Jencunas: Bringing PayPal to RI Would be Big Win for Raimondo
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Governor Raimondo has been courting PayPal more aggressively than an impoverished Victorian nobleman trying to woo a wealthy merchant’s daughter. Ever since the company abandoned plans to expand in North Carolina because of the state’s new anti-transgender bathroom law, Raimondo has had two meetings with PayPal about bringing their global operations center to Rhode Island.
Effect of PayPal Coming to RI
Economically, this would create about 400 jobs. Politically, the impact would be far greater, giving the governor much-needed validation of her economic strategy. Since she took office, public opinion of the governor has gone from ambivalent to negative. According to the polling organization Morning Consult, she is the 7th least popular governor in the country. Raimondo’s increased unpopularity is largely driven by her focus on process-oriented reforms and those policies’ lack of concrete results. Landing PayPal would show voters that the governor’s economic strategy can create real jobs, not just rearrange government agencies.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRaimondo's Accomplishments
Raimondo’s accomplishments as governor have all been the kind of victories ordinary voters don’t care about. She’s created an infrastructure bank, reorganized the Department of Transportation, finalized the pension overhaul she began in 2011, and launched a new marketing campaign for Rhode Island.
Other than the marketing campaign, these actions earned praise from narrow, elite audiences like the New York Times, Governing Magazine, and, judging by Raimondo’s fundraising success, wealthy businesspeople. However, none of these policies affect the average person’s life or have tangible results that prove their success. Instead, they only exist in the abstract, pleasing technocrats but leaving ordinary people shrugging their shoulders.
Tourism Campaign Failure
The only time Raimondo’s administration has done something regular voters care about, it was the widely publicized failure of her tourism campaign. The advertising firms that the Governor called an “All-Star Team” ended up producing a $5 million flop.
As Business Insider put it, “Rhode Island's $5 million tourism campaign went viral for all the wrong reasons.” The $500,000 logo was silly, the rollout video pretended Reykjavik was in Rhode Island, and the state official responsible for the campaign had no advertising experience beyond a similar government job in Massachusetts, where her major qualification was raising a lot of money for then-Governor Deval Patrick.
The marketing debacle was a major hit to Raimondo’s brand as an effective public manager. Not only was it a disaster, it was the first tangible product of her administration, so voters have no successes to weigh the campaign’s failure against.
This lack of economic success is why Raimondo has done poorly while Charlie Baker, a similar, moderate, technocratic governor, has done well in Massachusetts. Both have focused on bland, uninteresting process reforms, but Baker can point to a booming economy as proof he’s doing a good job. That isn’t entirely, or even mostly, driven by the state government, but voters still reward governors for economic results. In underperforming states like Rhode Island’s, elected officials need to generate positive headlines to stay popular, otherwise voters will blame them for the lackluster economy.
PayPal to RI
This is where PayPal can come in. Getting an innovative, forward-thinking tech company to come to Rhode Island shows voters that Raimondo can create jobs and produce results. The relocation would validate her currently opaque economic development for average voters. It would be a big win for a governor who needs one sooner rather than later.
Brian Jencunas works as a communications and media consultant. He can be reached at [email protected] and always appreciates reader feedback.
Related Slideshow: Raimondo’s Tourism Problems Are Far From Over
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