Reopened bankruptcy could expose Deal to more debt
The Associated Press is promising more on this later today:
Republican gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal is facing more questions about his finances now that a federal judge has reopened a bankruptcy filing for his daughter and son-in-law.
Deal and his wife Sandra guaranteed more than $2 million in loans for Wilder Outdoors, a failed sporting goods store started by the former congressman’s daughter and her husband. Although Deal listed himself in congressional disclosure forms as a partner or as a 50 percent investor in Wilder Outdoors, Deal’s name did not appear on the 2009 bankruptcy filing.
Deal’s campaign accountant says the omission was a mistake by Deal’s son-in-law, who filed the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy reopening, first reported by The Fulton Daily Report, could leave Deal on the hook for more debt.
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145 comments Add your comment
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
4:22 pm
td:
It has been my contention for some time now that Barnes is promising what he can not deliver. Unfortunately, many people either are not thinking or they believe he has the ability to print money. Taxpayers are so overburdened now that they can’t stand any increase in taxation. The democrats and liberals seem to have no concept of “budget”.
gm
September 29th, 2010
4:28 pm
Steve, I guess you were not worried about your chidren and grandchildren when Bush was spending trillions a month to fund 2 wars he started, boy you people are a bunch of hypocrites.
Most of you conservatives are receiving unemployment from the government:
Imma Community Organizer:
How about when he took office stock market was at a record low, auto ruined,
Thanks Mr. President for not listening to Fox and friends.
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
4:32 pm
gm:
Have you ever voted for a conservative? If so, whom?
Has Obama done anything that you have disagreed with? If so, what?
Jimmie
September 29th, 2010
4:33 pm
Last Man Standing – no kidding – can you imagine what our state’s financial position would be right now if we didn’t have conservative government? We know that when Governor Barnes left office the first time in 2002 in a reasonably good economy that the state’s coffers were dry. If that had continued with more of Barnes or Mark Taylor, we would look a lot like California or Illinois, which are in the process of going broke because they had a lot of politicians who came along promising every little group of people other than the taxpayers at large a piece of the pie in exchange for a vote, not unlike what Governor Barnes is doing now. Gov. Barnes can’t pay for his promises and he knows it unless he raises taxes and the Republican legislature is not going along with significant tax increases – that means Governor Barnes is pandering, pure and simple. It may work, who knows?
Larry
September 29th, 2010
4:37 pm
TD: Contrary to popular belief…taxes are not the only way to raise money. Florida got a billion bucks for high speed rail from Fed Grants. NC recieved about half a billion. GA got a couple hundred grand because we were so ill prepared and unorganized with regards to any plans for high speed.
What is Deal championing??? More Perdue (let’s not take any federal money and let our economy suffer)? Barnes was not a bad Governor and lost because he pissed off South GA for changing the flag and made teachers mad for taking poor performers to task. I’ve said this before…I have an open mind (a little skewed to the left), but if anyone can give me a positive reason to consider Deal, I would. No one has said anything yet.
@ Last Man Standing: We have a new administration in the city…to my best knowledge has not done anything corrupt. The mayor seems to be a pretty progressively minded and moderate. I will withold judgement on this administration until they show me something good or bad.
Steve
September 29th, 2010
4:38 pm
gm — Clue for you. I said earlier Bush was a spendthrift, but even he is not remotely close to Obama already. The money is also just one problem with the Obama healthcare plan – the main one simply being that it can never work. It is just a method of turning the US into a big government entity.
“Most of you conservatives are receiving unemployment from the government:” – You are a bright one!
Imma Community Organizer
September 29th, 2010
4:48 pm
Steve
As I said, Gm is confused. She believes things that aren’t true.
Steve
September 29th, 2010
4:48 pm
Larry – Saying that taxes is not the only way to raise money, then referring to taking money from the federal government, is a distinction without a difference. It is all tax money, taken from people who earned it.
Steve
September 29th, 2010
5:02 pm
You tax things you want less of, and you subsidize things you want more of.
So … we are heavily subsidizing unemployment, poor quality health care, etc.
We are taxing small business (and all businesses for that matter) that actually lead to new jobs and a strong economy.
Obama has a long, long history of saying exactly what he wants. It goes back to his college years and has never wavered.
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
5:04 pm
Jimmie:
You are, of course, correct on all counts. Barnes is pandering – but it will not work, if by work you mean he will be elected. Liberal bias of the news media, print and broadcast, is evident and the public realizes it. At one point I thought that a run-off was a possibility. I no longer believe that will be the case. Deal will win and the amount that he wins by will be determined by how much more negative press is directed at him. The more the press pounds him, the larger the win.
