Raimondo touts his real-world experience
The cavernous TV studio is dark except for the bright lights in the corner.
Tony Raimondo is sitting at ease in the glare, talking about jobs and trade and “getting America back on the move.”
And when the taped interview with Todd Andrews at KETV in Omaha is done, Raimondo heads to the Old Market to lunch on fish and chips at Upstream Brewing Co.
Symbolism overload.
Although well-known in business circles — not only in Nebraska, but nationally — Raimondo has stepped out of the corporate shadows into the public spotlight this year.
The Columbus industrialist is a first-time candidate for public office. He’s a newly minted Democrat attempting to win a contested primary scrap against an opponent often portrayed as the face of the party’s future.
If Raimondo wins that match, he gets to take on political heavyweight Mike Johanns in November for a U.S. Senate seat.
He chose the right restaurant.
But in the dozen weeks since he announced his candidacy,
Raimondo has demonstrated he’s a quick study, a good student ready to compete in an unfamiliar arena.
Sure-footed and on-message, no longer trailing off into undisciplined meandering, Raimondo is making the case that he’s the most experienced and best prepared Senate candidate, particularly at a time of economic recession.
“I’ve been creating jobs for
40 years and balancing budgets in good times and bad.”
It’s late afternoon, and Raimondo is patrolling the handball court like a disciplined terrier.
If you want a glimpse into his competitive nature, here it is as he darts into position, scoops the ball out of the air and slams it back against the wall during a robust game of doubles.
Raimondo’s agility and quick reflexes belie his age. He’s fit and compact at 68, an avid handball enthusiast who finishes his campaign day in T-shirt and shorts at the Downtown Omaha YMCA.
His day begins at the Doubletree Hotel at a much slower pace.
Raimondo waits patiently as a relentless parade of local speakers make their pitches at a candidates forum, draining all the energy and coffee from the second-floor Clark Room.
By the time Raimondo rises from his chair to speak, it’s nearly 9 a.m. and hardly anyone is left except other candidates.
“I’m the business guy who has never run for office,” he tells them.
After he took command of Behlen Manufacturing Co., Raimondo says, he threw away the time clocks to demonstrate trust and respect for workers.
Meanwhile, the company instituted “sharing concepts” that include monthly production bonuses and annual profit-sharing bonuses.
That’s teamwork in action, Raimondo says, the same kind of cooperative spirit he would like to bring to the Senate.
“The correlation in Washington is crossing the aisle,” he says.
As a lifelong Republican who changed parties to seek the Senate seat as a Democrat, Raimondo says he can make the case for bipartisan cooperation.
“There should be no political brand name,” he argues.
No partisan agenda.
The gridlock that grips Washington blocks action on urgent issues confronting the nation, Raimondo says.
“It’s the biggest threat to our quality of life.”
Raimondo is in his element at mid-afternoon. He’s touring Tri-V Tool and Manufacturing Co. on Centech Road.Ask Raimondo how he differs from Scott Kleeb, his Democratic opponent, and he quickly adds Johanns to the mix.
It’s an example of a home-grown business that adjusted and diversified with the times, moving into production machining, adding robots and automated equipment.
Global competition sparked some of the change.
All of this is reminiscent of Behlen’s success story.
One of the workers, Brad Bartlett, 24, helps escort Raimondo through the manufacturing plant.
Bartlett is a Papillion High School graduate who interned at the plant and pursued the “Dream It; Do It” path mapped by Nebraska manufacturers to point youth at community college training for high-tech careers.
In 2003, Bartlett graduated from Southeast Community College at Milford. Today, he says, he’s earning nearly $60,000 a year, including overtime pay.
Raimondo is a leader of the coalition that’s promoting this effort to reduce the skills gap in Nebraska manufacturing.
“We’re creating good-paying jobs,” he says.
“And we’re helping young adults find the educational path to get the right skills.”
Raimondo is a smooth and engaging fellow who is more likely to greet you with a fist-bump than a handshake.
On this day, you could find him taking an afternoon ice cream break at an outdoor table at Maggie Moo’s in the Old Market.
Sitting in the sunshine, he munched on a strawberry cone sprinkled with Oreo cookies.
Two decades ago, Raimondo led a management buyout of a manufacturing company at the brink of bankruptcy.
Since then, Behlen has grown from $32 million in annual sales to $220 million. The company, which manufactures metal buildings, livestock equipment and grain storage systems, employs 1,100 workers and competes globally.
Raimondo, now chairman of Behlen, long has been a familiar figure in trade promotion and economic development activities in Nebraska.
On a larger stage, he has been on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers since 1996.
