The Question I’d Like Answered

 

Hi, my name is Phil...

 

The time is fast approaching when Tennesseans will have to decide who will replace Phil Bredesen in the governor’s office. While I think most people accept the job he’s done, this state, like most, have been hit hard by the economic downturn. One of the things Phil made a big deal out of when he first ran for governor was how his experience as a businessman was going to help him administer the state in straightforward and businesslike manner. Of course, that ignored the fact that he’d have to deal with entrenched civil servants who fight change like barbarians storming ancient Rome. Or with lawmakers more interested in the special interests funneling them re-election dollars than enacting laws to bring about positive change.

Which goes to the point that all of Phil’s “business” experience couldn’t do much to stop the global economic downtown that hit the state like a baseball bat a couple of years ago.

So, it seems that the two guys trying to replace the governor are playing up one particular skill that each believes makes them the best man for the job.

 

Bill Haslam for Governor

 

The Republican nominee, Bill Haslam, a member of the family that owns and runs the Pilot Oil empire, notes that he has the business acumen to help pull Tennessee out of its economic doldrums and put people back to work. The guy is the mayor of one of the larger cities in the state, but doesn’t really talk much about his executive experience on the public side (not in his TV commercials anyway). He makes this point on his site: “Bill Haslam’s top priority as governor will be making Tennessee the #1 state in the Southeast for high quality jobs. At a time when our state is facing double-digit unemployment and many more are underemployed, Tennessee needs a governor who understands how to create jobs.”

 

Mike McWherter for Governor

 

Mike McWherter, son of former Governor Ned McWherter, is the Democratic nominee. As the operator of his own beer distributorship (and being pretty much in control of his father’s distributorship as well), he also says his business experience will help turn the state around, mostly by continuing Gov. Bredesen’s positive policies. Here’s a pertinent quote from McWherter’s site, on his approach to repairing the economy: “Creating new jobs. Mike is the proud owner of a Tennessee-based company that provides good jobs to working families. He knows how to communicate with businesses and industries that are expanding, and as governor, he’ll work overtime to bring new jobs to Tennessee.”

 

Jim is the one on the right

 

Promising job creation is a time-honored method of campaigning for high office. I grew up in Ohio when Jim Rhodes was governor. He was one of the few people to serve 4 four-year terms as a state governor. You could pretty much sum up his campaign approach in three words. “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” When he was mayor of Columbus, he helped convince voters to approve a city income tax. Income tax? That kind of leadership would never fly in the Tennessee Statehouse. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a fan. Even though we worked in the same office building after he left office and saw each other often, I soured on him after Kent State in 1970. Still, his “jobs” mantra worked on voters until he ran for a fifth term in 1986.

However, here’s my question: unless Haslam or McWhether offers every jobless Tennessean a position at a Pilot gas station or at Central Distributors, just how is their “business experience” going to make a lick of difference in getting people back to work? Seriously, the guy in office now is an experienced businessman, and we’ve seen that’s there is damn little he can do about keeping state workers in their jobs, much less other people, until the economic recovery gains steam around the country. Cutting taxes for the rich isn’t an answer. Rich people are interested in being rich – not necessarily using their money to create jobs. If they can get richer by creating jobs inside the U.S., they’ll do it. If they can get richer by moving jobs to other countries, wave goodbye – those jobs are gone for good. If making stock prices rise by laying off staff is necessary, it’s time to look for another job. Trust me, I felt that pain personally.

So Mike, Bill – lemme ask you – instead of joining all the other candidates on TV, slinging all that mud, why not tell us that you’re hoping that a rising tide will lift all boats economically and a governor really can’t do much to bring new jobs anywhere – unless businesses (which are sitting on tons of cash right now) are feeling confident enough to spend that money to create those jobs?

Okay, Now What?

