Advocate for small business awarded
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
A framed, poster-sized copy of the Hawai'i Taxpayer Bill of Rights hangs across Ron Heller's desk to remind him of the way government is supposed to work in Hawai'i but too often doesn't.
"I seem to spend an awful lot of my time fighting for these rights," Heller said while looking over the poster in his downtown law office in the Topa Financial Center.
HELLER
Heller, 47, steps in as a tax attorney, certified public accountant, educator and advocate when clients feel ground up by their own government. Last week Heller was named the first "Small Business Champion" at the Hawai'i chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, whose parent organization represents 600,000 small businesses.
The organization's award means Heller's name will now go on to regional competitions, which will produce seven regional winners who will be recognized in Washington in June.
Similar plaques and trophies from the NFIB and other organizations thanking Heller for his service sit on his bookshelf inside the law offices of Torkildson, Katz, Fonseca, Moore & Hetherington, where Heller is a director.
But Heller isn't known to bring attention to himself.
"Ron's just great," said Bette Tatum, state director for the Hawai'i chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business. "But he's very modest."
Heller, however, doesn't hesitate to express his feelings about government, taxes and business.
A sign on his bookshelf reads "Taxation With Representation Is No Damn Good Either." It sits near a bumper sticker that proclaims "Protect America's Most Endangered Species: Small Business."
Most of Heller's clients run small- to medium-sized businesses and come to him when they bump up against government regulations.
"It may be the Department of Labor, it may be the Department of Taxation," Heller said. "But it basically boils down to government trying to control business. ... One of the things I have to do is calm people down. They're so upset about whatever it is the Tax Department is doing to them or the Labor Department is doing to them."
Heller brings what he calls a rational, analytical, methodical approach to any dispute. "I'm not the kind of person who yells and pounds on the table," he said.
Heller grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, where his father, a neurosurgeon, railed at the dinner table about insurance companies and the bureaucracies of medical billing.
Grant Heller was essentially a small-business man, Ron said. And as a child, Ron became interested in business, taxes and the law.
"I couldn't really decide between going to law school or pursuing an M.B.A. and going into business," Heller said. "So I finally sort of compromised by getting both degrees."
He graduated from the University of Michigan with double majors in economics and philosophy, earned a master's in business administration from the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration and went on to get a law degree at the University of Michigan Law School, with one term of law classes at Oxford University, England.
Then in 1980 Heller interviewed with a law firm in a place — Hawai'i — that he had never even visited.
In the time since, Heller has regularly testified before the Legislature on the effects that proposed laws would have on small businesses; lectured and taught courses in accounting and tax law; and co-wrote three books on Hawai'i tax law. He serves as chairman of the NFIB's Hawai'i leadership council.
"Even though he's an attorney with a nice, prestigious law firm, he's one of the few attorneys that do champion small business," said Linda Butts, who sits on the NFIB's leadership council. "His is not the first voice you'll hear on a topic and it does not come from emotion. But when people do hear his soft, quiet voice, you listen because what he says is based on the facts."
Marcia Anderson, also on the leadership council, calls Heller "very cool, calm and collected."
"I've never seen him get frazzled when he talks about an issue," she said. "He does have the facts and he presents them in a very clear and concise manner. He's also a heck of a nice guy who would do anything for you."
State Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), views Heller through the eyes of a small-business owner trying to run a building contracting firm, as a member of the leadership council and as a legislator who listens to Heller's testimony on tax legislation.
"He's seen as an advocate for getting the correct information as it relates to bills and being a good resource," Sakamoto said. "It's not in any way related to a political agenda. He helps make clear the consequences and — if there are — unintended consequences."
Heller figures he spends about 10 to 15 hours per month working with groups such as the NFIB, Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i and Small Business Hawai'i, testifying before the Legislature and teaching continuing professional education seminars to CPAs, attorneys and real-estate agents.
"Whoever's working for the cause of small business," Heller said, "I've been some way and somehow involved with them."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
