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1/20/2010
No way Feingold is a Coakley. Is Wall a Brown?
Shoot. I didn’t ask Terrence Wall if he had any Cosmo layouts laying around. Hmmm. Next time.
Wall flew around the state yesterday, formally announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. When I had an opportunity to talk with him, Dems had already written my questions for me.
These guys are incessant – threatened by a Wall candidacy and coming off the wall with this preliminary attack stuff. The primary offender I see is Blogging Blue blogger Zach Wisniewski railing on Wall about his wealth and his tax returns.
WisPolitics recently righteously reported that “Wall paid no personal state income tax in four of the past five years.” And apparently stretching for a plot line, Greg Bump illustrates that the state income tax Wall paid in that one year was “more than Wall’s GOP primary opponent David Westlake of Watertown and Dem U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold of Middleton each personally paid in total state personal income taxes over the five-year period.”
[What? Who cares?]
“Sounds like there’s one set of rules for Terrence Wall and another for the rest of us," Feingold spokesman Trevor Miller said in a statement. "I think the people of Wisconsin will be interested to know how a multi-millionaire like Mr. Wall gets away with not paying any state taxes.”
So, my questions of Wall: How do you get away with it? Why did you have no tax liability in four of the last five years?
Wall: I owed no state taxes in those years because of depreciation and because of investment in creating new jobs in recent years.
I wanted more details and indeed Wall has taken advantage of tax credits created and funded by Governor Doyle and his Democratic legislature via Act 255, Early Stage Investment credits. (Gosh, so have my husband and I – on a much smaller scale of course!!) Act 255 credits reduce Wisconsin income tax owed by a full 25% of the value of qualifying investments – extremely generous credits reflecting the risk of early stage money and also the importance of these investments to state policymakers – and for job creation.
On a conference call tonight, Wall shared that he has invested in multiple successful technology businesses that created thousands of jobs. A WisPolitics report quotes Wall as reporting his businesses have paid $65 million in state taxes in the last 10 years. $65 million! Geez. Do you hear that party of the story? Wall’s income tax returns are 100% on the up and up, but be assured, we’ll continue to hear libs whine about him.
Another whine Wisniewski and his researcher Cory Liebmann over at One Wisconsin Now like to make is that a Wall business is registered in Delaware.
FP: Which of your business holdings use a Delaware business address? Why?
Wall: Four of 40 business properties are registered in Delaware because the lenders required it. [In contradiction of Wisniewski’s claim,] [C]orporate registration has nothing to do with where taxes are paid; I pay taxes in Wisconsin.
My next question comes from Mike Tate, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin:
How can Mr. Wall be a voice for Wisconsin taxpayers when he isn’t one himself?
Wall: My companies and I did exactly what Democrats are looking for – we made investments, created jobs and expanded the economy.
More of an answer appears in the same WI State Journal article,
…campaign spokesman Ryan Murray accused Democrats of misrepresenting Wall's taxes, and said the candidate is seeking a Senate seat to help create jobs and build the state's economy. Murray added Wall and his companies have paid more than $30 million in taxes during the last five years.
Lastly, I asked Wall about an article in the Christian Science Monitor yesterday, opining that Scott Brown’s surprise success was a GOP template for the midterms. Is it?
Wall: The voters are going to cut through it all; negative campaigns have never worked in Wisconsin. Brown focused on the issues – and not the politics of personal destruction. The left wants to focus on attacks. As a citizen legislator, I will listen and take action. Brown focused on common sense solutions - jobs, the economy, government spending, stopping this health care bill. Sooner or later the left will wake up and realize destroying your opponent doesn’t work anymore.
Wall will challenge Senator Feingold on his record and doesn’t “intend to attack him personally.” He said Feingold’s “henchmen are out there… some days following me around with cameras….It’s a strategy designed to discourage the typical American citizen from running for office.”
Wall won’t be discouraged. He says he’s dealt with Progressives for years in Madison – he can deal with Senator Feingold and those henchmen.
