Petaluma, Calif. - The Small Business Administration (SBA) is delaying the release of SBA Press Office Director, Mike Stamler's inbound and outbound e-mails from 2006 and 2007. The American Small Business League (ASBL) requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

The ASBL requested Stamler's e-mails after it discovered that Stamler had sent a number of aggressive and threatening e-mails to journalists and publications which ran stories on ASBL's efforts.  Specifically, the ASBL's effort to expose the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 1000 firms. The ASBL has also received information from journalists that Stamler has made a number of libelous statements about the ASBL and its President, Lloyd Chapman.

The ASBL believes the SBA's decision to stall the release of Stamler's e-mails is an attempt to allow SBA attorneys more time to review Stamler's communications and scrub them of any damaging information.  The ASBL believes that Stamler's emails will indicate that the SBA has made a significant effort to pressure journalists into dropping stories on the diversion of federal small business contracts to major corporations.

"Mike Stamler has been browbeating, threatening and bullying journalists to drop this story for years," President of the ASBL, Lloyd Chapman said. "Our goal is to simply uncover the facts and expose the SBA's campaign to discredit the ASBL and to mislead Congress, the public and the media on this issue. SBA Administrator Steven Preston is obviously stalling the release of Stamler's e-mails so they can remove all the damaging information."

"Mr. Stamler wants to impugn my credibility with the media, but he knows that I have won every federal lawsuit I have filed against the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA (https://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=223) and the SBA. He also knows that information I provided prompted the first General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03704t.pdf ) and the first Congressional hearing into the diversion of government small business contracts to Fortune 1000 firms.  He knows I provided information to the SBA that resulted in the removal of 600 large businesses (http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/17_22/20094-1.html) from the SBA's small business database. He also knows I worked with the SBA's Office of Inspector General and provided information that led to one firm being recommended for debarment and a second firm paying a $1 million fine for misrepresenting themselves as a small business," Chapman stated. (http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33735&ref=rellink) 

In one example, Stamler sent an e-mail to the Long Island Business Journal that was so aggressive and profane that it prompted LIBJ Staff Writer, Ambrose Clancy to write a piece on the paper's blog entitled, "Expletives the SBA's forte?" (http://libizblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/expletives-the-sbas-forte/)

In other cases, Stamler has threatened to remove publications that ran stories on the SBA's role in the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses from the SBA's media list.

Stamler has reportedly made hostile and aggressive calls to journalists, editors and publishers that were preparing to publish stories on the issue and tried to bully or pressure them into dropping the stories.

The ASBL is preparing to file suit against the SBA in the event that all of Stamler's 2006 and 2007 e-mails are not released promptly.

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Petaluma, Calif. - A bill that would give some of the nation's wealthiest investors billions of dollars in federal small business contracts is set to move through the House of Representatives in record time. Last week, Nydia M. Velázquez (D - NY) the Chair of the House Committee on Small Business, introduced H.R. 5819, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act.

The bill went into mark-up and passed through the House Committee on Small Business on Thursday, April 17th.  According to the Weekly Leader, H.R. 5819 could be debated on the floor of the House as early as Wednesday of this week.  This is the second time in less than a year that Rep. Velázquez has proposed legislation that could devastate federal programs designed to assist small businesses.

Since becoming the Chair of the House Committee on Small Business, Velázquez has established a record of talking about preventing the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations, but not acting on it. During her tenure she has failed to introduce legislation to address the problem.  Last week, Velázquez shocked and disappointed small business owners across the country when she began pushing legislation that would allow some of the nation's wealthiest venture capital firms to compete for federal small business contracts.

"The American Small Business League and its members worked for months to help the democrats take over Congress. At the time we thought democrats were going to bring positive change for small businesses," President of the American Small Business League, Lloyd Chapman said.  "Our members and small businesses around the country are just stunned that Congresswoman Velázquez and her committee would pass legislation that will be so detrimental to small businesses. No matter what she says, the bottom line is that this bill is going to allow billionaires to take contracts away from legitimate small businesses in every state.  We are going to do everything we can to let the Speaker of the House Pelosi know that Velázquez is no friend to small business.  I want to see someone chairing the House Small Business Committee who is more concerned about promoting the interests of small businesses than in helping billionaire venture capitalists masquerade as small businesses."

In September of 2007, the House passed H.R. 3567, which contains a similar provision to H.R. 5819.  However, the bill failed to pass through the Senate when it received opposition from the ASBL, U.S. Small Business Administration, the White House, National Small Business Association and the U.S Chamber of Commerce.

The ASBL (www.asbl.com) encourages concerned citizens and small business owners to contact their congressional representatives and ask them to oppose changing the definition of a small business in the Small Business Act. Small businesses should remain "independently owned" and operated.

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