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PAGE 8A FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Wednesday, December 17,2003 Opinion Don’t sneer at ‘McJobs’ they built our economy By Jack Faris For the Forsyth County News ► It came as no surprise 'when the restaurant chain McDonald’s recently took umbrage at the unveiling of the term “McJob,” in the new ■edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. CEO Jim Cantalupo challenged the publisher for defining the word as “a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.” !v The incident could lead one to believe that those who collect words and phrases may be spending a little too much time watching reality TV or swallowing Hollywood’s definition of work hook, line and sinker. Here’s a suggestion for lexicographers: take off your pince-nez and go visit some of America’s small businesses to learn what work is all about. It’s easy to find them. There are some 24 million of them, so they won’t be hard to find. Chances are very good that the entrepreneurs you’ll encounter at a majority of those up-and-coming little firms got their start at some thing you might describe as a McJob. Sure, the pay was not great and few skills were required. But you missed the mpst important point: those entry-level positions are where entrepreneurs, who now own and operate their visions of the American Dream, initially formed their strong work ethics and busi ness management skills. It’s unfortunate that the overriding implication put forth by such a highly rep utable publisher seems to , assert work isn’t worth any thing unless it’s a salaried . position that comes with a white-collar and a long title. There’s little doubt that those who gather such street lingo are painfully unaware that American small firms which, by the way, comprise 99 percent of the nation’s employers provide work Letter policy The Forsyth County News welcomes your opinions on issues of public concern. Letters must be signed and include full address and a daytime and evening phone number for verification. Letters should be limited to 350 words and may be edited or condensed. The same writer may only submit one letter per month. Letters must be submit ted by noon Wednesday for Sunday publication. We do not publish poetry, blanket letters or consumer complaints Mail letters to the Forsyth County News, P.O. Box 210, Cumming, GA 30028, hand deliver to 302 Veterans Memorial Blvd., fax to (770) 889-6017 or email toeditor@forsythnews.com. CARTOONISTS' VIEWS ON THE NEWS M —__ , . * \ r~— — i -J ir 'C’ / | yowo ‘ for more than half of the non farm, private-sector labor force in this country. It stands to reason that if the dictionary compilers don’t know that, they most certainly are oblivious to the fact that small firms provide most ini tial on-the-job training and exposure to the labor force for new entrants. And those Main Street businesses are also more likely to employ younger workers, older work ers, former welfare recipients and women. When it comes to compen sation, small businesses pay their employees using the same means that large employers do. Some pay by the hour, others with salaries, commissions and tips; and more than half pay periodic bonuses or profit sharing. Few have any full-time employees earning the minimum wage. When it comes to benefits, small firms do their best to compete with their larger counterparts. Almost two thirds offer health coverage and three out of four provide paid vacations. But the great est benefit that they provide is work. Work is a valuable asset to a nation that honors free enterprise because it instructs and inspires future generations of entrepreneurs to continue building a great society. To demean basic employ ment defames the visions and sacrifices of millions of American employees and small-business owners who understand that work is more than a job. It is a path to a bet ter life and the key to control ling one’s economic destiny. Jack Faris is president of NFIB (the National Federation of Independent Business), the nation’s largest small-business advocacy group. A non-profit, non-par tisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. More informa tion is available on-line at www.nfib.com ;■ , * _/ 2 i \_L - J X , Ju jt? Jfe -r 7 -- - ~~T= |Y. ! ' ■’ I J 1 ■ » •• ‘ if i. . i « jJZ? MISSION ACCoMPLISUEvfc Plenty of scandal for the IG Where is the state inspec tor general now that we need him? The IG ought to put aside trying to justify Gov. Sonny Perdue’s state-paid helicopter trips to Republican fund rais ers. Such minor abuses of the public trust amount to peanuts, $75,000 tops. And file away trying to prove for mer Gov. Roy Barnes used transportation money to pay for a bus system instead of tollbooths or was it the other way around? No matter, that alleged lapse cost only a few million, sums hardly worth mentioning in state highway circles. In the past week, the Office of Inspector General has been presented with a platter of far-reaching and, in some cases, multimillion-dol lar