Tom Bordeaux wants criminal probe of Perdue land deal
I do not think Gov. Perdue did anything wrong in his purchase of the Flordia land, although I do think he should have disclosed it soon after the purchase.
I am, however, very uncomfortable with the handling of the legislation that saved Perdue $100,000 in Georgia capital gain taxes.
Just a bothersome, if not more so, is the nondisclosure and apparent conflict on the 101 acres the Governor purchased in the context of the State's not purchasing Oaky Woods. As noted in the below story, the matter warrants an investigation.
If the Democrats had a more competitive candidate, these last two items might well have resulted in a regime change in 2007.
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From the Savannah Morning News:
State Rep. Tom Bordeaux called Wednesday for a criminal probe of Gov. Sonny Perdue's latest property purchase controversy.
"Clearly there is enough evidence that there needs to be an investigation," said the Savannah Democrat, former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
He accused the Republican governor of "using his office for private gain" and "not disclosing what he should disclose" under state law.
At issue is Houston County property Perdue purchased near his home and next to the 20,000-acre Oaky Woods area. State officials long had hoped to buy Oaky Woods land and make it a wildlife preserve.
Weyerhaeuser Corp., which owned Oaky Woods, put it on the market in 2004. But citing a budget crunch, the state opted not to purchase the land. It has been sold to developers who plan to construct homes there.
The year before, a corporation formed by state Rep. Larry O'Neal, Perdue's personal attorney, bought 101 acres near his Houston County home for $303,000. The value of the land has risen to more than $750,000, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
The corporation, Maryson LLC, later transferred the property to the governor. Bordeaux said Perdue should have disclosed the property or any interest in Maryson on his financial disclosure forms.
"I don't see how anyone can conclude other than the governor kept this (his interest in the property) a secret," Bordeaux said.
[Perdue campaign spokesman Derek] Dickey acknowledged that Perdue paid the 2003 tax bill on the property after it was acquired by Maryson.
But neither he nor his wife owned Maryson, "nor did they serve as officers of that company, so they had nothing to disclose on that front," Dickey said, and Perdue did disclose his ownership of the property once Maryson transferred it to him.
Bordeaux doesn't buy that.
"It's stunning to me that you can be in an LLC whose name is the contraction of your wife's name (Mary) and your name and claim there is no ownership interest," he said.
Bordeaux also said Perdue should have told then-Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Lonice Barrett. "He's certainly required to tell the DNR, 'Yes, I own the land next to what we're trying to buy,' " Bordeaux said.
Barrett acknowledged that he did not know the governor owned the land until he read about it last weekend in the Atlanta newspaper.
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For a related story, also see The Macon Telegraph.
I am, however, very uncomfortable with the handling of the legislation that saved Perdue $100,000 in Georgia capital gain taxes.
Just a bothersome, if not more so, is the nondisclosure and apparent conflict on the 101 acres the Governor purchased in the context of the State's not purchasing Oaky Woods. As noted in the below story, the matter warrants an investigation.
If the Democrats had a more competitive candidate, these last two items might well have resulted in a regime change in 2007.
_______________
From the Savannah Morning News:
State Rep. Tom Bordeaux called Wednesday for a criminal probe of Gov. Sonny Perdue's latest property purchase controversy.
"Clearly there is enough evidence that there needs to be an investigation," said the Savannah Democrat, former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
He accused the Republican governor of "using his office for private gain" and "not disclosing what he should disclose" under state law.
At issue is Houston County property Perdue purchased near his home and next to the 20,000-acre Oaky Woods area. State officials long had hoped to buy Oaky Woods land and make it a wildlife preserve.
Weyerhaeuser Corp., which owned Oaky Woods, put it on the market in 2004. But citing a budget crunch, the state opted not to purchase the land. It has been sold to developers who plan to construct homes there.
The year before, a corporation formed by state Rep. Larry O'Neal, Perdue's personal attorney, bought 101 acres near his Houston County home for $303,000. The value of the land has risen to more than $750,000, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
The corporation, Maryson LLC, later transferred the property to the governor. Bordeaux said Perdue should have disclosed the property or any interest in Maryson on his financial disclosure forms.
"I don't see how anyone can conclude other than the governor kept this (his interest in the property) a secret," Bordeaux said.
[Perdue campaign spokesman Derek] Dickey acknowledged that Perdue paid the 2003 tax bill on the property after it was acquired by Maryson.
But neither he nor his wife owned Maryson, "nor did they serve as officers of that company, so they had nothing to disclose on that front," Dickey said, and Perdue did disclose his ownership of the property once Maryson transferred it to him.
Bordeaux doesn't buy that.
"It's stunning to me that you can be in an LLC whose name is the contraction of your wife's name (Mary) and your name and claim there is no ownership interest," he said.
Bordeaux also said Perdue should have told then-Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Lonice Barrett. "He's certainly required to tell the DNR, 'Yes, I own the land next to what we're trying to buy,' " Bordeaux said.
Barrett acknowledged that he did not know the governor owned the land until he read about it last weekend in the Atlanta newspaper.
____________
For a related story, also see The Macon Telegraph.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 11:43 AM
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