Small business is the economic force both Rep. Robert Dold (R-Kenilworth) and his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 6 general election, Brad Schneider of Deerfield, see as the country’s job creation force.
While Schneider and Dold think America’s small businesses need easier access to capital and less regulatory burden, their campaigns are wasting little time branding the other as more extreme than their words show.
Earlier: Dold, Schneider Try To Defy Labels
A firm idea of how to create jobs promises to be a key component of the fall campaign in the wake of Friday’s report showing only 80,000 new jobs created in June. Unemployment remains at 8.2 percent with underemployment at 14.9 percent, according to a report on CNBC.
Both graduates of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Dold and Schneider have experienced success with small business. Before going to Congress, Dold ran his family’s 150-year-old pest control company. Schneider has not only turned around an insurance business, he has been a consultant to large and small operations.
“With small businesses being the engine of economic growth for the past two decades, accounting for the vast majority of new jobs during the period, we must ensure that they have access to capital,” Schneider said.
Dold touts his Main Street Jobs Agenda as the way out of the current economic morase. That program calls for giving small business the ability to find money it needs to grow more easily and reduce regulatory burden.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy,” Dold said on his Congressional website. “Right now they are burdened with uncertainty, red tape, and unknown regulations. We must implement smart regulations that get rid of red tape so that businesses are empowered to get moving again.”
Dold, Schneider Want to Lessen Regulation of Small Business
Schneider has no disagreement with Dold when it comes to the regulation of small business. He also wants to help them hire more workers through targeted tax incentives.
“We should be easing the burden of unnecessary regulation and offering targeted tax incentives for small businesses to grow, hire new employees, and pay higher wages,” Schneider said.
While neither Dold nor Schneider are specific about how they would change the tax laws to help small business, tax reform is part of Dold’s Main Street Agenda. “We must fix our tax code and implement pro-growth reforms so that we can spur the economy and get people back to work,” he said.
Campaiagns Attack Each Other
Meanwhile, Dold campaign spokesperson John McGovern considers Schneider’s proposals part of the reason job growth is slow. “Brad Schneider continues to tout his support of more spending, more taxes and more regulation that is job-killing, not job-creating,” McGovern said.
While McGovern tries to paint a picture of Schneider as someone who would increases taxes and spending, Schneider Campaign Manager Reed Adamson ties Dold to the Tea Party and blames him for what he considers the ineffectiveness of the House of Representatives.
“Instead of focusing on strengthening our economy or creating jobs, Congressman Bob Dold and the Tea Party in Washington have simply created more gridlock,” Adamson said. “Congressman Dold and his partisan ideology had their chance and they failed.”
Patch readers now have their chance to voice an opinion on what is needed to increase job growth in the country by taking the latest unscientific poll. The survey is about issues, not candidates. The poll closes at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Patch will share the results Thursday.