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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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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