It's the SBA vs the ASBL and it's not baseball but it is hardball.

United States District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong has denied a motion put forth by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the agency by the American Small Business League (ASBL). The ASBL is pursuing information on potentially damaging public relations contracts awarded by the agency to APCO Worldwide Inc., a large public relations firm specializing in crisis management.

The ASBL suspects the SBA has spent American tax dollars to hire consultants to help them obscure the SBA's role in diverting billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses around the world. The ASBL believes the SBA may have launched a massive campaign to cover-up the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses, and to discourage the media from covering the issue.

An SBA spokesperson told PRNewser in an e-mail,”SBA hired APCO for speechwriting, media training for executives, and consultations on dealing with negative public perceptions of the agency’s response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. The contracts have been concluded, and APCO is no longer an SBA contractor.”

“I think it is very telling that the SBA has a PR contract with an international public relations firm that specializes in crisis management. The fact that they are withholding information on that contract is even more suspicious,” ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.

Source:  http://bizbox.slate.com/blog/2010/10/sba_vs_american_small_business_1.php