Esquire Endorsement

Esquire endorsed Christine Jennings over Buchanan:

This one was close in 2006--Buchanan edged our pick, Jennings, by just 369 votes--and it will likely be close again. But not if word gets out about the seven lawsuits--from hiring illegal immigrants to sexual harrassment--now filed against Buchanan by employees at his car dealerships.

AD WATCH: Buchanan Continues False Attacks Against Jennings

Continuing a campaign strategy built on misrepresenting the record of Christine Jennings, Vern Buchanan’s latest ad, released late last week, makes several false claims about Jennings’ record on taxes, while avoiding answering serious questions raised about his own record.

“Not surprisingly, Buchanan continues to run away from his own record by lying about Christine Jennings,” said Jennings spokesperson Melissa Smith. “Buchanan willfully misrepresents Christine Jennings’ record on taxes in this ad, once again breaking his pledge for positive campaigning, while failing to mention serious issues he’s personally faced with the IRS.

“This is another attempt to distract from the serious questions that have been raised by the more than 180 lawsuits filed against Buchanan and his businesses over the past 20 years, including nine since May of this year. Instead of directly answering the legitimate questions about allegations of consumer fraud, bank fraud and illegal campaign contributions raised by these lawsuits, Buchanan’s campaign has yet again lashed out with an ad made up entirely of false claims.”

AD WATCH:

Buchanan Claim: “Markets are in turmoil…jobs lost…pensions in jeopardy. The last thing we need is a tax increase, but Christine Jennings is for higher taxes on Social Security, on families, seniors, small business…”

FACT: Christine Jennings will provide real tax relief.

* Jennings supports a range of policies to provide middle class tax relief, include raising the estate tax exemption, making higher education more affordable and providing relief from skyrocketing homeowners' insurance rates. Jennings supports ending the marriage penalty, extending child tax credits and providing tax credits and simplifying the tax code for small businesses.

FACT: Christine Jennings will protect Social Security for our seniors.

* Jennings is the only candidate in the race to be endorsed by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. She has consistently and unequivocally opposed risky privatization schemes for Social Security, and has been clear about her commitment to ensuring Social Security remains solvent for current retirees and future generations.

FACT: Vern Buchanan supports President Bush’s Social Security plan, putting seniors’ retirement at risk.

* Buchanan says he's against privatizing Social Security, but told the AARP that he does support creating personal retirement accounts, like those advocated by President Bush. [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/26/06]

Buchanan Claim: “What’s worse, she wants to raise your taxes, but admitted she didn’t pay her own for three years.”

FACT: The article cited by Buchanan was about how Jennings found and corrected the tax mistake, which was related to her campaign, not her personal taxes.

* Federal Election Commission records show that on May 23, Jennings made the final payment to the IRS to square the [campaign] tax bill…She said the mistake was found by her staff, and not by the IRS, which does not comment on private tax disputes. [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 8/01/07]

FACT: Buchanan has had tax problems – after an eight-year-long tax dispute with IRS, Buchanan had to pay $1.3 in penalties and interest.

* “It took eight years of court battles, but by 2002 the parties had settled and Buchanan paid the $1.2 million he always insisted was the real amount he owed. But during the time he fought the tax, penalties and interest piled up and the IRS charged him another $1.3 million.” [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 6/14/08]

FACT: Buchanan has allegedly practiced tax avoidance strategies, including structuring real estate deals to evade taxes.

* “A multimillionaire with vast business holdings, Buchanan cut his own taxes on two real estate deals that experts say were structured to avoid paying more than $300,000 to the federal and state governments…Even if such transactions are common, [real estate expert Robert] Stern said, state revenue officials ‘could very well have determined that this violated the doc stamp laws. This was a complicated transaction with lots of layers and lots of details elaborately put together,’ [Stern] said, ‘and one of those benefits may have been to avoid the transfer taxes.’” [St. Petersburg Times, 9/21/08]

FACT: Buchanan also uses “controversial” “offshore tax havens” for the “wealthy” that the IRS Commissioner wanted to eliminate.

* “Congressional candidate Vern Buchanan uses offshore reinsurance companies in Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands to reduce taxes on extended warranties sold by his auto dealerships…These tax avoidance strategies are controversial. The Internal Revenue Service has stepped up efforts in recent years to investigate offshore reinsurance companies, and IRS Commissioner Mark Everson has urged lawmakers to change laws that help the wealthy benefit from these offshore tax havens.” [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/31/06]

From the Blogs

Ybor City Stogie: Most Corrupt' List: Rep. Vern Buchanan

madfloridian: Buchanan still leading Jennings in FL 13 in spite of huge growing allegations against him.