Off the top, a couple of minor adjustments. For longtime readers (if reading from April counts as “longtime”), you’ll remember the original title of this blog was “On the Beach,” representing my jobless status as a recently unemployed professional and the direction of topics, which dealt with unemployment and looking for work. Once I started working again, I celebrated that fact in the name of the blog, “Doug Johnson at Work.”

I’ve been back on the job long enough that I don’t want to give the suggestion that part of me being “at work” is updating my personal blog, ’cause it’s not. Since I speak to a variety of topics, “at large” might be more descriptive (although those of you who followed my recent weight loss know that I’m not personally “large” anymore). Also, new header picture (giving Chaplin a rest, replacing him with the first moving assembly line, as well as a new profile picture). And now, on with the blog!

Two more transfers of power occurred in Memphis this week. Both were quick, simple affairs, and unlike the prophecies of doom offered by the former city mayor, nothing bad happened with either.

AC Wharton resigned his post as mayor of Shelby County, waited a few minutes, walked across Main Street Mall, and took the oath of office as mayor of the City of Memphis. No muss, no fuss. Myron Lowery goes back to being a member of City Council and the Earth did not fall off its axis.

On the other side of the mall, County Commissioner Joyce Avery took became acting County Mayor, a job she will hold until her fellow commissioners select a permanent replacement to complete Mr. Wharton’s term.

Punchy?

So, the sturm und drang of the Herenton years in City Hall are finally over. That is, until the various and sundry investigations into business deals, vacation pay and whatever else the local, state or federal investigators have cooking come to a head. For a man who styles himself as the greatest mayor in the history of our city, he’s left a fairly murky wake. And I’m completely flummoxed as to how this helps him position himself as a viable candidate for Congress. Oh well, stranger things have happened. Again, I know Dr. Herenton has a lot of strong support in this community, including people who have voted for him and people who have worked for and with him. Still, the job calls for a uniter, not a divider.

All the talk of a mandate for the new mayor is interesting. Yes, he got 60% of the vote in the special election. But only a tiny portion of eligible voters bothered to go to the polls. So, an incredibly small portion of people who could select the new mayor actually did. Is that really a mandate? Either way, the mayor has a pretty big job on his hands. I’m no longer interested in how he got to the office on the 7th floor, and you probably shouldn’t be either. Now, the question turns to how he’s going to manage the city’s problems now that he’s there.

I know a lot of people think highly of Herman Morris, the new mayor’s choice for City Attorney. The Memphis Flyer seems to be pleased with the choice. The Commercial Appeal acts like they’re okay with it too. Of course, the Flyer’s John Branston had some concerns about Mr. Morris’ openness while head of Memphis Light, Gas & Water. He told WREG today that it’s his intention to make the City Attorney’s office one of those places that does not show up in the limelight. Good. After the heat and noise generated in the last days of Elbert Jefferson, we need the office to go about the business of the city without bringing too much negative attention to its operations. It would also be nice to cut back on some of those high legal fees the city ends up paying by using all those outside legal experts.

It’s getting fun…

Just Say No!

I mentioned about 11 weeks ago that we were getting a little weight loss contest started at the office. I had been involved in one at my previous job, but the job came to an end before the contest did. While people say unemployment is a good opportunity to stay in shape, it’s really not. You’re a little depressed, so you eat for comfort. And a lot of your friends want to take you to lunch or dinner to “cheer you up.” By the time I was in the new job, I had regained all my old weight, pushing me past 230 lbs.

Moving the Dial

From a modest 3 pound loss the first week of the current contest, I am down (officially) 30 pounds in 11 weeks. In the first week of results, I was in third place. By the following week, I had dropped to fifth place and was beginning to get depressed again.  I moved into second place after the third weigh-in and stayed there for the next 6 weeks — even after gaining a pound-a-half in week 8.

Instead of judging based solely on weight lost, we’re going by percentage of beginning weight lost. That was my bright idea, and while it’s the fairest way to do it, I hurt myself, because I’ve been the leading in total weight lost for most of the contest. Darn percentages.

