SALEM, Ore., July 14, 2014—The nation’s largest and leading small-business association today endorsed Dr. Monica Wehby for U.S. Senate over incumbent Jeff Merkley.
“As a pediatric neurosurgeon, Monica Wehby ran a private practice, employed people and met a payroll,” said Lisa Goeas, vice president for Political and Grassroots at the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s Voice of Small Business. “Her belief that government should be encouraging small-business growth, not punishing the Main Street entrepreneurs who employ the majority of working Oregonians is a sharp contrast to her opponent’s dismal voting record that included support for Obamacare and all of its mandates and taxes on small business and increases in taxes on energy. Jeff Merkley has demonstrated a failure to support small-business owners in Oregon and across America. His 15 percent lifetime NFIB voting record is abysmal.”
The endorsement of Wehby was made by NFIB’s SAFE (Save America’s Free Enterprise) Trust, the association’s political action committee, and is based on her positions regarding key small-business issues, such as health care, taxes, and labor and regulations.
“Dr. Wehby’s visits to 100 towns in a hundred days to hear first-hand about the economic plight of small businesses, especially those in our rural communities, speaks volumes about the type of U.S. Senator she would be,” said Jan Meekcoms, Oregon state director for NFIB. “In six years, Jeff Merkley has done nothing but rubber-stamp the agenda of his party, failing to distinguish himself on much of anything. We cannot afford another six years of inaction.”
America’s largest small-business association, the National Federation of Independent Business has over 7,000 dues-paying members in Oregon. “Small businesses significantly impact Oregon’s economy,” reports the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration. “They represent 97.6 percent of all employers and employ 55.5 percent of the private-sector labor force. Small businesses are crucial to the fiscal condition of the state and numbered 344,722 in 2010. Most of Oregon’s small businesses have fewer than 20 employees.”
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Oregon
3340 Commercial St. S.E. Suite 210
Salem, OR 97302
503-364-4450
