Barreto Out at SBA

Hector Barreto resigned today as the administrator of the SBA to go work at a Republican leaning Latino think tank and advocacy organization, The Latino Coalition.

The President announced today that he's nominated Steven Preston of Illinois to become the next SBA Administrator.

Here's what Congressman Manzullo, chair of the House Small Business Committee had to say in a press release about the new appointee:

"After speaking with Mr. Preston, I am confident he will meet and exceed the many challenges he will encounter at the helm of the SBA. As the current Executive Vice President and former Chief Financial Officer at The Service Master Company in Chicago, Mr. Preston has accumulated a wealth of experience in executive leadership and financial management that will serve him well at the SBA. I look forward to working with Mr. Preston to continue our mission to help our small businesses prosper and create jobs for Americans."

In March, I had the privilege of attending a House Small Business Committee hearing where Barreto had been asked to talk about the SBA's record in meeting small business needs after Katrina. Barreto spoke about how much paper the agency had processed. Never mind that 60% or more of the businesses that applied for loans were denied. He was proud of how many applications that they had handled.

In questions after she testified on the same subject, a woman business owner from New Orleans tore a hole in Barreto's testimony bigger than the levee breach when she suggested that he was using the wrong measure of success. She asked simply "shouldn't he measure success by how many businesses that the SBA has helped get back in business, employing people and paying taxes?"

The fact that Barreto had no answer may account, in part, for why he's gone. At least we can hope so.

And, let's hope that the new guy "gets it" when it comes to this issue and the SBA's utter failure to implement the restricted competition program for WBO's designed to help government achieve the 5% goal for WBO procurement.