Potent cocktail: mixing politics with bu$ine$$

By Mike Mitchelson

Outspoken. Provocative. Two personal descriptions that some business owners prefer to avoid in an effort to keep customers.

But for some, taking a vocal stance on issues is part of being a business owner, and a way to protect and promote their livelihood. From smoking bans to locally-grown foods to a proposed allergen ordinance there are issues a-plenty for restaurateurs to get fired up about, and some owners have used their business platform to get their voices heard above the fray. (Some used the side of their building—a bar in my old St. Paul neighborhood, Costello’s, continues to display its jab at the smoking ban with a wall-size painting of a burning cigarette.)

However, Tony Sutton, the CEO of the Inver Grove Heights-based Baja Sol Restaurants Group, had a life in politics as a Republican activist and campaign operator before jumping into the restaurant game. Sutton was recently featured on the cover of City Pages, the Twin Cities “alternative” weekly newspaper often associated with left-wing journalism. He wasn’t there for his role in growing the Mexican restaurant chain beyond Minnesota borders to Illinois, Ohio and, soon, California—which he has done.

Sutton, a former deputy state auditor, was named chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, and promised to reinvigorate the state’s Republicans after significant losses in both legislative bodies. It’s a job tailor-made for Sutton, whose long experience in party politics (it’s where he met his wife, Bridget, a former Republican lobbyist. Bridget is also deeply involved in Baja Sol, serving as the company’s president). “Baja Sol is my vocation,” Sutton said. “It’s what I do for a living, I have a passion for it, and my Republican Party activities are my avocation. And that’s really the difference.”

Sutton has acted aggressively since taking the chairman post in October 2008, appearing on local Sunday political talk shows, rebutting Democratic initiatives in the press and accusing Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (a Democrat) of blundering the senate vote recount between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

Being out front hasn’t caused any backlash for Baja Sol’s business, both in the restaurants and as Sutton has reached out to find potential franchisees—at least none that Sutton is aware of. Some thought was given to the impact of taking on the chairmanship, but was “dismissed pretty quickly,” Sutton said. “(Franchisees) are interested in the concept, and the business activities surrounding the concept, than they are with my personal political beliefs.”

At worst, Sutton said there might be some “Lefty bloggers who posted a couple things, but I’ve heard no negativity, and our store managers have heard no negativity,” Sutton said. “I don’t think it makes any difference at all. …This is America, most people feel like they have a right to espouse your beliefs, and they’re not going to hold it against you.”

If there are a few “hyper-partisan” people who refuse to eat at Baja Sol, they’ll be made up by hyper-partisans on the other end who want to support a “Republican” business, Sutton said. “It’s a net zero,” he said, laughing. “Most people don’t care. Most people come because they like the burritos, salsa bar or value. They just care about whether it’s a good product and good value.”

And, how does one balance two demanding positions? “In essence I have two full-time jobs,” Sutton said. “It’s what I’m used to—I’m used to being busy all the time.”


On the sidelines, in the trenches

“I will never open any business in this godforsaken state ever again,” said Sue Jeffers, with conviction. Followed by a boisterous laugh. Jeffers is the former owner of Stub & Herbs, the popular, 70-year-old bar on the University of Minnesota’s main campus. Jeffers became well known in recent years for her vocal opposition to the smoking ban, and for her subsequent short run for governor in 2006 (she lost in the Republican primary to incumbent Tim Pawlenty. “I got my butt handed to me,” she said. “I’m not a good politician. Probably because I’m honest.”).

Her frustration with the city of Minneapolis (and the state) as a business owner finally pushed her to sell the bar in 2007 after 30 years. “C’mon, I fought them everything from special service districts to smoking bans to eminent domain to fees and regulations to you name it,” Jeffers said. “And all of a sudden, I thought, ‘I should sell this place.’”

Jeffers declaring herself as a Republican for the race for governor doesn’t depict accurately her vocal political beliefs, however. She said the Libertarians, the Constitution Party and the Greens “have great people, but they just don’t have the numbers and the machine behind them. So, as much as we don’t like it, it really does come down to the Democrats and Republicans.”

Jeffers describes herself as a true “conservative,” meaning fiscal responsibility and limited—very limited—government infringement in citizens’ professional and personal lives.

With all the outspoken railing against government and formally announcing her candidacy in her bar, customer backlash, overall, was never a problem. “I actually had more backlash from speaking out against the smoking ban, than I did against the Republican/Democrat/Libertarian stuff,” she said. “Being a college bar, I’m a capitalist. (Democratic senator) Amy Klobuchar’s group had their meetings in my bar, and (former Democratic Senator Paul) Wellstone’s funeral, I never made so much money. I’m a capitalist; they’re all welcome. We would have college Republicans, college Democrats, Libertarians, the Green party, they would all come to my bar and they were all welcome. They say don’t talk religion or politics—nonsense. We should all be talking about them all the time.”

But the “anti-smoke Nazis,” Jeffers said, were particularly harsh, and came from both sides of the political spectrum. “I still have some of the hate mail they wrote me,” she said, which included letters wishing she and her family would get lung cancer.

In “retirement,” Jeffers has testified regularly at the state capital on behalf of small business owners, and picked up a radio gig on KTLK FM, hosting her own show (currently on hiatus) and filling in for other hosts. “‘Having fun’ is an understatement,” she said, adding that the free time available after working in her bar for 30 years was a revelation. “For my son’s (recent) 21st birthday, I just—because I can—drove up to Duluth, took him out to lunch, bought him a beer, told him to behave himself the rest of the day, and came home. So, yeah. I am having fun.”


Business principles

Expressing an opinion has never been a hardship for Lenny Russo, chef and owner of Heartland in St. Paul. A conversation can meander widely, but never fails to return to a thoughtful (and occasionally profane) point. Those points have often riled diners, who sometimes e-mail Russo directly, and to whom Russo often responds.

Now he’s taken those opinions to a broader audience by writing in the Your Voices section of the Star Tribune Web site, which features blogs from an assortment of community personalities. Russo’s opinions can’t be pigeonholed. He’s for fair trade and supporting local farmers, providing livable wages to workers and rages against the machine of industrial agriculture and corporate irresponsibility, but he also rips overzealous government regulation (see this month’s story on St. Paul’s potential allergen ordinance), and is a staunch believer in personal responsibility (he used a lawsuit filed against Denny’s by a patron claiming the chain’s food contributed to his already high blood pressure as a springboard for a rant on individual stupidity).

So, how does that affect his business?

When he writes about the food system and health, Russo said 85 out of 100 comments will be supportive. When he writes about personal responsibility, that number goes up. “I think some people might take offense to some of the things that I write,” he said. “I know that one guy called up (recently) and sounded kinda pissed off and cancelled a reservation, but he didn’t tell me why he was pissed off, and I didn’t ask him.”

Considering that locavores, foodies and corporations still book dinners at Heartland, Russo believes people understand that the restaurant itself isn’t political. “Even though we operate it with a set of principals behind it, we don’t market it that way,” he said. “ClearChannel came to us and asked us to market it as a ‘green’ restaurant. I told them no, that’s against our principles. We don’t do it because it’s a marketing tool. We do it because we think it’s the right thing to do. If people come here because they believe in our politics, or if they come here because they love the food, great. If they come here because they live around the corner, terrific. We don’t care.”