JUNEAU, Alaska, Oct. 2, 2014—The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) today endorsed Dan Sullivan for the U.S. Senate over incumbent Mark Begich. Sullivan was joined by NFIB members and Sen. Lisa Murkowski at an announcement event in Anchorage.
“Remarkably, Dan Sullivan has done more to help small business as an un-elected official than Mark Begich has done as an elected one,” said Denny DeWitt, Alaska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “As the commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, he was a leader in reducing the cost and time of permitting. He strongly supports resource development that is the basis of Alaska’s economy, whereas Senator Begich backs the federal government’s authority to preemptively shut down responsible development. Another big difference between the two is while Dan Sullivan helped lead the fight against Obamacare, as the state’s attorney general, Senator Begich continues to support it and has refused to alleviate its most onerous parts, such as the health insurance tax. These are just a few examples that show Dan Sullivan is more aligned with our members than Senator Begich has been in the past six years.”
With 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including 2,000 in Alaska, the National Federation of Independent Business is the nation’s largest and leading small-business association. The endorsement of Sullivan was made by the NFIB SAFE Trust (Save America’s Free Enterprise), the political action committee of NFIB and based on answers to questionnaires and personal interviews.
In addition to today’s endorsement, NFIB also launched new radio and digital ads urging Alaskan businesses and workers to get out and vote for Sullivan, as well as a Dan Sullivan candidate webpage on its National Election Center website. Voters can find tools on the website that make it easy to volunteer, donate and support Dan Sullivan. The effort is part of the NFIB’s Vote for Main Street campaign.
“For every session of Congress, we make it acidly clear what bills will be helpful or harmful to the nation’s small businesses,” said Lisa Goeas, NFIB’s vice president for political and grassroots, “and every representative and senator knows we are keeping a scorecard. Senator Begich has scratched out only a lifetime 37 percent, pro-small-business voting record on issues vital to Main Street solvency. That is not a way to treat the people who employ more working Americans than big business, big labor or big government ever will.”
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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/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
