A powerful Washington-based business organization that organized a series of fiscal-cliff policy discussions at the White House this week between senior Obama administration officials and local small business owners recruited each of the business owners to serve as community advocates and write op-eds supporting President Obama?s budget proposal, insiders believe.
The organization Business Forward has hosted more than 350 U.S. small business leaders over the last three weeks to discuss the fiscal cliff with senior officials in Washington, D.C., including White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett and White House Council of Economic Advisors chairman Alan Krueger.
The Business Forward Tumblr page features photographs of the specially-selected small business leaders engaged in workshops with the White House officials.
Though Business Forward has organized such workshops in the past, the organization?s Tumblr page was not updated with new photographs between March 19 and Nov. 19, when the current round of meetings on the fiscal cliff issue began.
Founded in 2009 to represent the business community in advocating for Obama?s economic policies, according to Washington insiders, Business Forward is a collaboration between some of the nation?s largest and most powerful companies.
?Members include Aetna, American Airlines, AT&T, CIT, Citi, Comcast, Dow, Duke Energy, Facebook, Fidelity, Ford, Hilton Hotels, HP, Intuit, Lockheed Martin, Nike, McDonald?s, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, Visa, United Health Group, AllScripts and Walmart,? according to the Business Forward website.
?These corporations work with Business Forward to identify, recruit and brief small business owners, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs of all kinds who are looking for a meaningful way to participate in policy debates,? according to the organization.
These small business owners include local success stories like Nancy Victor, president-elect of the San Antonio chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
?Nancy Victor is no stranger to the national scene,? gushed her hometown television station KSAT Nov. 26.?She ?went to the White House in June for talks on the local economy and job creation. Victor has been invited back to Washington, D.C., next week to give input about the talks surrounding the so-called ?fiscal cliff.??
Victor told KSAT that she was ?fortunate? to be invited to the White House. She also made a statement criticizing government spending cuts. Victor also said that Congress needs to ?move us forward.?
KSAT concluded the segment by mentioning Victor?s recent op-ed in the local Express News.
The small business owners ?recruited? by Business Forward don?t just participate in policy debates.
?They go back home and talk to their colleagues, their clients and their networks. They write op-eds, talk to reporters and talk about the need for a balanced approach,? Business Forward executive director Bert Kaufman told The Hill Thursday.
Though many of their op-eds are strikingly similar, none of them mention their affiliation with Business Forward.
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