♪ ♪ >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is respoible for its cacaption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] rebecca: thanks for joining us. this week, there was funnyf anxiety in washington and onon wawall street, on edge overer interest rates and international crises. formrmer govnojim gilmore is here with the washington post's steven overly.y. andxperts discussed how to get the media spotlight to shine on your biness. first, she has a big week ahead d.c. mayor muriel bowser. the mayor delivers her f first ever s state of the district address. voters aresked to attend live

as she lays out her pn for the district economy. she wanted toalk jobs with us and asked to meet up at the watergate hotel as theyy announced plans to pump $125 millio into major renovatioions. there was plenty to talk about from metro, marijuana, to threats of jail time for defying congress, plus being a womanan in one of the nation's most powerful js. mayor bowser, welcome to washington business repoport. this is the first time we have had you on that we get to cal you mayor bowser. mayor bowser: thank youor having me. rebecca: we are at the unveiling of whathe watergate is going to look like. mayor bowser: i am very excited. i am excited about developments across the city, where we have d.c. residents working great economic investment for the private sector, the public sector. it is just another signal of how well d.c. is doing. rebecca: you have a long way to go. mayor bowser: o one of the biggest

reasons i was elected was to focus on how we can cse gaps in the city and ensure more people have a pathway to the middle class. i look at the city. i have made a commitment to be a mayor for all eight boards -- wards, and that is what i intend to do. i in announced -- i announced a proactive, data-driven strategy, strategically implement throughoutut the c city. we kicked that off in an a acosta, and were going to be in every partf the city. rebecca: a business audience loves data-driven results, but politics is full of lawyers and public officials, and not engineers and other people, who are metric driven, data-driven people. what kind of data are you going to be looking at, and what are you trying to reach? mayor bowser: we have been luckcky in attracting a talented team. i said all along that i would

look for the best people that had the best ideas and get behind them and make sure they have the resources to do their job. i hired a professional city manager who has managed to cities around the country. i attracted from the federal government our data guy, who is going to bring cap stat back ontoto the district of columbia. no matter what the problem is whether we are talking about parking meters or emergency response, we will have a performance team. their job every day is tlook at the functions of government, use data to make government operate better. so that is part of w what we are going to do. we are not just looking for people who have been in government their whole careers although we have attracted some really great government officials, but people from all walks of life, to serve in the government and to serve on our boards and commissions. rebecca: take me behind the scenes of your management style.

when things go wrong, as they do every day when you are in office, especially when it snows this much at the beginning of a term, what kind of manager are you? are you, everyone come into m my office and tell me who is to ble? are you more of a soft approach how can we fix this? what is your management style? mayor bowser: it is truee that i think for the first eight weeks of our administration, it's loaded -- it snowed at least once, or there was some precipitation. rebecca: that is the hardest thing to happen. mayor bowser: and i will say we got it right just about ery time. the one time we did not get it right, i called all of our staff into an organized cap stat, to find out what went wrong. whether it is schls sidewalks, how our buses performed, or how we picked up

the trash, we examined it talked about him. rebecca: i do not know what to talk about next, federal government or metrics. you are not the federal government, but thehere was talkk of the federal g goverent throwiwing you in jail if you went ahead with d.c. pot legalization. i lked to the republicans in congress, who were not happy with y you. several of them complement to do withhe job you are doing as mayor, but still were not happy with your decision to proceed with pot legalization. how doest feel to be the only mayor in the company -- in the country who has to answer to congress in the way that you do? mayor bowser: it is an injustice that residents of the district of columbia are also frustrated by. we are taxpaying american citizens. we send our residents to war. we pay taxes. we do evererything every other american does. we deserve to have a vote in the congress and two voting senators. that is the bott line.

rebecca: before we get to your jobs plan, you have a b to fill. the regional leaderseed to find a new person thead up metro. the has been widesead reporting that there is some disagreement among regional leaders about what it takes to replace the head of metro. aaccurate reporting that you and governor hogan favor someone who would be more of a "shake it up and make over an orgization" kind of leader, versus someone who has transit background? mayor bowser: i am looking for somebody who can write the ship -- right the ship and understand how big businesses were, since that is what metro is, and worork with a distressed entity and bring it back. rebecca: talk about your plan for jobs, not anan easy solution in a city that has phd's and people without high school education, a city where it is difficult for the walmarts to move in.