Jimmie
September 29th, 2010
5:09 pm
Larry, where do you think the billion dollars in federal grants came from – the Martians? It is tax dollars – they may get pushed around, but at the end of the day, the taxpayer is always on the hook. And as for $1 billion in high speed rail money to Florida, if they have any sense, the only high speed rail they will allow down there is the monorail at Disney. As for something concrete that Nathan Deal has proposed, I would commend you to his tax plan. It is the only tax plan of any candidate of either party that has been scored by outside national tax groups and they concluded (not the campaign) that Deal’s plan will pull Georgia from the bottom 1/3 as far as tax friendliness among the states up into the top third. That is real, its is scored by non-partisan professional tax scorers and it moves the needle positively for Georgia from a job creation, relocation and competitiveness standpoint. From an education standpoint, Nathan has what I think is a great idea – promote kids in subject matter to the level of their ability. If a kid is reading at a 10th grade level in the 6th grade, don’t leave him at a 6th grade level – move them up in curriculum so they don’t get bored or have to wait around for the other kids to catch up. We shouldn’t dumb an entire class down to the lowest common denominator – open up avenues for kids to succeed and push themselves to educational advancement instead of having to wait around twiddling their thumbs. Those are real proposals, not just the mea culpas we’re getting from Roy and a promise to fix his past sins (at least as seen by teachers) by spreading around taxpayers dollars that he won’t have when he gets in office.
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
5:12 pm
gm:
“auto ruined”
Yes, Obama fixed that. Shareholders in GM lost their shirt and the union now virtually own and control GM – thanks to Obama who is using tax dollars for this fool’s project.
Chrysler also fell victim to the Obama treatment.
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
5:14 pm
Steve:
That is the very best short lesson in economics that I’ve read. Good job!
Steve
September 29th, 2010
5:20 pm
LMS – the best is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
Atlanta CPA
September 29th, 2010
5:24 pm
Steve
September 29th, 2010
2:23 pm
It is my understanding that Deal listed himself a “partner” in the family business in his federal financial disclosure. I also understand that the reason he won’t release his financials is because he deducted the Widners loss as a business expense. If he ever releases accurate financials maybe we’ll find out.
Karen Handel Supporter
September 29th, 2010
5:25 pm
td I guess you took the poll for Karen Handel supporter, you do not speak for Karen handel or her supporters. I know I’m switching my vote to Roy Barnes even though I dont want to vote for him. I refuse to vote for a crook and someone who lies.
Atlanta CPA
September 29th, 2010
5:27 pm
Before you call me a liberal, I am a life long Republican who voted for Handel twice.
Jimmie
September 29th, 2010
5:33 pm
Here is the choice in my mind – Nathan, because he helped out his kids, may go broke. Roy is rich, but he left the state broke on his way out of office. So that is my choice – a guy who has personal financial problems because he supported his kids in a small business that went under but who is a small government conservative who will look after our money (meaning state taxpayers) or a guy in Roy Barnes that is really rich personally but was a horrible steward of the state’s finances and left us with little or no money in the state’s rainy day fund on his way out of office. In the first instance, I haven’t been harmed by Nathan – in the second instance, as a taxpayer of Georgia, I have been harmed by Roy. For that reason, and because he has generally gravitated to the left and become more of an anti-business populist since he was last in office, I can’t vote for Roy Barnes again, even though I respect him in a lot of ways, particularly for what he did on the flag and for what he tried to do in terms of education reform, and voted for him at least twice in the past.
Larry
September 29th, 2010
5:35 pm
@ Jimmie: Touche…what I meant was that accepting Fed money is alternative to raising STATE taxes. The fact that it is our tax money is even more reason why we should be finding ways to use it to our benefit instead of just wanting to thumb our nose at Obama by not wanting to accept stimulus funds and other monies. I will definately research Mr. Deal’s tax plan…Like I said…I’m open. I’m a moderate lefty whose a big Fair Tax supporter…but don’t tell my friends.
@ Steve: The vast majority of people have seen the taxes we pay go down under Obama. That’s just a fact. The thought that raising taxes (to where they were under Clinton) on small biz owners who profit more that $250k a year will hurt economy is not. We saw the bottom fall out of our economy when tax cuts were in place. So is this still the method we need to practice?
