Small Business owners side with Democrats

I'm a small business owner and have been for two decades. The Republicans, supposedly the party of "business", doesn't care about me or people like me. They only care about the largest corporations and will do whatever those corporations demand to keep small business owners wondering when anyone is going to care about THEIR issues. It amazes me that so many other small business owners keep believing that somehow, someday, the Republicans are going to pay them back for their loyalty to them and pass legislation that will benefit small business. The loopholes and perks beloved of Republicans in Congress benefit the big guy, and put you at a competitive disadvantage. Wake up, business owners. They don't care about you.

Sometimes I wonder what planet you democrats are living on- because it can't be the same planet I'm on. Maybe you all conveniently choose to ignore what is going on around you, or don't care about your own buisness interests, or are just ignorant to the facts. At the federal level all our government can do is get in the way of a small business. Yes big business will protect it's interest, and even push for legislation that crowds out the smaller guy. It's wrong when politicians are bought for this purpose weather it's a republican or democrat.

Republicans are much less likely to advocate legislation against small business, and with the exception of "moderate or liberal" (RINO's) republicans, the party generally supports less regulation, less taxes, less government intrusion into business interests than do their left of center counterparts. If you all can't see that then you are blind and ignorant.

At the local (state and county, city and HOA) level, conservative pro-business or liberal pro-government politics play a massive role in what affects small business owners and the regulative overhead imposed on the little guy. From property taxes, to premits and business licenses, certifications, to equipment fees, restrictions and vehicle registration costs- all the way down to local, state and federal labor laws for employees to zoning regulations that affect the small business every operating day.

I have owned 2 businesses myself and my brothers currently own their own businesses and I can tell you that what our local and state government do - or don't do- has a massive impact on their businesses every day. They are in totally different occupations. During my time as a business operator - I saw restrictions, taxes, regulations, added licensing and legislation every year that affected me, and I paid attention because I cared about what affects me and my ability to operate a profitable business.

It all adds up, all those little things- and the difference when you add it all together could be the difference between being in business and closing up shop.
I don't know how I would be able to handle the additional burdens that have been placed on the small guy since I was in business for myself, it's quite possible that everything that has happened since then would not allow me to make any profit.

How many people out there are like me- want to follow the rules? How are your businesses doing? Are you all getting rich? Or - are you just trying to make to through to next month?

How you vote locally, county wide, at the state level, and federally makes a difference!

Anyone who says republicans don';t care about small business is lying- your making excuses to support the left- and the left has shown a propensity over the years to be in favor of policy and legislation that is a detriment to small business. I'm not saying the republicans are angels, but the democrats has proved over and over a tendency to promote policy that hurts small business.

Did you all know that in the last 20 years, almost all residential subdivision zoning laws in Jefferson County do not allow a homeowner to operate a business of any kind out of their home? It's illegal to do so except for a few zoning designations which have existed since before the 1970's. I bought my home fully aware of this - my zoning allows a business with up to 2 employee's.

So AV- tell me what kind of business are you in? Have you checked to see if you can even run your business out of your home? Do you have the proper business license? Have you paid all the county fees? All the proper certifications? Are you in compliance with all the restrictions, regulations, labor laws, tax laws etc.? Even those two girls with a lemonade stand needed a business liscense and 2 seperate business permits.

It wasn't a pro-business local government that instituted those regulations!

BearMtnHIB wrote: I can tell you that what our local and state government do - or don't do- has a massive impact on their businesses every day. They are in totally different occupations. During my time as a business operator - I saw restrictions, taxes, regulations, added licensing and legislation every year that affected me, and I paid attention because I cared about what affects me and my ability to operate a profitable business.

It all adds up, all those little things- and the difference when you add it all together could be the difference between being in business and closing up shop.
I don't know how I would be able to handle the additional burdens that have been placed on the small guy since I was in business for myself, it's quite possible that everything that has happened since then would not allow me to make any profit.

How many people out there are like me- want to follow the rules? How are your businesses doing? Are you all getting rich? Or - are you just trying to make to through to next month?

How you vote locally, county wide, at the state level, and federally makes a difference!

Anyone who says republicans don';t care about small business is lying- your making excuses to support the left- and the left has shown a propensity over the years to be in favor of policy and legislation that is a detriment to small business. I'm not saying the republicans are angels, but the democrats has proved over and over a tendency to promote policy that hurts small business.

Did you all know that in the last 20 years, almost all residential subdivision zoning laws in Jefferson County do not allow a homeowner to operate a business of any kind out of their home? It's illegal to do so except for a few zoning designations which have existed since before the 1970's. I bought my home fully aware of this - my zoning allows a business with up to 2 employee's.

So AV- tell me what kind of business are you in? Have you checked to see if you can even run your business out of your home? Do you have the proper business license? Have you paid all the county fees? All the proper certifications? Are you in compliance with all the restrictions, regulations, labor laws, tax laws etc.? Even those two girls with a lemonade stand needed a business liscense and 2 seperate business permits.

It wasn't a pro-business local government that instituted those regulations!

I don't know what planet YOU are from. You talk about what a huge difference how people vote on the state and local level makes and in the same breath complain about all the increased taxes, permits, regulations, zoning restrictions that apply and have come into being in the past 20 years or so. Well here, in the universe I live in, in Jefferson County, Colorado, the Republicans have controlled the county government for longer than that, and for most of those years the State government has been dominated by Republicans, too.

All I can say, is how's that been working for ya?

