Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.
Nevada has the nation's fastest growing number of women-owned businesses, and on Tuesday a small group of local female business owners sat in on a conference call with Sen. John Kerry to hear his plans to help them.
The event was part of a national conference call sponsored by Women Impacting Public Policy that included about 2,000 business owners.
Kerry told the women that he understands their concerns because he owned a small retail business and started his own small law firm in Massachusetts.
"We will create an environment where small businesses are at the front of our agenda," he said. "I've never met a big business in America that didn't start in a garage or a basement."
The Bush administration, he said, has aided large companies, sometimes forgetting the important needs of small businesses.
He pointed out that the Bush administration removed the administrator of the Small Business Administration from the cabinet.
The administration also has allowed large businesses to win more federal contracts by bundling smaller deals together, Kerry said, leaving out businesses owned by women and minorities.
Some of the top concerns expressed by women involved rising health care costs, which small businesses rarely can afford.
Sheila McKay, who owns a small manufacturing company, said she has provided insurance to her four employees at a cost of at least $7,000 a year.
Businesses like hers need help, she said.
Kerry promised to provide tax breaks to small businesses that provide health care for their employees.
Carolyn Stephens, who owns a small computer services company in Las Vegas, said she was glad to hear Kerry say he wants to hold another White House conference on small businesses, like one held by President Bill Clinton in 1995, so that small-business owners can express their concerns to the administration.
Joan Michelson, who owns a Las Vegas marketing firm, said Kerry provided thoughtful answers and had worked to ensure his ideas wouldn't have unintended consequences.
"He seems to be looking for creative solutions," she said. "He's not just adding another layer of bureaucracy."
Republican County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, who owns a medical consulting business and recently resigned from the Station Casinos board of directors, said on Tuesday that her small business has benefited from Bush's tax cuts and that his administration has made small businesses a priority.
"I think it's no small coincidence that the number of women and minority businesses have flourished under this administration," she said.
According to the Center for Women's Business Research, the number of women-owned businesses in Nevada grew by 114 percent between 1997 and 2004, to 11,191 businesses.
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