Governor receives land from bankrupt daughter
Just in from the Associated Press:
The daughter of Gov. Nathan Deal has transferred Habersham County property to her father that had been used as collateral in a failed sporting goods venture.
Habersham County records show Carrie Deal Wilder and her husband Clint Wilder had lived on the nearly 16-acre Habersham County property. The couple declared bankruptcy last year, leaving Nathan Deal and his wife, Sandra, on the hook for some $2.3 million in loans.
County property records show Carrie Deal transferred the property to her father for $10 on Dec. 31.
Jimmy Allen, who oversees personal finances in Deal’s blind trust, said he expects the property will be sold to help satisfy some $1.35 million in debt he incurred from backing Wilder Outdoors.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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289 comments Add your comment
Brogens Hero
January 20th, 2011
4:51 pm
Amazing that even though several posts have explained the transaction the majority still scream “shady”. There are either a lot of really dumb people on this blog or people who are mad King Roy was not elected. Of course the two are not mutually exclusive.
Tea Party Member
January 20th, 2011
4:51 pm
Ulric,
Nathan Deal was not part of the Tea Party, so do not associate us with anything to do with his personal finances. Like many have posted, there is nothing out of the ordinary for parties involved involved in a very common financial situation. Please blame someone else
Gene
January 20th, 2011
4:53 pm
Guess some lobbyist is now going to be the proud owner of the property and all of the debts will be forgiven. How good it is to be a politician whose questionable ethics don’t seem to stop others from revering him
DW
January 20th, 2011
4:57 pm
Gene, very true and well said.
Surprise, surprise, surprise
January 20th, 2011
4:58 pm
So the plans for the ‘Nathan Deal Regional Airport’ in Habersham County are just a rumor?
(I swear I saw some surveyors measuring out where the runway would go.)
It sure is going to be convenient when the State of Georgia acquires Deal’s land for the new airport at a cost of $50M.
Wise Just Moderate
January 20th, 2011
4:58 pm
What the public doesn’t have a clue about is how anyone could pour millions of borrowed dollars into a Ponzi scheme the way Deal did. The public should remain very wary of any of his financial dealings. He has yet to be up front about his dealings in the Wendell Ray Spell scheme, who was convicted at least. The bank involved also went belly up, but no explanation from Deal. No wonder the Founding Fathers provided for a free press. Thank you Mr. Galloway, please do everything in your power to keep an eye on this guy for us!
Appalled
January 20th, 2011
4:59 pm
@ Dumb Libs: I just reported your inappropriate comment to the AJC. There is no need for the use of profane and obscene language, even in politics.
JohnnyReb
January 20th, 2011
4:59 pm
Where in the heck did all you Libs come from? Apparently, the Northern gates have been left open too long, or there is more liberal indoctrination in our government schrools than we feared! And, just as obvious, the schrools no matter the location are not teaching enough basic finance. Do you balance your own checkbook?
Shan
January 20th, 2011
5:01 pm
@Jeff and the Camaros
When you elect a poorly qualified candidate with a questionable ethical past, this is what you get. Cronyism, nepotism, disorganization and unprofessionalism.
Last Man Standing
January 20th, 2011
5:01 pm
Wekk, this is about all I can stomach of the anti-Republican demcRATS posting here. Either most of you are woefully ignorant or hope the people who read the tripe you post are. You feed off your fellow democRATS ignorance and regurgitate it here. It’s not a pretty thing . . .
DW
January 20th, 2011
5:01 pm
While most people in this state can not sell their house or property because the value has fallen so much, I bet Deal sells his land to someone and to hear them tell it, it was like buying a goldmine. Yeah, Right.
suberman
January 20th, 2011
5:02 pm
“It is undisputed that as a ‘public servant,’ Representative Deal took active steps to preserve a purely state program, one that had generated financial benefit for Representative Deal
and his business partner. Further, while taking these steps, Representative Deal used
resources of the House of Representatives,” the OCE report found.
Please do not be surprised if we always assume the worst.
Tom
January 20th, 2011
5:04 pm
Reading all you libs posting has gotten me to thinking, if you are so unhappy here in Georgia, why don’t you move to the fine state of California!! You would feel much more at home there, especially in the San Francisco area with your hero, Nancy Pelosi!!! BYE!!!
DW
January 20th, 2011
5:04 pm
Enter your comments here
Sukie
January 20th, 2011
5:04 pm
Hey, you people voted for him. I didn’t!
Diehard
January 20th, 2011
5:05 pm
Whine on harvest liberals.
Pay Up
January 20th, 2011
5:06 pm
Deal will get some of his big contributors to pay off all his debts–it will quietly be erased in this “blind trust” and in a few years he’ll magically owe nothing!! What a country—payoff someone’s debts, get millions more in deals, contracts, favors, etc.
agreeing
January 20th, 2011
5:08 pm
Jeff and the Camaros well said… amazing isn’t it…?
agreeing
January 20th, 2011
5:09 pm
Sukie.. lol.. I’m with u…
Herb
January 20th, 2011
5:09 pm
Is the timing not ironic? Looks like we got another “winner” for governor. How bout ole Sonny and his deal in South Georgia? This stinks and so does the Governors Mansion. Georgia politicians are a bunch of GOBERS. Guess the State will somehow bail them out.
