Deal says debt won’t affect campaign

Published 8:07 am Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Republican gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal said Tuesday he wants voters to know that he isn’t about to lose his house.

“They made it sound like my house is going to be foreclosed on any day. That’s absolutely ludicrous,” Deal told the editorial board of The Daily Citizen when asked if he might be forced to sell his house to repay nearly $2.3 million in loans he and his wife Sandra guaranteed for his daughter and son-in-law to open an outdoor store that failed.

“My house was never security on this loan. Sandra and I intended to sell our house long before I entered the governor’s race,” he said. “We had taken our parents in. It was a very large house, and after our parents passed away, we didn’t need that large house. Our children were all grown.”

Deal said he and his wife own a second smaller home that they have long planned to move into.

“It’s a little log cabin on a dead end dirt road, and it’s where my wife and I feel comfortable,” he said.

Deal said he has other property, including a successful auto salvage firm.

“It has been a good investment. It has been a successful business for over 20 years,” he said.

Deal said he is in the process of discharging the debt he guaranteed for the outdoor firm.

“This loan is not in default. This loan is not past due,” he said. “We are in the position of being able to discharge that (debt).”

Deal said twice that it would not interfere with his campaign or his duties if elected governor.

“We would put everything in a blind trust, and everything would be taken care of before the election,” he said.

The loan reportedly comes due on Feb. 1, 2011.

Deal said he has hired an accountant to review all of his records. The request followed allegations that he did not report some $3 million in loans he and his partner have on the salvage firm.

“We asked him to find out if there was anything that anybody could ever claim was not disclosed and make sure it is disclosed. We are in the process of doing that right now,” he said. “We want to answer every question that can be asked. We have disclosed all of this as part of our federal disclosure forms. I think part of the error on the business part was that was transferred from the federal to the state. That was an oversight, and it has been corrected.”

Deal’s daughter and son-in-law, Carrie Deal Wilder and Clint Wilder, opened Wilder Sporting Goods in September 2006.

“It appeared to me something that was a reasonable investment. My wife and I agreed to help them by guaranteeing the loans. But after about six months it turned out to be absolutely the worst time to be opening a new retail establishment,” Deal said.