Small Business Champion Honored

Ed Laird, a Huntington Beach entrepreneur who has fought against government regulation and red tape for years, has been named “1999 Small Business Advocate of the Year” by the California Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” Laird said. “I’ve spent a lot of hours advancing positions favorable to small business.”

Laird, 56, has played an active role in several advocacy groups. He served as chairman from 1993 to 1998 of the Small Business Coalition of Southern California, a watchdog group with 2,000 member businesses; sat on the board of directors of the Orange County Business Council since its inception in 1993; and is vice chairman of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Laird, owner of Coatings Resource Corp., a 25-year-old paint manufacturing firm in Huntington Beach, said his own personal experience with overzealous bureaucrats sensitized him to the plight of other small business owners.

“My company is highly regulated, and we have to go through the same type of regulatory maze that an oil refinery would,” he said. “I want to lighten the burden of overregulation and overkill both for myself and for others.”

Laird was one of six small business owners honored by the California Chamber.