In 2004, the Bush administration was poised to name Raimondo as the nation’s first so-called manufacturing czar when the appointment fell victim to a political double-whammy.
Democrats were preparing to make his joint venture with a plant in China a presidential campaign issue, Raimondo said. And Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel and Bill Frist, the Senate GOP leader, were miffed the president had failed to inform Republican senators about the pending appointment, he said.
The news conference scheduled to announce his appointment was canceled.
Raimondo is a longtime Republican contributor, but also a close associate of Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson.
Nelson was a member of Behlen’s board of directors before being elected to the Senate. He’s now an unpaid company adviser.
If elected, Raimondo said, he and Nelson would be “strong partners” for Nebraska in the Senate.
Nelson helped organize the so-called Gang of 14, a bipartisan group of senators who banded together to end a Senate impasse on judicial appointments and point the way to more bipartisan cooperation.
That’s a role Raimondo said he wants to play.
“I’m a moderate,” he said. “I want to be in the middle.
“I want to be part of a Gang of 16 or 18.”
“We have a distinct and different experience base,” Raimondo said.
“I’ve created jobs for 40 years. I have a strong linkage with working people and working families. I have real-world experience.”
Even the reality of being fired as general manager of a Vickers plant in Omaha in 1980 for siding with workers in a union-management contractual dispute, Raimondo said.
“I was 40, and we had four young kids at home,” he said.
But, Raimondo said, he felt strongly that the company owed its workers a reasonable 15 cent-an-hour cost-of-living wage increase.
“When Scott talks about all these issues, he can say he’s done a paper on international trade or agriculture,” Raimondo said.
“Mike has a lifetime of political experience.”
Kleeb, who teaches history at Hastings College, earned two post-graduate degrees at Yale, where he also taught.
Johanns has been mayor of Lincoln, governor and U.S. secretary of agriculture.
Raimondo says his experience base gives him perspective in dealing with a critical economic issue such as trade.
Free trade agreements such as NAFTA and their impact on American workers have become an issue in the 2008 presidential race, particularly in Democratic primaries.
But the answer is not to restrict trade, Raimondo said.
What’s needed, he said, is to “put some teeth into our trade relationships.”
Other candidates talk about change, Raimondo said, but he has lived it every day.
“Change is a way of life for us. Change is routine.
“We don’t talk about change in business. We do it.”
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.
Tony Raimondo is sitting at ease in the glare, talking about jobs and trade and “getting America back on the move.”
And when the taped interview with Todd Andrews at KETV in Omaha is done, Raimondo heads to the Old Market to lunch on fish and chips at Upstream Brewing Co.
Symbolism overload.
Although well-known in business circles — not only in Nebraska, but nationally — Raimondo has stepped out of the corporate shadows into the public spotlight this year.
The Columbus industrialist is a first-time candidate for public office. He’s a newly minted Democrat attempting to win a contested primary scrap against an opponent often portrayed as the face of the party’s future.
If Raimondo wins that match, he gets to take on political heavyweight Mike Johanns in November for a U.S. Senate seat.
He chose the right restaurant.
But in the dozen weeks since he announced his candidacy,
Raimondo has demonstrated he’s a quick study, a good student ready to compete in an unfamiliar arena.
Sure-footed and on-message, no longer trailing off into undisciplined meandering, Raimondo is making the case that he’s the most experienced and best prepared Senate candidate, particularly at a time of economic recession.
“I’ve been creating jobs for
40 years and balancing budgets in good times and bad.”
It’s late afternoon, and Raimondo is patrolling the handball court like a disciplined terrier.
If you want a glimpse into his competitive nature, here it is as he darts into position, scoops the ball out of the air and slams it back against the wall during a robust game of doubles.
Raimondo’s agility and quick reflexes belie his age. He’s fit and compact at 68, an avid handball enthusiast who finishes his campaign day in T-shirt and shorts at the Downtown Omaha YMCA.
His day begins at the Doubletree Hotel at a much slower pace.
Raimondo waits patiently as a relentless parade of local speakers make their pitches at a candidates forum, draining all the energy and coffee from the second-floor Clark Room.
By the time Raimondo rises from his chair to speak, it’s nearly 9 a.m. and hardly anyone is left except other candidates.
“I’m the business guy who has never run for office,” he tells them.
After he took command of Behlen Manufacturing Co., Raimondo says, he threw away the time clocks to demonstrate trust and respect for workers.
Meanwhile, the company instituted “sharing concepts” that include monthly production bonuses and annual profit-sharing bonuses.
That’s teamwork in action, Raimondo says, the same kind of cooperative spirit he would like to bring to the Senate.
