Sipprelle Questions Holt's Election Year Outreach to Small Business

Princeton, May 17, 2010 – Describing Congressman Rush Holt’s outreach to small business owners as a cynical election-year ploy and issuing his third debate challenge to the incumbent in less than six weeks, businessman Scott Sipprelle (NJ-12) today highlighted the irony of his opponent’s newfound focus on small business workshops around the district while supporting a flurry of job-killing legislation in Washington.

“Is he serious?” asked Sipprelle, who said Holt’s lock-step support of Nancy Pelosi’s agenda in Congress can only be described as a “War on Jobs.” “While I am pleased that Congressman Holt is now expressing a willingness to educate himself on the harsh realities of today’s operating climate for small businesses men and women, I am troubled that this appears to be little more than a calculated election year ploy that will soon be discarded in favor of his crusade for a bigger government and more out-of-control spending.”

Sipprelle assailed the Pelosi-Holt agenda for battering small business owners in the current session of Congress:

*Raising spending $1.8 trillion and taxes by $670 million
*Creating enormous operating uncertainty as a result of massive budget deficits that must be addressed by future tax increases
*Exacerbating the credit crunch as federal borrowing crowds out private sector borrowers
*Bowing to the trial lawyers and producing a healthcare reform package that did not address the exploding healthcare costs resulting from defensive medicine and the looting of our scarce healthcare dollars by trial attorneys and their malpractice suits
*Unparalleled new regulations and administrative burdens on small business owners
*New restrictions that will harm capital-raising for start-ups.
*Sweeping new IRS reporting requirements for small business on vendor transactions

“Congressman Holt has been a willing and active participant in an unparalleled explosion of government intrusion, coercion, and control of the private sector, and yet he wonders why small businesses are having a hard time?” questioned Sipprelle, who also said Holt’s workshop ‘discussion points’ reveal a profound misunderstanding of how business actually works. “While it might sound good for Mr. Holt to discuss the availability of tax credits for small businesses to deduct health expenses for their employees or tax credits for depreciating new equipment purchases, the fact of the matter is that most struggling small businesses cannot afford to cover their employees for healthcare and no struggling business would purchase new equipment to benefit from a tax credit. These companies don’t need short-term tax credit gimmickry. They need the certainty of steady customers, lower taxes, and reduced government paperwork.”

In short, said Sipprelle, “Mr. Holt is offering a cup of water to a drowning man.”

Sipprelle concluded by pressing the incumbent on his refusal to debate the issues in a public forum and giving 12th Congressional District residents the substantive, issue-based campaign they deserve.

“I invited Mr. Holt to debate healthcare reform on April 3rd and received a blunt dismissal. I invited Mr. Holt to debate financial services reform on April 26th and received no response at all. Today, I am inviting Mr. Holt to debate how best to improve the economy and create jobs,” said Sipprelle. “Sadly, Mr. Holt’s duck and dodge strategy is symbolic of a political class in Washington who is out-of-touch with the people they are supposed to represent and too close-minded to engage in real problem solving.”