Industry weighs contenders for White House: as Obama, Clinton, McCain battle on, operators mull their stances toward business

Nation's Restaurant News,  Feb 25, 2008  by Paul Frumkin

Tags: industry, White House

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WASHINGTON -- As the remaining presidential hopefuls duke it out in state primaries and caucuses across the nation, members of the foodservice community are taking a harder look at where the candidates stand on issues that could affect the future of restaurant businesses.

Restaurateurs acknowledge that even as power over many critical issues has been shifting down to statehouse and city hall levels, the federal government retains the ability to flex powerful legislative muscle when it comes to such issues as immigration, health care, tax relief and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To be sure, pundits say, it's still a little too early in the race for the White House to nail down frontrunners Sens. Hillary Clinton,

D-N.Y.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Barack Obama, D-Ill., on the nutsand-bolts details of their platforms.

"Party platforms are really not finalized until after the conventions," said John Gay, senior vice president of government affairs and public policy for the National Restaurant Association.

Candidates, for example, have not clarified their positions on menu labeling or restaurant depreciation, said Scott Vinson, vice president of government relations for the National Council of Chain Restaurants.

As of press time, only Clinton has weighed in on the food safety issue. She has called for, among other things, increased funding, tougher regulations and the creation of a single Food Safety Administration responsible for the centralization of all food products.

In the meantime, the candidates continue to fine-tune their messages as they stump around the country. While former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee still represents something of a political wild card, experts give him little or no chance of clinching the Republican nomination for president--barring, of course, an unforeseen development concerning McCain.

"He doesn't really have a chance to be the nominee," Vinson said, a position shared by other association executives. "He's only really a factor if he comes in as vice president."

However, the three other candidates have begun to stake out their positions on certain big-picture themes, Vinson said. For example, both Clinton and Obama tend to be generally in step on key labor issues, like "card-check" legislation. Both candidates have said they support "The Employee Free Choice Act," a bill that seeks to replace private ballot elections monitored by the National Labor Relations Board with card-check elections. The measure would enable unions to organize a restaurant if a simple majority of employees signed a card.

McCain, whom Vinson says is generally quiet on labor and work-force issues, has said in this case that he opposes the bill.

"For the most part, though, he has been a pretty reliable probusiness vote in the past," he said.

"This issue will be one of sharper differences between Republicans and Democrats and presidential candidates down the stretch," said David French, vice president of government relations for the International Franchise Association. "It's likely to garner a fair amount of attention."

Both Clinton and Obama also support such labor-related issues as mandatory paid sick leave, family and medical leave, the American with Disabilities Act Restoration Act, and a minimumwage increase. While McCain did vote for the last federal minimumwage hike in 2007, his office has not responded to questions about his position on the other issues.

Vinson suggested that given McCain's previous positioning, he would likely vote against the ADA Restoration Act. Clinton, conversely, has gone on record as saying that if she were elected president, she would sign the bill.

Huckabee is not seen as necessarily being a pro-business candidate, although observers say his populist leanings could bring him to support some labor issues.

All of the candidates have staked out positions on health care reform. Obama said that while he would not require universal mandates he advocates a "pay or play" scenario for employers--in other words, employers would have the choice to either provide health care coverage for their employees or pay a percentage of their payroll into a national plan.

Clinton appears to support universal mandates and also favors a "pay or play" scenario for large businesses.

McCain has come out in favor of health care reform, but opposes federal mandates on universal health care. In the past he has advocated the smallbusiness health care plans, while Clinton and Obama have opposed them.

Huckabee opposes universal health care mandated by federal edict.

As far as comprehensive immigration reform is concerned, Clinton, McCain and

Obama have adopted a pro-business stance at least to some extent, French said.

They all have voiced interest in some form of guest-worker program at one time or another. McCain, however, appears to be back-pedaling a little, Vinson added, given the sensitivity of the issue within Republican ranks. Where he previously called for a path-to-citizenship mechanism, his position now seems to be a little less certain, Vinson said.