By Daily Press staff
A local law firm was honored Wednesday with the California Chamber of Commerce “2003 Small Business Advocate of the Year” award for its part in defeating last fall’s living wage ballot measure.
Harding, Larmore, Kutcher & Kozal were recognized for their advocacy efforts on behalf of small businesses and were presented their awards at a luncheon before almost 600 attendees at the California Chamber’s Business Legislative Summit in Sacramento. Linda Tisherman, chair of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors described Tom Larmore, a partner in the firm, as instrumental in defeating the measure.
“Tom Larmore, our David, took on not only the city, but also the unions, Goliath,” she said. “His army was a newly formed chamber issues pac, a group of volunteer business people, from executives to part-time workers, who banded together to walk precincts, knock on doors, and make endless telephone calls to educate the voters.”
Larmore led a core of small and large businesses from throughout the westside of Los Angeles to fight the city’s $12.25 per hour minimum wage ordinance.
The awards presentation is sponsored by the California Chamber. The honorees were nominated by local chambers and selected by a task force made up of members of the California Chamber’s Small Business Committee. The criteria used in the selection process included involvement in chamber legislative committees, testifying at government hearings, authoring articles, conducting research on issues and serving in a leadership capacity on local and state ballot measures. Each year six small business owners are given awards.
The 2003 Small Business Advocate of the Year winners were: ■Thomas Larmore, partner, Harding, Larmore, Kutcher & Kozal, Santa Monica. ■Jack Macy, Partner/Owner, Carlile-Macy, Santa Rosa. ■Ron May, Vice President of Operations, Union Safe Deposit Bank, Stockton. ■Gina McBride, Owner, McBride Financial Advisory, Carlsbad. ■Jerome Say, Managing Broker, LandPoint Corporation, Torrance. ■Charles Woo, Chief Executive Officer, MegaToys, Los Angeles. “Small business growth is crucial to California’s jobs climate,” said Allan Zaremberg, president, California Chamber of Commerce. “All of the small business advocate winners have demonstrated leadership abilities not only in running their own business, which is a major accomplishment, but also in working to promote policies that will help other small businesses thrive.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 8, 2003. Read the original PDF.