report" with abcbc7 national correspondndent rebecca cooper. forhahank you for joiningng us a look at businessss and finance in the washington region. you might be up for an audit -- now might be a od time to join the tea part since the irs would not go after them m now. we will l talk about those topi, but first, the ceo spotlight shines on a woman who found herself thrust on top of the majo publishing empireue to the death of a family member, not a planned succession, but once cathyerrill williliams took over for her fatather at washingtonian media, the business flourished. --y operate "washing pain in washingtonian magazine."

cathy merrill williams, thank you for joining us. story is inspiring. you had any lustrous corporate carereer. you work for american exprpress. take us back to 2007, the day you took home your son from the hospital, the very day yo father diedd. it wasas an emotional time, a scary time, and you went from being used to knowing what u wereoing in the corporate woworld, to taking over in a wod of media where you did not kw what was going on. hodid u get t your sea legs? you have a very successful company, and i like what y wrote e for the lien in website where you said i tried to think what my father would do, and then i decided thawas the wrong thing and not what my

father would want t me to do. >> that t is right. he once said that people would try to do the w wishes of those that are gone, were doing in the corprporate world they would always fail. i view it as fortuitous. i inherited, quite literally, a really, really great team. i had very strong people to lean on. i had people that i trtrusted, people that i could say i do not know what this means, can you explain? a lot ofeople are too reluctant t to aed. >> they do not want to lookk like they do not k know at they are doing, and you said tre are times when people say that is not what yo father would have done, b but youou had to he the confidencehat this is whatat you are gog to do. >> absolutely. >> what were somome mistakes t t you had d to learn from the hard y? >> i made a lot of mistakes. pick your choice. the oneses that stick out our

people mistakes -- i didot trt somebody to do something and i should have, or i gave too much to somebodody who was t ready toto handle it. those arthe worst kind of mistakes. financl mistakes, you can overercome it easily, it is just risk,, but p people mistakes are difficult. >> yet you have grown the company and you are positioning yourself well in is new, digital age, a scary age f for a magazinene. it is harder to make revenue off the digital format, but you loo at things on the bright side, pointiting out you have more reh and a larger potential audienc. what is your growth sttegy in echo >> that is right. reach a lot of people -- strategy? >> t that is right. we rea a lot of people on our website. we have an ipad app.

i was at an adobe conference talking about how we use their software. we are a small publication, and the strategy i fast follower -- we look at what hearsrst and cée nast andnd telelevision stations and newspapers do, an we try to capture what is best from that. that strategegy has s workeded y well. it isave heard you say not an porn for you to be the first, you would read -- not important for you to be the first, but let someone else gamble. >> let them do something, and find out it does n work. there are a lot of examamples. >> there are a lot of different publications in washington, but you have more depth and are also willing to dodo articles tt might be more soberining than se of the magazines that focus more on party pictures.

would you say that has helped because readers are more dedicated to your product? >> o average reader spends one hour and a half with our magazine and that is because we have great, longform journalism, and then fund gossip and fact. that is ththe secret sauce. it i is the mix of the magazine. we have redesigned it. newave brought in a lot of people on the our team to make the content shes more, taking advantage of info graphics, in new ways to o highlight the gret words that w were already in it. yes, people are very engngaged with the magazine. >> we were talking before the show about your parentnts coming from a different background. your mother grew up in scranton and work in a potato chip , but your family had a

great deal of influence in washington and continues to have influence. how do you use the power effectively? cabinet mbersushed to pay tribute to you and your family. w wisely?u use the power >> the power i want is over my children. [laughter] , i am consideit power very blesseded to have a network of peoeople that have been successful, and i reach out to the network whenever i can to say what do you think about this, whatre you doing digitally, do you think this is a good story for us -- we want to get what is the best out of washingt. a lot of the people that i am blessed to know personally have good insights. >> you and your husband are often seen on the social circuit, and it is always nice

to see you because you are not the washington person looking overer the persoson's shoulder o see what more powerful person might be w walking in the room, butou do have some rulesf the road i in terms of time management as a workining mom. >> i have ken these e from friends as well. i i do notot accept invitationsn saturds or sundays during thehe day. limit the number of nights that i go out. i often wrwrite that i nnot make it, we ve a family dinner planned. family moviev plan -- night planned. >> the more you say yes to, the more you bld the brand. that is whyrue, and for me i need to set up ruleses in terms of days or weeks or hours where i need a block off. there are so many great things

that go on in the cicityty. go to.everything th i >> was excited to learn that you have a n title launching. tell us about the latest. we have been expanding since i got there. we launched "bride and groom." in august, we have ," aimed atian mom afaffluent, stylish moms in washington that are hookingor great things to do with their families and their kids -- where ththe newest parks are. >> were those tt just aimed to be affluent a and stylish? >> i it will be a great t read. >> cathy merrill williams, one of the most powerful and refreshing women in washington. thank you. there is more "washingtgton business report" to come. -- tacklesble taxes

taxing times with the irs, and new ways to look at real estate, ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless.

[ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. >> our number of the ek, one .3, is the p percentage increase in magazine readerership b betwn thspring and fall of 2012. only newspapers have been given up for dead more than magazines, but the new readership report finds tt 64% of magazines surveyed saw a readership incrses in 2012 and there s

a big increase r digital .agazines with a 44% gain for print and electronic editions, hearst and condé nast just closed their most profitable q quarter in five years. we want to be profitable, so stay tuned for our families...

our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created... a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more.. low and no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know... exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing ll full-calor soft drinks... with lower-calorie optio. with more choices and fewer calories... america's beverage companies are delivering. >> welcome back. it is time for our roundtable to tackle the hot topics, a we have a new facat the table that is s well-knownn e world ofashington business and polics.

paul is the president of a public affairs strategic consultiting firm. also today, one of our favorite regulars, miael niebauer. everything is on the recordd today. the departmement of justice does not need to tap our phone records. paul, i will start with you. when it cocomes to crisis manament, this is a good weweek for the white house to call you. you had some advi that "politicico" rathat should be everyone's first thought there --umper sticker -- what does it mean >> this residents brilliant. mind, he incisi thinks t things through and is patient, b sometimes he needs to stobeing the council and be

the executive. i think we have seen some of that. certaiy, friday, we saw some of that. he did fire the acting irs commissioner. if the white house appears be getting g ahead of this, but being careful can sometimes be the enemof beingng effective, and i think the prident is beginning to save it and do things in an active way. he to be out front. t latinaid that phrase is on a watch your parents gave you, and it meanans more action, les tk. >> it means less words. a good modelo follow. >>ichael niebauerr, letet's ge yoyour take onhat has been going on at the white hohouse, particularly as it pertains the irs. will this have a chilling effect on the irs possibilityo have credibility?

>> a lot of peopleo not trust the irs already. >> d this play into the paranoia? >> right, they nd to sbilize the agency, get a director people trust and get back to the business of taking peopopl's money? [laughter] if they had only known as sorrwas acceptable, as john stuart said. >> it is acceptable everywhere especially in marriage. >> all, you said go outside of the chaiof command and find people that have credibility to come in and fix things. does he ed a new chief of staff given the different problems he is fing, or does he go outside the chief of staff on the irs? slight on denennis

mcdonough, who can push the president. its not the quality of the peop in the white house were in the government. perceived to be credible to the american public and politicians on capit hill -- somewhere between appointing a special cnsel, which would be overkill. they would loose control quickly. p promoti, perhaps even a jointongressional committee -- some process that people would say "ok, they y got to the bottom of itnobody had their thumb onon the scale." >> in the meantime, with all of those controversies popping up, there is a lot of actitivity on the washington business fnt. you won't -- wrotote a an ticle "hdicapping the players." there are now three vying for

the lucrative prince george's county casino license. we will come back for it, but .ive us the thr are >> mgm resortsnternational, greeood racing and penn national gaming. >> greenwoods the new player. we will take a quick break, but when we come bac i i wan to hear how they got inin thehe competition. stay with us after the break

>> we are back with our roundtdtable, michael niebauer, there is a hot compition in prince george's county -- weig the e odds for the three compans competing for the casino. >> mgm is the front-runner because of their reputation andd the location tt they have chosen that is vermuch ready to go. they are the os if anyone had to choose. --n comes green park greenwood raracing, which promises slot machineses and tae games with a bigger i initial payment to the commission based on the amount of gaming they will bring, and that took eveveryone by surprise.

>> you still give mgm the odds cause they have backiking a anda better site, but the ones you discount thehe most seemto be ---- .> pennational they have offere only 500 sts and a $25 million less did. -- bid. they could not eat thehe refeferendum, so they are now joining the fight. it is not clear w what the strategy is >> explain what the new crowd sourcing is, where if you want a new w piece of real tate, you cacan join through this new -- open -- there ia company called sunrise that is ging local investors the opportunity to buy a she in a redevelopment in their own neighborhood. $100.ou can take so -- i was so intrigued, iook at this as a great way to p put a a

little money into this a area there are -- this. there are se things to qualify, but it is a fascinating concept. >> they break it down on what your return on investment will hopefully be, when yo'rein investment wl pay off. >> and it is a way for the community to be involved. >> paul equale, because of the different scandals the white us has been handling, if the president were to call you today, what would you say he needs to keep in mind moving forward? >> the most important thing isis this, too, shall pass. this is probably more than a dash more of a speed bump ththan a watergate -- m more of a speed bump and a watergate problem unless we found out sosomeone in the white house pushed the button andade thisis happen. this has been pushed d by what happened with the associated press records being subpoenaed

by the justice department because it hit t press itselelf could the press then went -- itself. thpress thewent into overdrive. th sense that we have th scdals,, is a bit overblown, but t they need to pay attentio. >> you think the media is guilty of t trumping up a story? takinges no gambling place in this casino. there is an interesting story you wrote about why carpooling is going down in the washington area. you give four reasons. one is federal transit subsidies, and you also id there is better expanded transit overall so that people can n use metro and busses, and workk schedules have anged that the idea of the nine -- 9:00 till 5:00 t today is gone andnd the final reason is telecommuting.

>> there are tns of thousandss of more peopople who spe at least one daday at home every week. they do not go to a job site so carpooling j justice not workk anymore. , thank youniebauer for joining us. that i is all for us tod. first, a new way to connect -- we start a new feature on facebook and twitter. we want to heawhat you tnk was the most important or intereststing business or financial story of the week. se us a tweet or post on our facebook page. you can always find a strming version ofvery show at wjla .com. search for "washington business .eport" using" you get t to pick the sty. quoteded the story that paul equale, but we will let you tell us and share it with ouour

followersbut to do this, you have toike us on facebook or follow us on twitter. we hope you join us next week, thank you to our guests againn, and thank you. we hope to see you right back here next t week. i am rebecca -- - i amam rebecca cooper. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪

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[ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. good morning, and welcome to "this week." damage control. >> americans are right to be angry about it and i'm angry