mr. o'connor. robert levy? if there is any individual who has submitted an application for this vacancy who has not spoken, please come forward. i think that concludes the testimony from all of the applicants. now let's turn it over to public comment. if there is any member of the public would like to speak on item seven, you each have two minutes. please come forward. thank you. >> good afternoon, again. i am president of the united humanitarian mission, and i support svetlana kaff. in my mind, is an ideal situation if all members of this commission will be one voice and the entertainment commission. we have people with nightclubs. one person killed a tourist from germany, and i think the members of the entertainment commission not only defend their personal interests or the interests of the industry, but defend the interests of the informant, prevent crime in our city, and because i have some experience in my commission, i know in the commissions they need advisory persons. if they have this person, that is t

mr. o'connor for his service. the work on the small business commission has been truly significant, and i think that experience would play well in a commission like this. the testimony of mr. hahn i thought was really -- i thought that stood alone, and so did mr. thomas and ms. weissman. the work on the civil grand jury, you have probably worked in learned on many things that most people do not know, which would benefit the commission. but i will be supporting mr. benetti today, for a number of different reasons. aside from the fact that he is truly qualified for this position, his resume is fabulous. but i think mr. benetti and i share a perspective most people do not share. when you sit at the board of supervisors and are in the middle of heated debate and one of your colleagues turns around and looks at you and says, you know, disabled people don't go to golden gate park so we don't have to worry about the issues there which is an honest to god statement, i have to say to myself, we need more people who were ab

mr. o'connor. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is michael o'connor. i'm here to request a possible appointment to the entertainment commission. i will acknowledge i have served last six years on the small business commission, where i have spearheaded the small business assistance center downstairs, which i'm very proud of. i think small businesses are the lifeline to all of our communities. i have also worked on the mayor's health care task force. i have worked on the back street business task force. one of the things i really appreciate about entertainment, night life, art, business business is the finalization these businesses bring to save his code to allow the city -- to san francisco, to allow the city to have businesses that are centralized. my interest in the entertainment commission was sparked last year when our mayor was throwing around the possibility of adding the commission. i did not agree with that idea because i think the commission plays a valuable role, and i felt i had a voice that could serve a strong purpose on that commission. i

o'connor: they don't. >> even though in 2008 i received assurances from christine debary and kathleen dodd telling me it doesn't affect me, it has nothing to do with me. and i called mr. mirkarimi's office at the time and i quote him, "that's what they told you, take it to the bank, don't worry about it." >> are you finished? commissioner o'connor: yeah. >> first of all, this is an example, one of many examples, of well intended legislation that actually degrades business plans and moves them in the opposite direction, the direction that we don't want them to go. i mean, here's a pharmacy, it's a small pharmacy, it's not really profitable, it's a family-run business. it is extending credit to people in the district. it is, you know, assisting low-income people. and yes, a part of its business plan is financed by the sale of a legal product. all right, i mean, it's very difficult, this legal product that is available at the corner liquor store. i'm not really buying the argument that if children see cigarettes somewhere in a store that somehow it's going to be seen as more healthy if it's in one store or another store. i'm not really buying that argument that keeps, y

mr. snyder first -- i solicited free press readers for questions. the one i chose came from a young man named daniel o'connoro's a graduate student at michigan state university, and he lives in royal oak. he asks, "the growing section of our economy is services and the growing section of our population is retirees, yet under the current tax system both are largely shielded from taxes. as governor, would you support a revenue neutral structural tax reform bill that shifts the burden towards services and retirees and away from other job providers who would entice more professionals and young families to michigan. mr. snyder? >> that's not how you address tax reform. in terms of going after it, the starting point in our state, given the environment we have, is we have to get rid of the job killer, and that's the michigan business tax. it is fundamentally unfair. it simply needs to be replaced, and i propose replacing it with a flat six percent corporate income tax. that would take the business burden off of most small business, because they're not even corporations. that's the right altitude. we need to go from

mr. snyder first, i solicited free press readers for questions, the one i chose came from a young man named daniel o'connor, graduate student at michigan state university, he lives in royal oak. he asks, the growing section of our economy is services and the growing section of our population is retiring. yet under the current tax system both are largely shielded from taxes. as governor, would you support a revenue neutral structural tax reform bill that shifts the burden towards services and retirees and away from other job providers who would entice more professionals and young families to michigan. >> that's not how you address tax reform. in terms of going after the starting point, our state, given the environment we have, we have to get rid of the job killer, that's the michigan business tax. it is fundamentally unfair. it simply needs to be replaced. i propose replacement with a flat corporate income tax. that would take the business burden off most small businesses because they are not even corporations. that's the right attitude. we need to go from job killer to job creation. it would make us among

mr. snyder first -- i solicited free press readers for questions. the one i chose came from a young man named daniel o'connor, who's a graduate student at michigan state university, and he lives in royal oak. he asks, "the growing section of our economy is services and the growing section of our population is retirees, yet under the current tax system both are largely shielded from taxes. as governor, would you support a revenue neutral structural tax reform bill that shifts the burden towards services and retirees and away from other job providers who would entice more professionals and young families to michigan. mr. snyder? >> that's not how you address tax reform. in terms of going after it, the starting point in our state, given the environment we have, is we have to get rid of the job killer, and that's the michigan business tax. it is fundamentally unfair. it simply needs to be replaced, and i propose replacing it with a flat six percent corporate income tax. that would take the business burden off of most small business, because they're not even corporations. that's the right altitude. we need to go