What's good for corporations isn't (necessarily) good for small businesses

A corporate front group masquerading as an advocate for small business is being exposed as a phony. That's good news for union members, whose interests are aligned with small businesses more often than you might think.

The front group is called the "National Federation of Independent Businesses." The Center for Media and Democracy, which has been so effective in exposing the real agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), just put up the NFIBExposed.org website. The website includes a report  showing the NFIB most often advocates for large corporations and against working people. NFIB is against increasing the minimum wage, against paid sick leave and against collective bargaining rights.

Those aren't always the values of small business owners. Collective bargaining rights and a higher minimum wage bring prosperity to a community -- prosperity that lifts small neighborhood businesses.

According to Dan Froomkin in the Huffington Post, the NFIB Exposed study

...reveals how consistently the NFIB lobbies on issues that favor large corporate interests rather than small-business interests; its thoroughly partisan agenda; and the millions it receives in secret contributions from groups associated with Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers.

Here's one way NFIB doesn't represent small business owners: 98 percent of its political donations go to Republicans. But polls show small business owners are divided in their preferences. A recent poll showed 47 percent of small business owners plan to vote for President Obama, while 39 percent say they'll vote for Mitt Romney.

The NFIB doesn't represent Rick Poore, owner of a custom screen-printing business in Lincoln, Nebraska with 33 employees. Said Poore:

Small business owners deserve to have a voice, but NFIB doesn't speak for me or other small business owners I know. NFIB uses the name of small business to advance an agenda that helps big corporate interests, but actually hurts the interests of real small businesses like mine.

WBA members.

In Wisconsin, small and rural businesses started their own association in direct response to job-killer Gov. Scott Walker's attack on collective bargaining rights.  According to Dane 101, they launched the Wisconsin Business Alliance. At the helm is Lori Compas, who ran against Walker ally and former Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Said Compas,

If people don’t have money in their pocket, they can’t spend money–I’m a photographer, photography is the first thing to go. I want people to have disposable income so they use my services. Retailers want people to have disposable income.

Brad Werntz, owner of Boulders Climbing Gym, is one of the founders of the Wisconsin Business Alliance. Reports Dane 101,

...he and the other members of the group had seen too many politicians claiming to do things–including but not limited to the budget repair bill’s union-stripping measures–on behalf of small business. Meanwhile, as businessmen, he said, “We were saying this is not good for business.” 

“If you look at Governor Walker, Scott Fitzgerald, their resumes, they know literally nothing about business,” he went on. “Meanwhile, we’ve got award-winning businessmen standing in this room today.”

John Besmer, owner of Planet Propaganda, is another founder of the group. He told Dane 101:

“Small businesses are basically being left to fend for themselves,” Planet Propaganda owner Besmer said. “Larger companies, their interests are being represented in a variety of ways, and that’s okay.” 

He said small business owners needed a voice to speak up for quality of life and conditions that will attract and foster a high-quality workforce. “The quality of people we can hire dictates the quality of our business,” he said.

None of this should surprise Ohioans or anyone who followed the successful fight to defeat SB5, the bill that took collective bargaining rights away from government workers. Though the NFIB supported SB5, many small businesses in Ohio joined the battle against it. The Columbus Dispatch reported last year:

Small businesses joined these
Teamsters in the successful
fight against SB5 last year.

Mike Patrick, owner of Patrick Solutions Inc., an information technology services provider in Grandview Heights, said he doesn’t have union ties but supports repeal of S.B. 5. He thinks many small-business owners feel that way. 

“The little guys are more connected to the community,” he said. “If services are cut back or people don’t have money to go to the grocery store, it really affects us...” 

Patrick said the outcome of the vote could determine whether he keeps his seven-employee business in Ohio. His concern is that S.B. 5 and school funding cuts Kasich supported will make Ohio a place his teenage children won’t want to live.