“I sell anything. I'm a hustler, I know how to grind
Step on grapes put in water and tell you its wine.”
- 50 Cent

I'm an entrepreneur and would like more like myself in government. I want leaders who know how to hustle and grind, but entrepreneurs rarely do well in politics.

An example is Lexington Vice Mayor, Mike Scanlon. He has had tremendous success in franchising restaurants and has been controversial as a politician.

To be fair to Scanlon, I should note that I supported Scanlon's nemesis, Mayor Teresa Issac, when I lived in Lexington . Still, I like the idea of someone who has built businesses helping to build a city.

It works better in theory than in practice. 

A recent incident typifies the way in which the entrepreneurial personality does not always fit into politics.

The campaign manager for candidate Bill Farmer did something dishonest. He called Dave Baker's popular radio show on WLAP-AM and pretended that he was someone else. (Disclaimer: I do a weekly radio segment on WLAP with Tom Leach whose show precedes Baker.). Baker and his crew discovered the fraud and Farmer's campaign manager confessed to his guilt. 

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Scanlon publicly stated that the campaign manager should be fired. Farmer disagreed. Scanlon then said of Farmer: "That's why he runs his mother's jewelry store and I run 100 restaurants."

Scanlon made an accurate statement but not one that would win friends and influence people. 

I'm with Scanlon on the issue. I will fire someone faster than Donald Trump for any issue involving dishonesty. My business deals with other people's money, and trust is paramount.

Governments deal with big money too. Farmer may need to find that out. 

Scanlon's statement reveals the classic reasons why entrepreneurs don't make it in government. It was a publicly-delivered, mean-spirited comment that reeked of contempt for Farmer's inherited wealth.

You can make statements like that when you own the store. You shouldn't when you hold a public office. 

Many entrepreneurs have disdain for people who inherited their money. Entrepreneurs often come up the hard way. They don't get invited to join country clubs that cater to the inherited-wealth crowd.

Their children and grandchildren will get invited, but first generation wealth usually has rough edges. 

Those rough edges make it hard to hold public office.

Someone who had come from another environment would have delivered their message privately and without a personal attack. 

Guys like Scanlon, who have been the boss for a long time, aren't good at playing that game.

Entrepreneurs can make great candidates. Their bluntness often sets them apart from smooth-talking hacks. Americans love entrepreneurs in small doses. 

One of the most interesting campaigns in my lifetime was Ross Perot's campaign for President in 1992. Even after quitting the race and coming back, he was one of the most successful third party candidates in history.

A number of Perot's techniques, such as making major announcements on talk shows like Larry King, are now copied by all candidates, but what intrigued people was his blunt approach to issues. If you asked Perot a complex question, he would respond, "We'll look at it and fix it."

As time went on, Perot's approach started wearing thin, and I suspect a Perot presidency would have been a catastrophe. The stubbornness that had made him a self-made billionaire would have been a liability in dealing with Congress or negotiating treaties. 

Many business people have made it in politics since they can finance their own campaign. Of those, you still don't see many that are true self-made entrepreneurs.

Start-up businesses do things like pay their taxes late, default on payments, get sued, and fire lots of people. Like 50 Cent said, they are hustlers and know how to grind, but they do things that the average person can't relate to. Their hard-nosed actions later give political opponents fodder for sound bites and 30 second television ads. 

It is easier to for entrepreneurs to stay on the sidelines.

I'd like to have more entrepreneurs in government. I've seen a lot of politicians step on grapes in water and tell you it's wine. 

I'd like a few people in charge who have actually made wine or any other product.

Don McNay founded McNay Settlement Group and knows how to grind. You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text32101 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com . His award winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.