Triple the impact of your holiday dollar$

With the holiday season fast approaching and customers getting ready to open up their wallets, this is really the time to remember your SC locally-owned small businesses.

Please join us in our “BuySC” nonprofit action campaign. Surveys continue to show that communities with programs encouraging buying from locally-owned businesses improve the sales for those businesses during the holidays. When customer awareness of these programs is high, they seek out locally-owned businesses for their shopping and purchases. It’s just that simple.

And not only do the locally-owned retailers benefit, their communities benefit in a very tangible way.

®© Cinda Baxter, 2009. All rights reserved. Used here with permission.

All studies indicate that your spending dollar has THREE TIMES the economic impact on your local economy when you buy from a locally-owned business than if that same dollar is spent at a big box store or national chain with out-of-state ownership.

You hold the key to growing your local economy and it is right in your wallet.

The nonprofit SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce isn't alone -- there are a number of "shop local" campaigns out there, from Lowcountry Local First and the SCDA's Certified SC Grown program to The 3/50 Project, which inspired our new Buy SC "Local Has It" quarterly action campaign.

TRIPLE THE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK in leading us out of these recessionary times without spending any more money during this holiday season and all year. Just make your purchases from a SC locally-owned small business.

If you need help, we’re building our BuySC.org website directory for consumers to find locally-owned small businesses. These business owners believe in the power of keeping our money in local economies.






If you believe and want to TRIPLE the impact of your money to help, start now. Shop with SC locally-owned businesses and watch your local economy grow.

A local success + Happy Hardware Day Nov. 20!

Who's got the cheapest lumber in town? The cheapest mortar?

Think the best prices are way out at Lowe's? 

Think again. 

Shuman-Owens Supply Co., located just 5 minutes from downtown Columbia, SC, is a brick's throw from the S.C. State Fair Grounds and Gamecock Stadium.

And it's one of the last independent, locally-owned hardware stores in Columbia.








Despite the slump in the building trades and consumer flight to suburban big box retailers, this Shop Road standard is somehow creaming the big box retailers. How are they managing to succeed in such a tough climate?

Buy SC Local Success Spotlight:

 
Local Hardware Store Hammers the Big Box

What is this small business doing right?

"Well, for starters," says local stonemason Jefferson Hubbell, "Shuman-Owens is cheaper than Lowe's for just about everything I need on the job."

He gives an example: "If you need a 75 lb. bag of mortar for a masonry job," he notes, "Shuman-Owens will charge you $8, while a smaller, 70-pound bag will cost you $10 at Lowe's.

This really makes a difference when you're in a business that requires hundreds of bags of mortar per year."

(Choosing this local hardware store for just 10 bags of mortar per week for a year would indeed save you over $1000.

Not exactly chump change.)


The low prices don't quit on building materials, even as a project scales upwards.

"If your client needs a million dollars' worth of western cedar timber for his  post-and-beam hunting lodge," Hubbell adds, "Shuman-Owens will source it for less per board foot than pretty much any competitor in the Southeast."

A true family-run business

"The service makes a big difference for me," says Hubbell. "It's a family-run business."

""I've been going into Shuman-Owens for near 20 years, and it feels good. We know each other." 

While there are certainly a fair share of friendly, knowledgeable staff working at big box retailers like Lowe's, it's hard to beat the personal level of service that a local, independently-owned business can provide.

It's up to consumers to support these local businesses by voting with your hardware dollars. 

Read reporter Kristy Eppley Rupon's recent story in The State, "Hammered: Hardware stores pushed out by big-box retailers, economy" 

http://www.thestate.com/2010/08/23/1429381/hammered-hardware-stores-pushed.html#ixzz13200kYHa

And then take action!

1. Take your free spot in the new Buy SC directory of locally owned small businesses:

Sign up here: http://www.buysc.org

2. Fly the Buy SC badge on your website, Facebook fan page, etc., and ask us for a Buy SC sticker -- just like the one you see below on the front door of Shuman-Owens!

