Thursday, October 25, 2007

Why is Dan Seals Smiling? He Just Got a New Job! (But It’s Not in Congress)


Dan Seals ran a fairly close race against Mark Kirk last cycle, as we all know. Last time around, he took a leave of absence from his marketing job at GE Commercial Finance in order to campaign (and reportedly paid his living expenses out of his campaign funds). Apparently, GE didn’t need him back, as he became a ‘private business consultant’ after the election, but that’s not the subject of today’s post.

Seals’ pitch this time around is that he is in a much better position to compete against Kirk because he has the entire cycle, rather than only 11 months, to campaign his heart out on a full time basis. Well, it turns out that Seals may not have as much confidence in his chances for success as he says, because he just took a new job with a start-up Internet company. While I was trying to find out if Seals’ claim to be a ‘private business consultant’ was legitimate (i.e., did he have a website, any actual paying clients, etc.), the only thing I could find about Seals’ private business life is a website for a new endeavor (I kinda hesitate to commit to calling it a business just yet, for the reasons discussed below) called The Point (no, not the Chicago radio station).

According to the website (visit here), The Point is brand-new, having been founded in September 2007. As far as I can tell, The Point is a site where activists can engage in ‘risk-free’ activism. The way it appears to work is that if someone has a bone to pick with, let’s say, Target, and that person wants to boycott Target, you create a “campaign” on The Point, and ask 5,000 people (for example) to sign up and agree to boycott Target with you. Only if 5,000 people also agree to do so are you committed to actually go through with it. And of course, from a legal perspective, I don’t see how The Point or anyone else could actually enforce this, but that’s ‘besides the point.’ (Ha Ha) Or, if you want to raise $10,000 to fight world hunger, you agree to pay $10 if 1,000 other people do, but you don’t have to pony up unless the threshold number of contributors (which the campaign manager sets) agree to do so as well. Swell… good, solid old-fashioned activism and consumer defense, but only if there is sufficient safety in numbers.

Interestingly, my review of The Point seems to indicate that neither Target nor any other company is in any immediate danger of mass boycotts sponsored by The Point, as most campaigns only have a handful of people signed up, and as far as I can tell, the only campaign that has reached a threshold number of people is the campaign started by the president of the company to raise $350 to buy a “Wii” video game system for the office. Sorry, but if you can’t afford to front the cash for a video game system for the office (the point of which would be, what, to encourage people to slack off on the job?), how do you afford the copier lease or other office necessities?

In any event, here is Dan’s bio from The Point:

Dan Seals, Director of Business Development
Dan Seals is a former candidate for U.S. Congress. He has also served as a Director at GE Commercial Finance and Group Manager at Sprint. Dan was selected to be a Presidential Management Fellow under the Clinton Administration where he served in U.S. Department of Commerce and in the U.S. Senate. Dan received his MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, his MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and his BA from the Boston University College of Communication.

TA notes a couple VERY interesting things here. First, is the fact that Seals has taken a job with what purports to be a legitimate business venture (as opposed to simply claiming he’s a consultant to hide the fact he’s out of work) on what I assume is a full time basis. Otherwise, why would a start-up company hire a part-timer to be “Director of Business Development”? That would seem to be a pretty darn important position for a brand-new company. So, not only is he clearly not a full time candidate, he also has taken on a significant role with a fledgling company that you would think will be very demanding on his time and energy. Which comes first, Dan, the campaign or the job?

Next, Seals is noted as a “former” congressional candidate. Why the “former” designation??? Seals has not dropped out (yet), as far as I know. I’m sure he wouldn’t have forgotten to mention this little fact during his The Point job interview. So, perhaps The Point doesn’t want people to know that their new Business Development director might be a little… distracted… over the next 13 months. If I was an investor, that’s information I might want to know.

And of course, there’s the whole issue of claiming to be a “Director” of GE Commercial Finance. I did a little looking into GE, and it does seem that they throw the title of “director” around internally pretty liberally, but to the outside world, when you call yourself a “Director,” to me that implies being a member of the Board of Directors for a major financial enterprise, which is an entirely different thing than being a cubicle-dwelling marketing guy. Finally, it's probably worth noting that those companies (or their employees) that are identified as "targets" on The Point probably are not going to be big Dan Fans, assuming that this site ever has any meaningful effect on any company's business. But it's typical of populist Dem rhetoric that seeks to cast businesses as evildoers that need to be slapped down (or better yet, taxed to death) at every opportunity.

What The Point’s business strategy is, or what Dan’s job responsibilities will be, are not clear from the information on the website. But, there is no advertising, no fees to participate or dues to pay, so at this point, I don’t know how The Point is going to make any money. But, that’s not my issue. My question is why Dan Seals is out looking for a new career when I thought he wanted to be MY congressman. So, is Dan Seals simply hedging his bets… just in case—OR ready to give up the race and start a new career? Does Jay Footlik have him THAT rattled? Either way, this makes his commitment to his own campaign seem a lot less impressive than it was a few months ago when he announced that he was going to do whatever it took to defeat Kirk this time around.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

So let me get this straight -- while Kirk saved the VA and get BP to stop polluting, Seals was UNEMPLOYED?

Impressive.

Team America said...

Well, to be fair, he says he "employed" himself as a consultant. But whether anyone employed him is my question.

Anonymous said...

TA - I think the reason Dan can only be a former candidate may have something to do with The Point's statement on “What we Believe”:

Neutrality
We believe The Point best serves the public as a non-partisan facilitator of participatory democracy.

