May 13, 2014

Whenit comes to national politics, many small-business owners feel there's lack ofattention to ensure their unique concerns. While politicians love to talk upsmall businesses in their speeches, the policies enacted may not feel sosupportive.

Certainindividuals, however, are looking out for small businesses' interests andmaking sure those issues stay at the forefront of the national debate. It's notan easy job, though: Fortune 500 corporations can pay big money to lobbyists topush their interests, which aren't always aligned with the interests of smallercompanies. And even if they could pool financial resources, surveys continuallyshow that small-business owners are politically divided on everythingfrom raising theminimum wage to health-carereform.

Sowho's trying to help business owners get their needs met in Washington? As National Small Business Weekcommences, it's a good time to highlight some of the more ardentadvocates. This surely isn't a complete list, but here's a look at four peoplewho are trying to make a big difference for small businesses.

ToddMcCracken, President and CEO of the National Small Business Association

ToddMcCracken has spent nearly 30 years lobbying for small businesses. He startedas a legislative assistant at the National Small Business Association(NSBA) in 1988 and became president of the organization in 1997.

McCrackensays his organization, which has about 65,000 members (each with an average of18 employees), prides itself on being nonpartisan, unlike otherpro-small-business groups that align closely with either Republicans orDemocrats. "We try to take a very unvarnished look at what the real issuesare," McCracken says, "and try to stay out of those issues that arebased purely on politics."

Toset its lobbying agenda, the NSBA goes beyond simply surveying its members. Tostart, all 32 NSBA board members are small-business owners, passionatelyconcerned about the issues that affect their organization's members. Inaddition, McCracken himself frequently flies across the country and holdsteleconferences to meet with small-business associations to hear firsthand whatissues they care about most. He also holds an annual event called the Small Business Congress, which is open to allNSBA members, to debate and vote on the organization's top priorities for theupcoming session of Congress.

McCrackensays the NSBA joins diverse groups of organizations to lobby on issues thataffect broad swaths of Americans—not just small businesses—whether that's taxreform or health-care reform. But it tries to take a lead on lobbying forissues that are more specific to small businesses. Recently, for example, theNSBA pushed Congress to reauthorize the Export-ImportBank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) before its authorizationexpires on September 30. The Ex-Im Bank, a federal agency, provides financingto help businesses export and sell their products in foreign markets. Lastyear, the agency approved more than 3,400 small-business transactions, whichaccounted for nearly 90 percent of its total transactions. The NSBA is also abig advocate for legislation that allows the self-employed to deduct theirhealth insurance premiums, including legislation that was approved in 2010 (butonly for one year).

Oneof the challenges the NSBA faces is that politicians are always putting a"small business spin" on the issues—which makes it more difficult for smallbusinesses to get their actual viewpoints and key issues across. And setting asmall-business lobbying agenda is tricky, McCracken concedes, because smallbusinesses come in all different sizes and situations. A business owner withpatents, for example, probably supports laws that strengthen those patents,while a startup entrepreneur may support loosening patent laws in order topromote innovation.

Ashe says, "It's always a tricky balance for us," though it's a challenge theorganization and McCracken are always eager to take on.

MariaContreras-Sweet, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration

Confirmedon March 27, MariaContreras-Sweet became the 24th administrator of the Small BusinessAdministration (SBA)—the federal agency created by the Eisenhoweradministration in 1953 to  "aid, counsel, assist and protect,insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns."

PastSBA administrators have had a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise when itcomes to helping and understanding the challenges faced by small businesses.(The most recent former administrator, Karen Mills, for example, was an experton entrepreneurial clusters and venture capital.) Contreras-Sweet hasexperience and expertise in the world of commercial and community banking. In2006, she founded ProAmérica Bank, a LosAngeles community bank that provides funding to the city's Latino entrepreneursand businesses.

Bornin Guadalajara, Mexico, Contreras-Sweet immigrated to Los Angeles when she was5 years old. She started her career working in public affairs forWestinghouse's 7-Up/RC Bottling division. She then became an equity partner inmanagement's leveraged buyout of the bottling company and later becameCalifornia's secretary of business, transportation and housing, a position sheheld from 1999 to 2003.

Manyhope that her varied background working for large and small businesses, as wellas government, will help Contreras-Sweet guide the SBA to better serve the manysmall-business owners who've struggled to find capital in recent years due tothe financial crisis, including many minority-owned businesses. SBA lendingsurged under Karen Mills, but it remains to be seen whether the SBA's loanprograms, such as the 7(a) program, will continue to flourish underContreras-Sweet.

