NFIB ENDORSES AIONA FOR GOVERNOR

News Release from NFIB/Hawaii

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Oct. 23, 2014—Small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses. They have different difficulties in remaining solvent, and because of that, America’s largest small-business association today endorsed Duke Aiona for governor, citing his superior record on Main Street, Hawaii issues.

“All three candidates running for governor have extensive records on every issue, but on small-business matters, Duke Aiona’s is clearly the best,” said Lisa Goeas, vice president of political and grassroots for the National Federation of Independent Business. “As former Gov. Linda Lingle’s lieutenant governor, Duke Aiona worked to keep taxes and regulations down. Aiona’s beliefs that limiting the size of government, reforming our tort system to cut down on frivolous lawsuits, and privatizing some state government services resound well with our members.”

NFIB has 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including 1,000 in Hawaii. Brief, single-pages of bulleted information on the power of the small-business vote, what a small business is and the distinctions it has from a big business can be found here.

“Small businesses significantly impact Hawaii’s economy,” reports the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration. “They represent 96.4 percent of all employers and employ 54.1 percent of the private-sector labor force. Small businesses are crucial to the fiscal condition of the state and numbered 116,594 in 2010. Most of Hawaii’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.