Business Could be Better:  A Golden Opportunity for Massachusetts Voters

“How’s business?”, the question is asked in coffee shops and law firms, factories and fishing boats.  “How’s business?” Massachusetts needs a win.  Record lost jobs and homes and uncertainty loom.  Our economic crisis calls for leaders who understand economics.  While business talent is not reason to elect a candidate, looking past credentials to his skills and values gives inspiration to countless supporters of Steve Pagliuca for US Senate.

Today’s economy has so massive effect on our lives that it has some career politicians posturing as economic experts.  Perhaps in a food shortage, they would try to become instant farming experts.  Real working professionals comprehend real hopes and needs of Americans: they also understand what works and what doesn’t.  They know how to build consensus, make friends and understand change.

Let’s be clear: there are professionals like great basketball players at the community court and there are professionals who are more like Celtics starters.  We know who Steve Pagliuca is: his wins are so staggering that some joke his success could alienate a voter.  A pundit or two even implied that working Americans have less value than career politicians.  When our founders inscribed “By the people”: surely they didn’t mean members of an elite club whose door is locked to us workers from the real world.  Are brains and hard work not as vital as political maneuvering?  Today’s dire situation confirms one thing:  we need starters in our corner.

Mr. Pagliuca’s competitive spirit that started in 1963 in Pee Wee football continues with his turnaround work as co-owner of the Celtics and drive to make so many charities successes.  Mr. Pagliuca’s spirit helped him become a leader at Bain Capital: an economic developer whose workers regularly roll up their sleeves and actually fix things.  In 1984, 15 people partnered to invest and improve companies.  They grew to a $70 billion investor empowering businesses including Staples, Hospital Corporation of America, Burger King and the Weather Channel, companies providing over 70,000 jobs.  Mr. Pagliuca’s experience building and fixing things brings an understanding of commerce, globalization and economics that other candidates only dream of.

America is in chaos with many politicians clueless about how our economy works or what drives it. Career politicians have little economic, globalization, trade, finance, development or job-building knowledge.  In some times this just might be okay.  Not today. If faced with a threat from asteroids, we’d elect those who know how to save us.  Economic science is no different: its complex and hard to learn.  Changes in our world from Brighton to Beijing and Dover to Delhi need deep understanding.  We need economic doctors. Do we trust career politicians with fast, on-the-job bluffing and pre-packaged business buzzwords or do we elect someone with real-world operating room experience?

Beyond ability, what does Steve Pagliuca’s background say about his vision and values? Foremost are honesty, integrity and work ethic.  Steve masters a schedule we wish all politicians would keep:  traveling from Longmeadow to London, Taunton to Tokyo or Springfield to Seattle, deciding issues affecting thousands of people, collaborating with experts on issues of our day, leading global economic conferences and charitable boards like the Mass Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.  Steve doesn’t just observe; he does things.  He takes action quickly, massively and often.  Seeing Steve in action makes some wonder why he works so hard, one answer is his character.  Steve is a reliable friend to many, a coach for all four of his children’s teams and a dedicated husband.  Perhaps most of all, his success comes from one trait: intelligence.  Steve is extraordinarily smart and uses his brainpower to aid others: be it at companies he helps like food chains and medical companies, sports teams or charitable boards.  But we won’t hear bragging from Steve; he is a humble, grounded man who knows his roots.  You may be refreshed to see someone gain success by being overwhelmingly positive and building industry that works and wins.

Plato said “philosopher-kings” lead an ideal government.  We don’t have kings and don’t see philosopher-candidates but we can have: “smart and hard-working”. When the Pagliuca family immigrated to America, his shoe-repairman grandfather surely didn’t imagine the success Steve’s hard work and wits would bring.  Opponents attempt manufactured unease over electing a ‘rich guy’ Senator.  Yes, if the American Dream has winners, Steve Pagliuca is a living example, but don’t hold that against him.  Forty-seven years ago a young man with extraordinary wealth, who never needed to work again, ran for US Senate.  Even his keenest critics honored Senator Kennedy’s record of being un-beholden to PAC money.  True, Steve Pagliuca has financial success.  Because of this he will never be bought by special interest money.

Massachusetts citizens and Americans need hope, guidance, work ethic and brains. We need the A-team, we need the starters, we need people who know how to make friends and build stuff that works.  We need leaders who know the difference between China and Chinatown who see what is going on in the world and how it affects us.  We need people who understand health care, finance, jobs and globalization not because of sound-bites by political packagers but because they’ve been there and directly worked on the issues.

Steve sees a better America and a better Massachusetts and having him in our corner is what we need.

“How’s business?”  The business of Massachusetts needs a winner.  Steve Pagliuca for US Senate.

Vote for Pags in the special primary on December 8.  Registered independents CAN vote in the special primary.  Also mark your calendar to vote in the special election on January 19.

www.StevePagliuca.com

Endorsement By Bruce Fenton, Massachusetts entrepreneur, veteran and global economic strategist