Petaluma, Calif. - The Small Business Administration (SBA) has requested a new judge in the suit filed by the American Small Business League (ASBL) against the SBA in United States District Court on February 6th.  The case has now been reassigned to United States District Judge Marilyn H. Patel for all further proceedings.
 
On Monday, the SBA declined the assignment of United States Magistrate Judge Wayne D. Brazil for trial and disposition in the case, opting instead to have it reassigned to a United States District Judge.
 
The selection of the Honorable Marilyn H. Patel was the result of a random reassignment by the clerk of the court. 

The ASBL is suing the SBA under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to force the release of the names of all the firms that received federal small business contracts for 2005 and 2006.  To date, the SBA has refused all requests for the data.  Since 2002, a series of federal investigations have found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have actually wound up in the hands of some of the largest corporations in the world.

This is the fourth lawsuit the ASBL has filed against the SBA.  In previous suits, the ASBL has been successful in forcing the release of information that has shown that the SBA inflated federal small business contracting data by including billions of dollars in contracts to Fortune 500 firms. 
 
Since 2002, the SBA has consistently tried to explain the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms as miscoding or data entry errors.  As recently as last week, an SBA spokesman addressed an audience at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and stated that miscoding was still the reason why small business contracts went to large businesses.
 
"2008 is the seventh consecutive year that they have tried to make that excuse.  It is not believable to think that $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts accidentally finds its way into the hands of the biggest companies in the world.  It's no accident, and I think the Bush Administration is trying to stall the release of the data until after the elections," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "The data I am asking for will prove that they have diverted small business contracts to big companies. That is why the SBA is willing to go to federal court to withhold this data. We have won our previous lawsuits against the SBA because the court found the SBA's arguments to be groundless and untrue."
 
An initial case management conference has been scheduled for Monday, May 19, 2008, at 4:00 p.m.  A Joint Case Management Statement is due ten days prior to the conference.

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