In his Sept. 24 Maine Voices column (“It’s time for feds to back off, let businesses grow”), U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Summers promises to reduce “excessive (federal) regulations” and to create in Washington a “national small-business advocate.”

The numbers of rules and pages in the Code of Federal Regulations asserted by Mr. Summers are, in themselves, meaningless. More informative would be a perusal of the 50 “Titles” readily available at www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr, which yields a good overview of the range of responsibilities Congress has assigned to the federal government, all involving some kind of regulation binding on government agencies.

That said, perhaps Mr. Summers could give an accurate account of — let’s say, three — regulations he would eliminate for having no benefit for a significant number of Americans.

Mr. Summers might also tell us what his proposed “national small-business advocate” would achieve beyond what is already offered by the Small Business Administration, in existence since the Eisenhower administration, at which Summers once worked.

The SBA has served as an effective advocate and resource for small businesses not only before the Congress and the White House, but also through its district offices in the states, including, of course, Maine (www.sba.gov).

How would Mr. Summers’ new “national small-business advocate” improve upon the disproportionately large share (nearly 9 percent) of federal contract and grant dollars sent to Maine’s small businesses from 2009 to 2011? How would he fund the costs of yet another new organization in the federal bureaucracy?

Sylvia Kraemer is a resident of Portland.