3. Talk up Happy Hardware Day, Saturday, Nov. 20! It's the first installment of our new "Local Has It" action campaign series here at the nonprofit SC Small Business Chamber, and we're really excited.

Shuman-Owens flies the Buy SC badge!

HAPPY HARDWARE DAY!

On Saturday, November 20, 2010, go and shop at independent, locally owned hardware stores throughout South Carolina. Spread the word!

You can print the Happy Hardware Day poster below, upload it to your website and Facebook, and pass on this call to action to your own social networks. It's up to all of us!

Spread the word! Let's Buy SC!

Huge thanks to the talented graphic designer Karen Williford, who designed the Happy Hardware Day poster *and* the Buy SC logo for the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.

Small Business & the Next Governor

The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce (SCSBCC) today released an assessment of the three candidates running for Governor—Rep. Nikki Haley, Sen. Vincent Sheheen and Dr. Morgan Reeves. The assessment was based both on specific critical legislative votes and a questionnaire sent to each candidate on July 7, 2010. The questionnaire can be found at http://www.scsbc.org/issues.aspx?article_id=883.

While the SCSBCC does not endorse candidates for any office, it is educating the small business owners in the state as to how small business-friendly each candidate has been to date and might be in the future if elected.

“It is important that small businesses have a good understanding of how the election of the next Governor might affect them,” said Frank Knapp, Jr, president and CEO of the SCSBCC. “In 2002 we were in our infancy as an organization and thus not in a good position to evaluate Gubernatorial candidates. As a result, what many small business owners thought they were getting with Mark Sanford did not pan out.” Mr. Knapp’s blog on this issue can be read at http://www.unconflictedsc.com/2010/06/sheheen-haley-sanford-endorsement.html.

Summary and Assessment

Below are the detailed results of our questionnaire and review of critical legislative votes.

Because both Rep. Haley and Dr. Reeves failed to respond to our questionnaire, they have deprived small businesses the opportunity to compare the candidate’s positions on extremely important small business issues. Dr. Reeves, the candidate of the Green and United Citizens Parties, might receive a pass on this matter due to lack of resources. However, there is no excuse for Rep. Haley’s unresponsiveness to a questionnaire from a statewide small business advocacy organization with thousands of members that has successfully represented the interests of small business in the Legislature and in regulatory matters for over 10 years.

Sheheen @ Wateree River Sweep

Sen. Sheheen should be applauded not only for responding but also because his comments reflected an appreciation for not increasing health care costs to small business, projecting leadership in creating alternative energy jobs, and promoting comprehensive tax reform and reducing small business property taxes. Most importantly, Sen. Sheheen recognizes the importance of small business growth and development and proposes a Division of Small Business and Entrepreneurship within the Department of Commerce.

A review of critical small business votes indicates that both Rep. Haley and Sen. Sheheen have casts numerous votes in support of matters strongly favored by the SCSBCC.

However, Rep. Haley has demonstrated that she has been willing to forgo supporting small business in the case of affordable health care insurance when it was tied to a tax increase on cigarettes. Since 2006 she has voted multiple times against such legislation that was specifically targeted to help small businesses. Confusing the understanding of her votes is Rep. Haley’s apparent recent endorsement of increasing the sales tax on groceries thus indicating that she is not universally opposed to raising taxes.

One of the most important questions Rep. Haley did not respond to was our inquiry of her support for establishing a small business division within the Department of Commerce not only to give Commerce a small business development focus it has never had but also to provide assistance to local communities to help make them more small business friendly.

Sen. Sheheen strongly endorsed such an initiative. Rep. Haley’s silence causes great concern given her public statements about economic development. These statements appear to completely ignore the important role of small business and possibly demonstrate a lack of knowledge about small business.

Rep. Haley’s primary economic development campaign promise is to eliminate the corporate income tax. She no longer talks about her earlier promise to reduce small business income taxes.

Image: Haley's Facebook page

Growing our small businesses and encouraging entrepreneurship apparently are no longer an important part of Rep. Haley’s economic development plan, even though over 60% of all new jobs come from small businesses. Instead, she promises only more of the traditional, and not very successful, economic development strategy of recruiting big business.

