Julie Soderlund, Deputy Campaign Manager and Press Secretary for Carly Fiorina’s Senate campaign (http://CarlyforCA.com), joins us to discuss where it all went wrong and whether a business mentality can save the state of California... Read the Transcript

Julie Soderlund Press Secretary / Deputy Campaign Manager Carly Fiorina for Senate Campaign http://CarlyforCA.com

Julie Soderlund is a veteran of California politics, an experienced professional in the areas of earned media, crisis communications, press relations and overall communications strategy.  Her experience includes more than six years as a spokesperson and communications strategist for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, not-for-profit organizations, trade associations and small businesses.  She currently serves as a partner at Wilson-Miller Communications and deputy campaign manager for Carly Fiorina’s U.S. Senate campaign.

The Self Tending Mushroom Award is given to those who ignore evolving trends in their environment, choosing instead to hide in a dark corner, consumed in their own fantasy world. This month’s awardee is in more peril than most as they slow-roll the need for change at risk of total insolvency. We award the STeMie to the State of California for making plans and excuses but avoiding action, and for running the state to the brink of catastrophic failure by not running it like a business. According to Wikipedia, “California is facing a $26.3 billion budget deficit for the 2009–2010 budget year... California is facing another budget gap for 2010 with $72 billion in debt. California's unemployment rate exceeds 12%.” In 2009 the state faced insolvency. California is racing towards catastrophic failure, but its government refuses to make the hard decisions that must be made. In a recent press conference, Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked, “Our businesses are completely, at least 80 percent down. We're seriously thinking of moving out of this state. How can this office help us?” His response: “We are very excited that we have so many people that actually want to come to California and do business here... since we have an economic decline -- we have experienced it over the last two years worldwide, not just in California.... We have laid out a program, a five-step program of the things that we want to have changed and laws that we want to have passed.” In other words, we are ignoring reality, blaming our economic woes on the recession, and have plans to do lots of things but are not taking any real action. California’s inability to generate funds from natural sources or loans has led to such underfunding that the 2010 Census is dependent on non-profit assistance. The state of California is now officially so bad off that charities take pity on it’s complete inability to do for itself and its citizens. The lessons within this Self Tending Mushroom Award are many. First, if you run your business like California, you are headed for failure. Ignoring your problems will not make them disappear. Similarly, all talk and no action gets you nowhere. Next, don’t leverage your future to pay off your present. Lastly, examine long term effects of those short term fixes.