Inher recent first meetingwith reporters since her confirmation, Contreras-Sweet suggested sheplans to seek ways to make the SBA more relevant in a technology-driven world,including trying out new programs that help small-business owners get loans andgrow their businesses. She wants to better publicize the services the SBA canoffer entrepreneurs, including minority and veteran entrepreneurs, as well asspeed up SBA disaster loan processing—which has come under scrutiny due to theslow processing after Hurricane Sandy.

"Mylament is that, when you come into government and you try to innovate andadvance, you are critiqued if it's not perfect in the first instance,"Contreras-Sweet says, according to The Washington Post, adding that theSBA must be "responsible with the assets we are assigned, but that needs to betempered with this idea of advancing and innovation."

Lloyd Chapman,President and Co-Founder of the American Small Business League

Dependingon whom you ask, Lloyd Chapman is either a crusader fighting for smallbusinesses or an outspoken and litigious leader. It's true that Chapman devotesmuch of his time to doing media interviews and writing columns criticizing theObama administration and federal agencies for missing their target of awarding 23 percent ofall contract dollars to small businesses. (Federal agencies havemissed that goal—albeit slightly—every year since 2005, according to TheWashington Post.) Moreover, Chapman's research of federal contractingdatabases shows that agencies divert more than $100 billion each year insmall-business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations.

Chapmanis well-known­­­­­­­­ for lobbing million-dollar lawsuits at the federalgovernment and defense contractors over the matter. He's filed dozens oflawsuits since forming his Petaluma, California-based lobbying organization,the American Small Business League (formerly called the Microcomputers IndustrySuppliers Association). Chapman first began his legal battles with thegovernment while working as a sales manager for a small computer company innorthern California.   According to Chapman, the GovernmentAccountability Office started investigating the diversion of 5,300 small-businesscontracts to large corporations only after he provided them research in theearly 2000s.

Chapmansays his dogged pursuit of the small-business contracting issue is helping themany small companies that want their fair share of federal contracts but can'tget them because federal agencies and big corporations are working together."I've won about 25 lawsuits over small-business contracting," Chapmansays. "That's a pro-small-business organization."

Hesays he's often shunned by other groups that claim to be small-businessadvocates but get their funding from Fortune 500 companies. "InWashington," he says, "you can't really make a living being asmall-business advocate, but you can become a millionaire helping Fortune 500corporations."

BarbaraKasoff, President and Co-Founder of Women Impacting Public Policy

Women-ownedbusinesses comprise about 29 percent of all U.S. businesses but,more bleakly, employ just 6 percent of the U.S. workforce and account for only4 percent of business revenues, according to a 2013 study commissioned byAmerican Express. Several organizations, including the Women Presidents' Organization(WPO), the National Association of WomenBusiness Owners (NAWBO) and the Women'sBusiness Enterprise National Council (WBENC), advise the federalgovernment on how to improve the climate for women-owned businesses as well asfight for key issues, such as allocating more federal contracting dollars towomen-owned firms and helping women get business loans.

BarbaraKasoff is among the leaders giving a voice to women and minority-ownedbusinesses in Washington. As founder of WomenImpacting Public Policy—or WIPP—Kasoff seeks to bring together thepublic and private sectors to find ways to enhance the economic power of women.

Kasoffran a voice-messaging company, VoiceTel, from 1990 to 2001 before creatingWIPP. Her San Francisco-based organization now has more than 1 million members,including those in 68 affiliated advocacy groups. Among WIPP's accomplishments:lobbying for the Women-OwnedSmall Business Federal Contract Program, an initiative passed byCongress in 2011 that requires the federal government to target at least 5percent of its contracting dollars, or $5 billion overall, to women-ownedbusinesses.

Kasoffis a believer and advocate that women business owners need to take charge oftheir own situation and band together. In a 2013 interview with TheAssociated Press, she said that WIPP will pushto get more women elected in Congress, which should help womenbusiness owners get more recognition among political leaders. She also wants tosee the federal contract targets for women-owned businesses raised above 5 percent,which she says is still way too low.

Butshe says that WIPP is also working to change the mindset of women businessowners to help them see the potential to grow their businesses into largecompanies rather than just remaining small businesses.

"Thereare way too many women who are self-employed and have no employees—88 percentof women business owners," Kasoff told AP. "We have to change that 'psychologyof small.' If you want to grow, you have to have the realization that it can'tbe just you (working in your company)."

Readmore articles on government.

Photos:Getty Images, Todd McCracken, Lloyd Chapman

To view fullarticle, click here: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/meet-4-people-giving-small-businesses-a-big-voice-in-washington/