Making Waves Small-business owners go to Washington to make their voices heard.

Restaurant owner Perry Moy started lobbying "inside theBeltway" for the same reason many other small-business ownerssuddenly start prowling the Capitol's corridors. Someone inWashington ticked him off. In Moy's case, it was Sen. PaulSimon (D-IL), who told Moy, owner of the Plum Garden restaurant inMcHenry, Illinois, that Moy was overreacting to the Clinton healthreform plan.

Moy and his mother started the Plum Garden 32 years ago. But by1990, Moy was beginning to feel he had a silent partner: thefederal government. He got involved in the Illinois RestaurantAssociation, then the National Restaurant Association. In 1994, Moycame to Washington as part of that association's annual publicaffairs conference, which included a "Day on the Hill"meeting with congressional representatives.

At the time, President Clinton was pushing health reform,planning to pay for it in part with a payroll tax increase. Moysought out his senator, Paul Simon. According to Moy, when hecomplained about the impact a new payroll tax would have on his32-employee company, Simon answered, "Oh, Perry, you canafford that. Just raise prices."