That is the essence of her “elimination of corporate income tax” pledge. For the uniformed, and possibly this might apply to Rep. Haley, very few small businesses pay corporate income taxes because they are not C-corporations. The elimination of corporate income taxes will not help our small businesses. Instead, it would create an unlevel playing field between big and small businesses on income taxes.

In 2005, after a major legislative battle with Governor Sanford, the SCSBCC scored one of its most significant victories in having the income tax paid by small businesses reduced from 7% to 5% primarily to achieve parity with big business C-corporations.

There is an underlying problem with Rep. Haley’s unresponsiveness to the questionnaire and her campaign’s lack of courtesy in failing to even notify the SCSBCC that they would not be responding. In the past, Rep. Haley has demonstrated this same lack of respect for the SCSBCC in her refusal to meet with the SCSBCC to discuss legislation. This is the same path Mark Sanford took with the SCSBCC, refusing every request for a personal meeting.

It is possible that Governor Sanford and Rep. Haley both believed that they already had the answers to all the state’s problems and didn’t need to listen to alternative opinions. Unfortunately, we know that this gubernatorial attitude failed our state over and over during the last 8 years.

Questionnaire Response

Haley: Unfortunately, Rep. Haley did not return the questionnaire. To insure that her campaign received it, the questionnaire was hand delivered to her campaign communication director, Mr. Rob Godfrey, on July 27, 2010. The SCSBCC did not receive a response by the due date of August 2, 2010, or a request for an extension. No contact from the Haley campaign has been received by the date of this release.

Sheheen: Senator Sheheen did respond to the questionnaire but requested an extension to do so. His response was received on August 17, 2010. Senator Sheheen addressed each of the areas of interest—healthcare, energy, taxation, and economic development. Although some specific questions within these areas might not have been addressed, his answers did sufficiently address the issues to allow for analysis.

Senator Sheheen’s response can be read at http://www.scsbc.org/issues.aspx?article_id=882.

Image: Reeves' website

Reeves: Dr. Reeves called our office immediately upon receiving the questionnaire promising to provide a response. A series of e-mails were received with responses but subsequently, Dr. Reeves contacted our office again to ask us to disregard those responses that were prepared by a volunteer consultant no longer with his campaign. No further communications or response to the questionnaire was received. Consequently, we must consider Dr. Reeves not to have responded.

Critical Legislative Votes

Since 2005, Rep. Haley and Sen. Sheheen haves taken votes on certain legislation of extreme importance to South Carolina small businesses. Dr. Reeves has not served in the South Carolina Legislature and thus is not included in this analysis. Below is an explanation of these critical votes and whether the candidates supported these bills.

2005—The SCSBCC supported job tax credits for small businesses so that the hiring of as few as two new employees would qualify many of the state’s small businesses for this economic development incentive. These job tax credits had never before been available to small business. Both Rep. Haley and Sen. Sheheen supported this bill that passed both chambers.

2006—The SCSBCC was the primary business organization supporting an amendment to the state budget that would have increased the cigarette tax from 7-cents per pack to 39-cents. The additional revenue would have been used as a Medicaid match to give premium assistance for small businesses providing health insurance to employees with family incomes of up to 200% of poverty. This effort to reduce the cost of small business health insurance failed. Rep. Haley voted against the budget amendment. Because the budget amendment failed in the House, it did not come up for a vote in the Senate.

2007—The SCSBCC was the primary business organization supporting the establishment of a $1000 tax credit per new employee in a Registered Apprenticeship program. Rep. Haley supported the bill. The Senate passed the bill on a voice vote.

2007—The SCSBCC proposed reform in the state’s workers’ compensation insurance law that would require the state to regulate how much an insurance company could build into the premium for profit, taxes and other expenses. The non-regulation of this Loss Cost Multiplier component of premiums had cost businesses over $200 million in excess premiums over several years. The bill that contained this reform passed with the support of both Rep. Haley and Sen. Sheheen.

