Venture Capitalist at the SBA

by Dollars and Sense

One of the many press releases that crowd the D&S mailbox caught our eye today and seemed worth passing along. (For a detailed look at how large corporations have horned in on small business contracts, check out Christopher Moraff's piece "The Incredible Shrinking Company" from the Jan/Feb 2006 D&S. )

Obama Appoints Venture Capital Executive to Head Small Business Administration

Petaluma, Calif. - President-elect Barack Obama has nominated Karen Gordon Mills as Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Mills is president of MMP Group, a private equity investor and adviser, a former founding partner and managing director of Solera Capital, a New York based venture capital firm and lead director of Scotts Miracle-Gro, according to the Washington Post.

The appointment seems to confirm a prediction by the American Small Business League (ASBL) that Obama will support federal legislation and policy that will divert billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to America's wealthiest investors.

From January 2001 to October 2008, Obama received more than $1 million in campaign contributions from the venture capital industry, according to Maplight.org. In addition to contributions to the Obama campaign, members of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) have donated millions of dollars to key democratic leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

Obama angered small business groups like the ASBL earlier this year when he dropped a campaign pledge to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1202)

"This is a clear indication that President-elect Obama and the democrats in congress intend to sell America's small business contracting programs to wealthy venture capitalists," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "They have been putting this together for over a year now. It looks like he is going to create another loophole that will divert billions of dollars away from the middle class economy and into the hands of wealthy investors."

Labels: American Small Business League, Barack Obama, private equity, venture capital

 

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12/19/2008 07:04:00 PM