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About Coast river business journal. (Astoria, OR) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
2 • JANUARY 2020 COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK Too many good intentions make life complicated for small business A fter reading stories about new state laws taking effect this year — see pages 12 and 13 — an old observation came to mind that no one is safe when the legislature is in session. This was cynical of me. Lawmakers and agencies mostly make a good-faith effort to address genuine problems faced by constitu- ents. Seldom do they actively conspire to make anyone’s life worse. Instead, as someone responsible for making a pay- roll and stewarding vital jour- nalistic assets into the future, it just seems to me that too MATT WINTERS PUBLISHER & EDITOR many good intentions landing all at once can jam things up. Keeping a business alive for yourself, your employees and owners/shareholders requires constant attention. Add on a new pile of good intentions generated in Olympia and Salem, and you can be for- given for wondering whether their authors have ever had to sweat through a month or a season of hard times. And yet I have no fun- damental disagreement with reforms like outlawing overly restrictive non-com- pete clauses in employment contracts, or requiring rea- sonable work adjustments for pregnancy. Lawmak- ers should, however, make a better effort to examine the totality of what they pass each session to ensure that business — especially small business — isn’t paved over by good intentions. Summer 2020 Paid Internships While considering what to say about new laws, I chanced upon a variety of old quotes about American politics and government. Groucho Marx, or perhaps someone else, said, “Politics is the art of looking for trou- ble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” My maternal grandfather’s favorite political commenta- tor was Will Rogers, while I lean more toward Mark Twain, whose Oct. 24, 1866 standup routine one of my paternal great-great-grandfa- thers saw while mining gold Taking care of your business... Just Got Easier! Students age 16+ APPLY BY FEBRUARY 7, 2020! Internships in healthcare, marketing, construction, veterinary medicine, education, automotive, lumber manufacturing, tourism, and more! PHOTO CREDIT: T HE DA ILY A STO RIA N in Red Dog, California. On politics in general, Twain said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.” About Congress, he observed, “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” But Rogers has much more to say that seems rele- vant to our modern situation. “This country has come to feel the same when Con- gress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a ham- mer,” Rogers said. The same might be true of state legislatures. Mike Wallis, CPA RYAN STANLEY, COORDINATOR 503-338-2507 www.clatsopworks.com Suzanne Corliss • Income Tax Preparation & Planning • Accounting Services & Financial Statements • Elder Accounting • Consulting Services for New & Existing Businesses • Payroll Services WWC Business Solutions, Inc. 1024 MARINE DRIVE • ASTORIA • 503.325.2200
