Former lawyer, lobbyist, Democratic Congressional primary candidate, and Vice President of Worldwide Government Relations for Kellogg Company, George Franklin, has published his third book, Incentives: The Holy Water of Free Enterprise. Franklin takes a humorous look at the world of economic development with politicians, corporations, and a cast of rogue characters all wallowing in the government trough in the name of capitalism and free enterprise. Franklin draws on his years in government and Washington DC’s political landscape in his first foray into fiction.
“The world of politics has been exhausting for all of us these past few months,” said Franklin. “Incentives is the perfect way to find some comedic relief and poke fun at the hypocrisy in the world of public policy. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, we can all use a few laughs while our political leaders’ trip over each other in spectacular fashion.”
Within Incentives: The Holy Water of Free Enterprise, no group is off-limits to Franklin as he pokes fun at gun nuts, hapless elected officials, religious zealots, economic developers, Republicans, Democrats, and more. Everybody and everything is fair game in this laugh-out-loud satirical novel. If you like the writing of Carl Hiaasen or Christopher Buckley, you will love this book.
The following Incentives excerpt gives insight into Franklin’s mind. “No sooner than the government lends you money you find out it comes with all sorts of strings…Why they even want reports on how it is being used to advance the common good. Totally unreasonable demands by feckless bureaucrats who clearly don’t understand the free enterprise system.”
“I take readers on a journey into the world of economic development with unforgettable personalities and laugh-out-loud storylines,” said Franklin. “Readers will encounter political stereotypes and dynamic characters who are each attempting to use the mechanisms of government for their own financial and personal gains. Each character within the novel has motives more ironic than the next.”
Prior to Incentives, Franklin authored Raisin Bran and Other Cereal Wars: 30 Years of Lobbying for the Most Famous Tiger in the World, and So You Think You Want to Run for Congress: The True Grit of a Political Campaign. In both political non-fiction books, Franklin shares his perspective on what it is really like to run for a seat within our nation’s capital and work in a government that’s controlled by red tape and bureaucratic agendas.
“I want readers to have a good laugh and be completely entertained from page to page through each character’s storyline,” said Franklin. “Take Skeeter and Bogey, two rednecks, who try to cement themselves in a multi-billion-dollar-industry with no education, all on the government’s dime. Throughout the book, I bring characters to life in a variety of locations, all representative of my career, life, and experiences. I’ve never had more fun writing a book.”
In addition to a career as an author, George Franklin has held a number of positions, including the Vice President of Worldwide Government Relations for Kellogg Company, member of the Industry Sector Advisory Committee on Consumer Goods of the U.S. Department of Commerce, member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Advisory Committee, Chairman of both the State Affairs Committee and the Washington Representatives Group of the Grocery Manufacturers of America, and Democratic primary candidate for Michigan’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House.
Franklin has spoken at several universities and organizations such as the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Michigan State University, economic development organizations, political clubs, think tanks, and more. In each of these engagements, Franklin has touched on a variety of topics, including his books, business, and politics.
Incentives: The Holy Water of Free Enterprise is available online here. For more information on George Franklin and his other books, visit www.georgefranklinauthor.com.
About Incentives: The Holy Water of Free Enterprise
George Franklin takes a humorous look at the world of economic development with politicians, corporations, and a cast of rogue characters all wallowing in the government trough in the name of capitalism and free enterprise. Incentives is a book of pure, unadulterated fun, filled with laugh-out-loud moments. It is an uproarious, entertaining, comical story of the hypocrisy which permeates public policy today. Nothing is sacred, and everybody and everything is fair game.
About George Franklin
George Franklin is a lawyer and former Vice President of Worldwide Government Relations for Kellogg Company. He has held numerous positions in and out of government, including, member of the Industry Sector Advisory Committee on Consumer Goods of the U.S. Department of Commerce, member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Advisory Committee, Chairman of both the State Affairs Committee and the Washington Representatives Group of the Grocery Manufacturers of America, and Chairman of the American Frozen Food Institute.
In addition to having testified before Congress as the representative of the food industry, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University and had his own weekly radio segment called, “Ask the Lobbyist.” He is also President of Franklin Public Affairs LLC.
In 2014, George published his first book, Raisin Bran and Other Cereal Wars: 30 Years of Lobbying for the Most Famous Tiger in the World. A go-to source for anyone interested in learning more about the complex and stimulating confluence of business, law, lobbying, and politics, Cereal Wars provides unique insights into the widely misunderstood role of corporate government relations and how it affects public policy.
In 2018, George was a Democratic primary candidate for Michigan’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House. While he lost the primary, he survived to write about it with humor and insight in his tell-all book, So You Think You Want to Run for Congress: The True Grit of a Political Campaign, published in 2019.
In 2020, he published his first novel, Incentives: The Holy Water of Free Enterprise. A humorous look at the world of economic development, Incentives is an uproarious, entertaining, comical story of the hypocrisy which permeates public policy today.