2007—The SCSBCC was a strong supporter of increasing funding of the State Child Health Insurance Program to extend Medicaid to the children in families with incomes of up to 200% of poverty. This change would help make health care more affordable and reduce health insurance costs for small businesses by helping to stop health care cost shifting from the uninsured to the insured. The Legislature passed this bill but Governor Sanford vetoed it. Both Rep. Haley and Sen. Sheheen voted to override the Governor’s veto.

2007/2008—In 2007 the SCSBCC and a growing coalition of business organizations supporting an increase in the state’s cigarette tax to provide more affordable health insurance for individuals and employees. The House passed its version of the program in 2007 with Rep. Haley voting against the bill. In 2008 the Senate passed its version of the bill calling for a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax to be used in a non-Medicaid premium assistance program for small employers offering health insurance to workers below 200% of poverty. The state’s Medicaid program would also be expanded to parents between 50% and 100% of the poverty level. Sen. Sheheen voted for this bill. Governor Sanford vetoed the bill and Rep. Haley voted not to override. The House sustained the Governor’s veto thus no Senate vote was held.

2008—The SCSBCC first identified in 2003 the problem with excessive amounts (approximately 42%) of our state procurement dollars going out of state to purchase goods, labor and services. As the primary advocate for procurement reform that would result in more procurement dollars staying in our state to benefit our small businesses, legislation was crafted for the SCSBCC by the Budget and Control Board and introduced by Republican leadership in the Senate (Leatherman) and in the House (Harrell). The Legislature passed the Senate bill but the Governor’s veto failed to be overridden in the House. Both Rep. Haley and Sen. Sheheen voted to override the Governor’s veto.

2009—The exact same procurement reform bill passed in 2008 but stopped by a gubernatorial veto was reintroduced in the Senate by Senators Knotts and McConnell and in the House by Speaker Harrell and Rep. Mac Toole. The Senate bill was passed by the Legislature and vetoed by the Governor. Both Sen. Sheheen and Rep. Haley voted to support the successful override of the veto.

2009/2010—The SCSBCC once again joined the even greater chorus of organizations supporting an increase in the cigarette tax. In 2009 the House passed a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax with the new revenue used for a tax credit for small businesses providing health insurance to low income employees, a tax credit for low-income individuals purchasing health insurance directly and premium assistance for those wanting to enroll in the state’s high-risk health insurance pool. Rep. Haley voted against this bill. In 2010 and in recognition of the new national health care law which created a small business health insurance tax credit program, the Senate passed a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax with most of the funds going into a Medicaid Trust Fund to make health insurance more affordable for low-income South Carolinians. Sen. Sheheen voted for the bill. Governor Sanford’s veto of the bill was overridden with Rep. Haley voting to sustain the veto and Sen. Sheheen voting to override.

Workers’ Comp Rates to Drop Big

Where was that headline 11 days ago? 

On June 10^th, the S.C. Department of Insurance put out a media advisory saying that its Director, Scott Richardson, had approved an overall 9.8% decrease in worker’s compensation insurance rates (technically the cut was to something called “Loss Costs in the Voluntary Market” but I don’t want you to quit reading).

A 9.8% cut!!!!!!  In his economy this is great news for small business but I don’t know that any of our daily newspapers reported the story.

In 2005, a 32.9% hike in workers’ comp insurance was proposed, and in 2007, a 27.7% increase was put on the table.  Several South Carolina dailies reported these stories primarily because the big business organizations pushed the news as proof that reform was needed and claimant attorneys were driving up premiums.

“Blame the lawyers, not obscene insurance company profits,” they said.

But when it came time to fight these rate hikes in court, the big business organizations were nowhere to be found. 

Only The S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce and the State Consumer Advocate went before a judge to successfully fight the proposals.  Turned out that lawyers weren’t responsible for increased costs at all – and the judge dramatically reduced the proposed rate hikes to 18.7% (http://www.scsbc.org/view_press.asp?id=199) and 9.8% (http://www.scsbc.org/view_press.asp?id=256)  respectively.

