Golnik: Business owners need more support
By Hiroko Sato, hsato@lowellsun.com
Updated: 08/06/2010 06:35:42 AM EDT
LOWELL -- Ralph Hogan, owner of Hogan Construction, hasn't built a new home in two years.
People can't get bank loans for new construction, Hogan told Jon Golnik, a Republican candidate for the Fifth Congressional District seat. So, the company takes on kitchen and bath renovations to stay afloat.
Frank King, owner of Action King Sewer Service on Livingston Street, wanted Golnik to know that finding the right employees can also be a challenge even in this job market.
Just days after King hired a truck driver to transport portable toilets earlier this year, the government extended unemployment benefits. The new hire, who had been laid off from his previous job, quit, choosing the $500-a-week benefit over the $480-a-week paycheck.
"You have to put money on Main Street," Hogan told Golnik. "There is a real disconnect between what the Congress is doing and what goes on on Main Street."
"We need to get money to small businesses," Golnik said, proposing to increase the sizes of loans that are made available through the Small Business Administration.
Golnik, a Carlisle resident seeking his party's nomination in the Fifth District, hit the campaign trail yesterday morning, meeting with Lowell business owners. Golnik greeted patrons at the Owl Diner on Appleton Street and sat down with Hogan, King and diner owner Tommy Shanahan before strolling through the downtown.
A former Republican activist who worked for Mitt Romney's Senate run against
Ted Kennedy in 1994 and for George W. Bush's campaign in 2000, Golnik said he is tired of politics as usual.
"Politics is not public service anymore -- it's a career," Golnik said, adding that career politicians make decisions that benefit themselves. "Our founding fathers believed in citizen legislators."
Golnik, who runs a business that resells Boston College merchandise, believes the government must help small businesses get better access to loans in order to create more jobs. He also proposes to lower the U.S. corporate tax, which he says is the highest in the world after Japan's.
"Give small investors a tax credit based on the percentage of their investment in a small, non-publicly traded company," Golnik wrote on his website. "There is money on the sidelines and banks aren't lending."
During the meet-and-greet yesterday, however, Golnik did not speak as much about his ideas, saying he wants to be a good listener first.
"Hopefully, you will get elected and continue to listen," King said.
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