This story is meant to be an encouragement to anyone out there who loves statesmanship and courage. It’s not about futons but it is about life, so here we go. About a year and a half ago I met this guy at my church. He was new and I said hello. We got to talking and became friends. We exchanged the typical guy info about what we did to make a living. “I’m in publishing,” I said. “I was in the investment banking business,” he said. “I just moved back from Memphis. I was the President of Morgan Keegan.” I went home and there he was on the Morgan Keegan web site. “Cool,” I said to myself. We got together for lunch a few weeks later and he told me his story about growing up in Edgewood (a waterfront neighborhood in Cranston, RI), and how he wanted to run for Mayor and how he wanted my firm to work on the campaign. I said I would be honored and we got started in March of 2002. I got to work with Steve, Tom Marcelle (an attorney and college friend of Steve’s), Paul Zisserson (a former teacher of Steve’s), Jim Hackett (a childhood friend) and several other political scientists and good friends on the campaign.

I have never seen anyone work harder in my life (except maybe me). Every day Laffey was up at dawn shaking hands, waving to voters at intersections, visiting neighborhoods door to door, debating his opponent ( a well entrenched career politician), and kissing babies. We won.

Cranston, RI had a $10 million surplus four years ago. On election day Cranston, RI had a $17 million deficit and a $250 million unfunded pension liability. Cranston, RI had the lowest bond rating of any city in the country. The Mayor and City Council of Cranston, RI had made major spending decisions without a timely State required annual audit. The State Auditor General wanted to have the state take over the city because it was about to go bankrupt. And this was just a few of the problems Laffey would face if he won. We won.

In his first five months in office Laffey has managed to lower the interest rate the city was paying to roll over its short term debt to less than 3% from the previous 9% for a savings of about $600,000. He has opted out of a bogus land deal for a new police station squeezed in at the last minute by the outgoing Mayor, saving another $500,000. He closed down an existing city dog pound characterized by the SPCA as “deplorable.” He has cut waste and submitted and had passed a balanced budget for the first time in several years without any gimmicks (like using monies from the police and fireman’s pension fund to balance the budget, a criminal action in the private sector). He has challenged and won the elimination of a crossing guard program that pays 39 part time crossing guards the equivalent of $100 per hour in wages and benefits. He has challenged established city employee bargaining units by passing a city ordinance repealing a 1995-96 ordinance gifting both working and retired police and fire fighters with extra benefits, that are not part of any collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Their repeal will save the city a possible $100 million in pension liability. I could go on but I think you get the picture.

Steve Laffey is a good man. He is smart, determined, and hard working. He comes from a blue collar family in a blue collar neighborhood. The schools of Cranston, RI produced him. He came back because he loves his city. He ran for public office because he saw incompetence destroying the city that raised him. He said he would fight to save the city. We won, and he has just begun to fight.

Why am I telling you this? I’m telling you so when you hear about Laffey on Rush Limbaugh, NBC Nightly News or 60 Minutes you’ll remember that I told you first. It’s a publishing thing. It’s called a scoop.

Spring High Point Update

Here are a few of my favorites from the show. (Top) Simmons futons Good, Better, Best cushion merchandising plan; Innovations “Puzzle” frame; and the Fu-Chest from Arason Ent.

FL