McHenry County Blog

An email from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Dear Friend,

This past week, Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, Congressman Sam Graves joined me for a visit to Illinois’ 8th District.

Congressman Joe Walsh and Sam Graves held a Town Hall Meeting for small business this past week.

We held a small business town hall meeting in Schaumburg which provided a unique opportunity for owners and representatives of local small businesses and other constituents to share their thoughts and learn about matters currently before the U.S. House Small Business Committee

This week I also voted with my colleagues to pass H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act.

This legislation stops the impending tax hike that would have translated to a nearly $2,200 tax increase for a family of four earning $50,000 a year. Hardworking Americans are overburdened by taxes, and raising taxes would slow the already tepid economic recovery. To learn more about this legislation, please click here.

I am also looking forward to holding three town hall meetings next week in the district. Since coming to Congress, I have held over 150 town hall meetings throughout the district and I welcome folks with varying viewpoints to come and be heard. Please find more information about the times and locations of the town hall meetings below!

Finally, my staff will hold mobile office hours every Friday from 12:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. at the Schaumburg Township Center, One Illinois Blvd. Hoffman Estates, IL. If you cannot make it to one of my district offices, let us come to you!

I work for you,

Joe Walsh

The Town Hall Meeting locations are below:

Joe Walsh

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Rep. Walsh’s Small Business Protection Act Moves to House Floor

WASHINGTON- Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) released the following statement after his Small Business Protection Act of 2011 passed out of the Small Business Committee today and moved to the House floor.

Last month, Congressman Walsh and Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11) introduced the Small Business Protection Act of 2011.

This bill protects small businesses against the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recently proposed size standards that define what businesses qualify as “small” for taxing and contracting purposes.

These new size standards lump different industries together under one size standard giving big corporations an unfair advantage over small businesses. Without this bill, small businesses will be driven out of competition for government contracting.

Walsh stated: “Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and the engine of economic growth.

“The Small Business Protection Act will ensure that American small businesses are protected and not driven out of competition for government contracts.

“I look forward to working with the committee and members of both parties as this important bipartisan legislation moves to the House floor for a vote.

“I am confident that Democrats and Republicans will get behind this important effort to help small businesses during this economic recession.”

McHenry County Board member Scott Breeden spoke to the in-formation McHenry County Business Committee, a new Political Action Committee.

McHenry County Board Finance and Audit Committee Chairman Scott Breeden was the main speaker for the McHenry County Business Committee meeting Wednesday night.

He told of the $400,000 in the county till that could be loaned to businesses that didn’t make the cut for a bank loan.

Scott Breeden

“We pick up where the banks don’t feel comfortable,” the Lakewood resident said.

The $400,000 is part of a $700,000 fund, Breeden explained. He said it wasn’t for real estate, but could be used for equipment or expansion.

And he noted that the interest rates were better than the County could earn by putting the money into Certificates of Deposit.

He also explained that he was about to move his rapidly growing company (fifteen percent of his sales are in China) from California to McHenry County.

He’s getting no help from the State, coming, instead, so he can be near his grandchildren.

He’s looking for local suppliers for his product, which activates gates and lights when vehicles drive across it.

Asked how a small business owner might know about the loan fund and Breeden said that the County Board had “tried through the Economic Development Commission.”

Using his own firm as an example, Breeden said that “to grow a business from profits is almost impossible.”

He told of paying his vendors in thirty days, but his purchasers wanting to pay in ninety days. That caused cash flow problems, especially with a rapidly growing company.

Moving from the personal to the governmental, Breeden said that this year County department heads would be told how much they have to spend next year by May.

Breeden’s goal is to get elected officials to say, “This is what you’ve got to work with” early on, instead of at the last minute.

That, he said, would give citizens six months to weigh in.

Property taxes consist of about one-third of McHenry County’s revenue.

“If we could get the school boards to do the same thing,” he mused.

Cary Mayor Tom Kierna talks about economic development.

Cary Mayor Tom Kierna was an active participant in the business development and retention discussion.

He suggested that relaxing some of the fees might be one way.

He related an experience of a company planning to build a factory in Cary that had mistakenly included the cost of machinery. When the owner saw a permit fee of $50,000, Kierna said, he was glad that he came to talk to him. The fee was adjusted downward to reflect the actual cost of the building.

