How Business Views the Election

To monitor business’s pulse on politics, The Times will present Southland executives’ and business owners’ opinions about the presidential election. This is one in a series of snapshots.

Name: Pedro Pallan

Company: San Antonio Bakery, Compton

Position: Owner

Registration: Democrat

Q. Who are you going to vote for?

A. Undecided

Q. Why?

A. I’m really not happy with the Bush Administration, or with Clinton. I was favoring Perot earlier in the year, but he has become kind of wishy-washy. It seems I’ve really got to do some good thinking here. We’re blaming him (Bush) for the situation we’re in now, and I believe the buck stops there. Because of the domestic economy, he needs to put more emphasis here, on the United States, than abroad. (With Clinton) it’s just that he comes from Arkansas, a small state that hasn’t really progressed. It’s just a lot of little things, like the draft-dodging issue, and he smoked marijuana but he didn’t inhale. All those things make me skeptical and unsure. I’ve been voting for many years, and it’s the first time I’m not really gung-ho for any candidate. I’ve really lost faith.

Q. What are the main issues for your business?

A. I have a bakery here. I retail and I wholesale, and the wholesale part is down 40% from last year. Since I supply the catering houses, and they cater to the factories and jobs around here, I can see the economy is way down. Foreign policy affects the business one way or another. The state of California is not really helping us with these things, like insurance, workman’s comp, fraud. I laid three people off, and they filed workman’s comp suits. It’s really expensive and it really hurts us. We can’t compete anymore. We’re losing a lot of defense companies from here. They just do not have any contracts or work.

Q. What needs to be done to right the economy?

A. I definitely believe the state government can help the businesses in California, just by fixing up workman’s comp so it gives the employer a chance to defend himself from these claims. At this point it’s like no fault, they have no defense. A lot of them are false claims. At the federal level, I’d like to see the United States become more competitive worldwide. And this Rebuild L.A. and these federal funds, I think they should act a little faster. There are still business persons who don’t have the aid to restart their businesses, and it’s not just the African-American. It’s become a white and black issue, but Asians and Latinos have been left out, or not allowed to come in.