.
DW
January 20th, 2011
5:10 pm
Pay Up, you need to run for public office. Great Comment!!
OG Hmmmmm here
January 20th, 2011
5:10 pm
backup off my username, dude.
agreeing
January 20th, 2011
5:10 pm
Tom… so instead of addressing the discussion you decide to be a big baby.. .typical republican.. HELLO
dmcsga
January 20th, 2011
5:13 pm
It’s funny how ALL of these republicans keep defending but have no real answer, just dance around the real issues like they always do, they just don’t like it and that is why. You ask them why they have a problem with it, they can’t tell you!
I would like to know how someone with a $100K Salary is able to pay back $3 million. You have people in the country struggling paying their student loans back with the high interest, maybe there is something to be learned here. If I purchase a $3 Million house for 30 years the payments would be easy in the $10 – $15K EVERY Month. Just doing the math and it doesn’t add up because the payments from that loan alone would be way more than he makes in office. So please enlighten me
Bushwacker
January 20th, 2011
5:14 pm
SHADY SHADY SHADY! Two words… Dec 31st!
Neither Blue nor Red
January 20th, 2011
5:15 pm
I am sick of all these wannabee “republicans’ in Georgia: Real Republicans can afford to send their children to private schools, real Republicans are wealthy, real Republicans do not rely on the government to live, real Republicans are educated. If you are not all of the above, then you are not a real REPUBLICAN!!!!
ed
January 20th, 2011
5:18 pm
Folks, if you haven’t figured out by now why some people want to occupy the governor’s office, let me give you a brief primer. There is a Purchasing Department that favors the vendors of a governor’s choice. There is the Department of Transportation which dishes out the work to private road contractors, contractors chosen by the governor AND the Board members. Vendors and Contractors pay a hefty price for this favortism. The way by which the money flows back to the powers that be are numerous and nefarious, ranging from losses in a simple game of poker to campaign contributions, and in some instances outright graft. But don’t think the system is confined to the position of governor or GDOT. It is practiced by elected officials at all levels of government. Do you really believe these officials serve out of the goodness of their hearts?
emack06
January 20th, 2011
5:18 pm
I never heard of any business man paying $10 for a million dollar debt. No matter what you idiot deal supporters say. This IS a fishy deal; one designed to relinquish Deal and his family from the responsibility of paying off this debt. This is the essence of the problem with this state and country as a whole. There are too many corrupt, greedy, me-first people (republicans).
Anyone with common sense knows this was a shady transaction. If he co-signed the loan, and the daughter defaulted and filed bankruptcy, why does he need to “purchase” the land from her? And for only $10? Answer: relieve daughter of the million dollar debt and to use his position to profit off the land, like Sunny did, selling it to the state at an overbloated sticker price.
jwillstan
January 20th, 2011
5:18 pm
Every georgian that voted for him made their bed….. now its time to lay in it.
Lewis
January 20th, 2011
5:18 pm
Boy don’t you just love people running this country that can’t run their own lives. I’m sure this will cost someone else some where down the road and not them.
Bobby Anthony
January 20th, 2011
5:21 pm
I voted for Poythress the 1st round and Deal in the 2nd round. I would do the same thing again.
ROD
January 20th, 2011
5:21 pm
dmcsga, now you have went and done it. You asked a real, well thought out, hard question and now all the Deal suckers are sitting there brain-dead, curled up in the fetal position sucking their thumb or logging off since they cant answer that question without showing what they are. Way To Go!! Oh, we are waiting on an answer also.
Guido
January 20th, 2011
5:21 pm
More headline baiting by the AJC. This is a perfectly legal result of Deal’s assuming responsibility for the debt.
I’ll second the motion: You, Mr. Galloway, are as slimy as they come, and those of you who eagerly fell for this tactic are comically ignorant. You deserve each other.
janet
January 20th, 2011
5:23 pm
Those who assert that Mr. Deal is a good Dad must have a different criteria for good parenting than I do. This is the second bankruptcy for his daughter and her husband. Why would anyone enable an adult daughter to get into a problem and cover her on the loan? I am a good parent and I would never do that because it doesn’t make good sense to me.
Martin Williams
January 20th, 2011
5:26 pm
The difference between Southern people and the rest of the conutry. Even our school systems, Southern States do just above average than the rest of the country. We are FOOLS and the politicians love people like us. I bet Governor Deal will win a second term as George W Bush did after lying to go to WAR and kill Iraq kids.
Mike
January 20th, 2011
5:27 pm
As many good people we have in Georgia that could have run this great state and we had to go elect Nathan Deal. This is a shame.
missemc2
January 20th, 2011
5:28 pm
Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical.