You might also want to check into just how responsible those "conservative businessmen" have been locally and nationally for all the increases in things like zoning requirements and building codes - they've mostly been pushed into place by real estate developers and builders as a means to encouraging bigger and more expensive residential development which in turn pleases the local governments as they can sniff bigger tax revenues.

I would love to see the exit polls from small business owners if they vote for the GOP or the Dems. I would bet they vote Republican, but of course, they are being duped, right?

I would too... I'll bet your assumption that ALL small business owners think that "The Republicans are our friends" would be shattered.

SS109 wrote: I would bet they vote Republican, but of course, they are being duped, right?

Yeah, I'd say that's fairly accurate. They think they are voting for a pro-business agenda, but how many stop to analyze just what they are getting in return? The interests of big business are not the same as the interests of small business.

.................."Unprecedented Growth in Red Tape in the Obama Era
The new regulations continue a multiyear trend of heavier burdens placed on the U.S. economy and the American people. This trend did not begin with the presidency of Barack Obama; the Administration of George W. Bush, for example, generated more than $60 billion in additional annual regulatory costs.[7]

However, the rate at which burdens are growing has accelerated under the Obama Administration. During its first 26 months—from taking office to mid-FY 2011—the Obama Administration has imposed 75 new major regulations with reported costs to the private sector exceeding $40 billion. During the same period, six major rulemaking proceedings reduced regulatory burdens by an estimated $1.5 billion, still leaving a net increase of more than $38 billion."............


http://www.heritage.org/Research/Report ... ear-Report
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I would agree that some republicans are part of the problem. They keep adding more regulations, restrictions, fees, taxes in the form of required certifications, and the big one- permits. And we need to keep an eye on them, when we see a republican working against the little guy and small business, we need to call them out and get them voted out. A group of us saw this going on during the last term with Kathy Hartman and worked hard to get the word out.

Kathy was a democrat (still is but she's not causing any more problems for us here in Jeffco).

During the 1993-1997 years, the Jefferson County government had a democratic majority, when 2 out of 3 commissioners were democrats. This time frame is where we got a massive influx of regulations, permitting requirements and restrictions to residentail and business real estate zoning, this is the time frame where a building permit for a house went from taking 3 days to a 6 month process. Housing was booming at that time, but now we are over regulated with requirements that never really needed to be there in the first place.

I know several business owners in Evergreen - I'd say the overwhelming majority are republicans. I also know a few democrats- I've asked one gal I know who owns a resturant/bar why would she vote democrat? Kind of like peeing into wind if you ask me. Turns out her family from Kansas are democrats going back generations- but she's starting to realize that she has been voting against her own interests. Her workmans comp just doubled- and she has seen several increases in the cost of doing business in the last 2 years directly attributable to new state and federal legislation.

Here's a list of recent democrats in Jefferson County Government. Some comissioners call themselves republicans to get elected here, and then proceed to install regulation upon restriction upon regulation. We need to clean house when we find them out too, but the democrats have been the worst for the small guy. Just ask my brother who is a home builder how his cost of doing business has gone up in this county over 30 years!

Jefferson County
Kathy Hartman
District 3 Commissioner
2007 - 2011
Democrat

Gary D. Laura
District 1 Commissioner
1993-1997
Democrat

Betty J. Miller
District 2 Commissioner
1993-1997
Democrat

Betty Miller and Gary Laura are "recent" Democratic commissioner? They both were one-termers and have been out of office for 15 years! I don't know that much about Kathy Hartman, but with two Republican commissioners outflanking her I doubt she's ramming through huge amounts of onerous regulations. The record shows that in Jeffco, Republican commissioners have totally dominated county government for decades and decades. So if you don't like the anti-business climate here, it's Republicans (both the ones who have held office and the ones who keep electing them) you need to lay the blame on.

Yes I'd say the 90's are recent in terms of county restrictions and regulations.

Now- the last 15 years we have had republican majorities- and thank goodness we don't live in Denver or Boulder counties. Starting a business in those counties is several magnitudes harder to deal with. They have many more regulations, restrictions and requirements that we here in Jeffco do not have, but we seem to think that as they add more and more laws and regulations - we some how need them here as well.

We don't ever need the level of government intrusion that they have in Boulder or Denver counties if we want to keep our area a place where business can thrive. Business is fleeing Denver as fast as they can, Denver lost it's last fortune 500 business a few years ago. Boulder businesses have been escaping the city for places further north like weld county. The research business I worked for in Boulder built their first facility within the City- and the second one in weld county.

Compared to those counties- Denver and Boulder - we are still way better off, but we need to be careful not to catch the terminal disease from them. We are so close here in Jeffco that we can smell the stench.

P.S. Did you know that Denver has a regulation that requires a "going out of business permit" if your business goes broke?

It's 150 bucks for the permit to go out of business in Denver. No kidding!

BearMtnHIB, I hate to differ on this point, but Boulder has been one of the most sought-after places to do business in the COUNTRY for many years. Yes, there are extra levels of regulation there, but hate to break it to you, that is part of what makes Boulder a desirable place to live and work and has attracted major talent from around the world to a relatively small city. Yeah, it may be hard for businesses to get a foothold there, but they keep trying because of the outstanding talent pool attracted to the area by the quality of life and other factors, which have been encouraged for decades by Democratic leaders in that community. Are you SURE you want to "blame" what is actually a positive in the case of Boulder on Democrats?

And in the case of Denver, well, cities do add an extra layer of regulation on top of county government. If they didn't either one of the other would be redundant. Not sure they aren't, but government has been broken down into city/county/state for a couple hundred years now, last I heard. It isn't something that was "snuck" in there by the Democrats.