So why did no reporter in the state pick up this very important, good news story about our businesses possibly saving big on future workers’ comp premiums?

Two reasons. 

First, there are far fewer reporters at our daily papers, as I pointed out in Monday’s blog.  This is especially true for pure business reporters.  The remaining ones simply don’t have the time to find and report every important story.  And, I hate to say this, but there might be no business reporter in South Carolina that knows enough about workers’ comp insurance to even understand how rates are determined.   I only found out about this 9.8% cut from Mike Whiteley of Workcompcentral.com in Texas.

Second, big business unfortunately sets the tone for what is a business story in this state and they had no interest in pushing this good news.  A cut in insurance rates doesn’t fit their tort reform story line.   “Only by cutting lawyers’ compensation can we ever reduce insurance premiums,” they scream year after year.   Ooops.

The reality is that while some reform in the civil justice system might be needed, it isn’t the lazy, ineffective kind of simply capping damage awards and lawyer compensation.  But that’s a story for another day.

Today’s message is this:

1. There are not enough hard news reporters at our dailies, and
2. There’s an undeserved big business special interest influence on reporters.

Both are keeping you from really being informed – and that’s not good news. 

The Mainstream Media's Epic Fail: Alvin Greene and the 2010 Primary

"I think the ultimate story that…should come out here is this is a major failure on the part of the media."  - Dan Cook, Editor, Free Times, Columbia SC, in radio interview on U Need 2 Know, WOIC (1230 AM,) June 17, 2010. 

Dan nailed it.  He was talking about the real story behind the Democratic U.S. Senate primary victory of Alvin Greene.  

Very few in the print media covered the contest the way that a U.S. Senate race deserves, until of course, it was too late to inform the electorate about the qualifications of Mr. Greene and his opponent Vic Rawl.  (My focus is on the print media because I hold them to a much higher standard for reporting the news.  Most electronic news is just ripping and reading what the print media has already reported or very shallow coverage dictated by the medium itself.  Bloggers might be the only exception.)

And depending on the results of the GOP Gubernatorial runoff, Dan’s comment might apply there also. 


Candidate Nikki Haley’s entire, long campaign has been about total transparency of a legislator’s voting record and income so that the public will know who they are really representing in the General Assembly. 


She garnered 49% of the Republican primary vote on that platform.

  "I knew her to be a connected person who had access to a lot of folks and information, and in my business, that sort of information is critical to get ahead." 
- Bob Ferrell, Wilbur Smith


Now only five days before the runoff she has been exposed as playing the same good ol’boy money games she has been sanctimoniously carping about.  Several years ago the Columbia engineering firm Wilbur Smith contracted with Representative Haley for one purpose only—information.  "I knew her to be a connected person who had access to a lot of folks and information, and in my business, that sort of information is critical to get ahead,” said Bob Ferrell of Wilbur Smith. (CNN’s “Political Ticker” Blog, 6/18/10)

Representative Haley wasn’t privy to this valuable information because of her family’s clothing business or her husband’s military service or her volunteer work for her church (whichever) or PTA.  The information she had was due solely to her serving in the South Carolina General Assembly.  Period.

Huffmon, courtesy ETV

John O’Connor, a print reporter with The State, finally broke the initial story on Representative Haley that has been hiding in plain view if anyone would have had the time to look for it earlier when it might have mattered to primary voters.

Scott Huffmon, political science professor at Winthrop University, agrees.  “This could have helped tarnish Nikki’s image three months ago, but not at this point.” 

I’m not criticizing our state’s print reporters.  There simply aren’t enough of them.   


Every daily in this state – heck, across the country – has cut their hard news staff to save money. 


Brent Nelsen, unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for S.C. Superintendant of Education, spotted this problem in his contest.  

“The media need to play a more active role in sorting through candidates," notes Nelsen. "The state’s financially strapped newspapers have cut back the number of reporters writing articles and opinion columns on politics.”

Most of the hard news reporters remaining hardly have time to look behind a press release to really understand the complexities of an issue.  Being able to do real investigative reporting is probably what most aspire to, but there is no time when your editor keeps handing you more and more story assignments to turn around by press time that day.

