An Open Letter to Congressman Ro Khanna

If you want us to stop seeing your party as the one that is attacking us, then please stop attacking us.

Dear Congressman Khanna,

I listened with great interest to this Politico Tech podcast that featured you as a guest.

At about 3:35, you explain why you believe that some leaders in Silicon Valley are supporting former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election instead of President Joe Biden.

“I think it’s something for the Democrats to be concerned about,” you say. A bit later, you add, “We have to, as the Democrats, be the party of innovation, the party of entrepreneurship.”

At about 9:30 into the podcast, you say that Democrats do not have a problem of policy on such topics.

“I don’t think we have a challenge of issues. I think we have a challenge of communication,” you tell the host. “Politics is about persuasion. It’s about making compelling arguments.”

As an entrepreneur, I strongly beg to differ. We’ve all heard your arguments about independent contractors like us again and again, for years now.

With respect, Congressman, you don’t have a communication problem.

You’re just plain wrong on policy.

What the Record Shows

Independent contractors are entrepreneurs. We are people who have the courage to hang out a shingle and go into business for ourselves. We are the nation’s smallest of small business owners—companies of one, with no employees. Study after study shows that the vast majority of us wish to remain that way.

You and President Biden have repeatedly spoken out and voted against our wishes.

Let’s start with your record. You supported California’s Assembly Bill 5, which crushed freelancers and forced people in countless professions—writers, translators, musicians, actors and more—to fight for their livelihoods.

As if that horrible outcome in a single state wasn’t bad enough, you became a co-sponsor of the PRO Act, which uses California’s freelance-busting Assembly Bill 5 as its model for independent-contractor policy nationwide. It threatens the careers of tens of millions of us in hundreds of professions.

You adopted the talking points of those who are calling for as many of us as possible to be reclassified as employees against our will. You have personally called for “an end to worker misclassification” without making any commitment whatsoever to protecting legitimate independent contractors (who are, according to the government’s own research, the majority of independent contractors).

And, here’s what you tweeted about the new U.S. Labor Department independent contractor rule, which freelancers including me are suing over in federal court:

Your record on independent contractors is clear. You—like many of your fellow Democrats—believe that independent contractors would be better off as employees, even though we consistently tell you otherwise.

Again, with respect, Congressman, you do not have a communication problem.

You are wrong on the issue.

Time and again, members of your party have ignored us as we have tried to solve this policy problem. Here’s an example of me attempting to speak about the issue with Representative Alma Adams, D-North Carolina, on Capitol Hill last year:

Representative Adams did not speak to me at all that day. Nor did any other Democrat. I traveled all the way to Washington, D.C., on my own time and my own dime, and then sat there for three hours, ready and willing to have the discussion politely in an open, public forum.

By contrast, the Democrats used the hearing to continue pushing these freelance-busting policies that threaten our livelihoods.

As I said that day on Capitol Hill, we are grateful to the handful of Senate Democrats who helped to block the PRO Act. They include Mark Warner of Virginia and Mark Kelly of Arizona, who both said publicly that they do not want to harm legitimate independent contractors all across the country.

Those two Democrats are not attacking entrepreneurs. If I lived in their districts, I would consider voting for them.

You and most other members of the Democratic Party are doing the opposite. You have repeatedly, relentlessly and remorselessly threatened our livelihoods.

That characterization includes President Biden, who supported California’s freelance-busting law:

Even now, years later, after Assembly Bill’s 5 widespread damage to people’s livelihoods is abundantly clear, President Biden continues to try and make good on his promise to use it as the basis for all federal labor, employment and tax law.

Here are his own words from his own campaign website:

Again, with respect, President Biden does not have a communication problem. We are all hearing him just fine.

He, too, is wrong on the issue.

Please, Stop

Here’s my advice to you, Congressman Khanna, and to all of your fellow Democrats who now wish to be seen as a party that supports entrepreneurs:

If you want us to stop seeing you as people who are attacking us, then please stop attacking us.

In order to be seen as the party of entrepreneurship, Democrats have to acknowledge the existence of, and support the wishes of, America’s entrepreneurs. You must take our concerns seriously and fix the independent-contractor policy issue.

I will end this open letter by saying to you, Sir, the same thing that I said to Congresswoman Adams a year ago: I hope we can have a conversation about the harm it will do if you misclassify tens of millions of Americans like me.

You are correct to be concerned about the attitude that entrepreneurs like me have toward your party in the upcoming election.

Attitudes reflect leadership, Congressman.

Sincerely,

Kim Kavin