No wonder the banks are broke if they are loaning money with only 20% collateral. What a joke!!
ATLANTA --Gov. Sonny Perdue is facing $21 million in personal debt after he took out a massive loan last year for his two agricultural businesses, according to public records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Records reveal the governor got the loan from AgGeorgia Farm Credit in Perry, Ga., on collateral worth less than 20 percent of the loan's value, an unusual move, the newspaper reported.
Mr. Perdue declined to comment on the loan, which is due by March 1.
"He's a small businessman," said Bert Brantley, Mr. Perdue's spokesman. "As small businesses and small business owners around the state know, sometimes you have to personally sign for loans for your business."
Because he is not running for office again, Mr. Perdue is not required to disclose the details of the loan.
The loan is worth almost three times his personal assets of $6.1 million, which he disclosed in his latest statement of his finances in 2006.
Unlike the most three recent Georgia governors, Mr. Perdue did not place his financial interest in a blind trust while in office. The governor has said his Bonaire grain businesses - Houston Fertilizer & Grain Co. and AGrowStar LLC - would have suffered if he had put them in a blind trust.
AgGeorgia accepted collateral from Mr. Perdue worth just 19 percent of the loans, according to Houston County Superior Court documents. He put up his Bonaire home, worth about $1.6 million, and his businesses and all their assets, worth about $2.3 million.
Most banks require collateral of at least 50 percent, experts say.
William Newberry Jr., chief executive of AgGeorgia, declined comment on the loan.
According to campaign documents, Mr. Perdue's 2006 gubernatorial campaign received $6,770 in donations form eight of the bank's board members, their close relatives or companies they control, the newspaper reported.
Mr. Perdue got into business in 1976, building one of the largest grain dealers in Georgia. His businesses, which operate grain elevators in six Georgia towns, buy grain from farmers and resell it to food processors.
Comments
No wonder the banks are broke if they are loaning money with only 20% collateral. What a joke!!
Georgia's budget deficit is 2.1 billion alot greater than Governor Sonny Perdue 21 million deficit personal loan.No wonder Georgia's banks needed federal bail out money.
Rich Republicans? The State Superintendent for Education filed for bankruptcy and now the Governor is in debt up to his bald head! Sounds like the guy Obama wants to be his Secretary of the Treasury.
CRASH AND BURN, Sonny!!!! You will be remembered as the worst Governor that this state has ever known. You were elected on your lies about letting Georgians vote on the state flag, and now those lies are coming home to roost. Maybe you can find a job at your "big old cement fishing pond " in Houston County which is the last in a long list of your follies as Governor. CRASH AND BURN---CRASH AND BURN----CRASH AND BURN you worthless liar!!!!
Politicians, particularly those running for higher office, need to consider the ethical problems that might arise when they don't divest of business or financial interest or at least use a "blind trust" during the time they hold office. If the Governor believed it wasn't wise to use a blind trust or some other option then maybe he should have postponed running for higher office. This ethical problem plagues both parties and leads to the kind of corruption that is evident at all levels of political office.
Wow 55. That's some vitriol.
How many bankers are there in here? Let me guess.....not a one. Nowhere in the article does it say he can't make the payment or that he wont make the payment. It's pathetic reporting by the AC, as usual. Leave it wide open for idiot interpretation. Go ahead and bash the governor. Hurry up. Bash one of the best governors we've had.
This is a recipe for impeachment and corruption charges to be brought by the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI in Washington, they need to take a good look at this fat cat.
If he is able to make the payment, that alone ought to bring an investigation. How is he going to come up with 21 million when his net worth is less than 6 million? How does he get a 21 million dollar loan in the first place? The banks got a 700 billion dollar bailout and just about everyone I know has had their credit limits reduced. Just more evidence that our government is owned by corporate America. And you know what that makes all of us? SLAVES!! In the truest definition of the term.
Every thing move slow in Augusta,I see,including the Augusta Chronicle's news editor.This story was printed three days ago in the Atlanta Journal,so what.
I see nothing ethically wrong with what the goverrnor has done here. Once his term is finished, he has to continue living, and at least he will not be feeding at the public trough. As the article states, he pledged everything that is valuable to him as colateral for this loan, so he is the only one who stands to lose if he is unable to repay. However, his governing skills do leave a little room for judgement. It seems that he wants to start making cuts at the most important level for the citizens in Georgia, and that is in the area of Education. I am sure he would be able to find a lot of dead wood to trim from he budget tree if he started looking long and hard enough.
I'll bet that I could beat Sonny Perdue in a game of Monopoly.
I know a guy who moved into an apartment above a bank. Now his assets over $100 million :>) 55: Most of the flaggots are on the article about the NAACP rally, you should be posting there.
Niko Mahs, I bet you could beat him in Monopoly, too. He put $1.6 million in a house.
"Nowhere in the article does it say he can't make the payment" ----- His small businesses can't generate 20 million, nor can his personal wealth pay the loan in full. Looks like he will have to give up the farm, literally. Always pays to live within your means.
First Republican I regret voting for.
College students in this state despise this man. God bless em.
These numbers simply aren't adding up and there are too many gaps in this article for it to currently be printed. However, one thing is very clear, this bank should have NEVER loaned this kind of money vs. collateral and wouldn't to most business owners or individuals. Obviously, there is more to this story and we do deserve answers. IF in fact he fails to repay this loan, then not only will he loose his assets (basically worthless to the bank) but the bank also will loose a great deal of money which means we all loose as customers and tax payers who are bailing out these banks. I won't continue to speculate until all of the information is made public but either way, there are definelty innappropriate issues at play here.
Looks like Perdue has made the biggest gamble of his business life.
Theoretically, he can use the cash to buy a lot of grain for resell with big profit margins not only to markets in Georgia, but also China, Spain, and a number of other countries he has developed connections with since becoming Governor. What's wrong with that?
If Perdue repays the loan as scheduled I will embrace the theory and conclude that he has a lot of business savy.
He should have put his business in a blind trust to prevent any problems .Why is the law written that he doesn't have to disclose the details of the loan.Evidently you can work any kind of deal you want while still in office(some that may help you finacially after you leave)but as long as you don't run for reelection it can all be secret."In mid-2003,Perdue purchased 101 acres of land next to his Houston County home,for $303k,after negotiating directly with the owner.The purchase was done using a limited liability company named Maryson LLC, a corporation formed on July 23, 2003.Maryson's registered agent was Stephan Holcomb,a Houston County dentist.Perdue appointed Holcomb,a neighbor of the governor's sister in Houston County,to the state Board of Dentistry in 2003.The lawyer who organized Maryson LLC was state representative Larry O'Neal(R-Warner Robins),the chairman of the Ways & Means committee of the House Perdue paid the 2003 tax bill on the property after it was acquired by Maryson,Houston County tax records show.Perdue failed to disclose the property or any interest on his financial disclosure forms for calendar years 2003 and 2004,as required by Georgia law."Sort of fishy.
He will most likely repay part of the loan and renew for another term.
amen ,55-f, amen...
And they call honest, struggling poor people deadbeats! I'll bet the collection agents treat Perdue with kid gloves; other people who are trying, yet succumbing to hard times, are treated with malicious disrespect with no considerations. No justice here!
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
