Lexington, KY - It was 9:30 at night, on Business Lexington's deadline day, when I finally got Shaye Rabold on the phone for this interview. Needless to say, she'd had a busy week, helping the mayor prepare for his budget address, meeting with staffers, department heads, council members, community representatives and the mayor himself. I thought I'd be the last person Rabold would want to talk to at that hour, but we were on the phone for a good 40 minutes - and she's a fast talker.
This 30-year-old chief of staff for Mayor Jim Newberry is no pushover. She has a keen intelligence and sensitivity to the machinations of politics and public service. Asked how she developed the skills to negotiate, find compromises, and address the details while keeping her eye on the big picture, Rabold doesn't pause. "It's good common sense, really," she told me with some surprise in her voice. "Common sense and trial and error. Nobody's perfect. You just do the best you can."
Growing up in Bowling Green, where her maternal grandfather was a circuit court judge, friends with governors, and served as public service commissioner under Ned Breathitt, she said, "Every adult I knew was involved in public service and politics. I must have absorbed some of it growing up. It helped me understand that government and politics are a means to good end - serving and improving quality of life."
Rabold is passionate about the strategy work of a campaign. Majoring in political science at Birmingham Southern College in Alabama, she was deeply influenced by her professors, one of whom was a Harvard graduate who, as a student, had come to Birmingham in the 1960s to register voters. He had returned to Birmingham to teach civil rights and exposed his students to African Americans who had been part of the early '60s fight against discrimination. Many had been hosed down by the forces of Bull Connor while participating in a peaceful protest march in downtown Birmingham. "This was amazing to me," Rabold admitted. "To see how the city had changed over the years, to discover people who had made history and built a global, integrated city made a huge impact on me. I saw how people struggled through the bad times, emerging with strong cooperation, leadership and community. It gave me hope and purpose."
An unpaid intern during Al Gore's campaign in 2000, a volunteer for Ben Chandler in 2003, Rabold was approached by Jim Newberry to work on his mayoral campaign in 2004. "The possibility of working in a non-political (Democrat/Republican) environment was a great opportunity for me to test my basic beliefs about public service. Every day I ask myself, did we do some good today? If the answer is 'yes,' I can put my head down and go to sleep for the night." Asked if she has political ambitions herself, she makes it clear she prefers being behind the limelight. "There is such a great team working for the Mayor; I learn something about myself, about other people and about public policy every day."
A private person in a public world, Rabold sets aside at least one day a week for herself. "Yes, I admit I keep the Palm Trio on, but I don't always answer it on my day. I take walks and hike with my dogs, Mollie and Casey - two mutts from the Humane Society. I have a new house and enjoy making it more of a home, moving books around, working in the yard." She describes her PDA as her pacemaker, allowing her to breathe. "People can leave me messages, let me know what's going on. It helps." She's worked hard to separate her professional and personal life: "I used to take everything personally, but I've learned to toughen up and separate my personal self from the public person. It's the only way to survive. Mayor Newberry always reminds me that if 90 percent of the people like what we're doing, there are still 30,000 who won't. It's good to remember."
In closing, Rabold comments on the future for LFUCG: "Our biggest challenge over the next several years will be making sure government can operate on less fundsÖmaking government work faster, better, cheaper without compromising services, while at the same time not letting once in a lifetime opportunities to make significant improvements slip through our fingers because of the economic environment. We must be focused and strategic in our decisions."