Advocacy Chief Counsel Nominee Remains in Limbo

Jul 13th, 2010 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Regulations

It has been more than a year now since President Obama nominated Dr. Winslow Sargeant to be Chief Counsel of the SBA Office of Advocacy. Back then, his nomination hearing before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship was such a cordial affair that it’s difficult to believe there could be so much controversy attached to the nomination that Dr. Sargeant remains unconfirmed to this day. The nomination was approved by the Committee by a vote of 13-6 with one of those nay-sayers being Committee Ranking Member Olympia Snowe, who expressed concern about the fact that the nominee is not a lawyer.

Of course, the Chief Counsel of the SBA Office of Advocacy is not required by statute to be an attorney but, evidently, Ranking Member Snowe believes Dr. Sargeant could not possibly be a vigilant champion for small businesses in the arena of the federal regulatory burden without that law degree. Parenthetically, former Chief Counsel Tom Sullivan does not agree; he has already endorsed the nomination. Committee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu is still trying to move the nomination forward and, finally, late last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed on the Senate floor that the hold on it originated from Senate Snowe. All things considered, the question is whether it will be possible to work with her staff on this or whether she intends to block the nomination until it is withdrawn. I was unable to connect with Senator Snowe’s staff prior to close of business on Friday to ask.

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  1. Hank Wilfong July 14th, 2010 10:59 am :

    FREE WINSLOW SARGENT!!!!

    They need to stop holding him hostage. They said he must be a lawyer to rub the Advocacy unit. Well, guess who’s been running the shop for over a year, while they use that bogus argument, You got it- a non-lawyer female has been running the shop.

    Now,. I wonder what they got to say about that?

    We are at a loss to understand why The President doesn”t just go ahead and make an Interim appointment. We’re tired of waiting for the Senate to “get off the pot”.

    Hank Wilfong
    President
    National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses (NASDB)