The "Teddy Kennedy Question"

No, I am not being asked why I want to be President...

Famously, in the run up the 1980 election, Teddy Kennedy, the third Kennedy brother who was going to run for President, was asked, “why do you want to be President?” He fumbled the answer. His campaign was finished. Since then, every candidate has a canned answer for why they want to run for the office they do. It is said, you will get a question once, and you better have the answer in politics and business, as you might not be asked again. The “Teddy Kennedy” question is one I always think about when the stakes are high. You better know the answer or else.

In our case, I have been asked a form of the Teddy Kennedy question now twice in the last three weeks- “who do you want to fund your ideas.” I have fumbled it somewhat. I know that because I am not sure who it is. The opaque nature of the LA “funding space,” or even the national, has led me to try and figure it out but with no good answers. I have tested, I have asked, but beyond the “big names,” I do not have a good read on who the people are. The big names hopefully are aware of what we are doing and they are not engaging, so who will be the catalyst to get there? Will there be another group? Why are they not engaging after 160+ days?

Beyond the big names, the obvious is the banks and their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) programs. CRA as a funding source is clear from these posts, but where are the banks on this one? I have talked, but they are not ready to engage. I hear there are groups “forming.”

Government has helped enough in my eyes. They have been there to pick us up, but it is our job to go forward from there (so no, I am not a zealot who does not appreciate government). In fact, FEMA, the Army Corps, and so forth have done a great job. There is more to go. There are tons of resources we have utilized. I just think the follow on should be community driven given the resources we have available.

Ok, so then that leads us to who we want in the room? To answer that question, you have a couple pieces. First is, “for what?” I could hear the “investors” saying, “I like housing,” or “I like infrastructure,” or “I like economic development.” I can also hear, “I like Low to Moderate Income Housing,” or “I want to fund the gap between insurance and the rebuild not filled by SBA loans.” I could hear, “I like economic development, but I want to do real estate,” or “I want to invest in workforce and rebuild a community through a solid economic base.” So we need to understand those needs to meet their goals.

Once we determine what those pieces are, then we can adequately see where the gaps exist. Do we need government to step in for some of the more “social” pieces of the equation? Would that focus our CDBG-DR request to be more tailored and palatable to Washington, which would also allow those who have put so much behind the CDBG-DR piece a win? What about the various resources? Impact investors? Foundations? Wealthy individuals who want to participate? The ever shrinking business community, which is not a monolith (entrepreneurs versus corporate)? So, who wants to get in the room?

Here is the answer I see and have given. I ask the questioner with this response. “Who can understand these basic pieces, private equity, nonprofits, finance, economic development, politics, and do so with an entrepreneur’s eye for a new paradigm? That is who you want in the room, that is who I want to be working with.”

Maybe it is thought leaders first and then investors.

“Ask for advice and get money” right?

Maybe they help frame the issues for the various pieces, and then, once the pieces are “packaged” we then bring in the “funders.” I think they need to understand a little bit of this is iterative. It will not be clear at first. A “riskless” approach will not work. The model of old is being reconstituted in real time. It is similar to those scenes described in Too Big to Fail where the Federal Reserve and Treasury were browbeating the banks into finding the solution to the liquidity problem in 2008. AIG. Lehman. Bear Sterns. Others. Break them down and find out who will invest and take the pieces of the investment. Same here.

So, the answer is, give me those who “get it.” Let’s get the people who want to “break the box.” Let’s get the people who want to do something historical as this rebuild will be. It will be a paradigm shift. It will be modeled going forward for decades to come. Give me those who want to see things differently. We can slot the traditional in where they want to be, but we need the leaders now who want to break out of the mold. Some are in the room but now, we need those who can bring the finances to make it happen. I know you are out there.

Lastly, the inevitable part of the question to be asked I will answer affirmatively- I am throwing my hat in the ring to do this recovery both in Altadena and beyond as is asked of me. I want to get this thing off the ground. I want to make it happen. We need to do it, why else did I start this Substack? I wanted to get people going, but since we are still waiting, here it is. I will do it.