West Group & Tom Sawyer -- Two Cases of Brilliance
It behooves us all to recognize brilliance when we find it. Thus, I take off my hat to salute the sheer genius of West Group's public affairs team. Its performance is in a class with Tom Sawyer's whitewashing the fence.
We are all aware of the Mark Twain story of Tom Sawyer and the fence. Tom was ordered by his Aunt Polly to whitewash a long fence when he would have rather spent the Saturday with his friends having fun and adventures. Moreover, he feared that his friends would mock him for working on a beautiful day. Tom thought about trading his valuables for his friends' labor, but soon realized that the price would be too high. As we all know, as friends came along, Tom pretended that whitewashing the fence was the greatest thing he could do on the Saturday. Better than Ben Rogers' offer to go swimming. Tom's friends quickly bought into his agenda. Not only did they all take over Tom's work, but they also gave him valuable consideration for the privilege.
Sawyer was able to get his fence whitewashed without much of his labor and he obtained a large number of "valuables" to boot: part of an apple, a kite, " twelve marbles, part of a jew’s-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spoon cannon, a key that wouldn’t unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar-but no dog - the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated window-sash."
Just as brilliant as Tom Sawyer is West Group's public affairs team. West Group needs an underground Metrorail through Tysons Corner to maximize the value of its landholdings. The Company probably felt secure that Governor Kaine would propose an underground line. But he didn't for fear of jeopardizing federal funding. Now the Company has enlisted local businesses and neighbors to carry its water.
West Group has persuaded many people that, in order to avoid an admittedly ugly elevated line through Tysons, they should champion the added costs for a tunnel that could jeopardize federal funding. Just as Tom Sawyer was able to obtain valuable consideration for the chance to do his job, so too may West Group be able to persuade citizens to pay higher taxes to make up for potential loss of federal funding. Also standing in the way of a tunnel is the behemoth Bechtel that has the existing fast track to build the elevated line if and when federal funding is approved. Given its success in marshaling business and citizen support, I would not be surprised to see West Group be able to persuade us to pay for a court fight with Bechtel. Keep in mind that all this is happening to build an expensive rail system that will likely result in even worse traffic congestion around Tysons Corner.
I truly believe that this is the work of very talented people. I salute the brilliance of West Group's public affairs team. You are one of the very best around.
We are all aware of the Mark Twain story of Tom Sawyer and the fence. Tom was ordered by his Aunt Polly to whitewash a long fence when he would have rather spent the Saturday with his friends having fun and adventures. Moreover, he feared that his friends would mock him for working on a beautiful day. Tom thought about trading his valuables for his friends' labor, but soon realized that the price would be too high. As we all know, as friends came along, Tom pretended that whitewashing the fence was the greatest thing he could do on the Saturday. Better than Ben Rogers' offer to go swimming. Tom's friends quickly bought into his agenda. Not only did they all take over Tom's work, but they also gave him valuable consideration for the privilege.
Sawyer was able to get his fence whitewashed without much of his labor and he obtained a large number of "valuables" to boot: part of an apple, a kite, " twelve marbles, part of a jew’s-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spoon cannon, a key that wouldn’t unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar-but no dog - the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated window-sash."
Just as brilliant as Tom Sawyer is West Group's public affairs team. West Group needs an underground Metrorail through Tysons Corner to maximize the value of its landholdings. The Company probably felt secure that Governor Kaine would propose an underground line. But he didn't for fear of jeopardizing federal funding. Now the Company has enlisted local businesses and neighbors to carry its water.
West Group has persuaded many people that, in order to avoid an admittedly ugly elevated line through Tysons, they should champion the added costs for a tunnel that could jeopardize federal funding. Just as Tom Sawyer was able to obtain valuable consideration for the chance to do his job, so too may West Group be able to persuade citizens to pay higher taxes to make up for potential loss of federal funding. Also standing in the way of a tunnel is the behemoth Bechtel that has the existing fast track to build the elevated line if and when federal funding is approved. Given its success in marshaling business and citizen support, I would not be surprised to see West Group be able to persuade us to pay for a court fight with Bechtel. Keep in mind that all this is happening to build an expensive rail system that will likely result in even worse traffic congestion around Tysons Corner.
I truly believe that this is the work of very talented people. I salute the brilliance of West Group's public affairs team. You are one of the very best around.
posted by Toomanytaxes at 10:33 AM
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