“First, we have to figure out how to change the perception (that McHenry County has a bad business climate).”

“We make the decisions,” Breeden added, “but they are administered by the people we hire. They administer (the ordinances) to the letter of the law, rather than using common sense.”

Kierna cited a Cary inspector who red tagged a braille sign for a bathroom that was two inches too high.

The inspector’s attitude was “Code is code. It’s a guiding light, not the Gospel,” the Village President said.

“We have to change the culture.”

Kierna said the most important part of the meeting was finding out that the County had money to loan small business.

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The McHenry County Business Committee is organized as a Political Action Committee, according to its attorney Dan Regna. Although the members did not give clues as to what candidates they might support for what, there were three announced or potential candidates who attended–for County Board Joe Gottemoller and Jim Schlader, for Sheriff Andy Zinke–plus Cary Mary Tom Kierna.

A press release from Joe Walsh:

Rep. Walsh Introduces Bill to Protect American Small Businesses

Rep. Walsh is Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access

WASHINGTON- Today Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) and Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11) introduced the Small Business Protection Act of 2012. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has recently proposed new group size standards that define what businesses qualify as “small” for taxing and contracting purposes. For the first time, these size standards lump different industries together under one size standard inevitably giving big corporations an unfair advantage over small businesses. Without this bill, small businesses will be driven out of competition for government contracts.

Walsh stated:

Joe Walsh

“Since coming to Congress over a year ago, I have fought tirelessly to protect and defend American small businesses.

“My bill ensures that small businesses do not have to compete with global corporations to create jobs in our local communities. Size standards assure the viability of Americas biggest job creators—small businesses.

“As Chairman of the Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access, I know small businesses are the backbone of this country, but right now they are struggling under too many burdensome regulations.

“This bipartisan bill brings Members from both sides of the aisle together to protect small businesses from unfair guidelines. Washington needs to stop penalizing small businesses and get out of the way so that America’s entrepreneurs can create jobs.”

Rep. Connolly said (D-VA), “This bill creates new opportunities for entrepreneurs including small business contractors.”

Highlights of Small Business Protection Act of 2012:

• The Small Business Administration (SBA) is creating new group size standards that will define what businesses qualify as “small.” By the SBA’s own analysis, these proposals that lump different industries together are excluding legitimate small businesses from the SBA contracting programs.
• The Small Business Protection Act protects legitimate small businesses by requiring that the size standard assigned to each common group is appropriate for each individual North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code that is put in the new group.
• For example, SBA’s analysis of the size standards for architectural firms indicated that it should be increased from $4.5 million to $7 million. However, because SBA chose to group architects with engineers for the purposes of the size standard definition, SBA proposed increasing the standard to $19 million – a number which would have included 97.8% of all architecture firms, thereby allowing large businesses to compete as if they were small businesses.

A press release from Congressman Don Manzullo:

Small Business Groups Endorse Pro-Jobs Amendment Manzullo Co-Authored to Patent Bill

WASHINGTON – In a letter sent today to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, six organizations representing

• small businesses,
• start-up entrepreneurs,
• independent inventors, and
• technical professionals

urged lawmakers to adopt an amendment to the House patent bill that will stop the diversion of patent user fee revenue to other governmental uses.

Don Manzullo at a congressional committee hearing.

The amendment is co-authored by U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), John Conyers (D-MI), and Don Manzullo (R-IL). The letter in its entirety including attachments is available online here.

Backing the effort is IP Advocate, a non-profit organization that educates and empowers faculty researchers on patent rights and the process of commercialization.
The organizations also include

• IEEE-USA
• National Congress of Inventor Organizations
• National Small Business Association
• National Association of Patent Practitioners and
• the Professional Inventors Alliance USA.

The organizations’ letter said that by removing most sections of the House bill H.R. 1249, the amendment would eliminate many harmful provisions in the bill that, if enacted, would cause innovation disruption and create legal uncertainty for years to come.

The organizations, which previously expressed similar concerns during the Senate deliberation on the patent bill, said that permitting the Patent Office to retain its fees subject to Congressional oversight will allow the agency to

• hire more examiners
• reform its internal procedures and
• modernize its information technology infrastructure to reduce the massive backlog of pending patent applications and improve the quality of examination.

