JOB CREATORS TO WASHINGTON: STOP BULLYING BUSINESS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 12, 2013
CONTACT: Michael Caputo
716-867-5554
mcaputo@jcausa.org
JOB CREATORS TO WASHINGTON: STOP BULLYING BUSINESS
Five Guys Franchisee Draws Powerful Allies
(DALLAS, TX) – The CEO leaders of Job Creators Alliance today announced their strong support of a restaurant franchisee whose health care comments landed him in the national spotlight. The small business group also identified a troubling pattern of orchestrated campaigns to silence small business complaints about Obamacare.
“Mike Ruffer is in the same tough spot most job creators are in today: stuck between uncertainty and Obamacare,” said Bernie Marcus, co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot. “He has every right to speak his mind, but today he’s being punished for it. In fact, he’s just the latest – we’re seeing a pattern of intimidation against small business leaders who speak up about the failures of Obamacare.”
Mr. Ruffer, owner of eight Five Guys Burgers and Fries franchises in North Carolina, joined a Monday Heritage Foundation panel discussion on Obamacare and small business. Ruffer said health care reform was hurting his business and forcing him to cancel expansion plans and raise burger prices. When his comments hit the Internet, calls from Obamacare supporters rained into executives at Five Guys headquarters. Within hours, corporate was distancing themselves from the beleaguered small businessman.
“What is most disturbing is that many business leaders like Mr. Ruffer are being singled out for a public thrashing for simply explaining the realities of the Affordable Care Act,” said Marcus, who is also co-founder of Job Creators Alliance (JCA).
Darden Restaurants – owner of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster restaurants – spoke out in late 2012 and was rapidly rebuked via telephone, email and social media. At the same time, RREMC Restaurants, which owns more than 30 Denny’s locations, announced plans to pass the cost on to consumers. Within a day, Denny’s corporate offices had the CEO apologizing. Last month, Universal Orlando Resort announced cancellation of a health care program for their part time employees and the Internet exploded in derision.
“The list goes on and on: Applebees, Papa John’s, even golfer Phil Mickelson – when a business owner speaks up about job killing policies, they are quickly bullied into apologizing,” said JCA member Mike Leven, president of Las Vegas Sands. “Who is orchestrating the telephone banks and email campaigns which erupt moments after a business leader speaks against Obamacare? For the first time in my long career, I feel like a target. We all do.”
“Job creators across the country are staring into the depths of Obamacare uncertainty today, facing the same decisions as Mr. Ruffer,” Marcus said. “That’s bad enough. But when campaign forces attack small business leaders like him, disrupting commerce and risking jobs just to make a political point, job creators are no longer just uncertain. They’re afraid.”
ABOUT JCA
Job Creators Alliance is the voice of real job creators that has been missing from the American debate on jobs and our economic crisis. JCA members talk about paychecks, not politics, helping the public and policymakers understand how to create jobs. Please visit www.JobCreatorsAlliance.org for more information.
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I've got an answer. Stop apologizing.
Funny, I now feel like burgers every night this week
I agree with Barbara! So what? No apologies.
I've got an answer, too! REPEAL Obummercare! It's a disgrace what's he is and has done to this country!
What can be done to expose the phone bank and email groups? Why don't the corporate groups refuse to be strong armed by the Obamacare supporters.
There are many many more of us out here that do NOT support support it!
The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him!
The Nazi's and the Communist's and the thug gangsters from Chicago opperate this way.
We all should create an all inclusive FB page for us. Then we can organize.
Tolerant left my arse. They are evil vultures!! Screw them and stop apologizing! You'll find there are just as many, if not more, who support you!!!
How about this for an apology, I'm sorry that Obama and Obaomacare is screwing the country.
Sadly this is the way America is now. If you do not agree with whatever "It" is you are intimidated, harassed and abused.
That's only because we lay down for them. We must find a way to be heard and fight back, I mean fight to the !! Cause that's what They'll do.
Burgers and fries + a 20 oz soda…I live in NY and Bullyburg tried the same crap..No more Government hijacking small businesses.
Obamacare was essentially written to bankrupt small businesses. It's a consolidation by the megacorps, who participated in the writing of the bill and are exempt. This is part of the de-industrialization of America.