Daily Kos: FL-13: Incumbent Buchanan (R) at just 43%

Republicans Don't Support Troops As Well As Dems

Check out the latest scorecards from Disabled American Veterans and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America...

DAV:

Bill Nelson, 100
Allen Boyd, 100
Corrine Brown, 100
Kendrick Meek, 100
Robert Wexler, 100
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 100
Alcee Hastings, 100

Mel Martinez, 60
Jeff Miller, 66
Ander Crenshaw, 66
Ginny Brown-Waite, 66
Cliff Stearns, 66
John Mica, 66
Ric Keller, 50
C.W. Bill Young, 66
Adam Putnam, 66
Connie Mack, 66
David Weldon, 66
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, 66
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, 66
Tom Feeney, 66
Mario Diaz-Balart, 66

Notice a pattern here? All of the Dems have 100%, while none of the Republicans has anything better than a mid-range "D." So much for supporting disabled troops.

IAVA:

Bill Nelson, A+
Allen Boyd, A
Corrine Brown, A
Kathy Castor, A
Timothy Mahoney, A
Kendrick Meek, B
Robert Wexler, A
D. Wasserman Schultz, A+
Ron Klein, A+
Alcee Hastings, A

Mel Martinez, B
Jeff Miller, B
Ander Crenshaw, B
G. Brown-Waite, B
Cliff Stearns, B
John Mica, B
Ric Keller, A
Gus Bilirakis, A
C.W. Bill Young, B
Adam Putnam, C
Vern Buchanan, B
Connie Mack, B
Dave Weldon, C
I. Ros-Lehtinen, A
L. Diaz-Balart, B
Tom Feeney, B
M. Diaz-Balart, B

Republicans do a little better on this one, with Keller, Bilirakis and Ros-Lehtinen all getting an "A." Dems still do better, Meek has the lowest grade on our side of the aisle, and he still has a "B." The only "A+" grades amongst Florida's delegation are Dems and the only grades below "B" are all Republicans. Again, which party actually supports the troops?

Crazy Florida Republican Quote of the Day

Ladies and gentlemen, your Repubican Party:

The independent survey shows Buchanan leads Jennings 49% to 33%, confirming previous polls that have shown Buchanan with a large double-digit lead over Jennings.

Independent Jan Schneider is winning 9 percent of the total vote, much of it from Democrats and Independents. A fourth candidate on the ballot, unaffiliated Dan Baldauf, is getting 3 percent of the total vote, and like Schneider, is pulling more votes from Democrats than from Republicans. .

“This poll confirms that Vern’s positive message of change is resonating with the voters while Christine Jennings’ negative and dishonest campaign has backfired,” said campaign spokeswoman Sally Tibbetts. “We take nothing for granted and will continue to campaign hard right up until the election and continue talking about the issues that matter to people – economic growth, jobs, energy and national security.”

By definition, an incumbent can't have a "positive message of change," unless he's retiring. Sally Tibbetts' statement confirms that the use of logic and the English language is not resonating with Sally's own mind.

Corrupt Buchanan Apparently Supports Nation of Lawyers

At some point I would think corrupt thug Congressman Vern Buchanan would just keel over from sheer embarrassment.

He has now taken it upon himself to sue a former colleague for allegedly defaulting on a loan.

Really, Vern?

Really?

Given the rather lengthy expose from the St. Petersburg Times a few days ago, I'd think this would be something Vern would want to avoid. At least for the sake of politics.

Apparently not.

"Shame" is evidently not in Vern's vocabulary:

...Buchanan left Michigan just as American Speedy [the company he founded] verged on a spectacular collapse. Angry franchise owners accused him of mismanagement, deceit and outright fraud. Michigan's attorney general was threatening to shut down the company. In 1992, American Speedy landed in bankruptcy court, followed by dozens of store owners, some of whom lost their life savings.

[snip]

In eight lawsuits filed since May, former employees accuse Buchanan of bilking customers of his auto dealerships, employing illegal immigrants to help build his house and violating federal campaign finance laws by reimbursing donors for campaign contributions.

Buchanan denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated. They surfaced so close to the election that he has virtually no time to disprove them in court.

But the court record is settled in Michigan, where Buchanan left a trail of lawsuits, judgments and settlements.

"Whatever he's involved in, at best he's being opportunistic," says Ben C. Maibach III, among the American Speedy franchisees who sued Buchanan. "You won't find many people in Michigan who have any respect for Vern or anything good to say about him."