The Conyers/Sensenbrenner/Manzullo Amendment removes sections of the bill to which these organizations object, thereby

• preserving the American grace period and the first-to-invent priority system;
• ensuring that patents are awarded only to inventors;
• eliminating prior user rights;
• ensuring that post grant proceedings are fairer and less likely to be abused; and
• ensuring that setting Patent Office fees remains Congress’ prerogative, which the letter said would “enhance accountability and transparency.”

The letter exposes what the organizations call a “major legal flaw” in the current bill, which, if left in place, would result in much uncertain patent rights and thousands of “false patents” being granted – not to the first-inventor-to-file – but to applicants who filed later.

This result is in direct contradiction to the bill’s stated purpose of awarding patents only to the first-inventor-to-file.

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Congressman Walsh Announces Four-Day Small Business Listening Tour

“If we want to get our economy moving again, we must promote policies that help small businesses thrive”

Congressman Joe Walsh conducted a Town Hall Meeting at Woodstock's Challenger Center on April 30th.

Washington, D.C. – Next week marks the 48th annual National Small Business Week, a recognized time to celebrate the contributions of small businesses to the economic well-being of America. An avid supporter of small businesses, Congressman Joe Walsh today announced that he will be participating in a four-day Small Business Listening Tour which will include stops in each of the three counties within Illinois’ 8th Congressional District.

During the tour, which will run Monday, May 16, through Thursday, May 19, small business representatives from a variety of industries will be provided with an opportunity to share the challenges they face and suggest to their Congressman what Washington should be doing to help small businesses flourish.

“America’s small businesses create 60 to 80% of all new jobs and they employ just over half of the country’s private sector workforce,” said Congressman Walsh. “If we want to get our economy moving again, we must promote policies that help small businesses thrive. This Small Business Listening Tour will allow me to hear more about the day-to-day challenges our local businesses face, and work with the community to find solutions to move our economy forward and create jobs.”

Representative Walsh continued, “More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. If we want to get serious about our nation’s unemployment crisis, we must help small business owners prosper.

Congressman Walsh’s Small Business Listening Tour Schedule

Monday, May 16th
5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Schaumburg Business Association & Schaumburg Center for Economic Development Small Business Listening Session
Location: Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, 1300 E. Woodfield Rd., Ste 600, Schaumburg
For more information contact: Schaumburg Business Association, (847) 330-0417

Tuesday, May 17th
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

McHenry County Economic Development Corporation Small Business Listening Session

Location: Hampton Inn, 1555 South Route 31, McHenry
For more information contact: McHenry County Economic Development Corporation, (815) 363-0444

Thursday, May 19th
7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Listening Session
Location: Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce Offices, 325 N. Hough Street, Barrington (HARRIS Bank on Hough & Liberty)
For more information contact: Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce, (847) 381-2525

Thursday, May 19th
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Lake County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Listening Session
Location: Stevens’ Restaurant, 401 N Riverside Dr, Gurnee
For more information contact: Lake County Chamber of Commerce, (847) 249-3800

For additional information, please contact Dave Carlin: (847) 973-9341.

I have always been ever so careful when I put together a political pamphlet or mailing. It has to be accurate. I advise other candidates to do the same.

Attending “X” college is not the same as graduating. Seems obvious, but the temptation to inflate ones resume is there.

I worked in the Executive Office of the President when Lyndon Johnson was president. I wasn’t in the White House and, then, the White House staff had not expanded to fill the old Executive Office Building next door.

I think I saw him once when Budget Bureau employees were encourage to go to Rose Garden to provide a crowd for some visiting dignitary.

My employer was the U.S. Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget), which was located in the old War Department building to the right of the White House. It looks like a wedding cake.

It was a heady experience. Johnson was the first president to really use the Budget Bureau year-round. When I asked a question of my agency, the Small Business Administration, its officials didn’t know if it was coming from the “Skinner kid” or the White House.

After we submitted the budget in January of 1966, I discovered there was nothing to do the next Monday.  I decided to clean out the files. I was more than a little surprised to find a memo on what should be in the Small Business plank of the 1964 Democratic Party Platform.

(When I went back to visit in 1972, I found the budget folks had been banished to a high rise on the street behind Blair House across Pennsylvania Avenue. Rent-a-Cop security.)

