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February 2, 2009
Mail Fraud.
Well, I knew that Ron Littlefield--who, I should remind you, is the Worst Mayor this town has Ever seen--would try to take credit for Volkswagon building a manufacturing plant here, but I didn't know he'd cause an international incident. Have you seen the recent mailer hitting mailboxes around the city? This guy is shameless, and his Louisiana consultants have the subtlety of a flying mallet.
From the VW logo on the front door, just in case you were too dim to get the symbolism, to the over-the-top text--"Mayor Littlefield Opportunity Knocked. He Answered"--it's really shocking how grasping and desperate Ron is to seize credit for VW.
The copy inside was clearly copy-and-pasted from some other guys brochure. I mean, there's no way it could be about Ron. In fact, that guy would appear to be Senator Bob Corker, since it describes 'determination and leadership.' But then goes on to say 'Mayor Ron Littlefield worked with local and regional leaders to steer the 1.9 million sq ft VW factory here."
He's shameless and he'll likely get away with these lies, but I simply must repeat the truth. One more time: Ron Littlefield had NOTHING TO DO with VW choosing Chattanooga. Governor Phil Bredesen and Senator Bob Corker, and all the economic recruitment professionals did all the heavy lifting on that project.
If you've ever met Ron-at a civic event say or a business meeting--you know very well that he just doesn't have the wherewithal to do something of that magnitude. The thing is that he really, really wishes that he could swing pipe with the big boys, but that's just not who he is.
His out-of-town campaign strategist has got to come to town every once in a while and actually meet the candidate. Either that or he has got to remember that some of us actually know this guy and this crap he's writing is not going to ring true.
Beyond the outrage of the lie that Ron Littlefield brought VW to town is the brazen, unauthorized use of the VW logo. VW was forced into issuing a statement that they weren't endorsing Littlefield, because the use of their globally iconic logo on political campaign literature is a huge gaffe and put the VW execs in a very awkward position.
Here's the thing; Littlefield didn't mean to upset VW, because he didn't have any idea that using their logo would cause a problem. His campaign strategists knew very well what they were doing, but they're in the habit of asking for forgiveness, not permission. My point is that the reason Ron didn't know he was causing issues is that he isn't the business man or business recruiter that he would have us think he is.
Anyone who deals with large corporations regularly knows that you don't touch their logo without their permission. In fact, each and every usage usually requires the approval of the PR department and the legal department. These are things you know when you deal with large corporations. Never occurred to Ron.
He's an embarrassment to us all and I can only hope that the Germans aren't too angry about his country-ass politics. More importantly, I wish that Chattanoogans were, but I'm afraid that we've come to accept mediocrity. Four Mo'Ron years.
Comments to:
| By Billy Blades | 10:57 PM
