SmallBusinessNewz

Get everything in writing

Hillary Clinton's campaign picked up criticism that when it comes to making nice with small business and keeping up with healthcare bills, their efforts come up short.

The knockdown drag-out Democratic primary campaign has been rolling through the country, and it looks like the last states to vote will be as important as the earliest states to cast their ballots.

Each candidate has been looking for an edge in an increasingly negative campaign, and the topics of small business and healthcare came up in relation to Clinton's campaign management. The Blonde Sagacity blog pointed to a couple of incidents that cast Clinton poorly in the light of each topic:

"…The Clinton campaign paid (Forty Two event production) $16,500 to set up a stage, press riser, sound system and backdrops at a Youngstown high school last month for a raucous union rally, where an aggressive Clinton stump speech drew thunderous applause. But the Clinton campaign has yet to pay Forty Two for two other February events, and the employee said the campaign has stopped returning phone calls, e-mails and didn’t respond to a certified letter..."

"Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.

Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, has made her plan for universal health care a centerpiece of her agenda."

While this could serve as an effective object lesson to the candidate on the travails of small businesses affording healthcare, especially when accounts aren't being paid as agreed, it doesn't seem real likely it will merit a place in the next sound bite from Clinton.

Small business readers should take away a lesson from this: get everything in writing, ask for a deposit up front, and don't be afraid to walk away from a deal before signing it if that sets off your inner alarm bells.