BLOOMBERG AND HUNTSMAN CHANGE COURSE

11/19/11

So I’m having dinner at my local Italian restaurant last night and who do I see having dinner together a couple of tables over?  Yep, you guessed it:  Mike Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City; and Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China, and current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

They were engaged in rather animated conversation much of the evening and as they wrapped up, it was clear that one of them was running for something; and I don’t mean to catch a train out of Grand Central.  Huntsman took the opportunity to engage other patrons in some casual conversation and of course, the honorable mayor couldn’t resist doing the same (even though the only thing he was running for was his black suv waiting outside).

Anyhow, as they were glad-handing their way out of the establishment, they shook my hand, and I couldn’t resist giving each of them a piece of advice that I thought they both desperately needed:

Mike.  You’re really not looking so good handling these Occupy Wall Streeters.  You’re in “no man’s land”.  For those who think OWS is made up of a bunch of ne’er do well lazy bastards, well, you’re just plain not doing enough to get rid of them.  For those who support them or have some sympathy for them, you’re being way too heavy handed.  Pick a side my friend.  I, for one, don’t think this is going away anytime soon.  Mike.  I’m told you have some organizational skills and a reasonable intellect.  Help them.  Get them to establish some leadership structure; help them self-filter to eliminate the criminal element and those ne’er do wells that are present; help them refine their message; help them with targeting (Wall Street is just off the bulls-eye, but hint, it does start with a “W”).  You can do this.  You’ll be a hero.

Jon.  Admittedly I don’t know you as well as I know the honorable Mayor, but you seem like a smart person who has done a lot.  You’ve run a company, been a Governor, a diplomat, and a presidential staffer.  In the party’s current state, a successful nominee is almost unelectable.  The “far right, holy-er than thou, punish the poor and let me tell you how to live your life” party members are ensuring that any nominee acceptable to them (and therefore the successful nominee for the party overall), will not be acceptable to the American public at large.  And, all of the other normal and smart potential nominees have deduced that, and opted-out.  Chris Christie figured that out and evidence the fact that there are more mixed nuts on the GOP nominee slate than there are in a can of Planter’s.  So come on, you don't belong in that group, either run as an independent or start a new party.  But no matter what: dump the GOP.

Of course, they each thanked me for my advice, mumbled something about security, and moved along.  So here I sit, anxiously waiting to read their respective Monday morning press releases.  By the way Mike, Jon, no need for any public acknowledgement.

 (see “A Million and One Ways to be One-in-a-Million”; Chapter 2 – The Gift,  Chapter 3 – Luke….Use the Force)

JUSTIN BIEBER NEW REPUBLICAN FRONT-RUNNER

You’ve heard the saying before……A week is a lifetime in politics.  And this past week or two is testament to that.  Two “sex scandals” – Herman Cain and Justin Bieber. High placed Republicans are enamored with Bieber’s crisis management capabilities.  In the face of the “baby-daddy” scandal, Bieber says unequivocally that he doesn’t know the lady and will submit to a paternity test as soon as he is back in the country.  Full stop, end of story (and truly – end of story: have you heard any coverage of this lately). 

Cain, on the other hand, in the face of the latest claim of sexual harassment, says he has no recollection of ever meeting the lady, and has “never acted inappropriately with anyone”.  Really?  Never acted inappropriately.  No inappropriate comment, joke, or look.  Not once.  To anyone.  Really?  And oh yes – he’ll submit to a lie detector test, “if necessary”, maybe, sort of.

And let’s not forget – he says one of the sexual harassment claims was found to be baseless and an “agreement” was initiated as a “personnel matter”.  Newsflash Herm!  Sexual harassment is a “personnel matter”.

So let’s break this down.  Sexual harassment is an issue of many shades.  In its most minor form, it could be telling an off-color sexually oriented joke or making a flippant comment.  But – someone gets offended by the joke or comment and files a complaint.  Even if there was no intent to sexually harass, and as ‘innocent’ as that may sound, it is still sexual harassment.  In its most egregious form, it could involve physical aggression – but typically involves a “reward” vs. “punishment” (e.g. “I’ll give you a promotion if you have sex with me” or “If you don’t have sex with me I won’t give you a raise”).  And most times, the reward or punishment is only implied.  Now it is true that many cases of sexual harassment boil down to he said she said.  And in those cases a thorough investigation is still conducted and many things are considered – including previous patterns of behavior.

Considering the Cain facts as we know them – we have four “complaints” and one “anecdote”.  And although we don’t know who the complainants are – they are not anonymous.  They presumably filed their complaints to the appropriate company representative with their version of the harassing behavior.

In Cain’s defense – it is true that sometimes, figuring out what is right and what is wrong becomes an orphan to expedience.  It may be cost effective to make a “token” payoff (even if that “token” seems significant) and have the issue go away – versus the expense of litigation.  However, to say the pattern here is disturbing is an understatement equivalent to saying our economy is in a bit of a slow period.  Even more disturbingly, the anecdote (if the accuser is credible and if it can be reasonably thought to be true) represents the most egregious form of sexual harassment.  It is predatory harassment.

So, instead of Herman Cain going with the “it never happened, well something happened but it was baseless and personnel did it, but I don’t really remember just now but I might sometime so I’ll take a lie detector test someday maybe” defense – I think he should have taken to the Shaggy defense:  “It wasn’t me.”  At least then we’d have a catchy song running through our heads.

Getting back to Justin Bieber: the Republican Party does have a couple of issues with him as their nominee – He’s 16 (the President has to be at least 35) and he was born in Canada (not the 51^st State yet).  No worries, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Minority Leader said “we’re not doing anything in Washington anyway, so we may as well amend the constitution to allow teenage popstars from Canada to become the leader of the free world.”

Justin Bieber for President!

 (see “A Million and One Ways to be One-in-a-Million”; Chapter 6 – Give My Regards to Broadway)