Chief Counsel Tom Sullivan has been giving a round of “exit interviews” (his last day is October 24) with the media. In a recent interview with Kent Hoover of the American City Business Journals, he called for the Office of Advocacy to become completely independent of the SBA. According to Kent,
Despite his office’s successes, however, Sullivan thinks it should be moved out of the SBA. Its job — serving as an independent watchdog for small businesses in the federal regulatory process — has nothing to do with the SBA’s loan programs, he said. The Office of Advocacy’s work involves policies that affect a broader slice of the small business community than the small percentage that use SBA programs, he said.
Although Chief Counsel Sullivan has previously supported a line-item budget for Advocacy, this is the first time that he has called for complete independence.
— John McDowell