Dude, I’m like, totally with you now

I confess. I haven’t paid enough attention to the new, misguided “AB5” law in California, that would force companies to treat hundreds of thousands of independent contractors as employees.

There were three reasons:

• First, I assumed California would work it out and fix the law.

• If not, well, I haven’t lived in California since 2002, so it doesn’t apply to me.

• Finally, if I’m being honest, it arguably benefits me, since some companies say their workaround is to stop doing business with anyone in sunny California. (I now live in cloudy New Jersey. More work for me!)

Recently, however, I was invited to join two Facebook groups — one for independent contractors in New Jersey, and the other for New York, where most of my consulting and publishing clients are located.

After joining, I got a quick lesson in why people in business should pay attention to local politics.

(Warning: today’s article is kind of political, and I definitely think there’s a right side and a wrong side.)

I’m Bill Murphy Jr. …