Jimmie
September 29th, 2010
5:41 pm
Larry, I wouldn’t link the financial meltdown with low taxes – I don’t think the fact that the Fed kept real interest rates at almost negative levels for several years has anything to do with tax rates – but it had everything to do with a leverage and housing bubble. The watchword of the Greespan Era was a search for current yield – everyone was looking for some yield in a low interest rate (low yield) world, and to get the juice, they had to use leverage. That is what took us off a cliff — not the tax cuts – how on earth could allowing people to keep more of their money in the private sector lead to an economic down turn and a financial leverage crisis? The two simply aren’t linked.
Steve
September 29th, 2010
5:49 pm
Larry – The people who live on the government (directly or indirectly) are the people who support Obama to keeo the Welfare State going (actually, growing). It is not a plus that more people pay no tax at all. The country needs more people who pay taxes, not take tax money.
It is also absolutely not true that raising taxes on small business owners will not hurt economy. Read the news. They will hire fewer people (or go to temps or another solution) to make up the difference. That is basic economics. You also can’t match lower taxes to the economic problems – not even remotely close.
Francine
September 29th, 2010
5:50 pm
I am a Republican voter normally but I will note vote for Deal or Casey who are basically just in it for themselves and their shady friends in Hall County. I have no doubt that Deal is withholding his tax records because he has done something crooked and I hope he gets audited. Deal does not represent the national GOP to me and he is an embarrasment just like the lady in Delaware.
I am not sure Barnes is so bad either, on a state level I think he will do a better job than Deal.
I am just going to abstain and not vote…………….
DDT
September 29th, 2010
5:52 pm
Kind of like someone pulling a gun on you, aiming it at your head and asking where do you want it, the left eye or right eye. I mean really, whats the difference and is one going to be better than the other. The outcome is going to be the same either way.
Trevor
September 29th, 2010
5:53 pm
Steve I have my own business in Atlanta, pretty successful. The number one thing hurting me is healthcare costs and insurance companies switching plans etc. I would be happy to pay 5% more tax to have socialised medicine like the UK or Canada.
khc
September 29th, 2010
5:54 pm
how do dumb arse repubs support folks like jim demint who is blocking subpoena power to investigate the bp screwup..it passed us house like 420-1
Steve
September 29th, 2010
5:59 pm
Trevor – That says it all about you and your thoughts on the foundations of your country. The huge Welfare State is made up of people who value their own comfort and security over freedom and liberty. Let’s go to a socialist system because poor little you has to deal with insurance companies and needs taken care of!
You might just be someone playing a joke, but if not, your couple of sentences make you a great poster child for people who choose to be taken care of, rather than basic political and economic freedom.
Yankee in Gooberville
September 29th, 2010
6:02 pm
Stevie, the biggest welfare recipients are those white retirees sucking down social security and medicare. Along with the military and those blood-sucking contractors.
God, you are such an idiot. Turn off Fox news sweetie.
Steve
September 29th, 2010
6:09 pm
Yankee – You have shown your level of intelligent thought. At least you understand the inherent failure of two government programs.
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
6:11 pm
Larry:
“We have a new administration in the city”
Granted, and I have hopes for that administration. He (they) will have to work very hard to overcome damage done by previous administrations.
kkong
September 29th, 2010
6:27 pm
Hey bro…being in debt ain’t no big deal (excuse the pun), just move the numbers around and all’s okay. Shucks, as long as you ain’t no demekrat, you can survive here in Georgia, red-neck capital of the world!
Paddy O
September 29th, 2010
6:54 pm
BArnes is a test of the democratic parties future statewide appeal – if he loses, you will not see a democrat for a decade at least. two other state democrats – labor & AG are both leaving their posts, and losing their other elections. Roy Barnes may not be a good choice, but Nathan Deal is a very, very, very bad choice.
Paddy O
September 29th, 2010
7:00 pm
Read Jimmie’s message – it is accurate. Greenspan was a hero, now he is a zero. But, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac created a system where banks/mortgage brokers (a lot less of them around now, no?) would not reap what they sowed (ARM mortgages to people who could barely pay the low interest, NINJA loans, etc) – they quickly sold off their “suspect” loans, securitized them, got the blessing from Moody’s (how? how?), and then sold them off as mortgage backed securities with a high rating. The high rating is the key to this fiasco – really, Standard & Poors & Moody’s should be sued by every entity (class action) who purchased these securities which were rated by them. Then of course, there are the property appraisers – who jacked up the values way beyond neighborhood conditions – again, because they knew somebody else was going to end up holding the bag. A crisis of character I have called it for a few years.
