The 12 Days of Dino

Watching the TV debates will only get you so far. Poring over the state archives, studying past budgets, perusing his Web site—none of this will reveal the real essence of Republican (sorry, GOP) gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, who is in a dead heat with Chris Gregoire less than two weeks before the election. After his devastating 133-vote loss four years ago, Rossi produced a remarkable document, an out-of-power testimonial that—so far as I can tell—has never been read or reviewed by the local media. Yet his 2005 Dino Rossi: Lessons in Leadership, Business, Politics and Life (Forward Books, LLC) tells voters everything they could possibly hope to know about the man, the husband and father, the real-estate entrepreneur, the candidate, Dino Rossi.
I have read that book (which carries the subtitle 12 Inspirational Lessons You Can Apply to Your Business and Family Life!). And I have made it my Bible. Below is the story of my humble efforts to follow his precepts and live by his wisdom, according to the actual chapter titles, chapter by chapter, one lesson per day, 12 days in a row.
In other words: Dino-cize me!

Day 1, Chapter 1) Stay True to Who You Are!

I am a diligent reporter. But I am also a cheapskate. I first tried to purchase Rossi's autobiography at the two largest bookstores in the state, Elliott Bay Book Co. and University Book Store, but neither had a copy. So I went to a downtown used bookstore where, to my surprise, there was an unsold stack of pristine copies sitting in the window. Accepting my payment for $23.95, the clerk confided, "The owner of the store is a supporter. So I can get you a deal if you need a dozen or more."

Opening chapter one, I learned that Rossi is "a part Tlingit, half Italian, Catholic Republican who comes from a conservative Democrat family." (He's also the grandson of a Black Diamond coal miner!) And that "Leaders speak straight from the heart and mean what they say."

Embracing this sentiment, I decided to develop my own heartfelt leadership plan: Buy up all the unsold Rossi inventory at the bookstore and become an eBay millionaire. I began practicing my bold, confident "Dino Rossi" autograph. After all, signed copies of Dino Rossi are currently selling on Amazon for $500!

Of course, as we all know, every investment needs a hedge. Unfortunately Gregoire has no book of her own. (Profiles in Moderation, anyone?) That's why I'm also publishing The Collected Twitter Posts of Ron Sims, Volumes I-XX, leather-bound and gilt-edged. Just in case.

2) My Path to Becoming a Businessman

As a teenager in the '70s, budding businessman Rossi managed to get his handmade candles stocked at the local Fred Meyer. "You have a gift," his father told him. "Knowing how to work hard and overcoming the fear of rejection at an early age have been two keys to my success in life," Rossi Jr. writes. He later worked as a late-night janitor during college, learning to fire those older employees "who avoided hard work at all costs." After graduation from Seattle University—and a vaguely described backpacking tour through Bali and Southeast Asia (land of fine bud...hmmm)—Rossi entered the real-estate biz in the early '80s.

Dino's respect for "the free enterprise system, capitalism in its purest form" inspired me to approach the residents of Nickelsville with plans for a new multi-level marketing sales platform. Where timid, mushy-headed liberals saw a helpless population in need of a taxpayer handout, I saw a dynamic, able-bodied potential sales force, untethered to obsolete bricks-and-mortar bureaucratic thinking. "Look," I told the residents (or should I say roving marketing professionals), "You know two hobos. Each of them knows two hobos...and so on, and so on. There's a rich customer base here just waiting to be tapped. We can sell tent insurance, window treatments, wine chillers, and cigar humidors. I'll even lease each of you a wool-blended suit from the Rossi Wear-House for Men!"

Like Rossi, I found that these residents, now including many former WaMu bankers, were too lazy and disgruntled to appreciate the upside to our current times of economic opportunity. "Tuberculosis isn't an infection," I kept telling them. "It's a state of mind!"

3) You Never Fail Until You Stop Trying!

Dino Rossi didn't make the varsity basketball squad at Mountlake Terrace Junior High. In 1992, he lost his first run for the state Senate—by only 1,051 votes! Did that deter him? Never! In sports and politics, he writes, "I laid out a game plan to change my fortune." And later, sure enough, he made the Mountlake squad, and in 1996 won his Senate seat.

Recalling his entry into real-estate sales, Rossi writes, "I picked up the phone and started dialing, rehearsing in my mind what I was going to say when the person answered. In the business of sales, persistence is essential."

This was an aphorism that also served me well when I made thousands of cold calls to Seattle borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure. They could keep their houses, I explained, by swapping me their mortgages for a new collateralized investment instrument backed by my Nickelsville sales force.