Assessing a Source of Collateral Damage
Knowing I’m from Nebraska, people ask me all the time for some good old-fashioned horse sense.
My response is always the same: Leave me alone.
Another native of Omaha is more charitable. He’s a fellow by the name of Warren Buffett, a mere millionaire when I left town 26 years ago but now one of the richest men in America and a guy who took Arnold Schwarzenegger’s call recently when the candidate needed some Midwestern horse sense.
Buffett, 10 days shy of his 73rd birthday, has joined Arnold’s economic team.
Buffett’s is a good phone number to have. Fortune magazine just dubbed him the “most powerful” person in American business, edging Bill Gates. Buffett, the magazine wrote, “is respected and admired more than any other businessperson alive, not only by others in business but by the general public as well. Now, that’s power.”
I confess to assuming Buffett signed on in a mercy mission -- that he feared for California’s economic well-being if a movie star with no governing experience were to take over.
A friend of mine familiar with Buffett’s career begs to differ, saying that the two met some years ago and that, simply put, Warren likes Arnold. If so, that speaks well of the Terminator, because Buffett does not suffer fools gladly or mince words.
As proof, Buffett already has criticized Proposition 13 for creating property tax inequities, but didn’t say he would suggest its overhaul. Schwarzenegger, hailed as the courageous leader we’ve been panting for, nonetheless immediately distanced himself from Buffett’s remarks.
To millions of Californians, you don’t knock the Prop. Doing so stamps you as a political suicide bomber.
Note to millions of Californians: You don’t get to be Warren Buffett by being crazy. You get there by thinking and speaking your mind. Sort of what Buffett did in 1996 when he told shareholders of his own company, Berkshire Hathaway, that its stock price was too high for the company’s value. Or when he told shareholders after a poor year: “Even Inspector Clouseau could find last year’s guilty party: your chairman.”
We Nebraskans love self-effacement, and Buffett has it down pat. Omahans say his house there is modest by standards of the super-rich. Berkshire Hathaway doesn’t even have its own storefront in Omaha. Fortune magazine photographed Buffett for its cover wearing a red golf shirt -- the only color among Nebraska’s football-crazy Cornhusker fans.
Buffett’s father was a conservative Nebraska congressman, but son Warren switched years ago to the Democratic Party, citing its stand on civil rights. Around Omaha, Buffett is not seen as overtly political or even a frequent public presence.
He’s neither flamboyant nor conventional. He remains married to his first wife, but they’ve lived in different cities for 25 years, and Buffett resides with a longtime companion who was a waitress when he met her. The accepted story is that Buffett’s wife ended their marital relationship and that he was heartbroken when it happened.
Buffett is ripe for myth but does nothing to encourage it. He’s such a regular guy that he forgot to tell his personal assistant about his involvement with Schwarzenegger. After the media besieged her with phone calls, Buffett sensed her annoyance. “Are you speaking to me?” he reportedly asked.
No, she said. Later, she told an Omaha reporter, “If you hear of a billionaire in Omaha being strangled by his assistant, you’ll know who it is.”
A fun guy to be around. A levelheaded billionaire not afraid to defy convention.
As campaign heat builds, I wonder if Schwarzenegger will be up to the challenge of keeping him around.
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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at dana.parsons@latimes.com or at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