Kind of hard to be a non-partisan facilitator when you are running for elected office.

Team America said...

Thanks, BOH! There is just so much wrong with this on so many levels that I missed that point!

Anonymous said...

TA, I'm puzzled. How DOES one earn a living from being head of Business Development for a non-partisan group like this? And what Business is one developing? I've read every bit of this website three times and can't understand what "business" this represents other than the 'let's organize and complain and agitate' kind of nonsense that permeates our society today. Sorry to be so pessimistic about a start-up venture like this. I guess if all I want to do is complain and criticize I can join that elite group over there on the Ellen Beth Gill Blog and rail away all day, everyday. Isn't America wonderful.....one can create a business designed to encourage people to complain rather than find a way to be creative in problem solving. I still want someone to explain how one can draw a salary or pay one's bills from being on that staff. It's a puzzlement, at least to me.

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of the site. The thought that people can use social networking to effect change is pretty cool. Not sure how it works as a business model though. What are they selling - perhaps ad space at some point? They take takes 3% of any credit card donations to pay the credit card processing fees - but say none of it is for profit. I just want to know how they get paid?

Anonymous said...

could we start a campaign to donate to kirk?

Team America said...

Anon 11:46- now THAT'S the best idea that I think could be set up on The Point!

Anonymous said...

Seals looted $25,000 from his campaign to pay himself. Check the FEC.

Didn't even wait to get elected before becoming corrupt.

El Rider said...

TA,
Thanks, great post. I must first say that I recently have spent many hours in a lawyer's office preparing a new business and let me put it this way, if I had not been honest about my background or my current activities I think that I and my partners would be guilty of fraud if we took money from the public.

I also tried to start my own Point campaign (keep Mark Kirk in office) and was unable to even register on their site. Registration is a common practice here on Al Gore's internet so I have to wonder what the wonderfully unemployed Mr. Seals is actually doing?

El Rider said...

TA,
Hey, they have let me register! However they will not allow me to raise funds for Kirk for Congress. Open minded indeed!

Team America said...

El Rider- what about just showing support for re-election?

El Rider said...

TA,
Okay, I think that they will allow folks to raise money for Mark, I may have time this evening or tomorrow.

Team America said...

TA's sources have confirmed that our man Dan is indeed out there working as Direcor of Outreach for The Point. His e-mail is dan@thepoint.com if anyone has any questions. Like maybe if he's still running for Congress.

Anonymous said...

Maybe someone will start a campaign to get Dan to agree to a debate with Footlik.

Publia said...

M'God, they've reinvented the dot com craze! Clever. Except for the fact that the only people they seem to be hiring is Ruby Coders, good luck on that one!

There's not a thing going on at The Point that can't probably be done better and easier on Facebook, except for the threats. But I do notice something. There are a couple of rich boys involved in The Point, guys who could pony up some real bucks to hire Dan Seals (giving him a different way to live rather than on campaign contributions.)Better yet, they don't have to be bundlers and they don't have to be limited by those paltry little contributions mandated by the Feds. Sometimes in Chicago this has a different name than Web 2.0.

Team America said...

Publia, you may be on to something. I wonder why a U of C MBA pulls down in the marketplace for sending out a few e-mails under the guise of a marketing job. Mark Kirk releases his tax returns every year. Wonder if Dan Seals plans to do the same...?

Publia said...

This startup ends up being a very good way to make supporting a political candidate tax deductible, and all very legal. We know MBA's get high pay!

Team America said...

Publia, you're right, and while the entire The Point website may not be a scam set up solely for the benefit of Mr. Seals (that would assume a vast left-wing conspriacy and we all know how Republicans feel about conspiracy theorists), it would be very convenient to use this as a way to give him a very good paying gig for potentially minimal effort, that would be hard to prove out as a scam.

That all being said, simply the idea that Seals is off doing something as daffy as this instead of campaigning, I think hurts his credibility on several fronts. His comments on some of these Point "campaigns" as they call them, and the "targets" on the website show a complete absence of common sense and understanding of business. A U of C MBA ought to know better.

Anonymous said...

Dan Seals won’t debate Jay Footlik because Seals’ intellect makes the Rockies Wednesday night performance against Boston seem inspired and brilliant.

Publia said...

Even the U of C has people who graduate in the bottom 1/4. There has no limit to stories in the news of people who start using very bad judgment when their financial future is at stake, and they have some pretty fancy degrees, too.

GE's high pay, along with its "up or out" policy, creates fallout--their employees get used to the money, and lifestyle issues emerge when they are shoved out the door.

Being a two time loser takes its toll. Even if Dan Seals isn't very smart, he's probably smart enough to know that when he is reduced to living off campaign contributions, and probably not going to be a Congressman, he needs a job.

I agree on the lack of judgment and the daffiness.

Anonymous said...

crew.org a schumer hack organization that the msm stupidly believes is legit, took a major bite out of the side of gop candidates last year by taking after candidates that pay their spouses out of their warchests. This is worse. There are serious ethical issues that the democrats made a big deal about in terms of bribery and conflicts of interest.

Their own words now apply to their own candidate. We should make sure of that.

Finally when is someone going to get real with footlik and ask him if his title was so big as white house jewish liasion, a 22 year old kid fresh out of texas christian held the job in the bush administration? It's a fancy title but empty suit job and having it means you parrot talking points not serve as an expert on anything. Google it.

Thanks again TA for the keen insight.