Contact

Please e-mail the American Small Business League (ASBL) at brianreeder@asbl.com. Thank you.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Obama Administration Fabricates Small Business Contracting Data

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. - The American Small Business League (ASBL) is challenging the latest statistics released by the Obama Administration regarding the volume of federal contracts aawarded to small businesses during fiscal year (FY) 2008. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/goals_08_gov_wide.pdf)

Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been awarded to Fortune 500 firms and some of the largest corporations in the United States and Europe. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)

Every major newspaper in the country has covered this story along with a number of major television networks like ABC, CBS, CNN and FOX. These stories have reported that firms like British Aerospace (BAE), Xerox, Dell Computer, John Deere, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and Rolls-Royce have all received federal small business contracts. (ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170; FOX, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1388)

In February of 2008, President Obama acknowledged the extent of the abuses when he said, "Over half of all Americans work for a small business. Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)

To date, President Obama has refused to support legislation such as H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009 or adopt any policy that would stem the flow of federal small business contracts to large corporations. Consequently, the same Fortune 500 firms that were allowed to receive small business contracts during the Bush Administration continue to receive federal small business contracts.

The ASBL points out that the government's small business contracting statistics have been inflated or falsified in several ways. In one way, the government under-reported the total volume of the federal acquisition budget as a means of manipulating the final percentage reported as going to small businesses. Secondly, the Obama Administration continues to include Fortune 500 firms in the government's small business contracting statistics.

The ASBL will release a more detailed analysis of the Obama Administration's 2008 small business contracting statistics early next week.

"Despite all of President Obama's pre- and post-campaign rhetoric regarding small businesses, the fact is that the Obama Administration is allowing approximately $400 million a day in federal small business contracts to be awarded to Fortune 500 firms and some of the largest corporations in the world," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "The fact that the Obama Administration is awarding small business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations cannot be denied. It is irrefutable. I challenge anyone in the country to prove me wrong. In my mind, the Obama Administration is anti-small business, and we all need to stop listening to what they say, and start looking at what they do."

-###-

Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Obama Administration Rhetoric Inconsistent with Small Business Policies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. – On Tuesday, the Obama Administration released a press release outlining increased efforts to include small businesses in the economic recovery, and federal contracting programs. Despite mentioning the significant impact of small businesses on our nation's economy, any mention of President Obama's February 2008 campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants was conspicuously absent from the release.(http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_release_09-58.pdf)

In February of 2008 President Obama stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)

Since 2003, over 15 federal investigations have found that a lion's share of government small business contracts actually go to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of large businesses around the world.

In 2005, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)

The American Small Business League (ASBL) estimates that during the first six months of the Obama Administration, over $50 billion in federal small business contracts were awarded to clearly large businesses. Critics of the Obama Administration's small business policies point to the fact that not only has President Obama not made good on his campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants, but thus far his administration has failed to follow-though on a majority of its promises to the small business community.

To date, the Obama Administration has failed to: restore the SBA's budget, restore the SBA administrator to a cabinet level position, stop the pentagon from dismantling programs for minority owned firms and implement the 5 percent set-aside program for women-owned firms. Finally, the administration appears to be backing new legislation that will divert even more small business contracts to some of the nation's wealthiest venture capitalists.

Of the funds allocated as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, approximately 1 percent has actually gone to America's 27 million small businesses.

"It is reprehensible that President Obama would make these statements about his support for small businesses when he has done nothing to stop the daily diversion of up to $400 million in federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "The administration's press release appears to be is just another public relations ploy. If President Obama really wants to do something for small businesses, he'll make good on his campaign promise to stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants by publicly supporting legislation such as H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009."

-###-

Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575

Monday, August 17, 2009

Small Business Administration Looks Guilty Of Libel and Slander

By Lloyd Chapman
President, American Small Business League

On Monday, I filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in my case against the Small Business Administration (SBA). Frankly, I was surprised that recently appointed Federal District Judge Edward M. Chen ruled in favor of the SBA when it claimed that it did not have access to its own phone records.

Federal law stipulates that federal records must be released even though they are in the possession of a third party. The law also stipulates the federal government must release documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), unless it can provide a legal justification for withholding it.

I am supremely confident that the panel of Judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will not only rule unanimously in my favor, but I expect they will severely lambast the unfortunate individual representing the SBA. The last time I won a case in the Ninth Circuit Court, the judges were so outraged at the government attorney that the poor woman was in tears by the time she left the courtroom. I will never forget seeing the Pentagon's attorney walking out of the courtroom carrying a huge square briefcase and sobbing.

It doesn't surprise me that I have to actually go to federal appeals court to obtain the phone records of an SBA employee. I have won several legal battles under FOIA in and out of federal court with the SBA and other federal agencies. I can always tell how damaging the information I have requested is, based on how hard they fight to withhold it.

SBA press office staffer Mike Stamler's phone records would expose the unethical and likely illegal, inner workings of a federal agency that spends a tremendous amount of time and tax payer money trying to cover up billions of dollars in fraud and abuse against America's 27 million small businesses. Stamler's phone records will also provide clear evidence of the SBA's aggressive campaign to libel and slander me in an effort to prevent me from continuing to expose the truth about the SBA to Congress and the media.

Mr. Stamler is a prime example of everything the public does not want in a federal employee. Any journalist that has tried to tell the truth about the SBA's role in the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to corporate giants has a story to tell about Stamler. Stamler has earned a well deserved reputation as a foul mouthed blow-hard that tries to intimidate and harass journalists that stray from the SBA's conflicting excuses as to why Fortune 500 firms continue to receive billions of dollars in federal small business contracts year-after-year.

Over a dozen federal investigations since 2003 have described the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to some of the largest corporations in the world as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf) Hundreds of stories in the media have reported federal small business contracts that have actually gone to firms such as British Aerospace (BAE), Hewlett Packard, Home Depot, Microsoft, Xerox, Raytheon, Dell Computer, Rolls-Royce and thousands of other large firms.

The SBA continues to regurgitate its absurd excuses despite this overwhelming and incontrovertible volume of evidence. One such excuse is that Fortune 500 firms and thousands of the largest companies in the world have been put into the federal database of small businesses accidentally, everyday for the last decade. Next, they claim everyday since 2000; federal contracts to corporate giants around the world are reported as small business contracts accidentally through, "computer glitches" and "miscoding." The SBA has never been able to explain why all these random mistakes just happen to divert small business contracts to large businesses and never the other way around.

Their final excuse seems to contradict all the others. From time to time the agency rolls out its "Myth vs. Fact" excuse. The SBA periodically claims that it is a "myth" that large businesses receive federal small business contracts despite all the federal investigations and investigative stories to the contrary. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf)

The fact that the SBA is willing to go to Federal Appeals Court to withhold Mike Stamler's phone records is a clear indication they are guilty of liable and slander against me. The fact that President Obama is willing to let this happen is also a clear indication his campaign promise of increased transparency in government is simply just another broken campaign promise.

I plan to intensify my campaign in the courts and the media to go after my opponents at the SBA and all the other con-men, liars, crooked politicians and sham small business groups that are responsible for cheating America's 27 million small businesses.

Cheating small business and attacking Lloyd Chapman and the American Small Business League (ASBL) is about to become a very unpleasant and expensive proposition.

-###-