PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 23, 2014/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Small Business Administration (SBA) is refusingto release complete copies of all Press Office Director TerrySutherland's emails. The American Small Business League(ASBL) originally requested Sutherland's emails for the month of March on April 9, 2014 under the Freedom of Information Act.

The SBA originally claimed Sutherland only had 73 emails inMarch. The ASBL appealed the request and the SBA then acknowledged heactually had over 2,000 emails.  When the ASBL finally receivedSutherland's 2000 emails, several had been redacted.

After analyzing Sutherland's emails, the ASBL believes the SBAis still withholding a significant number of the documents. ASBL President Lloyd Chapman has been the SBA's harshestcritic issuing several press releases and blogs a month criticizingthe fraud that has been uncovered in SBA programs. None of the emailsreleased by the SBA makes any mention of Chapman or the ASBL. The ASBL believesthe SBA is withholding any of Sutherland's emails that would reveal the SBA'scampaign to discourage journalists from writing about fraud at the SBA.

Several of Sutherland's emails seem to indicate he does notphysically work at the SBA headquarters, but actually works out of his home.Sutherland's emails also indicate he is still closely connected to the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) where he was headof Corporate Communications.

The ASBL believes Sutherland took over the SBA Press Office in April 2013 to reduce media coverage of the ObamaAdministration's plan to quietly dismantle the agency. President Obamainitially tried to close the SBA by combining it with the Department of Commerce. That plan wasderailed after the ASBL launched a national campaign to expose the plan to shutter the agency. The Obama Administration dropped theirplan to close the SBA after several journalists published stories agreeing with Chapman that President Obama wasactually trying to close the agency.

"It's obvious the SBA Press Office is attempting to blockstories on the Obama Administrations plan to close the agency. They are alsotrying to kill any media coverage of the rampant fraud at the SBA that has beenuncovered by the GAO, the SBA's own Inspector General and the mainstreammedia," Chapman stated.

News organizations such as NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC and RTTV haveall reported on the fraud in SBA managed programs.

The ASBL plans to file suit in the Federal District Court in San Francisco to force theSBA to release all of Terry Sutherlands emails in their entirety.

Watch new ASBL documentarytrailer.

To view full press release, click here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sba-refusing-to-release-unredacted-terry-sutherland-emails-898205688.html

PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 22, 2014/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed sweeping changes in federal small business size standards based oninflation that could force thousands of small business that depend on federal contractsto close their doors.

Critics of the new SBA policies believe the changes are actually a plan todismantle federal small business programs after a plan bythe Obama Administration to close the SBA by combining it with the Department ofCommerce was exposed in the press.

The SBA is claiming small business size standards are beingrevised based on inflation. The American Small Business League (ASBL) is opposing thechanges since small business size standards based on the number ofemployees are completely unrelated to inflation.

"Think about your local butcher shop, dry cleaners orbakery. The price of meat, dry cleaning and bread has gone up significantlyover the last twenty years, but the number of employees in a local smallbusiness has remained unchanged. The SBA's claim that they are raising employeebased small business size standards based on inflation is ludicrous. The SBAwas established to help small businesses, but these new policies will bankruptthousands of small business and cost America countless jobs," stated byASBL President Lloyd Chapman.

U.S. Census Bureau data indicate 89% of all U.S. firms haveless than 20 employees.

In some examples, the SBA is increasing the definition of asmall business to include most of the largest businesses in a given industry.By raising the small business size standards to such highlevels, legitimate small businesses will be unable to effectively compete forfederal contracts with firms that are up to one hundred times larger than theaverage firm in that industry.

"Over the years the SBA has received comments that its sizestandards have not kept up with the changes in the economy," the SBA justified for their reason of increasing small businesssize standards.

The ASBL and their attorneys have made repeated attempts torequest that the SBA provide any examples of the comments they claim to havereceived regarding increasing size standards. To date, the SBA has refused toprove any such information.

Every year for a decade, the SBA Office of Inspector General hasnamed the diversionof federal small business contracts to large businesses as the numberone problem at the agency. While the SBA is proposing to adopt policiesthat will allow large businesses to qualify as small businesses based oncomments they refuse to produce, they have consistently refused to adopt anypolicies that address the billions in rampant fraudand abuse that has been uncovered by their own Inspector General for over adecade.

The SBA will be taking public comment on the proposed changes until Nov. 10.

Please take a moment to watch the trailerfor Lloyd's upcoming new documentary.

