Left on Lanier

Blog for Democracy has an insightful post on Deal’s tax returns- namely, that they raise more questions than they resolve:

I think a reasonable assumption is that, upon being elected to Congress, some arrangement is struck between Deal and his partner to defer or otherwise treat his stake in the business differently.  I mean, how else could you explain an immediate drop of ~125K in annual income?  Where did it go? What was the arrangement that allowed for that to happen?

Read the whole thing. Now.

And, there’s no corporate tax returns!

And, no schedules!

Plus – he only paid 16% on $200k+ income last year!

It’s just a convoluted mess. By not releasing schedules, there’s no real context for anything. What is he hiding?

Plus- the corporate tax returns are the ones that he got him in trouble in Congress, and those are the ones still stashed away in his Hall county home. His transparency is underwhelming.

Look at the cover pages of his personal tax returns here.

…rumor has it that Deal will release tax returns this week…

Of course, burying it on the Friday before Labor Day will be the true mark of a politician with something to hide. If he pulls that trick as an attempt to bury the story, you can bet there’s some fire behind the smoke.

North Georgia rejoiced when Nathan Deal won the GOP nomination for governor. After 18 years of representing this region in Congress, our decision to send him to DC was vindicated.

The truth? Deal is rusty. He has been essentially unchallenged for years, and its showing.

• Deal has flip-flopped on Race-to-the-Top funding.
• He has flip-flopped on casino gambling.
• He admits that he has no education platform.
• He’s avoiding releasing his taxes, which is a standard commonplace thing to do when running for governor.

Now, in the midst of a massive state trooper shortage and an impending budget meltdown, he’s using two state troopers and a state-paid car for security…while Roy Barnes tools around the state in his own pickup truck, costing ZERO taxpayer dollars.

The worst part? The above missteps by the fledgling campaign have all happened since the runoff.

It’s madness. Nathan Deal is imploding over major things AND minor ones. He’s a gifted politician for North Georgia, but he doesn’t have the chops nor the people around him to compete on the big stage. His campaign manager? The same guy who’s been with him for years, and a main player in the ethics charges that are still hanging over Deal’s head.

He’s slow. He can’t avoid the missteps, and he can’t correct them once they happen. He’s just bumping from crisis to crisis, bumbling through a campaign with inept staffers, just gripping and grinning through an endless parade of BBQ dinners and flashbulbs from the crowd.

Deal is not quick on his feet, nor does he need to be. But if he’s not, someone in the campaign should damn well be wearing running shoes.