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Your New Small Business Committee Chairwoman
By Marc Tracy
Yesterday, the 111th Congress was sworn in. Now begins the tenure of a new chairperson of the U.S. Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). The previous chairperson, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), has left the leadership role in order to chair the (admittedly higher-profile) Foreign Relations Committee.
Kerry praised Landrieu's ascent; Inc.com blogger Robb Mandelbaum is less thrilled. A big fan of Kerry's, Mandelbaum worries, first, that Kerry--both an effective senator in his own right, and, of course, his party's standard-bearer in 2004--"brought a profile to the committee that Landrieu will find difficult to match." And he worries about Landrieu's reputation as having questionable ethics--she is accused, for example, of awarding a $2 million earmark that benefited a prominent donor.
All legitimate objections. At the same time, Mandelbaum is overlooking a key player: Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Me.). Close BizBox readers know of our feelings: we like her lots. And while you ordinarily wouldn't expect a ranking member--that is, the sort of shadow chairperson; highest ranking committee member of the minority party--to have much influence on committee doings and policy, there is ample reason to suspect that in the specific case of Snowe and the Small Business Committee, that truism will not hold true.
Snowe is perfectly situated to wield a ton of power--she is a perfect storm of sway. She enjoys massive popularity among her voting constituency; more importantly, she is a moderate Republican, who would be a prime target for Democratic co-opting in any political situation, but especially where the Democrats naturally fall only a couple seats short of the filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate.
In other words, Snowe can get what she wants. And it appears she wants say as to small business policy: that, anyway, is the conclusion we draw when we look at President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Small Business Administration head, Karen G. Mills. Mills is a moderate woman from Maine--sound familiar? In fact, you'd almost think Snowe had suggested her....
The point is that it may be just as important to look at Snowe as at Landrieu. And Snowe--in addition to lacking a reputation for corruption--appears to be pragmatic, moderate, and genuinely concerned for the country's entrepreneurs. Which is why, though the points about Landrieu are well-taken, we're not really particularly worried.
Comments (1)January 7, 2009 2:33 PM
Comments (1)
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Posted by John | January 7, 2009 5:40 PM
Posted on January 7, 2009 17:40