Category: Politics

A Beautifully Designed Lobby?

I’ve been percolating about something I read on the Harvard Business Review site in mid-december. I follow the HBR on twitter. Michael Schrage is a research fellow at MIT’s Sloan Business School’s Center for Digital Business, and on Dec. 18th he posted “The Top Six Innovation Ideas of 2011.”  Number Six (“A Beautifully Designed Lobby”) has kept me thinking:

“…No matter which way a CEO turns, she faces the spectre and shadow of increased government regulation and/or oversight…  [I]nnovative executives have to pay attention to government behaviors as closely as they do customer behaviors. In 2011, a marginal dollar invested in a lobbying campaign may yield far greater returns than a dollar invested in a brave new technology innovation. Then again, it’s important for businesspeople to have the finest legislators that money can buy. Think of them as part of the global supply chain.”

What has kept me percolating was the simple clarity that government lobbying produces profits. I mean, of course, we all know that. But here is an ivory tower business specialist un-apologetically reporting that, “it’s important for businesspeople to have the finest legislators that money can buy. Think of them as part of the global supply chain.”  I’m more aware than ever of this leadership from business and industry, and it’s because of this that politics and the rules of the game are tremendously important.  The smartest people in the world with the biggest budgets shouldn’t get to make all the rules, and all the laws.

Hiyo, Silver!!!

I enjoyed attending the book launch event for Finance and Governance of Capital Cities in Federal Systems, and chapter author / District CFO Natwar Gandhi at the Washington Economic Partnership this morning. Book co-editor Rupak Chattopadhyay remarked in his presentation about the unique need for Capital cities ‘to reflect a neutral space for politics and public policy to play out’, which is certainly one of the guides from the federal perspective on the constraints imposed on federal seats.

Gandhi joked that

‘D.C. is the only place where sound travels faster than light’

and I’m guessing that fact is a plague actually shared by many small capital cities… which is really the point of the book. Continue reading “Hiyo, Silver!!!”

Protecting Artists When Galleries Go Bankrupt – Sign the Petition!

GalleryParticipants in advocacy campaigns usually spend a few hours a month on their work, if that. As Chair of the DC Advocates for the Arts the amount of time I spend is considerably more. I regularly take meetings not to directly forward our advocacy agenda, but because being a part of the conversation is how we figure out what we need to advocate for, and how to design our campaigns.

In one of those informational meetings a few months ago a staff member for DC Councilmember Cheh suggested I contact Janet Fries, a dc-based lawyer. He mentioned that Janet had been reviewing the DC Bar materials relevant to the arts, and had found that there was a hole in the code regarding gallery transactions. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I followed up with Janet and she explained it to me. I brought the issue to the DC Advocates for the Arts board, and with Janet’s help we’ve created a petition asking the council to address our specific concerns.

DC needs to amend the Commercial Code so that artists’ property isn’t taken by creditors if a gallery goes through bankruptcy. When they overhauled the business laws a few years ago they stripped out sections governing consignment transactions — which is what it is when an artist gives their work under contract to a gallery. There is no lose in this for anyone. We know with community support we can get this done. If you haven’t signed the petition yet, please click here and sign now!