The CEO myth: Government is not a business Businessmen look to be the answer to many voters, but government isn’t a business

Naples, FL—Rick Scott, a local business man in South Florida, has thrown his hat into the governor’s race. Mr. Scott’s credentials are of a successful businessman and is marketing himself as the answer to Tallahassee’s woes.

No offense to Mr. Scott, who we are sure has the best intentions and undoubtedly believes that his experience and skill set would be beneficial to Florida, but success in private sector business doesn’t translate into good government management. For instance, in running a business, you can incentivize employees to be more productive and fire those that aren’t performing well or stray from the company mission statement. But in government, a governor cannot fire elected officials that don’t share their issue stance or are blocking agenda items.

Moreover, in government each politician isn’t accountable to the executive branch; they are accountable to their constituency. Elected officials are supposed to act in the best interest of the voters they represent and if that conflicts with an agenda, it is their duty to oppose it.

In business, an individual can chose which vendors they do business with; whereas in government, special interest steer opinion and legislation. Simply put, business and government are two completely different dynamics and neither the twains shall meet.

-- Owen E. Richason IV

Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick

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Has Crist put the “I” in VETO? With his veto, Governor Crist may be signaling his run as an independent

Tallahassee, FL—Last week, Governor Charlie Crist vetoed Senate Bill 6, a bill that would have broken the strangle-hold of the Teacher’s Union and based part of teacher’s pay on student performance.

Crist said the billed was deeply flawed and felt he had a duty to veto it because of such. But conventional wisdom quickly took hold of the tealeaf readers (myself included) after the news broke. Receiving a news alert on my Blackberry, I texted my wife, “Crist veto SB 6; may run as an (I)”. Talking heads picked-up and populated the same thing on the local evening news.

Its no secret Crist has been down in the polls (by 23 points) for in a primary race against conservative Marco Rubio for the republican nomination to fill former Senator Mel Martinez’s seat.

For about the past fortnight, the Crist camp has been running negative ads; Rubio hasn’t responded in kind, which leads me to believe Rubio is getting the same advice I would give him—wait-and-see. Since the negative ads aren’t having any effect, the veto of SB 6 looks like Mr. Crist has put in his bid to run as an independent, but one wonders what possible benefit it would have, even if the Sunshine State Governor wanted to play spoiler, there may not be enough votes to peel-off from Rubio.

-- Owen E. Richason IV

Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick

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Special elections or referendums? Special elections in Florida, Hawaii, and Pennsylvania have the dems worried

Three special elections are coming in the next few weeks. The first of which is in Florida’s liberal 19^th Congressional district, where Republican Edward Lynch faces Democrat Ted Deutch. Two other special elections are being held in May, one in Pennsylvania, the other in Hawaii.

According to Politico, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is pulling out all the stops to prevent another Scott Brown type of victory. Brown, elected to replace Ted Kennedy, was the third conservative candidate to be elected during the health care debate. In two preceding races, Chris Christie defeated liberal gubernatorial incumbent John Corzine in New Jersey and Bob McDonnell handily defeated Tim Kaine for the governor of Virginia. In all three races, the losers embraced President Obama’s agenda, while the winners made opposition to Mr. Obama’s agenda the centerpiece of their campaign.

Since the three national losses, many democrat congressmen and senators have been announcing their retirement or a return to the private sector. There is good reason for such trepidation with congressional job approval at an all time low and the economy showing little signs of significant recovery.

The conventional wisdom is a republican House Majority come November and by all indications thus far, it would seem inevitable. But the midterms are a political light year away and one significant event could change the dynamics—the democrats might want to take a lesson from the three prior victors.

-- Killswitch Politick

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Rubio v. CristA conservative versus a popular politician

Why the most interesting race in all of the 2010 elections the Republican primary fight between Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio and Governor Charlie Crist? Simple, everyone loves Charlie Crist!

This is not an exaggeration. The few times I have met Mr. Crist; he has always greeted me by my first name and always asks a question relevant to something we spoke about the last time. The man has no boundaries on his intelligence, his likeability is beyond measure, and he knows how to speak to anyone—even people who don’t like him, like him.

In Florida’s Republican primary, Crist is getting some stiff competition from Rubio (currently he is down 11 points in the latest Mason-Dixon poll). Crist is perhaps the most popular politician of all time in the Sunshine State. Before being elected governor, Crist held a state senate seat, was the Education Commissioner and Attorney General for Florida—in each office his approval numbers stayed high.

So why is the popular man of the people losing in a primary? There is one simple answer: a presidential hug.

After passing his stimulus package in early 2009, Crist surfed on President Obama’s long coattails. At the time, it was considered a shrewd political move, showing Crist to put policy before party. But the party went a decidedly different direction as the policy went nowhere.

As with Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, independents, conservatives, and republicans of all stripes are gravitating to the conservative candidate who is running against a liberal president. Rubio has had marked success in linking Crist to Obama—the death knell in the coffins of three other candidates.

-- Owen E. Richason IV
Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick

The credibility factor—why Obama can’t sell ObamacareA 17 minute and 2,500 word non-answer

Charlotte, NC—Health care reform may have been signed into law, but the public still isn’t buying it. In fact, during a town hall meeting, the president was asked a simple question by an attendee named Doris, “[Is it] wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care?”

Mr. Obama’s non-answer took just over 17 minutes and 2,500 words in its entirety. And this is precisely why the American people aren’t on board—the president didn’t have any credibility going into the supposed debate. His administration and the democrat majority simply put it out there without an introduction. True, it was an integral part of Obama’s campaign stump speech but in a country with rising unemployment and golden parachutes for those largely seen as creating the problem, HCR was largely window dressing draped in the background with the economy and two wars in the foreground.

I make this point to make another point. Obama was seen as a new politician, one who would end America’s partisan divide but he didn’t use his political capital to unite quarreling factions, instead he dove head-long into an agenda item that no one was concerned about—health care. Hence, any talk about anything other than the economy and jobs (perhaps the wars), wasn’t going to win the president any support. Had Obama actually engaged the economic recession he may have had the credibility to tackle HCR. But he chose idealism over reality and because of it, the recession continues on and the American people will stay opposed to HCR for as long as the president purports it.

-- Owen E. Richason IV

Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick

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Rubio v. CristA conservative versus a popular politician

Why the most interesting race in all of the 2010 elections the Republican primary fight between Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio and Governor Charlie Crist? Simple, everyone loves Charlie Crist!

This is not an exaggeration. The few times I have met Mr. Crist; he has always greeted me by my first name and always asks a question relevant to something we spoke about the last time. The man has no boundaries on his intelligence, his likeability is beyond measure, and he knows how to speak to anyone—even people who don’t like him, like him.

In Florida’s Republican primary, Crist is getting some stiff competition from Rubio (currently he is down 11 points in the latest Mason-Dixon poll). Crist is perhaps the most popular politician of all time in the Sunshine State. Before being elected governor, Crist held a state senate seat, was the Education Commissioner and Attorney General for Florida—in each office his approval numbers stayed high.

So why is the popular man of the people losing in a primary? There is one simple answer: a presidential hug.

After passing his stimulus package in early 2009, Crist surfed on President Obama’s long coattails. At the time, it was considered a shrewd political move, showing Crist to put policy before party. But the party went a decidedly different direction as the policy went nowhere.

As with Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, independents, conservatives, and republicans of all stripes are gravitating to the conservative candidate who is running against a liberal president. Rubio has had marked success in linking Crist to Obama—the death knell in the coffins of three other candidates.

-- Owen E. Richason IV

Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick

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