Since I was running as a Republican for McHenry County Treasurer in 1966, I wasn’t tempted to inflate my management intern entry-level Civil Service job. Surely I didn’t want people to think I was a political appointee for Democrat Johnson.

In fact, Sam Lawrence, my section chief, asked Roger Adkins, who was to be my senior budget officer, if he could work for a Goldwater Republican. That my mother and I had supported Bill Scranton in 1964 before the GOP convention, while my father supported Goldwater apparently hadn’t reached Lawrence’s ears.

Adkins, a good-humored guy who rose to be at least a division chief, had no problems. He could work with anyone.

Word got around that I was a self-identified Republican. The only one in the agency, I believe.

Several people admitted on the Q.T. that they were, too.

Sometimes I wonder what jobs I would have held had I stayed on until Richard Nixon took office.

One girl (first name of Peggy, I think), a couple of years older than my 22 years with Republican leanings, I think, even took me to a party attended by economist Kenneth Galbraith who held forth next to the apartment’s kitchen sink in a building that I am remembering was next to the Soviet Embassy. She was well connected.

The Rackham School of Graduate Studies, where I spend a lot of time studying in the basement library of the Institute for Public Administration, now called the Gerald R. Ford of Public Policy.

When I ran for county treasurer, you can bet I wrote about my Budget Bureau job.

That, plus my having completed the course work (but not yet having been awarded a Masters’ degree in Public Administration from the University of Michigan) and being an Eagle Scout were pretty much my only credentials.

Except for my youth.

“You’re too young to be corrupt,”

And, this was before Democrat Secretary of State Paul Powell scandal.  But after the theft of $6 million by Republican Auditor of Public Acc0unts by Orville Hodge.

I heard more than once before the June 13th primary election which I won by 72 votes with a 277 vote spread among three candidates.

In the pamphlet I probably included that I was the budget examiner for the largest independent agency in the Federal government.  The SBA had a $500 million budget at the time.  It kept its loan records on note cards. The agency couldn’t even tell me its loss ratio. Just incredible.

Eventually, after he heard that I was going to run for county treasurer, the SBA budget officer (Willard Hoadley, I think) showed me what he kept in the bottom drawer of his government-issue metal desk.

It was a six-pack of Goldwater, a soft drink produced for the campaign. I even had a date with SBA economist Paddy Freucht’s daughter. I think her name was Michelle, because we heard the Beatles song on her car radio. After I had decided to come back and run for treasurer, the SBA tried to hire me away from the Budget Bureau.

Oh, well. Enough of memory lane.

Back to inflation of political credentials tomorrow.

This is a mailing aimed at small businessmen, I think.

In 1996, I had a Crystal Lake mail list man put together a small business list. It was huge.

In Barrington Township, I’m remembering it was every fourth household.

In any event, you can see what went out below.  Click to enlarge any image.

A piece aimed at small businessmen. Note the quote from one of the more recognizable area small businessmen, Richard Pepper.

On the back is a quote from the 2009 Chairman of the Illinois Manufacturers Assocation, Ron Bullock, Chairman and Owne rof Bison Gear & Engineering Corp., plus endorsements from the Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald and Pioneer Press and a list of small businessmen.

If other candidates want to send me what they have mailed to voters, I’ll do my best to post it.

Oklahoma United States Senator Tom Coburn was in Chicago Tuesday night as the featured speaker for Paul Caprio’s Family PAC’s annual cruise.

Having heard people senior to myself question whether the real purpose of the bill was to withhold expensive end-of-life services from people, my ears perked up when he said the bill is about

“abandonment of life at the end…about the very ethics of being human.

“There isn’t a life that doesn’t have value,” Coburn continued.

He reported only two amendments had been accepted by the Democratic Party majority:

1 – “a conscience clause for assisted suicide” and

2 – “making sure members of Congress are in any plan we pass”

During the question and answer session on deck of the boat, Coburn declared,

“First of all, it’s will not pass.”

Asked about the political consequences of passage, he said that

“next year’s elections will be impacted, but not nearly as much as 3-4 years from now.”

The doctor described the bill as giving “you access to a waiting line” and predicted that 15% of doctors will retire to work in other countries or do mission work, if it does pass.