public scandals that ought to keep the IG busy until his next fitness report is due. As you may remember, Gov. Perdue said he created the inspector general’s office to ferret out waste and uneth ical conduct. Perdue’s brand new IG, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. James E. Sehorn, immediately set to work dis pelling notions that Perdue, the man who just hired him, might be a laggard in the ethics department. OK, General, the guv is off the hook. The training exercises are over. Let us get down to real business: • Case File No. 1: A DeKalb County court has been hearing a corruption case against former Pardons and Paroles Board member Bobby Whitworth that has given us an astounding peek inside state government. Whitworth is accused of receiving upwards of $70,000 BiH Shipp . in fees for lobbying for a pri vate corporation, while he was employed full-time as a $130,000-a-year Pardons and Paroles member. The court case against Whitworth turns on the fine legal point of whether he lob bied the Legislature or just county commissioners. Trying to twist commission ers’ arms was OK. Pressuring the Legislature, on the other hand, could be a jail offense. Whitworth’s defense: State law specifically allows P&P employees to accept cash for outside work. Whitworth landed in trou ble in the first place because he tried to dismiss one Lisa Thompson as a state lobbyist for the Pardons and Paroles Board. He apparently felt Ms. Thompson would have diffi culty performing her legisla tive lobbying duties because she was involved in a high profile divorce action against state Sen. Steve Thompson, D-Powder Springs, who was Gov. Barnes’ Senate floor leader. Ms. Thompson, angered by Whitworth’s move to oust her, tipped the media to Whitworth’s night job. An energetic inspector general could devote his career to delving into the eth ical questions raised by the Whitworth case, regardless of the outcome of the DeKalb trial. For instance, what is the genesis of a law that allows full-time state workers to per- FR2D swvec> TBRKJRISr & i E aeemfeWiHißaa, *f a MONSTGR R=G£S6I<M M f- GCTTINGI2© OFF, USING, Zo/O ®l K US 4OIGO, Not™ KOKaN fc /oCX<9 C9l *S J' tws, Btaowre 3ND L I Q (Q ' ma'Nesr Nite virus,... ONTIiNas / x/\ SIMPLY Too // £M~ MUCH To Beak. <Q^© / I. XL tjzKUH £ -= I t-’miML L.iliy i <~- fl r ur S?V ~ £ ijRJWIr W ^ 3, » V \\ form lobbying duties? Who sponsored such legislation and why? Why did the state paroles board hire a lobbyist? Specifically, why did the board employ a lobbyist who was wed to an important state senator? Could such a hire possibly represent a small ethical lapse? By the way, how many state agencies keep lobbyists on their payrolls, and why? Inspector General, sir, you may want to call the “we can’t cut any more” budget cutters in on this episode. This is not exactly like finding Saddam Hussein, but you may have stumbled upon a large spider hole of public waste. • Case File No. 2: The Board of Regents shielded from political vicissitudes for the sake of preserving “aca demic freedom” has abused its sacred autonomy by managing money like a drunken sailor. For instance, when University System Chancellor Stephen Portch walked off his $750,000-a-year job a couple of years ago, the regents awarded him a $450,000 going-away gift. No, they did not consider Portch unique or even very special. They hand out such farewell rewards to all kinds of folks. The current chancellor and all the big-school presi dents would receive similar golden parachutes worth hun dreds of thousands of dollars if they just up and quit. Our wonderfully generous Board of Regents would not have it any other way. (Makes you wonder why UGA President Michael Adams is still hanging around.) However, if a school pres ident resigns to accept other gainful employment (as in the case of former UGA President Chuck Knapp), he or she receives nothing. Such a policy is not only nuts; it also demonstrates an incredibly cavalier approach to preserving the public trust and protecting the common wealth. The regents’ bean counters must be graduates of the Enron College of Business Administration. This same bunch has been milking dry the HOPE schol arship fund with repeated hikes in university tuitions and other fees. Now they want millions more to under write the withering HOPE program. Sorry, Inspector General, sir, we’re running out of space. However, these two cases ought to be enough to get you started. We’ll be back with more. One other thing: you may find, to your embarrassment, the seeds for these outrages were planted on the watch of Georgia’s first GOP governor in modern times. No! No! Not Gov. Perdue! Gov. Zell Whatshisname, the stealth Republican who became a GOP mole in the Senate. If you decide to call in Sen. Zell for a round of hot light interrogation on his administration, neither the Democratic House nor the Democrat attorney general will utter a word of protest. I guarantee it. Bill Shipp’s column is published each Wednesday and Sunday. His e-mail address is bshipp@bell south.net.