real estate is expensive. it is easier for a law firm to be in the district of columbia than a store that can pay minimum wage jobs. mayor bowser: you know, isn't it interesting that we have kind of turned the corner on that? when i was first elected eight years ago, i started going to retail conferences to attract retailers to washington, d.c. rebecca: we have a target now! mayor bowser: now, we have attracted just about every tailer we have targeted, pun intended. now, our challenge is to make sure those retaile are growing across the city. rebecca: hardest part of the job you expected, and hardest part you did not expect? let's start with the part you saw coming. mayor bowser: the biggest thing that is surprising is thatat there is always -- it is unpredictable everery day. you start out the day thinking you are going to do these 10 things, and five other things will have you moving in their direction.

what is key and what i think i have determined is going to make me more successful is to work on the five things that are going to come up, but always go back to the agenda. peopople elected me to take care of things that are planned and unplanned, but also to moveve an agenda. rebecca: what is the hardest part of the job you did t expect? mayor r bowser: people wanting to close the government and close schools. i did not expect that. rebecca: [laughter] trust me,s a mom, i am ready for the schools to staopen. mayoyor bowser: t the passion t they feel about those decisions. rebecca: how wawas it during the campaign, and how is it now being often cited as a female mayor? mayor bowser: i accept it with pre, especially for all the little girls watching me and cheering for me, seeing they can be anything. they can run for mayor in their hometown or do anything they like. the bottom line is, i am the

mayor of the district of columbia. i represent the men and the women. i am elected to move an agenda that affects people's lives. rebecca: mayor bowr, settling into this job and looking to create new jobs for the district of columbia. thanks for joining us. mayor bowser: thank y. rebecca: we wille covering the state ofof thehe district on abc seven news and news channel 8. meantime, is your small business getting the public attention it deserves? there is

rebecca: welcome back. every small businesknows media coverage is a must if yoyou want to g get word ouabout what y you do. is your small business getting the attention it deserves?

we brought in an expert. geeta nadkarni was a reporter for years before startining baby got booked. she coaches comnies and individuals on how to get media coverage. this is the kind of question small and large businesses pay lots of money to try to learn the trtricks of thtrade. you argoing to give us some for free today. let's start with how to pitch. should everymall business hire a publicist these days? or can you cold call a producer or reporter and kelly story? geeta: i lovehis question, because my answerer is, i really believe in diy, do-it-t-yourself p.r. most small businesses s do not have a huge budget. when you hire a p.r. agency, you are essentially renting their rolodex. the send you stop paying those contacts disappear. all the "not now" -- you cannot

tuturn rejectionon inrrelationship. when you do it yourself, you can. rebecca: youeep small businesses how to do it thselves. we could spend the whole hour on who to contact. but the short version is, google . when you get the right person, i prefer the e-mail my producer, not meme becau we get so many pitches. they have to stand out. w do you stand outut? geeta: the first thing a lot of small businesses get wrong is, they answer the queion "why now"? this is how you evaluate an pitch, right? why should i cover this right now? is this newsworthy, seasonal, topical, relevant to my audience? most people answer the question, i have this event coming up, i hired a new ceo, me, me, me. what is in it for the producers? rerebeccouou are exact right.

every st. patrick's day, i need an irish bar that willet me come in and do a story.. it is invaluable when they come to us and let us know. but let's take a more serious topic. if gas prices are up, i neneed a small gas station owner that willet me come on their propoperty and talk to customers about gas prices. we always need it based on the news, and we love to hear from people who are willi to let us go t there. call the a assignmentesk, not me. i cannot get tmy inbox. it is to fall. eta:- is too full. geeta: listen to what she says. rebecca: we are flooded by publicist aftfter . if you get someone's attention, it will be for a brief time. you want an elevator pitch about what they stand for. geeta: i want to take this further. the elevator pitch, this is the basic thing the formulala. i use my background in "a" to

help "b," your target audience. singh lemans is more s specific ththan women. i use my background -- single moms is more specific than women. i use my backgrounund. even airlines do not say, sit in ththis uncomrtable seat and clinch but because then n your circulation is going. nobody wants that. rebecca:a: i found seone because gay marriage was in the news and i wawanted the business impact. i googled gay weddings dot com and there is one small company that has tt name. i go to her when i want ttalk about gay marriage. geeta: a and s is nonow your expert on that t topic recca: we could do a whole we of training on that. but howo you help companies

realize, what i do somehow sets me apart somehow makese ablele to impart my wisdom? geeta: a lot of companies, especially in manufacturing or any esoteric industry, say, i cannot extend what i do in 30 secondnds. people do not have the framework. i have an online course that anyone with an internet connectionan take. i have a full module on soundbdbites, speaking in soundbites. one i teach which is so relevant this group is, shorthand. i will give you an example. how do i get a music producer, a music show producer's attention beforesong? how do i get her to open the mp3? i lilisteno the music and this is the soundbite we came up with. it is nelson mdela and sir maclacan in a band together. -- sar mclachlan in a band

together. rebecca: i could listen toto you all day. we will put your webpagege on ours. thank you for joining us. when we return former governor jim m gilmore and washington post reporterteven overlyn the hot t topics of the business week.