To view full press release, click here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sba-using-inflation-to-justify-dismantling-small-business-programs-633016682.html

PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/-- If a new round of policies proposed by the federal government are adoptedthousands of big businesses could push thousands of legitimate small businessesout of the federal market place and out of business.

The new pro-big business polices were proposed by the SmallBusiness Administration (SBA) on Sept. 10.  According to the latest data from the U.S. CensusBureau, 89 percent of all U.S firms have less than 20 employees and theaverage American company has approximately 10 employees.

Under the new policies proposed by new SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, thousands of firmsthat are 15,000 percent larger than the average American firm will be able tocompete for federal small businesses contracts. Thousands of large businessesthat are 7,500 percent larger than 89 percent of all U.S. firms will becomeeligible to compete for federal small business contracts.

This will make it much easier for the federal government andprime contractors to claim they reached the government's 23 percent smallbusiness contracting goal.

Under the new much larger size standards, millions of legitimatesmall businesses will be forced out of business as they hopelessly struggle tocompete with many of the largest firms in their industries for even thesmallest government orders of goods and services. Millions of jobs will be lostacross the country.

Critics of the new size standards believe the policies areactually a plan by the government to close the SBA and dismantle federal smallbusiness contracting programs to obscure billions of dollars in fraud that hasbeen uncoveredin a long series of federal investigations. In January, an article in Forbes agreed with American Small Business League PresidentLloyd Chapman that President Obama wasactually trying to close the SBA.

NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, RTTV, CNBC, MSNBC and Fox Newshave all reported on the government's policy of diverting small businesscontracts to Fortune 500 firms. 

As recently as Sept. 10,the House Small Business Committee lambasted SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet for reporting billions of dollars in contracts to firms such asLockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon and Chevron assmall business contracts.

The only national small business advocacy group that has mounteda campaignto oppose the SBA's anti-small business policies is the American SmallBusiness League (ASBL).

The SBA will be taking public comment on their new proposedpolicies until Nov. 10. Individuals can post theiropposition to the policies by going to the federal regulation's website andclick "Comment Now!"

To view full press release, click here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-federal-policies-turn-thousands-of-big-businesses-into-small-ones-989736663.html

PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 15, 2014/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A 2004 article in Computer Reseller News (CRN) documented thebeginning of what has become a 10-yearcampaign of a Small Business Administration (SBA) policy that will forcethousands of small businesses in the IT industry out of the federal marketplace.

Under the new 2014 policy small businesses that are currentlyconsidered Information Technology Value Added Resellers, NAICS code 541519,will lose their small business status if their annual salesexceed $27.5 million.

If the new policy is adopted, small businesses in the ITindustry will be redefined as large businesses and be forced to compete head tohead with Fortune 500 firms for even the smallest order for government ITproducts. Thousands of small businesses in the IT industry will be forced outof business.

The 2004 CRN article documented that the original size standardthe SBA proposed for Information Technology Value Added Resellers was 500employees. The 2004 CRN story also chronicles the successful efforts of currentAmerican Small Business League (ASBL)President, Lloyd Chapman, to generate a record number ofcomments opposing the SBA's 500 employee size standard and reducing it to amore small business friendly 150 employees. "For Chapman, who has appeared before Congress to testifyon behalf of small businesses and who has committed years of his time and muchof his own money to the cause, the fight goes on."

A 2003 article in CRN reported on Chapman's successful campaignto stop the federal government from diverting small business contracts tocorporate giants. "This industry is being decimated by fraud, abuse anddisorganization," Chapman says. "Some of the biggestcorporations, here in America and overseas, are stealing government contractsspecifically reserved for small and midsize VAR's."

Now, over ten years later, the SBA wants to eliminate the smallbusiness size standard of 150 employees that thousands of InformationTechnology Value Added Resellers have used to compete for federal contracts andsubcontracts.

The new size standard will make it much more difficult, if notimpossible for legitimate IT small businesses to land federal small businesscontracts. Small businesses will now be forced to compete with many of the largest firms in theirindustry for federal small business contracts. If the new policy isadopted, contractsto many Fortune 500 firms will continue to be reported as small businesscontracts while contracts to IT firms with sales in excess of $27.5 million will be considered large businesscontracts.

The American Small Business League has launched a nationalcampaign to oppose the new SBA policy. ASBL attorneys are preparing to file aninjunction to stop the implementation of what they consider to be anotherblatant anti-small business policy from the SBA.

To view full press release, click here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/computer-reseller-news-2004-story-exposes-2014-sba-anti-small-policy-279255052.html