Asked about the Democratic agenda, the obstetrician said he it his

“hope and prayer is that they keep overreaching.”

“They actually believe in a nanny state. You don’t have the ability to look after yourself and your family.”

A later observation about politicians:

“Politicians routinely give what they don’t have.”

Encouraging people to follow him into elective politics, Coburn observed,

“I’ve seen liberty diminished in my adult life.”

A final analytical comment on who will pay for the $1.7 billion the Democrats health care plan will cost over the next seven years:

“50% will come from small business tax increases.”

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In the bottom photo, U.S. Senator Thomas Coburn indicates the size of a baby which any doctor could recognize as a human being.

The campaign is in full swing with Democratic Party candidate for congress in the 16th district offering up his ideas about helping small business just one day after incumbent Republican Don Manzullo sent out a press release on his bipartisan effort in the same area.

Abboud’s press release follows:

ABBOUD PROPOSES SMALL BUSINESS PACKAGE DESIGNED TO REVERSE
PAST ECONOMIC FAILURES

Incentives would include increased access
to affordable health care coverage

ROCKFORD – Congressional candidate and small business owner Bob Abboud on Tuesday proposed a package of tax incentives and reforms designed to support American small businesses, including a new online application process for federal grants and access 04, small businesses were responsible for all new job creation.

In a recent survey the National Small Business Association found that sales and profits had dropped and job growth was at its lowest point in 15 years. The survey also found that 71 percent of business owners have a negative outlook on the economy. Only 43 percent shared that sentiment a year ago.

“When I talk to business owners they are more than worried about the future—they’re afraid,” Abboud said. “They are afraid because of the rate of inflation, out of control health care costs, out of control energy costs, and the lack of a fair trade policy which limits their access to global markets.”

Abboud put forth four proposals to help small businesses prosper in America’s already struggling economy:

1. Allow small businesses to pool their resources and buy health insurance as a group. This will lower the cost of health care for business owners and help them attract more skilled workers who see the availability of health care as a deciding factor when looking for employment. This will serve as a stop-gap measure until a larger package of complete health care reform is in place which eliminates the insurance problem.
2. Streamline the federal grant application process and make grants more available. Abboud proposes to bring the process completely online, eliminating needless paperwork and the high cost of applications, creating a system for each business owner to monitor the progress of their application. The legislation would also include a simple set of criteria that must be met for small businesses to be considered for these grants.
3. Invest in renewable energy and green jobs. Over the past 12 months the renewable energy industry has become one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. Providing tax incentives, grant programs and other federal support for this industry will create jobs, move America toward energy independence and help safeguard our environment.
4. Streamline federal tax code while providing tax incentives for small businesses. Reducing the complexity of federal taxes will help new business owners feel confident in a venture that is otherwise risky. Reducing the complexity of taxes will also allow small business owners to focus less on complying with federal guidelines and more on building their business. Expanding existing tax credits for small businesses and creating new incentives is critical for the success of small businesses. A Small Business Administration study found that 1 in 3 businesses fail inside of two years.
5. Open more government contracts for competitive bidding. In 2007, the federal government issued $122 billion worth of government contracts that were not openly bid upon, including $44 million of no-bid contracts in the 16th District (USAspending.gov).
6. Develop more small business ‘incubator’ facilities. Incubator facilities are an ideal environment for start-up businesses. They provide office space, equipment, tech support, shipping and receiving capabilities, conference rooms, labs and other amenities that would otherwise cost start-up businesses thousand upon thousands of dollars to install themselves. Currently, at the University if Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, there is a 43,000 sq. ft. facility that has already helped more than 50 start-up companies in Illinois.

Abboud added that Congress must help small business compete for grants and government contracts, and said that the federal government needs to end its policy of big corporate welfare and focus more on helping the business owners who employ more than half of the American workforce.

“Don Manzullo and Congress have been ignoring the small business owner so giant corporations can squeeze out a little more profit,” Abboud said. “I am tired of seeing companies like Exxon and Halliburton get all kinds of government help, patent protection, and tax breaks to do business overseas while we in America are left on our own. The future of the American economy is bound to these brave business owners who risk it all just to make a living. These folks are not multi-millionaires, they are hard working people. It is our responsibility to protect their interest and encourage their enterprise – that is what builds America.”