Joe, one of the other producers in the office, shot to the head of the line with a 6 pound drop the first week. He had a tight grip on first place even after a pair of out-of-town trips. I got tantalizingly close a couple of times, but just couldn’t catch him.

It's in Sight

That was until week 10. I finally edged into first place after a 4-and-a-half pound loss. I followed that with another 3.5 pounds this week. Not to be outdone, Joe worked off 4.2 pounds for this week, all while on an out-of-town assignment. I’m still in first, but only by a razor-thin .19%. Between the two of us, we’ve lost 56.6 pounds. If you add the guys in 3rd and 4th place, we’ve lost 95 pounds!

Now I’ve got an out of town assignment coming up — on a farm and in a food preparation area. It’s cafeteria food, which might help curb any urges. That’s kind of what happened at trivia Monday night… when the smell of cigarette smoke from the bar overwhelmed any desire I had for my table-mate’s chicken fingers.

Who Will Win??

We’ve got one more weigh-in, and the contest is coming down to the wire. Instead of a blowout, you’ve got a tight race, with no clear idea just who will come out on top. Number two posted a link of area restaurants in the city I’ll be traveling to, which to me, is creative competition and additional motivation. This is all adding up to be an exciting finish.

The extra benefit is that my 35th high school reunion is at the end of the same week the contest ends. So, I’ll actually be around the same size (or slightly smaller) then I was when I went back to Ohio for my 20th.

Something Old, Something New

Photo by Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal

Apparently, there are people out there who still read the Commercial Appeal. My appearance in a story on coping with layoffs on Tuesday helped spike hits to this blog again.

And of course, if you haven’t read it, it’s still news. The Internet offers an almost permanent half-life for these sorts of things. So thanks to reporter Richard Alley for talking to me.

Thanks to everyone who took a look. If you missed it, you can click here to read the #1 hit if you had searched “Doug Johnson” on Google News. Now that that’s out of the way, we return you now to your regularly scheduled blog.

Ah, that new job smell.  There’s nothing else like it. We’ll all had the experience of the first day at a new position. You show up at a place you’re not too familiar with, trying to remember everything that was pointed out to you during your interview walk through.

You get all the paperwork, finding out that you don’t have all the things you need to complete everything, like a voided check for direct deposit, or a passport for Homeland Security (I know some people have claimed I look vaguely Middle Eastern, but really!).

You meet a lot of people, all of whom you’re expected to remember. There’s a massive amount of information, job info, hr info, procedures, computer usernames and passwords, directions to the men’s room.  And on top of that, you’re often asked to do some actual work on that first day. So naturally, I was a bit drained by the end of my day.

Still, it’s much better than the alternative. Even though you don’t “go to work” when you’re unemployed, it’s really draining. Even if there’s enough in the bank to cover the bills, there’s still the concern of how long that’s going to last, along with whether anyone will respond to any of the resumes you’ve sent or calls you’ve made.

My friend Pam sent me a link to a blog called In Vocus. There’s a piece on how both new and veteran journalists are struggling with the shrinking job market for news people. It’s never been an easy field to be in. While “being on TV” may seem glamorous to people watching TV, it’s anything but. It can take a long time and some good luck to be able to make decent money. Especially for journalists in medium or smaller towns and cities.

It’s amazing to me that people are still choosing the news business are a career path. There was a story the other day about reps from some of the nation’s major newspapers meeting to discuss ways to charge for their content on the Internet. Good point. If you actually went out and bought the Commercial Appeal to see the story I was in, it cost you 75 cents. If you clicked the link I put in this blog, you can read it for free.

A lofty goal now...

Many get all the news they need or want online. But what if all these newspapers fail? They’re the ones gathering most of the news that gets on the Internet. Even TV, which does very little truly original reporting, is giving it away on the web.

