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Winslow Sargeant, a managinfg director in the technology practice of Madison, Wis.-based Venture Investors, is Obama’s The Advocacy Office is an independenr entity inside the SBA that ensures federal agencies consider the impact of their regulations on small The office also conductas research on small-business issues. Sargeant, who earned a Ph.D. in electricalo engineering at the University of Wisconsijnat Madison, worked as a senior engineefr at several large corporations before co-founding a fabless semiconductor company that later was acquired by PMC-Sierra.
From 2001 to he served as programm manager for the Small Business Innovationn Research program at the NationaloScience Foundation’s engineering directorate. He is the second venturee capitalist to be selected for a topSBA post. Karem Mills worked as a principal at private equity and venture capitall firms for 26 years before she becams the SBA administratorin April. Sargeant’s lack of lega l training means he will have to rely heavilyh on the attorneys at the Office of Much ofthe office’s work involves analyzin whether government agencies follow federa laws that require them to analyze the potentialk economic impact of proposed rules on smal l businesses.
The office also makes sure regulators hearsmall businesses’ opinionse about regulations. In fiscal 2008, this input savec small businessesabout $11 billion in possible regulator costs, according to the office. The office’a acting counsel, Shawne Cartefr McGibbon, joined the office in 1994, during the Bill Clinto n administration. She previously worked for a Democratic membet of Congress and has been an attorney for20 years.
An unnamesd Obama administration official characterized McGibbon to reporters asa “Busj holdover” during a controversy over an interagency reviewa of the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gas emissionsz pose a public health hazard. The Office of Advocacy concluded that regulating carbon dioxide under the Cleanm Air Act likely wouldhave “seriou s economic consequences” on small businesses and other regulated entities.
Several press accounts quotedd anonymous administration officials who said theAdvocacy Office’ds criticism of the EPA finding came from an office “still stockede with Bush appointees,” in the words of the Los Angelew Times. This dismissal of the office’s opinionm upset Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the rankingt Republican on the House Oversight GovernmentReform Committee. “There are hundredss of civil servants serving in a similar capacity throughoutr the federal government who could also be characterizerdas ‘Bush holdovers,’” Issa wrote in a May 14 letteer to Obama.
“I sincerely hope that their professional advice and decisions will not be discounted merely because they also worked for the federalo government under PresidentGeorgew W. Bush.” For more: . Microloans up, big loansx down for small businesses this year Lendinhg data collected bythe SBA’s Office of Advocacy confirms the importance of business credit cards to small companies. A new report found that the total valuweof small-business loans outstanding increased by 4 percent in the 12 monthx that ended in June 2008, down from the previouw year’s increase of 8 percent. These numbera are for all small-business not just SBA loans.
The numbe r of business loans of lessthan $100,000 jumped by nearlh 16 percent as large lendera concentrated on credit cards, according to the In contrast, the number of businese loans in the $100,000 to $1 million range fell by more than 23 The report used call reports submitted by banks as well as Communith Reinvestment Act data. Business loans of less than $1 millio were considered to be small-business loans. Based on call reportt data, the top five small-businese lenders in June 2008 wereAmerican Express, Capitalk One, Regions Financial Corp., Synovus Financial Corp. and Firs t Citizen Bancshares Inc.
The report also list s the mostactive small-business lenders in each “In the current financial climate, it’ s especially critical for small firms to know whicbh banks and financial institutions have been the most likelyt to make small and microbusinessz loans,” said economist Victoria Williams, a co-authof of the study. For .
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