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impactin spending, b but just a sml one. to break down the newsws of the week, one e of our favorite reporters frfromthe washinington post,"," steven overly, and a well-known p presencnce here and nationwide, former governor r of virginia tim gilmore. welcome to y you bototh. governor, an honor to have you on. you have been quite busy since running the commonwealth. you ran the entire republican party during some busy years. catch h us up on what you are doing? gov. gilmore: i am president and ceo of the freeongress foundation orienteto critical ises facing the u.s. today focused on the need to grow the econy and get more js an was up, and the nanational security issues s and crises. rebebecca: fe congresss a well-known institution that has a lot of i impact on pololicy. let's talk about the news of the week. steven overly, the wall street investors did not know where to look. one minute, inrest rates have them nervous. the next, it is human. your take on t week -- the

next, it is yemen. your take on the weeeek? steven: whehere too look? internationally, situations around the world, including yemen. domestically, in congress, a big week in terms of determining the budgdget, settinthe agda. i think wall stet pbably was a lilittle schizophrenic in ying o watch. rebea: governor, your take from the vantage pointf interest rates? where should the fed be right now, in terms of a soft landing or raiaining and more quickly their activism -- or reigning in more quick their activism? gov. gilmorere: i think it will increase interest rates, but i think this is just the wrong approach. i ink were relying too much on theed, trying to bump rates up and down. he saw rates go all the way to th floor, andt really has not helped the economy to grow. what we really have to have is a

forward-looking, aggressive policy, , with tax reform, in order to grow this economy. increase capital spending. more people empyed and higher wages. eveverything we are doing ght now in congress is against that. rebecca: i am m old school. i used to work inhe senate in the days of bob de and sam dunn, when t things got done. you were a governor whgot things de. ople thought you could not wer taxes the way you did, , but you shed it through. take your examplef lowering tataxes when people said it could notbe done. is there a model for congress to follow, because ththey are not getting it done? gov. gilmore: i cut the car tax in virginia. rebecca: everyone said you woululd not be able to! gov. gilmore: but it helped regular pele. we have to take at into the congress a do a tax r reform that will spur investment in this country. people do not understand that. they think iis all about the rich.. the trutis that what we really want to do is get wealth

reinvested i in this country and get more people employed, and get job grth up and ges up. that is not going on in ngress. rerebecca: there are matters of congress who belie tha is there any hope onhe hororizon that people will start to see some activity in ter of legislating? gov. gilmore: we have to win the real battle and explain to your constituents that there is path forwardo inease opportunity in this country. we are just not doing it in the congress. rebecca:teven, good d news for the taayers this week was bad news for one local compapany you have been reporting on. neustar gott a big blow from the federal government. theyost a major contract. what happened to t them? steven: neustar lost a big s.e.c. -- federal cocommunications contract for phone numr mobility when we switch carriers. is takes a 50% of the

company's revenue. after a long battle, the fcc just a awarded that to a competitor.. rebecca: the c competitor sweden offffered it at $500 million instead of $1 billion. is this going to save the taxpayer moneyey? gov. gilmore: here is whyhy we are forced into o thatind of prlem. we he to have a tax reform that r reduces corporate tax. its at 15% in t this -- the corporate tax to % in this country. today, we are in a position where it is hard to compete. rebecca:

rebea: time for the pop quiz. governor, the b bigge story you are watching now? gov.v. gilmore: the instability in russia, the injection of instabilitity in eure, and the daily stories we see abouout warr and conflict in the ddle east every y day. rebecca: plenty r investorto be nervous about. mayobowser: i think we are going toit -- stevenen: i think we are going to o see what happens in cgress when they return from spring g recess. we eed with a bipartisan bill. what can get done as we look to 2016? rebea: busty keeeep an eye on.n. thanks for joining us.

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] grace this week on "government matters," dishh >> giving tools that the people who need that. >> we profile the data analytics. >> is a recovering lawyer, i can attest that the fewer lawyers that are invnvolved in therocess , the smoother it's going to go. >> math on paris makes his initial volley for dod acquisition reform. >> it's very hard fofor government because it is so bigig and so bound by the rule to say we are going to have some flexibility in this process. that's what's missing from this popolicy. >> a new report finds