Poolside, No. 41? The luxurious La Quinta Resort and Club in Southern California. Gannett newspaper executive Bob Dickey is competing as an amateur this week in a nearby golf tournament, where contestants pay $12,000 to $25,000 to play with a PGA pro.
Admit it: You're pooped from all the advance work you're doing, preparing for your fabulous, upcoming unpaid furlough. The solution: Come to the legendary La Quinta Resort and Club near wintertime getaway Palm Springs! That's where newspaper division President Bob Dickey (left) is feeling your pain today -- while competing as an amateur on Day Two of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic pro-am golf tournament. The resort has catered to burned-out -- err, tired, executives and celebrities on 1,400 acres known as "Happy Hollow,'' since its 1920s opening.Dickey is one of nearly 400 amateurs paying a minimum $12,000 to play with a PGA pro, plus celebrity duffers like 1970s rocker Alice Cooper. In a Tuesday interview, Cooper, 60, helpfully explained golf's appeal: "It's the most addictive game in the world. Being a former addict, I understand addiction. It's the crack of sports."
If Hope Classic attendees are truly lucky, Detroit native Cooper (born: Vincent Damon Furnier) will perform tomorrow night at one of the big parties: the Classic Celebration, starting at 6 p.m. at the La Quinta Resort; that's Cooper (left), on stage last year. (Yup.)'Masculine' $185 massages
Naturally, a day on the links is exhausting work, so weary participants in the all-male tournament may want to prepare to party with a massage, such as the 80-minute "La Quinta Sportsman," a steal at just $185 (tip not included). "This masculine treatment begins with a Tri-Crystal scrub that combines Dead Sea salt, sugar from sugar cane and magnesium oxide crystals for a stimulating exfoliation,'' says the spa menu. "You are then given a classic liniment rubdown to enliven both your body and mind. Lastly, a sports massage using our speciality sports lotion will melt away the tension in your tired and sore muscles.''
Caution ahead: This is Happy Hollow -- not, happy ending! "Your therapist may terminate the service, without a refund, if inappropriate language or actions occur," spa rules say.
Hollywood royalty's retreat
San Francisco oyster heir Walter H. Morgan opened La Quinta in 1927. (He killed himself four years later, ruined by the 1929 crash.) As a social locus for the Hope Classic, resort guests relax in the knowledge they're on a first-name-only basis with the help.
"Since its opening," the hotel says, "La Quinta Resort, nestled in the quiet of the Santa Rosa Mountains of Southern California, has been the favorite retreat of Hollywood legends like Greta Garbo (left), Clark Gable and Frank Capra, and financial powerhouses such as Cornelius Vanderbilt IV and William H. Crocker. Today, among the guests of La Quinta Resort are a new generation of celebrities, including Hollywood stars, athletes, and CEOs, whose first names alone are enough to identify them.''Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
Wonder why he's not setting an example by live-blogging, twittering or doing something to advance the local content bodies that are so vital to the national head!
ReplyDeleteStop complaining about how executives spend their money. Who cares? You would if you could.
ReplyDeleteI guess Golf and the way Gannett does things are both the same. In golf you hit a ball,chace it ,hit it again and so on.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing with the decisions corprate makes.Take a swing at something and just keep chasing it no matter how bad it goes
The problem isn't with the Executives spending their money. It's with the Executives spending COMPANY money.
ReplyDeleteNo, actually, I would not spend my money this way.
ReplyDeleteI'd be saving for the next round of cutbacks.
Jim:
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight, are you suggesting Bob Dickey is paying $185.00 for a massage? How do you know this and how do you know Bob will be at a certain party.
Bob wrote a personal check to cover his entry fee. What he does with his own money is his business and none of yours. We don't ask you what brand lubricant you buy with the money we donate to the blog.
I cannot think of anything more wasteful or distasteful. Our newspapers are foundering and having a hell of a time making the transition to new media with furloughed staffs, and our leader is distracted by the "Classic Girls" while yuking it up on the links. It is one of those "let them eat cake" moments, which is too rude to be true. I do not believe that a leader of a troubled newspaper company would treat his employees this way, so I chose to believe this is some other Bob Dickey out there. To think otherwise is to think of razors and decapitations.
ReplyDeleteIf the board of directors chose to give me the same amount of money they give him I would be doing the exact same thing he is doing.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not with him getting the money, it is with the company giving him the money.
Did anybody else notice that former Detroit Newspaper Agency CEO and current San Francisco Chronicle CEO Frank Vegas is participating in the tournament as well?
ReplyDeleteHow nice to know that while his newspaper bleeds $1 million a week for the Hearst Corporation and recently slashed 125 jobs, he has the time and energy to chase a little white ball in Palm Springs.
Vega and Dickey are cut from the same cloth. These guys and their sense of entitlement disgust me. They are not leaders, much less good managers. They inspire no confidence within the rank and file, but only promote contempt for their actions.
In these trying times, it's all about character and doing the right thing when nobody is watching.
6:58 pm: "Get this straight?"
ReplyDeleteThe subject being Palm Springs, Calif., that might be hard to do, what with all those Hollywood make-up artists in town to attend to all the sunburned ladies who Cosmo their way through lunch.
