Nathan Deal Ethics Report Finds Ex-Georgia Congressman Guilty Of Wrongdoing
Huffington Post
03-29-10The Office of Congressional Ethics released a report Monday alleging that recently-retired Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) was guilty of violating House rules by improperly using his office to push policy that would benefit his family’s auto salvage company. "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.
On top of these dealings for the benefit of Deal’s business, the report found that "the $75,000 reported as earned income on the tax return exceeded the limit on outside earned income and prohibition on receiving any income while serving as a corporate officer."
In January, the OCE voted to send claims of Deal’s ethics violations, which originally surfaced last year in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to the House ethics committee for additional inspection and a ruling. On Friday, the OCE panel also voted unanimously to release their report (.pdf link). Deal, who retired on March 21 after extending his Congressional tenure in order to vote "no" on the health care bill, is in the midst of a gubernatorial primary campaign to replace Georgia’s Republican Gov. Sonny Purdue.
Though Deal’s departure from Congress has placed him out of the reach of the disciplinary arm of the House ethics committee, the release of this report could seriously hurt his campaign for Governor.
Deal: Bankruptcy not an option, will ‘live up to our obligations’
Atlanta Journal Constitution
by Aaron Gould Sheinin
September 15, 2010Republican gubernatorial hopeful Nathan Deal said Wednesday that “I’m not about to file bankruptcy” despite a looming $2.3 million business loan coming due in February. Deal, speaking to reporters at his Buckhead campaign headquarters, said “I’m going to make sure our obligations are met.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that Deal and his wife invested about $2 million in a retail venture by their daughter and son-in-law, a business that ultimately failed in the troubled economy. Deal lost his entire stake when the business failed, after he guaranteed a series of bank loans to the business as its debt doubled and then quadrupled. An analysis of Deal’s assets by the AJC found that he might not be able to repay the loan. His home in Gainesville is for sale. Other property he owns in the area was listed as collateral for the loans.
But Deal said Wednesday he’ll meet his commitments. Asked how he’ll come up with the money due in February, Deal said, “we will cross those bridges when we come to them.” “We have the property that is the collateral for the loan. It is up for sale and on the market. My house has never been collateral for this loan at all,” Deal said.
Asked whether he intends to repay all that is owed, Deal again said, “our intention is to live up to our obligations”…
NO Deal! …honest to Pete, what a joker…I can’t believe Georgia folks would put him in…but then, I suppose, stranger things have happened.
You gotta believe stranger things have happened in Georgia politics, Carl. In my life time, we have had Lester (ax handle) Maddox for governor, who was chiefly known for running an adamantly segregated restaurant and for threatening to take an ax handle to anyone who tried to integrate it. His other main claim to fame was his ability to ride a bicycle backwards, which he eagerly demonstrated for any newsman with a camera.
He’s also known for having said, while governor: “The trouble with Georgia prisons is that we need a better class of prisoners.”
And then there was the time in the 1950s when we had three governors at one time. Eugene Talmadge had been elected governor but died before he took office. The legislature then stepped in and elected his son, Herman, to be governor. But the Lt. Gov Elect also claimed that he should be governor; and the outgoing governor claimed that he continued to serve until his successor took office. The courts finally settled it, and I’ve even forgotten which one it was.
That was our situation when I went away to college in North Carolina and endured taunts of: “How many governors does your state have today, Ralph?”
So — we’ve had worse. My strongest objection to Nathan Deal is the deplorable campaign ads he ran against his primary opponent, in which he played the anti-gay card for votes and did so by smearing Youth Pride, the best thing we have in Atlanta for supporting gay youth. It was so in appropriate and dangerous to fuel the anti-gay passions where kids might be harmed by some crazies.
And now he looks to have very bad business sense, in addition to all his other flaws.