Go for it “T.” Make it a battle. Stay away from Cosmo.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Typical double standard as usual. My only initial problem is Wall appearing too "above" the typical voter. Maybe he needs to take of of his company trucks and drive around the state.
John Brantmeier (Wed Jan 20 07:21:35 2010)
To the liberal Dems I would say, "How many jobs has career politician Feingold 'created or saved' during his terms on the public dole, and how does that compare to what Mr. Wall has done over the same 18-year period? I'll suppose they don't have a good answer, since most of Sen. Feingold's activities during his reign have dealt with politics and political theories, not with the real world. Wall, on the other hand, appears to have actually created places for people to earn a living.
Duke (Wed Jan 20 07:57:43 2010)
What you need to do is look at Rob Taylor of the Constitution Party and his "Second American Revolution". The first shot of liberty was fired last night in Mass. and Brown's message echos what Mr. Taylor has been extending around the state. He is a down-home working man who believes in the US Constitution and it's principles.
Jim (Wed Jan 20 08:05:36 2010)
Perhaps Mr. Taylor, distasteful (?) as it may be, should consider running in the Republican primary.
Jo (Wed Jan 20 08:55:15 2010)
I'm willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt on the first go-around. So far, however, Mr. Wall shows me nothing. He's rich - that's nice. The Dems are attacking him - and the surprise is?
The real question is WHAT DOES HE STAND FOR? Is this candidate a true conservative who will focus on the principles outlined in the constitution, or is he yet another RINO that will go to Washington and take care of his buddies under the guise of 'being good for business'. There's a difference and that difference matters to this voter (and presumably many others).
So what's he REALLY about?
Jeff Riedl (Wed Jan 20 09:46:33 2010)
"So what's he REALLY about?"
That's why we have campaigns - time will tell. That said, I guess we already know most of what Feingold is all about. Looking at Mass. I'd have to say Scott Brown isn't much of a conservative either, but by comparison he's a massive improvement over the disaster Coakley would have wrought.
It really is a shame when Americans are placed in a position where they have to vote for the lesser of two evils!
Duke (Wed Jan 20 09:53:21 2010)
I didn't see Brown as a "lesser of two evils" candidate. He's very staunch in his smaller government, less taxes, no all-encompassing health care bill platform. That sounds very conservative to me. He's also against same sex marriage and Keith Olbermann hates his guts. What could be a better Conservative recommendation than that?
C.R. Stevenson (Wed Jan 20 11:02:30 2010)
"What could be a better Conservative recommendation than that?"
If he would be pro-life.
Don't get me wrong, Brown is far, far ahead of any opposition. I'm just using the Reagan yardstick to measure.
We'll have to see if Terrence Wall stands for principles, or tries to take the easy road and say what he thinks people want to hear.
Duke (Wed Jan 20 11:22:25 2010)
For the record...I am not Zach's "researcher" (I'm not even sure where you are getting that) and I have not worked at OWN since December 2008.
Cory Liebmann (Wed Jan 20 13:56:27 2010)
I apologize Cory; I'm behind the times and mixed up. Thanks for straightening me out. I knew you're no longer with OWN - nuts. But are you doing the Wall research? Or is it Scot?
Jo (Wed Jan 20 15:52:15 2010)
Hi Jo, just to echo what Cory said, I don't have (or need) a researcher; I do my own investigating.
Zach W. (Wed Jan 20 18:44:58 2010)
I'm happy Scott Brown won. I was, however, disappointed in his frequent, glowing references his esteemed predecessor, Edward Kennedy and he hoped to keep his influence in the Senate WHAT!!!!! I wish he were pro-life not pro-choice.
(Wed Jan 20 21:08:39 2010)
I think Republicans need to focus on conservative core principals, free market principals, smaller and less intrusive governments, fiscal conservatism, strong national defense and stay away from all the social issues that tend to polarize the public. We has enough to do in getting our country back on track without having to go after Roe v Wade or same sex marriage. Don't get me wrong, when the opportunity or the issue gets to the forefront, a Republican should be supporting a pro life stance, I just don't think that that is the priority right now.
Dale McNamee (Sun Jan 31 06:37:09 2010)
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