And no; I am absolutely NOT suggesting anything of the kind regarding Dickey. Next, I'll get accused of inciting class warfare. (BTW: Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a guillotine set up in downtown Palm Springs? The unions are killing me!)
I am not complaining about how executives spend their money. I am complaining by the in-your-face approach to Gannett's employees by an executive who picks a very public event like the Bob Hope Classic to lavish his money while his company is going through employee distress. Dickey could have picked some other golf event that doesn't earn much publicity, or taken a cruise, and we would not know the difference. But he chose to come to this particular event knowing full well it would be covered, and his appearance noted. He's sending a message to the rank and file, and it is a flipping his middle finger message. That is what has got my goat.
ReplyDeleteOkay so you wrote a personal check from his account to cover the at least $12,000 entrance fee. But the question remains, will it show up on his expense report at the end of the month along with airfare, accommodations, meals and incidentals?
ReplyDeleteBob Dickey is the most honorable person I've met in this company. He comes from very humble beginnings in Oregon and earned everything that has ever come his way. He is playing in a golf tournament in a community in which he has developed many deep and lasting business and personal relationships: a golf tournament that raises millions of dollars for local non profit organizations. He has done more for that community then anyone I can mention. He started a food program that raises 50 tons of food for residents in need every Christmas season. So before you folks, who have never met him, judge his moral character, think again. You may disagree with his leadership, that is your choice, but don’t casually dismiss his character. That is an argument you will lose everytime!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I don't care one bit if he puts through an expense. I don't care if he hands out 20s in tips. I really don't care one bit.
ReplyDeleteThis is still America, for now.
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ReplyDelete8:17p
ReplyDeleteThanks Mom!
Xoxo
Bobby
Mabey if every sites employees could only work together in a shut down that would open some eyes. they would all have to pull together.
ReplyDeleteBob Dickey and honorable in the same sentence?
ReplyDelete8:17 Character !!! Might I point out that Christmas is 11 months away, so the 50 tons of food allegedly gathered at this event is going to be a little stale and rotten in the desert sun. Humble ??? Dickey is out on the links daily cavorting with pretty (notably whites only) teenaged Classics girls and a few celebs while our hours are cutback, our workload increased, and our newspapers get slimmer each day. Humble beginnings ???? Ashland, Oregon is hardly hardscrabble and Dickey's background is from comfort, ease and money. Ashland is the home to a Shakespeare theater and a noted wealthy garden spot in the state.
ReplyDeleteHere's the question to answer Jim: Does Dickey still have and maintain his home in PGA West from his days as publisher of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs? PGA West is the host of the tournament and home to two of the courses? Dickey built a home there in 2002 or so. Find that out.
ReplyDelete"Next, I'll get accused of inciting class warfare."
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, you have done that long ago on this blog and flame the fires most every day.
I'll bet that some, if not many, of the furloughed employees will find the time (and, yes, the money) to play golf, or take a trip to someplace warm. This whole discussion is like the argument over the Big 3's corporate jets, a diversion from the real issues.
Gannett is still profitable, still generates a huge cash flow. But, along with every other company in the business, Gannett is facing an unprecedented change in the business, as advertising continues to be a less reliable model for financing journalism. This shift hit a "tipping point" just as the economy entered the most brutal recession in the lifetime of anyone not eligible for Social Security.
Am I excusing the failure of Gannett and other companies to understand what was happening (the loss of classified was a wholly preventable event)? No.
But neither do I think that venality explains the decisions to reduce staff, consolidate and streamline operations, etc.
So you can p & m about what the "haves" got and you don't. But it won't solve the very real crisis confronting the industry.
I could have missed it, but I didn't see the name Gannett or USAT listed on the promotional materials. Isn't that what branding is all about, getting the name out there?
ReplyDeleteIf I'm correct, that means "Bob Dickey" is the only thing remotely national in this big event. Doubt that means much to anybody except him.
So before you folks, who have never met him, judge his moral character, think again. You may disagree with his leadership, that is your choice, but don’t casually dismiss his character. That is an argument you will lose everytime!
ReplyDeleteI'm winning the argument in my head. That's where it matters most to me. Bob Dickey is honorable? Give us a break!
8:49 am wrote, "I'll bet that some, if not many, of the furloughed employees will find the time (and, yes, the money) to play golf, or take a trip to someplace warm.''
ReplyDeleteWhenever you have a population as big as Gannett's employment base, yes, "some" and "many'' will almost always apply to a given situation.
But here's my question for you and others arguing from your position: Exactly when does anyone in Gannett leadership get held accountable for anything? It's all well and good for people to debate which FORMER executives were most responsible for Gannett's demise. After all, finger-pointing is a great way to keep one's job.
But I'm tired of that. Some of us -- oh, like me -- raised concerns about the company's strategy five, 10, 15 or more years ago. We were ignored, demoted, bought out, laid off, fired and often black-listed for having done so.
The bad decisions that got Gannett to this point didn't just happen.
10:11 am: Exactly: What's more, check out the transcript of an interview with Bubba Watson, the PGA pro Bob Dickey played with on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteWatson had such a memorable experience meeting the head of Gannett's newspaper division that he DOESN'T MENTION DICKEY OR GANNETT even one time, according to the transcript: http://tinyurl.com/cao83v