Democracy in Action – Why Oregon decided to fund SBDCs in tough economic times.

I have long felt that citizens do not do enough to foster the democracy we live in. Much like a potted plant that does not get watered, democracy, if not properly attended, droops and dies. In saying this, I don’t necessarily mean that people should stridently argue for some pet project they want, but rather they should think and act wisely, and encourage others to act wisely as well. People serving in leadership roles often seek wisdom. They want to make wise decisions that genuinely benefit people, but often they don’t have enough expertise, background, or knowledge to do this. This is why they occasionally go out to the people to hear what they are thinking. Where I live in Oregon, we are fortunate to have several elected leaders who do this, notably State Representative David Gomberg and United States Senator Ron Wyden. Both regularly touch base with the people throughout their district listening for what they to say.

This is a long introduction to relate an experience I had back in 2018 when our state legislature decided to reach out to the people for guidance on how they should address a massive budget shortfall. I was informed that the Ways and Means Committee was proposing to cut costs by eliminating all funding for the state-sponsored Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). As a small business owner, I had been asked to give testimony advocating for funding the SBDCs and was told I had two minutes to do this. That is 120 seconds, nothing more. So I contemplated what I felt was important for the legislators to hear and drafted my testimony. I felt that I should not rush through my verbal testimony, but make the statement in a clear and deliberate manner. So I practiced reading what I wrote several times, and made several edits until I had it down to 1 minute 57 seconds. I was set.

I arrived at the hall in the Lincoln City Cultural Center and sat next to Guy Faust, the Director of Lincoln County’s SBDC. He was happy to see me there. He turned to me and said, “John, there are three things that you must include in your testimony. You cannot leave these out.” Yikes! I only had three unused seconds in my talk, not enough time to include his items. “Sorry, Guy, I can’t do it. There’s not enough time.” We sat there silently. I was considering what he requested of me, and looked down at what I had written. With a pencil, I lined out one sentence, stuck in a few words here and there, and then turned to him. “I can do it, Guy. I’ve included what you asked for.” Then I waited for my turn on the dais. I was called to the platform and read what I wrote, in a clear and deliberate manner. I ended exactly at 2 minutes. I had done my job, and it was over. That is, until I received a surprising phone call. Here is a blog I posted on my company’s website in July 2018.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My July 2018 Blog Post ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a recent blog post, I wrote of public testimony I gave to Oregon legislators on the need to keep funding for Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), especially during tough economic times.  I learned this week the testimony indeed had its desired effect, and through an interesting channel.  I received a call from Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).  Dave Miller from OPB’s program Think Out Loud called me to tell me what he learned in an interview on Tuesday, May 19 with Senator Buckley, co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means committee.  He said the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department (OECDD) budget arrived with SBDCs eliminated, but that Senator Buckley restored funding for about 50%, saying he was swayed by the testimony given in Lincoln City, feeling it was a clear statement of the impact SBDCs had to the local community.  In the interview Senator Buckley said,

 In the Lincoln City hearing, the testimony concerning the Small Business Development Centers, part of the Economic Development Budget. I was prepared to go further, deeper with cuts to that program, simply because I’d never heard an explanation that had really tied it in to how it impacted a specific community. And in Lincoln City they made an excellent case, and said ‘This is exactly how it’s affected our downtown. Here’s the steps that were used, here are the resources that were used.’ And that testimony swayed me on that particular item.

Now this is exciting news.  It demonstrated to me the value of being active in our democratic process.  It also showed me legislators really seek to understand the payback on programs they fund.  My takeaway from this is to continue to engage legislators on important issues, and assist them in understanding the benefits of programs that in fact are making a difference in our communities.  I also learned that the members of our media can have a powerful effect by picking up the important issues and asking the right questions of legislators.