Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

“Suicidal glory is the luxury of the irresponsible.
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" I don't think I've ever met a Liberal whom I didn't like on a personal basis. That said, if your goal is to change minds and influence people, it's probably not a good idea to begin by asserting that virtually all elected Democrats are liars. But what the hell."



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Saturday, July 13, 2002

Democrat privilege
The odds are 100 to 1 that you've never heard the name "Corolla Light"

"It is hard to lead when you haven't done the things that you're asking others to do" Dick Gephardt
"It's time this CEO, President Bush, took responsibility for his actions as a private businessman and as President of the United States - Dick Gephardt

The above quotes are dredged from the Drudge scoop about an unsecured loan House Democrat leader Dick Gephardt received from a bank founded by shady DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe - at the same time he served as finance director for Gephardt's failed presidential campaign. It was during this period that Mr. Gephardt was also manipulating the law in order to avoid paying capital gains taxes, and engaged in other unusual financial transactions.

"In the late 1980's Gephardt and his wife purchased a condominium on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Then, in 1991 Gephardt exchanged it for a vacant lot in an exclusive resort nearby called Corolla Light. By making a false statement that the sale was only an exchange Gephardt didn't pay the $17,680 in capital gains taxes that he owed."

Then, in 1992, Gephardt took out a "$493,100 loan to build a three-floor, six-bedroom house on the property." In order to receive a lower interest rate, the congressman signed a pledge stating the home would be used exclusively as a secondary home and would not be rented out. Despite that pledge, the Gephardts received between $15,000 and $50,000 a year in rental income from the property. [The Daily Republican]

RENT - architectural knockout on North Carolina's Outer Banks: six bedrooms, decks on two
levels, an outdoor spa facing the Atlantic, wet bar, the works. $5,000 a week. Ask for Dick.

In early 1994 - the same time the media was mounting a war against Newt Gingrich - the first Republican Speaker in 40 years - Gephardt refinanced the house and again signed a deed of trust in which he stated the property was not used as a rental.

Here's the good part. Gephardt financial disclosure forms show that he claimed a number of fund-raising expenses [for his presidential campaign - and who was Gephardt's finance director?] on the Outer Banks beginning in 1991, but there was never any income generated by those "events." Still, Gephardt claimed $70,000 for catering and lodging expenses paid to companies owned by a Richard A. Brindley. The same Richard A. Brindley that made Gephardt the loan of the $304,000 Gephardt used to buy that vacant lot. The same Richard A. Brindley who, when the Gephardts defaulted on the loan payment, extended the due date another six months.

During the period when Speaker Gingrich was being hauled before the House ethics committee, accused of improperly commingling funds and activities of GOPAC, and a nationally televised history course the speaker taught from a college in Georgia (all charges he was later exonerated from by the IRS, FBI and all the King's men) Mr. Gephardt was hauled before the same court after an ethics charge was filed by Rep. Jennifer Dunn of Washington.

In 1995 Paul Rodriguez, wrote about this case for Insight magazine (Aug. 28, How Dick Gephardt got his $700,000 mansion in the sky. ) but that was about it.

Even today you can do a Google search on "gephardt corolla light" and come up with nothing but a "Toyota Corolla" reference." Now try "gingrich GOPAC".

In 1997 I attempted to find the disposition of the Dunn ethics charge against Mr. Dick [the N.C. state's attorney having decided not to charge Gephardt]. I e-mailed Dunn's office without a reply. Finally I contacted a congressional librarian and was told the panel's records were privileged (at least in Gephardt's case) but charges had been dismissed. But, Mr. Gephardt had been reprimanded for providing the committee with false and misleading information on three occasions. No $300,000 fine, however. Don't expect the media to get too excited over this current flap either. After all, it could lead to something.

| E-MAIL Real King of France at 7/13/2002 09:04:00 AM PERMLINK (0) |

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"I did not vote for Obama but he is remarkable. In less than three weeks in office he has collected more than $150,000 in back taxes."
Gayle Miller