When former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner graduated from college in 1977 he joined GM. He worked his way up the ranks. In 1992 he was GM’s CFO and in 1998 he became the CEO. As CEO, Wagoner focused on highly profitable but fuel guzzling sport utility vehicles and light trucks. He lacked vision to realize that gas prices would eventually go up.But that didn’t matter, he paid his dues. He was entitled to the position. In 2009, GM filed for bankruptcy. The President of the United States asked Wagoner to step down.
An outsider from AT&T, Ed Whitacre took over as CEO. Whitacre not only took GM out of bankruptcy, his vision created a very successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) for the company. When he stepped down, Ed Whitacre said, “My goal in coming to General Motors was to help restore profitability, build a strong market position and position this iconic company for success. We are clearly on that path.”
Today, the CEO of GM, Daniel Akerson also has a background in telecommunications, working at Nextel, MCI Communications and XO Communications. General Motors had learned their lesson. Just because you have worked in an industry all your life, doesn’t mean you have the vision to create success.
Use your favorite search engine to look up my political opponent for District 7: Dennis Shingleton. What is his positions on issues? What is their vision as an elected official on the Fort Worth city council? You will find nothing. Mr. Shingleton stays under the radar. He is the Invisible Man.
The Fort Worth city council is going down that same path. Listen to my opponent or those running for other elected offices. ”Normal evolution for me,” or “This is my next step.” They are sending the message, “I’ve paid my dues. I deserve this position.” Entitlement politics. For General Motors, they lacked leadership vision by building gas guzzling cars knowing that gas prices would eventually rise.
The Fort Worth city council lacked the leadership vision by spending freely, not saving money from the early days of gas drilling, influence from the wealthy and leaving chasms of problems from the Lake Worth Vision Project, Trinity River Vision Project, Como neighborhood, $77 million deficit and a $700 million failing police and fireman retirement fund. Add to that Fort Worth has no term limits for political office. This only adds to cronyism and entitlement politics. Dennis Shingleton doesn’t even have a Facebook page, let alone a website. Let’s keep GM out of Fort Worth.
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Early Voting June 2nd – June 10th
Even if you did NOT vote in the city wide election, ALL registered voters are eligible to vote in the runoff election.
Election Day – Saturday, June 18th
Jon Perry
Office: (817) 754-0001
Campaign Website: http://jonperry.biz
Campaign Facebook: http://jonperry.biz/fb
Twitter: dfwcard: http://twitter.com/dfwcard
LinkedIn: Connect With Me http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonperry
