06/04/2008
CONTACT: Mike Diegel, 202-314-2004
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's leading small business association, today announced that it has endorsed Sen. Lindsey Graham for reelection.
The endorsement comes from NFIB's Save America's Free Enterprise (SAFE) Trust, the organization's political action committee, and is based on prior voting records to evaluate the candidates' views on legislative issues affecting small business.
"Senator Graham is a good friend of small business," said Lisa Goeas, NFIB's vice president, political. "He's someone who understands that small business owners need real solutions to major problems like healthcare. As a key member of the Senate Budget Committee, he's someone who fights hard to keep tax rates low for small businesses."
Sen. Graham won NFIB's Guardian of Small Business award in both the 108th and 109th Congress, with a voting record of 83 percent and 89 percent, respectively. He has a 100 percent voting record thus far in the 110th Congress.
Goeas also noted that since he was elected in 2002, Sen. Graham has consistently supported small businesses on important issues including tax relief and healthcare reform. In particular, she said, the senator voted against the misleadingly named "Employee Free Choice Act," which would make it easier for unions to organize small businesses by mandating "card-check" agreements instead of private-ballot elections.
Today's endorsement puts the considerable grassroots support of the state's small businesses behind the Graham campaign. Small business owners and their employees vote in high numbers and are known for actively recruiting friends, family members and acquaintances to go to the polls. NFIB will encourage its members to help turn out the influential small business voting bloc on Election Day. According to NFIB polling data, small business owners and their employees make up 43 percent of registered voters in America.