Tom
January 20th, 2011
5:28 pm
@agreeing – Thanks, my wife says I am a big baby sometimes too. This is a conservative Republican state and will always be one. If people are so unhappy, they have the choice to move on. But the grass is not always greener on the other side. I do respect Gov Deal for what he did for his daughter and would do the same for my adult children, even if it puts me in financial jeopardy. That is what parents do for their children in my world. I am an Independent not a registered Republican, but reading what you Democratic libs say, no way I would ever support your views. You folks must be so unhappy with your lives! Sorry, you must feel lost here in the South!!
Renee
January 20th, 2011
5:28 pm
Way to go Georgia voters…glad you were all paying attention…great job!! Good thing our new Gov doesn’t have too many personal issues to distract him from the business of Georgia…
ROD
January 20th, 2011
5:29 pm
janet, stupid breeds stupid. Case in point: Diehard & Guido!!
missemc2
January 20th, 2011
5:33 pm
We all knew he was crooked but y’all voted for him anyway. We’re losing our collective mind.
A Very Simple Choice
January 20th, 2011
5:33 pm
Quit whining folks. This is the governor you deserve. You knew what this guy was all about and you still voted for him.
Guido
January 20th, 2011
5:36 pm
Well done, Mr. Galloway. You have successfully fired up a group of people so ignorant of the law that they think this land transfer was a shifty move.
Now that you’ve had your fun, don’t you owe it to them to explain the truth about this transaction? Come on Jim, you can do it…
Bad Deal
January 20th, 2011
5:36 pm
We knew the Deals were all crooks when we elected them. Even if they were child molestors it’s still better than a Democrat, right? This is Georgia.
AtlantaGuy
January 20th, 2011
5:36 pm
We’re stuck wtih him now, folks. And the daughter should be so ashamed. Every time I drive to my weekend home in the North Carolina mountains I have to pass that empty Wilderness building going up 985. We’re all going to wind up paying for this one or the other.
Whatsa matta?
January 20th, 2011
5:36 pm
You people are getting the Raw Deal you asked for!
double
January 20th, 2011
5:38 pm
I’m far behind thought I read they were inelgible to file BR. Because not enough time past since last BR.
I'm all for helping out your kids, but this shows VERY poor judgement
January 20th, 2011
5:42 pm
Not to pick on Deal’s kids, but this ‘Wilders Sporting Goods’ venture was not the best and the brightest idea. They build this beautiful state-of-the art store, stocked with the most high-end fancy sporting goods stuff, in the middle of hick-ville Georgia.
Again, great intentions, and it was a beautiful store, from what I’ve read about it. But somehow they missed the boat (pun intended) with the assumption that bass fisherman on the way to the bass lake are going to stop and buy some overpriced fly-fishing gear, while the WalMart next door sells them the ammo and bass-fishing stuff cheaper.
Now, again, these are perfectly fine people, and they deserve nothing but the best. However, if my son or daughter wanted me to co-sign on a loan for $1,000, much less $2.3M, I would want to have some confidence that there was a business plan that made some sense.
And I would want to have some confidence that you can fly a glider before you fly a rocket, meaning that you don’t go from selling trinkets on eBay to running a multi-million-dollar sporting goods store overnight, you need to learn the ropes.
So again, nothing personal against any of these fine folks. But when God was handing out good judgment, Nathan was off playing poker with some lobbyists.
I'm Your Huckleberry
January 20th, 2011
5:43 pm
I love seeing the libs foaming at the mouth!
They should be happy: they hold 2 of the 3 branches of government and held the House for the last 4 years. But for some reason they just can’t be happy.
Here’s a man (Nathan Deal) who may have wrecked his personal fortune–in contrast to President Obama who has wrecked most everyone’s. Doesn’t a person still have right to put his own money at risk? Or do you people just like it when politicians screw with YOUR money?
I saw an expression earlier that describes the Democrat Party: “Impoverishing Millions So Dozens Can Thrive.”
Let me break it down for you liberal, Democrat statists:
1. Deal should get a Congressional pension.
2. He receives income from his business operations.
3. The Deals have other assets including 401-Ks.
4. As governor he receives a salary.
5. Mrs. Deal was a teacher and may receive a pension from her work.
To service a $2.3 million loan requires $12,346.90 at prevailing interest rates. An average Congressional pension would cover about 5 months of such a loan. His income as governor, investment revenue, income from business operations, the sale of assets, and cashing in retirement investment vehicles can service the remainder. One of his assets will be the land his daughter deeded to him.
I only wish you people were as concerned about American citizens’ financial lives being ruined by the Community Debtor-in-Chief as you are about Nathan Deal.
If Deal proves to be crooked while in office there will be plenty of time to go after him at that point. In the meantime, keep an eye on him and just be thankful that at least for now he is facing his responsibilities.
double
January 20th, 2011
5:46 pm
Also I thank you Mr Galloway, and AJC for keeping us informed, and up to date.