“The media need to play a more active role in sorting through candidates." - Brent Nelsen

Our reporters have simply been beat down, grateful to still have a job and looking for that one break that can help them escape a collapsing industry.

The consequences of all this are more than just Alvin Greene and Nikki Haley; the public is missing important stories on government and business every day.  In fact, I’ll share with you one of those stories in my next blog post here at UnConflicted.

Governor's Small Biz Veto Overridden

First, the good news:

The House in action, Courtesy SCETV

Overridden!

The House voted Wednesday to override Governor Sanford’s Veto #14 of the Small Business Development Center’s budget and the Senate followed suit today.

The small businesses of this state greatly appreciate the House and Senate votes and send special thanks to Rep. Dwight Loftis and Rep. Anton Gunn. More about them later.

Low Profile, Major Significance
The media has so far overlooked the House vote on Veto 14 and instead has focused on the higher profile overrides that allowed funding for DHEC, technical colleges, the State Museum and others. But all of us who worked very hard to save the SBDC budget need to understand the importance of that vote because it was the first veto override the House permanently agreed to.

House Floor Play-by-Play

As the House began taking up the budget vetoes Wednesday morning, there were a lot of nervous and glum faces in the lobby, mine included. As the House voted on the electronic board, it quickly became clear that red—the color on the board indicating a vote to sustain a veto—was going to dwarf green—the color to override. Only one veto was overridden out of the first 13 but even that one was quickly reversed.

I was not optimistic.

Every sports fan knows that when your team is being routed, something needs to happen to break the momentum of the game. Most often the easiest thing to do is call a timeout and refocus the attitude of the players.

Skelton's Word of Caution
With the House clearly in the mood to sustain Sanford’s vetoes (see The State newspaper's blog updates from Tuesday), Representative B.R. Skelton (R-Pickens) took the podium just before Veto 11 and urged his fellow members to consider the consequences of their votes. He cautioned the body that the next several votes involved critical elements of economic development for the state.

Smith (D)

Following Mr. Skelton to the podium was Representative James Smith (D-Richland) who chastised the House for sustaining vetoes dealing with education, healthcare and clean rivers funding yet overriding a veto for money going to consultants (the House immediately reconsidered that vote and the board quickly switched to red). Mr. Smith joined Mr. Skelton in calling for more thoughtful voting.

Several more votes lit up the board to sustain and then it was time for #14. Good fortune struck. The mood was still red but the House’s attention was diverted to deal with a non-budget bill.

Veto 14 was now up for a vote.

Loftis (R)

Loftis Goes for the Green
Representative Dwight Loftis (R-Greenville) took to the podium. Mr. Loftis has been a supporter of small business, and earlier I had asked if he would have my letter arguing for keeping the funds for the SBDC placed on each member’s desk.

He not only agreed to do that but also said that he would speak in favor of an override vote. And that he did, eloquently stating the case for maintaining the budget for the only state agency providing direct and tangible services to our small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Gunn (D)

Gunning for the Override
Following Mr. Loftis to the podium was an old friend and advocate for small business, Representative Anton Gunn (D-Richland). He too cited the benefits of the SBDC telling of his own family’s use of their services.

The red spell had been broken, and the message of support for our small businesses and economic development took hold. Green lit up the board 102 times to only 15 reds—an amazing turnaround (just look at blogger Brad Warthen's exchange with House Majority leader Kenny Bingham on June 13, 2010.)

A Shift in Momentum
Sure, the House sustained many more vetoes (see FitsNews) after that crucial vote. But the momentum had been altered. It was OK to push green when merited. Lighting did not strike. No electric shock came with pressing the button. Even GOP Gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley voted green with us.

It was clear that not every Sanford veto was justified. The Governor had made errors in judgment and the House not only had the power, it had the responsibility for the good of the State to say so. And it did.

Thanks to all who contacted their House and Senate members asking for an override of Veto #14. All the efforts paid off.

And thanks to the members of the Legislature for doing the right thing.