[snip]

Buchanan liked the franchising concept so much that in 1976 he and James W. McDonald started American Speedy Printing Centers and began selling franchises.

[snip]

In fact, they had a bitter falling out. It led to extensive litigation, including a lawsuit in which 10 Business Card store owners claimed Buchanan and American Speedy had wrongfully transferred assets between the two companies, sold "antique" equipment to stores and vastly overstated the earnings potential of franchise
locations.

Hm, a corrupt businessman who bilked a lot of good and honest people out of their money and the cut and run before anyone caught on, at the expense of the little guy. Sounds an awful lot like a certain financial situation our nation collectively finds itself in today...

Vern Buchanan: not the kind of guy you want in Washington. Especially these days.

Jennings Fact-Checks Buchanan Ad

AD WATCH: Buchanan Makes False Claims to Distract From Ethical Problems

Misrepresents newspaper quotes in connection with lawsuits

SARASOTA, FL – September 18, 2008 – In an ad that began airing earlier this week, Rep. Vern Buchanan misuses quotes and logos from newspapers and television stations to deflect from allegations of campaign fraud and unethical business practices stemming from recent lawsuits against himself and his businesses.

“Once again, Rep. Buchanan is avoiding responding to these serious allegations. Instead of any explanations, Buchanan releases an ad that distorts the words of the media to divert attention away from the real issue – his inability to be open and honest with the people he represents,” said Christine Jennings spokesperson Melissa Smith. “Vern Buchanan should give voters clear and direct answers about these serious allegations, instead of spending millions to blanket the airwaves with misrepresentations.”

AD WATCH:

Buchanan Claim: “Ugly, Character Assassination, False – that’s what the press is saying about the politically motivated attacks on Vern Buchanan.

FACT: Buchanan has taken quotes out of context to misrepresent the press’s coverage of lawsuits filed against him and his businesses.

“Ugly” (Bradenton Herald, June 20, 2008): This selective quotation is nearly three months old, does not refer to any of the charges in the pending lawsuits, and is about the “Buchanan-Jennings duel.” “The Buchanan-Jennings duel has yet to start in full force, and it's already getting ugly. Like last time.” [Bradenton Herald, 6/20/08]

“Character assassination” (Bradenton Herald, August 3, 2008): Buchanan again quotes out of context from the Bradenton Herald editorial, in which Jennings’ campaign manager goes on the record as saying the campaign is "absolutely not" connected to the lawsuits, which is what the Herald was editorializing as “character assassination.” [Bradenton Herald, 8/3/08]

FACT: Buchanan has consistently refused to answer questions about the pending lawsuits against him

“False” (WFLA, August 15, 2008): According to transcripts, WFLA reporters and anchors have never editorialized on the merits of the claims against Buchanan. In fact, Buchanan actually fled when asked about the allegations against by WFLA reporter Mark Douglas at a press conference; in response to a question about allegations by former Buchanan employee Carlo Bell, Buchanan would only respond, “I’m running to catch a plane.” [WFLA, 07/29/08]

Buchanan Claim: One even said, ‘be skeptical of these accusations.’”

FACT: Buchanan’s Businesses Have a History of Ending Up in Court

The ad fails to mention that, given Buchanan’s long history of lawsuits against him and his businesses, these accusations should be fully investigated. Over the years, Buchanan and his businesses have been sued more than 180 times. [http://www.scribd.com/doc/4737285/Buchanan-Lawsuits]

Buchanan has previously run a business that ran into numerous lawsuits, including several that he was forced to settle. The bankruptcy, lawsuits related to his time running American Speedy and a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over the money he received from Merrill Lynch stretched through the 1990s. As Buchanan was building his Florida business empire, he was still dealing with the fallout from the one crumbling in Michigan.
…
Buchanan and American Speedy were defendants in a string of lawsuits during the late 1980s and early 1990s by franchisees and master franchisees, who said they were not making the money that Buchanan had said they could expect.
…
Many former associates didn't return calls. Others cited confidentiality agreements from settled lawsuits or said that they feared Buchanan would sue them if they spoke publicly about their experience with him. [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/6/05]

Buchanan Claim: “Vern Buchanan -- honest, independent, fighting for change”

FACT: Buchanan Named One of the 20 Most Corrupt Members in Congress

* Vern Buchanan has been named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by a non-partisan ethics organization for allegations of illegal campaign contributions. [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, accessed 9/17/08]

FACT: Buchanan Voted with the Republican Party over 90% of the Time. [Washington Post Congressional Votes Database, accessed 9/18/08]