[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            NIBBLED TO DEATH

                                 ______


                             HON. JIM KOLBE

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 1994

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues a 
recent article appearing in the December 1993 issue of INC. magazine. 
The article, written by former Senator George McGovern, illustrates 
being out in the real world, away from Washington fantasyland, often 
provides a big dose of reality. McGovern states ``I do know that if I 
were back in the U.S. Senate or in the White House, I would ask a lot 
of questions before I voted for any more burdens on the thousands of 
struggling businesses across the Nation.'' While it may be too late for 
Senator McGovern, it's not too late for this Congress to heed those 
words.

                       [From INC., December 1993]

                            Nibbled to Death

      (By George McGovern, former U.S. Senator from North Dakota)

       After a run for the presidency and a quarter century on 
     Capitol Hill, George McGovern left public service and became 
     the owner of a business--a punishing revelatory experience. 
     If only, he says now, his career sequence had been the other 
     way around * * *.
       Calvin Coolidge was too simplistic when he observed that 
     ``the business of America is business.'' But like most 
     sweeping political statements, even Coolidge's contains some 
     truth--enough, as I've learned, to make me wish I had known 
     more firsthand about the concerns and problems of American 
     business-people while I was a U.S. senator and later a 
     presidential nominee. That knowledge would have made me a 
     better legislator and a more worthy aspirant to the White 
     House.
       In 1988 I yielded to a longtime desire to own an inn with 
     conference facilities, where I could provide good food, 
     comfortable rooms, and lively public sessions. A friend of 
     mine, who had a lifetime of hotel- and restaurant-management 
     experience, described the Stratford Inn, in Connecticut, near 
     the respected Shakespeare Theater, as the ideal place for 
     such an undertaking. He agreed to manage it for me if I'd put 
     up the capital.
       Without properly analyzing the difficulties of such an 
     endeavor, I plunged into the hotel industry with a virtually 
     impossible leasehold agreement, just as the recession hit New 
     England with unusual force. Given the nature of the lease and 
     the severity of the recession. I doubt in hindsight that 
     either Hilton or Marriott could have made this venture 
     profitable. I certainly couldn't.
       After two and a half years that mixed pleasure and 
     satisfaction with the loss of all my earnings from nearly a 
     decade of post-Senate lecture tours, I gave up on the 
     Stratford Inn. But not before learning some painful and 
     valuable lessons.
       I learned first of all that over the past 20 years America 
     has become the most litigious society in the world. There was 
     a time not so long ago when a lawsuit was considered a rare 
     and extreme measure, to be resorted to only under the most 
     critical circumstances. But today Americans sue one 
     another at the drop of a hat--almost on the spur of the 
     moment.
       As the owner of the Stratford Inn, I was on the receiving 
     end of a couple of lawsuits that fit that description. In one 
     case, a man left our lounge late one night and headed for his 
     car, which was parked in our parking lot. He got into a fight 
     along the way, and later sued the hotel for not providing 
     more security in the parking area. We did have a security 
     guard on duty, but I doubt that many hotels can afford the 
     kind of extensive security arrangements that could guarantee 
     there will never be an altercation among patrons once they 
     leave the comfort of life in the tavern.
       On another occasion, a person leaving our restaurant and 
     lounge lost his footing and fell, allegedly suffering a 
     costly injury. He promptly sued us for damages. Both of the 
     suits were subsequently dismissed, but not without a first-
     rate legal defense that did not come cheaply.
       I am a former history professor, not a lawyer. But it does 
     seem to me that not every accident or fall or misfortune is 
     the fault of the business at which it occurs. Yet lawsuits 
     prompted by such events have spawned a multibillion-dollar 
     industry--one that drives up the costs of doing business and 
     rendering medical care. Not to mention how it wars against a 
     congenial and humane way of life. We begin to see one another 
     not as compatriots, neighbors, and fellow citizens but as 
     potential plaintiffs, and defendants. If we don't stop suing 
     one another for every possible misfortunate or alleged 
     negligence, we are going to undermine both the health of our 
     economy and the quality of our society.
       The second lesson I learned by owning the Stratford Inn is 
     that legislators and government regulators must more 
     carefully consider the economic and management burdens we 
     have been imposing on U.S. business. As an innkeeper, I 
     wanted excellent safeguards against a fire. But I was 
     startled to be told that our two-story structure, which had 
     large sliding doors opening from every guest room to all-
     concrete decks, required us to meet fire regulations more 
     appropriate to the Waldorf-Astoria. A costly automatic 
     sprinkler system and new exit doors were items that helped 
     sink the Stratford Inn--items I was convinced added little to 
     the safety of our guests and employees. And a critical 
     promotional campaign never got off the ground, partly because 
     my manager was forced to concentrate for days at a time on 
     needlessly complicated tax forms for both the IRS and the 
     state of Connecticut.
       I'm for protecting the health and well-being of both 
     workers and consumers. I'm for a clean environment and 
     economic justice. But I'm convinced we can pursue those 
     worthy goals and still cut down vastly on the incredible 
     paperwork, the complicated tax forms, the number of minute 
     regulations, and the seemingly endless reporting requirements 
     that afflict American business. Many businesses, especially 
     small independents such as the Stratford Inn, simply can't 
     pass such costs on to their customers and remain competitive 
     or profitable.
       I'm not expert enough after only two and a half years as a 
     business owner to know the solutions to all those concerns. I 
     do know that if I were back in the U.S. Senate or in the 
     White House, I would ask a lot of question before I voted for 
     any more burdens on the thousands of struggling businesses 
     across the nation.
       For example, I would ask whether specific legislation 
     exacts a managerial price exceeding any overall benefit it 
     might produce. What are the real economic and social gains of 
     the legislation when compared with the costs and competitive 
     handicaps it imposes on businesspeople?
       I'm lucky. I can recover eventually from the loss of the 
     Stratford Inn because I'm still able to generate income from 
     lectures and other services. But what about the 60 people who 
     worked for me in Stratford? While running my struggling 
     hotel, I never once missed a payroll. What happens to the 
     people who counted on that, and to their families and 
     community, when an owner goes under? Those questions worry 
     me, and they ought to worry all of us who love this country 
     as a land of promise and opportunity.

                          ____________________