We reported last week that the world of venture capital wants to be let in on certain federal programs designed for small businesses that aren't typically equity-backed--and that Small Business Administration head Karen G. Mills, herself a former venture capitalist, appears open to this prospect, according to a spokesperson. We guessed that among the people who would be extremely troulbed by this development would be Lloyd Chapman, the head of the American Small Business League, who advocates for the types of small businesess you would probably more traditionally think of as "small business," and who has in fact criticized Mills's selection based on her history in venture capital.

Well, we were right. Mr. Chapman himself emailed us. "Yes you are right, I am going to object to it and fight it at every level," he said. Full email after the jump.

Incidentally, we're posting in the interests of newsworthiness: we don't have a stance, and we would be happy to post a rebuttal from the relevant venture capital group. Email us!

I read your article titled, “Help On The Way For Venture-Backed Businesses?” First of all, I would like to let you know that I have written numerous press releases and blogs about the American Small Business League’s opposition to President Obama and Karen Mills's belief that some of the nation’s wealthiest investors need to participate in federal small business contracting programs. And yes you are right, I am going to object to it and fight it at every level. Unfortunately, in addition to the [Small Business Innovation Research] programs, every other federal small business is under attack right now. The Pentagon is in the process of dismantling programs for minority-owned companies, the women owned 5 percent set-aside has been shot down, the 8(a) program is under attack, and as usual Fortune 500 corporations are still getting most federal small business contracts.

There are so many battles to fight for small businesses, and it appears we are the only group out there fighting them. We are doing the best we can, but there are so many battles to fight that they are taxing our resources. I would encourage anybody in the SBIR community that doesn't want to lose the program to some of Obama's wealthiest venture capitalist contributors to join the American Small Business League and join us in our efforts to save these programs.

Best,
Lloyd Chapman

Source:  http://bizbox.slate.com/blog/2009/04/lloyd_chapman_responds_to_vc_e.php