Trevor
September 29th, 2010
7:26 pm
Steve, who cares about all the acient history about how our country was formed. So what. Its now hundreds of years later in case you didn’t know. All this “freedom and liberty” stuff is a bunch of crap. and hollow rhetoric. We are no more free here than a lot of “socialist” countires and in many ways less free as we are all enslaved by insurance companies and big business, working harder and harder for less all the time with a lower life expectancy, much greater infant mortality rate, lower education level, higher crime rate etc. In fact I would argue that socialised medicine actually makes people free as they can more easily take a risk and start a business, change jobs and it sure makes retirement a lot easier.
You know nothing of business obviously and I bet you haven’t travelled overseas to see how awful ’socialist” countries are………As another poster said you need to wisen up and not watch more than 2 hours of fox news a day.
Last Man Standing
September 29th, 2010
8:11 pm
Trevor:
“Steve, who cares about all the acient history about how our country was formed. So what. Its now hundreds of years later in case you didn’t know.”
People who think as you do are exactly the problem with America today. You would forsake freedom and liberty for security. Obama is NOT the problem: the problem is the mentality of the people that elected him.
Just Asking
September 29th, 2010
8:35 pm
I thought during the primary, there was something about a grand jury looking into deal. What does the law say if a sitting governor is indicted? Does Cagel become Governor? Just asking since we don’t hear much about Cagel or Porter for that matter. Grand Jury: http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/07/29/why-a-federal-grand-jury-could-put-georgias-governors-mansion-in-democrat-hands/
Trevor
September 29th, 2010
9:05 pm
@Last Man Standing:
You make no sense what so ever and your outdated idea of “freedom and liberty” is total BS. All you Tea Party/Fox News cranks can’t even explain what it means………….Don’t you realize we are in the 21st century………..maybe not as you seem intent on voting in a crook in GA who will drag us back to feudal times if he has his way,
Jimmie
September 29th, 2010
9:25 pm
I can tell that Trevor doesn’t run a small business. If he did, he would know that the reason he is working harder for less and less is that the fruit of his labor is being expropriated to pay for those who do not labor.
Pat
September 29th, 2010
10:05 pm
Unfortunately, it seems that the only thing that matters to Georgians anymore is that Republicans be put in office regardless of whether they have any integrity what so ever.,e,g. Sonny Perdue.
Skeptical
September 30th, 2010
12:04 am
gm
It does not matter how much debt,how crooked he is, most of those hicks in south georgia are going to support him.
Of course its Obama fault that Georgia has been a mess for 8 years, it does not matter to these bigots down there.
Deal could steal from their kin, it will still be ok.
gm, I will grant you that we have more than our share of rednecks, hicks, and bigots in south GA, but we don’t have a monopoly on them. No Deal for me.
Backroom Deal
September 30th, 2010
11:08 am
Gee, the “mistakes” and “oversights” just keep mounting up.
This guy is already lying to the people of Georgia and he hasn’t even been elected yet.
The next four years ought to be interesting.
Michael
September 30th, 2010
11:14 am
I’ve been self-employed for years. So have millions of us. If no one is hiring us day in and day out, can we get an unemployment check? If you run a store and no one is coming in to buy, can you get an unemployment check while still trying to run your store? The Democraps are in power — isn’t everyone supposed to get a check?
Trevor
September 30th, 2010
12:00 pm
@Jimmie, yes I do run a business and guess what I pay a ton less tax than an employed person. I can write off pretty much all of my day to day expenses and put 50k into a 401k etc which an employee cannot.
When I was employed my tax rate was much higher with noe of the business write offs. I am all for small businesses but the tax burden is way less than being an employee.
catlady
September 30th, 2010
12:09 pm
isitme: not to be nit-picking, but 3 1/2 plus 1 1/2 is NOT 4.
True Republican
October 1st, 2010
2:55 pm
Once again old Lefty Galloway ignores his journalistic duty to report the truth. This bankruptcy is for Nathan Deals Son in Law. THIS WILL HAVE ZERO IMPACT ON NATHAN DEALS DEBT.
The Centrist
October 1st, 2010
7:57 pm
@True Republican. What does Galloway have to do with Deal not properly reporting his $4 million debts on his financial reports or being guilty of using his position as a congressman to strong-arm a no-bid State contract?