Free Republic

Over at LITGM we all have political beliefs but we generally don’t talk about politics unless we have something unique to say because, well, it’s already “done to death� elsewhere. With Mitt Romney, however, I do have an insight. The Wall Street Journal recently described Romney as “a 60 year old uber-management consultant� who also has an investment management background. Unlike the detailed machinations of politics, management consulting and investment banking is something that I know stone-cold. And while Mr. Romney was caught flat-footed that his well funded and organized campaign was beaten by Mike Huckabee in the state of...

On this afternoon's "Tucker," the eponymous host was discussing with Dem strategist Peter Fenn and former Dem congressman Tom Andrews [a grown-up among liberals, IMHO] the unwillingness of the leading GOP presidential contenders to participate in the debate moderated by Tavis Smiley, billed as addressing issues of concern to black Americans. On the one hand, Carlson criticized the Republicans' reticence. On the other, he flashed anger at the way Dems play the race card. He concluded with a particularly tantalizing comment.View video here.TUCKER CARLSON: I do think the Democrats ought to stop calling everybody who disagrees with them racists. I...

Black tape has been put on the desks of civil servants to show them where to put their pens as part of a £7m Government 'efficiency' drive. It is the latest idea from consultants being paid to come up with so-called innovative ideas to improve the working environment of public sector staff. The tape is also used to mark out exactly where the computer keyboard should be placed, as well telephones. Previous novel thinking by the consultants included a desk ban on family photographs - along with any 'inactive fruit'. Staff representatives described the idea, which is being piloted by...

As Colorado, other states and federal officials increasingly look to toll roads to spur growth or clear clogged highways, a review of 23 new turnpikes nationwide shows that a clear majority are failing to meet revenue projections to justify their costs. Even with adjustments for the break-in period in the opening years, 86 percent of new toll roads in eight states failed to meet expectations in their first full year. By year three, 75 percent - 15 of the 20 that have been open that long - remained poor performers. Despite that history of flawed forecasts, Colorado officials are promoting...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign has hired two media consultants who helped President Bush win a second term in 2004. Alex Castellanos, a prominent Republican ad-maker in Arlington, Va., heads National Media. Fred Davis III, of Los Angeles, heads Strategic Perception. Both were part of the team that created the Bush campaign commercials portraying Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, as a waffling, Washington insider. The two are the latest in a string of former Bush aides hired by Schwarzenegger. His lead strategist is Matthew Dowd, who ran most aspects of Bush's re-election campaign. Schwarzenegger's campaign manager...

Leadership Problems Plague Steele in Md. by Matt Lewis Posted Feb 18, 2006 It seems the wheels are coming off of Lt. Governor Michael Steele's U.S. Senate campaign. In the past couple of weeks, he has lost his campaign manager and his communications director. Steele, the African-American Republican Lt. Governor of Maryland, represents one of the few chances Republicans have of picking up a formerly Democrat Senate seat. Additionally, several pundits have speculated that his election, along with Lynn Swann in Pennsylvania and Ken Blackwell in Ohio, would be a major step forward in terms of attracting blacks to the...

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's AIDS charity paid nearly a half-million dollars in consulting fees to members of his political inner circle, according to tax returns providing the first financial accounting of the presidential hopeful's nonprofit. The returns for World of Hope Inc., obtained by The Associated Press, also show the charity raised the lion's share of its $4.4 million from just 18 sources. They gave between $97,950 and $267,735 each to help fund Frist's efforts to fight AIDS. The tax forms, filed nine months after they were first due, do not identify the 18 major donors by...

Consultants trying to unravel the issues surrounding San Diego's tangled finances told city officials yesterday that their work will take until at least mid-March to complete, three months later than their recent estimate. The development adds to the uncertainty the city faces over its fiscal condition and is likely to further delay the release of long-overdue financial statements that are needed for San Diego to re-enter the municipal bond market. KPMG, the accounting firm conducting the 2003 audit, has predicted that it will take at least a month to issue the statements after Kroll Inc., the firm handling the investigation,...

Many articles have been written about the phenomenon of “outsourcing”—the practice of sending work needed within a company to be performed outside of the company. More recently, the word has become synonymous with “offshoring”—the practice of sending the work to be done by lower-paid workers overseas, often in third-world or emerging countries such as Mexico, China, and India. These phenomena have been going on for some time—one of the first industries to be moved outside of the United States has been textiles. Indeed, while garment manufacturing was first sent to low-cost locales, there was some outcry over the growth of...

SACRAMENTO - California's capital is packed with more than 1,000 lobbyists, but when people want to make something happen in Sacramento, they often turn instead to Bob White, a genial Republican maestro who helped elect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. White has an advantage lobbyists don't. While registered influence peddlers must reveal whom they work for, White calls himself a strategist who doesn't directly push for changes in state policy. That legal distinction allows White to conceal who his corporate clients are, even though he and members of his consulting firm, California Strategies, go to bat for them by exploiting a loophole...

SAN FRANCISCO - Top deputies to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley were informed that consultants hired to do nonpartisan voter education work were attending Democratic events on his behalf and attempting to boost his public image, according to documents obtained by a newspaper. Memos titled "Week-Ahead Reports" show that top officials in Shelley's office were routinely informed of the contractors' upcoming schedules and plans, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A "Democratic Club" luncheon and efforts to "get exposure for KS (Kevin Shelley) in Southern California" were among activities mentioned in the memos. The newspaper's report is the latest revelation in...

California Recall Race Produces Boom Times for Handlers By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 — Dan Schnur, Rob Stutzman and Mark Bogetich are partners in a Republican consulting firm in Sacramento. But the recall election has divided them, at least through the vote. Mr. Schnur is the campaign manager for Peter V. Ueberroth, an independent candidate for governor, while Mr. Stutzman and Mr. Bogetich have both signed on with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor-turned-Republican-candidate. "We've strung up some barbed wire down the middle of the office, so things are working just fine," Mr. Schnur said. The California recall election...

Landrieu, consultant part ways Foster mum on Terrell By MARSHA SHULER mshuler@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu parted ways with her longtime political consultant Thursday as she faces a bruising political fight against re-election opponent Republican Suzanne Terrell. Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Mike Foster shied away from an endorsement of Terrell, the state's elections commissioner, upset with what he called Terrell's "cesspool" campaign. Landrieu downplayed consultant Ray Strother's departure. "There was a difference. I wanted to strengthen our message, what we have done for Louisiana and want to bring to the state," Landrieu...

~ Carville Meets The Labor Party ~ By William A. Mayer - Editor & Publisher April 3, 2002 During the 1999 Israeli election cycle, Democrat Party plotters James Carville, Stanley Greenberg and Bob Shrum created the Labor Party candidacy of Ehud Barak. They did so at the behest of Bill Clinton who was in search of a legacy aside from Monica. The thinking was that if he could control the Israeli presidency they could also push Israel into the arms of Arafat, achieving a positive place in history - possibly even securing the Nobel Peace prize as icing on the...

<p>A state agency -- not the individuals working for it -- was fined $69,500 Thursday for filing late potential conflict-of-interest statements during last year's electricity crisis.</p> <p>In a decision Secretary of State Bill Jones called "an outrage and an affront to the taxpayers," the California Fair Political Practices Commission levied its first-ever fine against another state agency -- the Department of Water Resources -- for violating the state's Political Reform Act.</p>