...and 101 years ago

If those sources can no longer make enough through traditional means (selling ads), they’ll go under. Then there will be no source for news aggregators and other sites. And believe me, while “citizen reporting” has a legitimate place, there’s no way that regular people, untrained in journalistic techniques, can blog and tweet the quality of information we need to make informed decisions.

Not my daughter

Oh, I mentioned that I was the yesterday’s #1 hit for “Doug Johnson” on Google News. Number 2 is a story from an Iowa TV station on Shawn Johnson, the Olympic medalist who won “Dancing with the Stars.” Turns out her dad’s name is Doug too.

Now that his little girl has won Olympic gold and a big shiny TV trophy, Doug says the top priority for the 17-year old is finishing high school. That’s cool.

And Finally…

I had wanted to do a blog for a long time. CNN has some tough rules on outside activities, so I passed on doing one while I was working there. Although the official word from the Communications bosses at FedEx is to embrace online methods of communicating with the world, I had a feeling that anything I said might rub some of the brass the wrong way. Since I was doing enough of that already, I took another pass.

So, once I was jobless, I figured I had both time and topic. I think I’ve had the opportunity to talk about a number of things that come up in the lives of people without work. I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t had to deal with many of the more serious problems. While the number of jobless claims is down slightly, there is still a record number of people without work in the U.S. And even if the president believes we’re turning the corner, that’s like watching an ocean liner make a 3-point turn – it’s gonna take some time.

People are losing their homes. Going without medical care. Finding themselves unable to provide for themselves or their children. It’s a frightening situation, one that should make us worry about the very fabric of what America is.

I say that to say that I’m reaching the end of this particular string. I lost my job on April 3. I’ve been offered a new job, one that will begin next Monday, making this a pretty short stretch of not having a job, as far as that goes. I’m not going to go into where or what yet; more on that in a moment. Suffice to say, I’m staying in the business (TV), and don’t have to leave Memphis.

A lot of people, I mean a whole lot, have reached out to help me during this nearly two month stretch “on the beach.” I’m not going to name them all here, but you know who you are, and I want you all to know that I appreciate everything – from forwarded job postings, to advice, as well as the sympathy and understanding.

Another benefit of all this is that I have had the good fortune to reconnect with people in my life that had dropped away over the years.  I’ve lived in 9 different places since the mid-80s (10 if you count the two times I’ve lived in Memphis). Picking up and leaving can mean leaving people behind. No one means to lose touch, it’s an unfortunate part of moving on. I think I’ve made up for some of that.

So, do I give up this? It seems arrogant to opine on joblessness when you have a job. I do enjoy writing as much as anything else I do, and more than most of the things I do. Several people at my old office at FedEx reminded me that they check in the blog regularly (mostly Tuesdays, especially Morgan), to keep in touch.

Taking that into account, I’ll find something new to write about. I will have the opportunity to look at re-entering the workforce, so that’s a topic. I live in Memphis and there’s always something going on around here to write about. My social life is a lot like the Zippin’ Pippin (old and rickety, with a lot of ups and downs), so something will come up there.

So, join me Monday to find out about my new job with some old friends and how I’m adjusting. After all, we’ve gotten so used to meeting like this.

News & Notes

Graduation Day!

Buster (photo by Dale Pearce)

This is my friend, Buster. She works at FedEx and is an Austin Peay alum (Let’s Go Peay!). When I asked her to be sure and read Monday’s blog, she asked whether it was going to be about her, which would give her more reason to read it. That seems fair, but why wait until Monday?

She’s talking some time off Friday to attend her husband’s graduation. Jordan Richardson (J-Rich to some), has been working to become a physical therapist.

So, if you’re near the FedEx Forum around 1:30pm, duck in for the commencement exercises of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for the Colleges of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  If you see either Buster (and yes, you should call her that) or Jordan, please say “hey.” Here’s a shot borrowed from her Facebook page so you can recognize the happy couple.

Jessica & Jordan

Congratulations you crazy kids, and good luck on whatever comes next!