“The correlation in Washington is crossing the aisle,” he says.
As a lifelong Republican who changed parties to seek the Senate seat as a Democrat, Raimondo says he can make the case for bipartisan cooperation.
“There should be no political brand name,” he argues.
No partisan agenda.
The gridlock that grips Washington blocks action on urgent issues confronting the nation, Raimondo says.
“It’s the biggest threat to our quality of life.”
Raimondo is in his element at mid-afternoon. He’s touring Tri-V Tool and Manufacturing Co. on Centech Road.Ask Raimondo how he differs from Scott Kleeb, his Democratic opponent, and he quickly adds Johanns to the mix.
It’s an example of a home-grown business that adjusted and diversified with the times, moving into production machining, adding robots and automated equipment.
Global competition sparked some of the change.
All of this is reminiscent of Behlen’s success story.
One of the workers, Brad Bartlett, 24, helps escort Raimondo through the manufacturing plant.
Bartlett is a Papillion High School graduate who interned at the plant and pursued the “Dream It; Do It” path mapped by Nebraska manufacturers to point youth at community college training for high-tech careers.
In 2003, Bartlett graduated from Southeast Community College at Milford. Today, he says, he’s earning nearly $60,000 a year, including overtime pay.
Raimondo is a leader of the coalition that’s promoting this effort to reduce the skills gap in Nebraska manufacturing.
“We’re creating good-paying jobs,” he says.
“And we’re helping young adults find the educational path to get the right skills.”
Raimondo is a smooth and engaging fellow who is more likely to greet you with a fist-bump than a handshake.
On this day, you could find him taking an afternoon ice cream break at an outdoor table at Maggie Moo’s in the Old Market.
Sitting in the sunshine, he munched on a strawberry cone sprinkled with Oreo cookies.
Two decades ago, Raimondo led a management buyout of a manufacturing company at the brink of bankruptcy.
Since then, Behlen has grown from $32 million in annual sales to $220 million. The company, which manufactures metal buildings, livestock equipment and grain storage systems, employs 1,100 workers and competes globally.
Raimondo, now chairman of Behlen, long has been a familiar figure in trade promotion and economic development activities in Nebraska.
On a larger stage, he has been on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers since 1996.
In 2004, the Bush administration was poised to name Raimondo as the nation’s first so-called manufacturing czar when the appointment fell victim to a political double-whammy.
Democrats were preparing to make his joint venture with a plant in China a presidential campaign issue, Raimondo said. And Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel and Bill Frist, the Senate GOP leader, were miffed the president had failed to inform Republican senators about the pending appointment, he said.
The news conference scheduled to announce his appointment was canceled.
Raimondo is a longtime Republican contributor, but also a close associate of Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson.
Nelson was a member of Behlen’s board of directors before being elected to the Senate. He’s now an unpaid company adviser.
If elected, Raimondo said, he and Nelson would be “strong partners” for Nebraska in the Senate.
Nelson helped organize the so-called Gang of 14, a bipartisan group of senators who banded together to end a Senate impasse on judicial appointments and point the way to more bipartisan cooperation.
That’s a role Raimondo said he wants to play.
“I’m a moderate,” he said. “I want to be in the middle.
“I want to be part of a Gang of 16 or 18.”
“We have a distinct and different experience base,” Raimondo said.
“I’ve created jobs for 40 years. I have a strong linkage with working people and working families. I have real-world experience.”
Even the reality of being fired as general manager of a Vickers plant in Omaha in 1980 for siding with workers in a union-management contractual dispute, Raimondo said.
“I was 40, and we had four young kids at home,” he said.
But, Raimondo said, he felt strongly that the company owed its workers a reasonable 15 cent-an-hour cost-of-living wage increase.
“When Scott talks about all these issues, he can say he’s done a paper on international trade or agriculture,” Raimondo said.
“Mike has a lifetime of political experience.”
Kleeb, who teaches history at Hastings College, earned two post-graduate degrees at Yale, where he also taught.
Johanns has been mayor of Lincoln, governor and U.S. secretary of agriculture.
Raimondo says his experience base gives him perspective in dealing with a critical economic issue such as trade.
Free trade agreements such as NAFTA and their impact on American workers have become an issue in the 2008 presidential race, particularly in Democratic primaries.
But the answer is not to restrict trade, Raimondo said.
What’s needed, he said, is to “put some teeth into our trade relationships.”
Other candidates talk about change, Raimondo said, but he has lived it every day.
“Change is a way of life for us. Change is routine.
“We don’t talk about change in business. We do it.”
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.
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