Idea of 1994 gubernatorial run ‘intrigues’ Robert Monks

WASHINGTON — Could Bob Monks shake up Maine government the way he did Sears and Roebuck?

Some Republicans think so, and are pressing the 59-year-old financier to run for governor in 1994. In an interview Tuesday, Monks said he’s intrigued by the idea.

“I think I could win,” Monks said. But in the next breath, he expressed “doubt” that he would be up to the job.

“He’s a reluctant candidate. People are going to him and saying, `Bob, you’re the right person for these times … (but) he won’t run unless he’s persuaded they are right,” a Republican source said. Monks confirmed that he has met twice with Gov. John R. McKernan to discuss a possible gubernatorial bid.

In Monks, Republicans would have a “big foot” candidate comparable to former Gov. Joseph E. Brennan, who is expected to announce his candidacy this summer and become the front-runner in the Democratic primary. The only announced GOP candidate to date is Rep. Sumner Lipman of Augusta.

Monks has twice run and lost U.S. Senate campaigns — against Margaret Chase Smith in 1972 and Edmund Muskie in 1976. Each campaign was the most costly in Maine history for its time. A Monks gubernatorial campaign almost certainly would set another record, Republican campaign watchers said.

It won’t be hard deciphering Monks’ game plan. He has written two books detailing his ideas. A political consultant called them “corporate populism.” In some ways, that is reminiscent of Ross Perot’s vision of an American government answerable to “You, the stockholders.”

Ten years ago, Monks walked away from government. He was something of a maverick. Appointed to the Synthetic Fuels Corp. by President Ronald Reagan, Monks accused the chairman and other appointees of mismanagement. They eventually resigned after a Senate investigation. The next post was administrator of the Employee Retirement Income Security Agency, a 1,000-employee bureaucracy within the Department of Labor that regulates the nation’s private pension plans. Monks said there were serious problems with the soundness of many corporate pensions, a warning that proved accurate.

“I’ve spent the past 10 years in the private sector learning how to deal with large corporations,” Monks said. He formed a company named Lens, which buys stock in corporations and then attempts to force management changes from within. One target was corporate salaries. Monks has blasted the nation’s biggest companies for paying multimillion-dollar salaries and bonuses to their chief executives. The shareholder revolts, Monks said, generally have resulted in better-run companies, driving up stock prices and earning a tidy profit for Lens. The best-known battle was with Sears and Roebuck.

Claiming that Sears had become hopelessly saddled with sideline companies outside its retailing expertise, Monks spent $250,000 attempting to win election to Sears’ board of directors so that he could push for a streamlining of the chain store. Sears board budgeted $5.5 million to fight Monks’ shareholder revolt.

Although Monks lost the election, his proposals eventually were adopted by Sears. Recently the retail giant sold its insurance, real estate and financial subsidiaries. Sears stock and profits have risen sharply. Monks said there were similar results in subsequent moves to “democratize” American Express, Eastman Kodak and Westinghouse.

Monks wrote a book, “Power and Accountability,” in which he foresaw a time when the financial power of the huge pension funds of American workers, which are invested in corporate securities, finally would give employees a say in corporate policies.

Would his shareholder democracy ideas improve Maine government?

Monks isn’t sure.

“I sense a demoralization in the Maine people who talk to me now. There’s a hopelessness about state government. For anybody who loves Maine, it makes you sick,” said Monks, who has moved with his wife back to Maine after dividing his time for many years between Washington and Cape Elizabeth. “There aren’t any simple answers. We have good men and women in Augusta, but to most people, the system doesn’t seem to work.”

Maine must make major changes to attract new industries. The state’s pension system is a mess. The state and nation must devise a better health care system, he said. Monks said he was uncertain that he was the right person to meet those challenges.

“I hear the music,” Monks said, “but I’m not sure I feel the inclination to get up and dance.”