By Geoffrey Ludt
**Note, this has been written in response to several emails I have received, rather than deal with each individually, I offer my take here**
September 11th, 2009 — Four contenders vying for the opportunity to challenge David Wu in Oregon’s first congressional district spoke before Labor Day’s Tax Referral Tea Party. As the event agenda was closely choreographed each contender was instructed to prepare for no more than three minutes of speaking time — not an easy task. How these contenders treated that limitation may tell us something about how they would represent the interests of Oregon’s first congressional district. Using the candidates treatment of the limitation as a yardstick, Doug Keller presented the best management, Rob Cornilles didn’t.
Oregon’s first congressional district has suffered David Wu’s representation for nearly eleven years. Representative Wu’s incompetence is legendary, most recently Wu famously fumbled a response to whether or not he read the bills he voted on (http://vimeo.com/5702720) and, in an embarassing display of behavior, accused a very civil Victoria Taft (talk radio personality KPAM 860) of acting worse than his town hall attendees (whom he has clearly dismissed as neanderthals or, perhaps Klingons).
What is now being called the “Tea Party Movement” began as a nationwide moment of frustration with the President of the United States and Congress’ role in encouraging bad behaviour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA). Since those initial steps, the coalition of groups working in the same direction has grown and, often times, one group works to support the efforts of another group (for example, the Oregon 9/12 Project and We The People contributed in many ways to the Portland Tax Referral Tea Party). Typically, this contribution is recognized and reciprocated in some way — at the Tax Referral Tea Party, contributing groups were allocated event time. Given the importance of allowing time to recognize the contribution of the various participating groups, we limited the speaking time of potential candidates to three minutes, particularly since they didn’t help with event preparations.
Over time, I have become increasingly aware of what our elected leaders DO rather than what they say. Indeed, I am cynical enough to dismiss most flourishy rhetoric and gimmicky, shiny-rock, campaign devices and have really begun to focus on actions. Following the event, it struck me that focusing on the contender’s treatment of the time limitation could provide some insight into their integrity and management acumen. Apart from the words these contenders were to deliver, one can draw from their management of time a number of interesting questions such as:
- If a candidate uses more than the allotted time:
- does the candidate’s treatment of the time of others indicate respect to others?
- does the candidate’s overconsumption indicate a lack of integrity?
- can the candidate manage time well?
- was the candidate properly prepared?
The chart below plots how many minutes over the instructed time each candidate consumed. Doug Keller consumed the least (< 1 minute) and, Rob Cornilles consumed the most (9 minutes).
At the event I was approached by several people regarding the amount of time consumed by the potential candidates and, after the event I have been barraged by emails from interested parties. Mr. Cornilles may have caught wind of the dissatisfaction with his performance as he too called and, apologized for having consumed the time (he also indicated that he had read in an email that some overage was expected). At the conclusion of the call Mr. Cornilles asked me to reach out to those that were affected and offer his apologies.
As I do not have the resources to reach out to the entire audience on an individual basis and, moreover, am uncomfortable with carrying someone else’s apology, I have recorded the events above — take from them what you wish.
Videos:
Steven Brodhead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRKcl6-f_Qw (37 views)
Rob Cornilles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mEC4vYQCcI&feature=player_profilepage (36 views)
Doug Keller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckwYMTX30lg (90 views)
John Kuzmanich: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_WqzIOPpDw (241 views)
