINK).  The Professor (who publishes under the name Dr. Peter Boyd) is oftentimes out in front of a story before the mainstream media dedicate a staff person to the topic and always has a witty approach to the sometimes dull topic of local politics.

Today the Professor received Cleveland’s rite of political passage: inclusion in Michael McIntyre’s Tipoff column in the Plain Dealer.  Congrats Professor!  This attention is a direct result of one of the Professor’s current polling questions: “The Biggest Jackass in Greater Cleveland Politics.”  I will let the dialogue around this poll play out in the Professor’s classroom but would like to suggest a poll question for the Professor to consider: ”If you knew my identity, would you share this valuable piece of information with greater Cleveland?”  Thoughts?

Congrats again, Professor!  Keep up great work!  ~Bob

I recently met over breakfast with a community leader who was instrumental in the creation of Playhouse Square back in the early 1970’s.  What a story!

The short story is that one of the theaters was about to be torn down after years of neglect and abuse.  An individual working for the school district (who was not from Cleveland btw) could not see this happen and decided that “something had to be done to save the building.”  His logic was that if the region was going to be able to attract top talent the region needed to have cultural and entertainment assets to lure the talented types: my how some things never change.

A small group of committed citizens (the oldest being in his early 30’s) worked diligently to: stop the building from being demolished; establish an organization to formally lease the building; create an operating plan to generate revenue to pay for operations; and ultimately hire an architect to create a master plan for the district.  Now, those were just some of the activities for the first building.  The group ultimately went on to form a land bank for future expansion, obtained revenue from numerous sources to renovate and upgrade specific buildings, and modified the legal structure to what we know today as the Playhouse Square Foundation (The Playhouse Square Foundation Partners throw a great party every year btw…).

This story is one that I am amazed has not been captured by Ideastream, CSU, or some other historical record keeper; more in the future on how I think we can change that.  While the topic of this post is Playhouse Square, the purpose is to ask the question: what are the 20 and 30 somethings in Cleveland doing today that will be paying dividends in the region 30 or 40 years from now?  Look at one decision to a question in 1972, “can we save this building”, led to the creation of one of the most recognizable districts in Cleveland in decades.

So…what are the questions that we could be asking ourselves today?

One day into my two-week, 14-post commitment, and I am already behind by one.  I need to take Cliff Lee’s advice to not get behind in the count…so today there will be posts for Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday.

BTW, this post does not count but the next three do!

Go Tribe, Buckeyes, and Browns!
Bob