Unable to find millionaire farmer Giuliani abandons campaign event.

[Perky]

http://www.anamosaje.com/NewsArchive/2007/May/3/news.html#1

by Michelle Phillips

OLIN–Last weekend Deb and Jerry VonSprecken of Olin received a call from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign office asking them if they would be interested in holding a campaign rally on May 4, after she had donated to his campaign.

“We thought it would be an honor and agreed,” said Jerry.

The campaign office continued to contact the VonSpreckens throughout last weekend and were told a security check would be needed. The couple passed the security check and began putting plans in place. On Tuesday Deb received a call from Giuliani’s Des Monies office and was asked to call New York. “They wanted to know our assets,” she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle. Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location. “Tony said, ‘I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.’ then he said they weren’t going to be able to come,” Deb continued.


She said she then got a call from New York later the same day asking her to introduce Giuliani at a rally in Cedar Rapids, also scheduled for May 4. They offered her one-on-one time with Giuliani and to have her photo taken with him. “My feeling is that they’re trying to cover their butts,” said Jerry.“I may go and give him a piece of my mind, but I’m not going to introduce him,” Deb included.

Preparations had already been put in place for traffic control and bleachers and Deb’s mother, sister and niece were planning to fly from Texas to meet Giuliani. “Now they pull this,” Jerry exclaimed. “It’s really sad that we aren’t good enough because we aren’t millionaires.” “This is a horrible retraction we’re having to make. I’m in a state of shock, very hurt and embarrassed. I don’t understand why they don't want to talk to normal people,” she concluded.

http://www.anamosaje.com/NewsArchive/2007/May/3/news.html#1

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. This could potentially be funny, if it weren't so sad.

Where have all the rich family farmers gone?

[tabasco]

2. Maybe this will open their eyes to what republicans are all about.

But maybe not. They seem like pretty stupid people.

[malaise]

13. Bingo n/t

[progressoid]

34. You'd think so but...

The hayseeds here in Iowa that vote against their own best interest (as well as America's best interest) aren't much different from the 62 million(ish) from the rest of the U.S. that did the same.

[gratuitous]

3. Six years of relentless upward redistribution of the nation's wealth

And people who make an honest living are no longer millionaires. Of course, even if your net worth is a million dollars, you're not liable to the estate tax, so it's really unclear what kind of a stunt Mr. Giuliani was trying to pull off here; the farm family wouldn't have been in danger of "losing" their farm except, of course, to the rapacious farm policies of the Republicans.

And I'm not sure why the VonSpreckens feel embarrassed. Unless they still plan to vote Republican. But then, I'd think they'd feel more foolish than embarrassed, but that's just me.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. I believe the Estate tax kicks in at $2 million now.

It started some years ago at $600K and has gone up steadily.

So if your estate isn't worth $2 million ya don't hafta worry about it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. This story will NOT go over well in those parts.

I was born in Iowa, family on both sides are Iowans, and they typify the rock-ribbed republican. My mom always claimed (before she converted during Watergate) the republicans looked out for the small farmers - the democrats were the party of big labor and big business (??). A lot of her family still believes it.

Well, so much for that.

[rasputin1952]

8. I'm Here in NE, and when Fortenberry came through for

his re-election campaign debate, he showed up in a tailored suit, costing upward of $500. I was appalled, as this is farm country. But the GOP sheeple, just looked and saw someone who "made it". If I went up< against him, I'd show up with jeans, a decent shirt w/sleeves rolled up and dirt on my boots. That's how you connect w/farmers, and don't try to BS 'em, they pick up on that pretty quickly. Fortenberry gave them side-skirting crap, and that passed muster, but a lot of them are complaining now, as the farms are being destroyed by a number of things, man-made and natural, w/zero relief in the cards.[br />
Guiliani in IA, will go over like a corpse at a wedding.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Yep. Small, family-owned farms face a lot of threats, but the

so-called death tax is not one of them.

[RB TexLa]

21. Depends on where the land is

If it's right outside of Plano, Tx the assessed value on just the land can be well into the millions. I use that because I know someone with 30 acre farm and it will be hit, but he's got his estate planning done.

[RB TexLa]

22. I wear a suit every day, so if I go out buy a pair of jeans and show up wearing that

am I not "trying to BS 'em?"

[rasputin1952]

23. Yes, you would most likely be BS'ing them...but Fortenberry

was trying to impress upon the locals he was a "farm boy" from way back. His speaking did not match anything near what he was trying to portray w/his clothes. It is incredibly difficult to get a mind's eye picture of a guy talking about plowing fields, working on tractors and combines, and shoveling out the barn early in the AM in a suit...More like saying "Green Acres" was a reality show.

In this area, you get respect for callouses on your hands if your male, a half inch haircut doesn't hurt either. To show up looking like a a mortician complete w/coiffure doesn't get a lot of votes. He made it, but for this area, it was a squeaker, he got 52%-48% for the D challenger, a female of intense intellect...that is about unheard of around here, usually R's get 75%+.

[Canuckistanian]

5. This illustrates a good point

There are vanishingly few working family businesses that have those kinds of assets.

We ALL know who the repeal of the "Death Tax" would affect the most. Moneyed families like er, um, Giuliani's or Mitt Romney's.

[maine_raptor]

6. See this is what I like about Rudy.

He's for the "poor folk". I mean, he was looking for millionaires, not Billionaires. That says to me, that the man is a least willing to go "slumming" once in a while. Ya gotta like that in a candidate.

HEAVY :sarcasm:

[donco6]

7. Wow. That's pretty cruel.

Hope those people wake up about their choice of candidates.

[Morgana LaFey]

29. Nah, not cruel. "Nothing personal, just business."

And I suspect if ANYone can be all about "just business," it's Rudy.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Des Moines Register: 'We're not rich enough for Giuliani'

<snip>"They checked our assets, and since we're not considered millionaires, they canceled," she said.

VonSprecken told her local newspaper, "Why would Rudy Giuliani not come speak to the average Americans that live in eastern Iowa, instead of qualifying you as a millionaire before he will show up to your place?"

The couple had told the Giuliani campaign staff from the beginning, "We're just poor farmers," she said.

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Giuliani's campaign, called the matter an unfortunate misunderstanding without directly addressing why the location of the event was changed.<snip>

More...
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/NEWS09/705120340/1001/LIFE01

Ouch! That's going to leave a mark.

[Stephanie]

10. Front Page please!

K&R!

[UTUSN]

12. K&R #5 for Saint Rudy's death march campaign!!1 n/t

[kiteinthewind]

14. Sweet! nt

:rofl:

[Vidar]

15. If you're not agribusiness the publicans don't want you.

[Perky]

16. K&rR

[Blackhatjack]

17. For the same reason they use 'death tax' instead of the real name 'Estate & Gift Tax'....

Republican spin technicians rename real programs to project an image, often one that bears no relation to reality, to try and persuade people to supporting them.

The idea that they wanted only a millionaire to participate in their disingenuous attack on the Estate and Gift Tax should tell the public that the original event they wanted you to participate in was designed to misinform and mislead those attending that event.

Hopefully Giuliani and other Repubs will be 'dogged' by questions regarding your mistreatment. Nothing could be clearer evidence of their unfitness for office. IF they will do this to you, imagine what they would visit upon us all if they were elected.

[DFW]

18. Hard finding good help these days, Rudy?

All she had to say was that an unfortunate scheduling
conflict had arisen and that they were extremely sorry,
and was there anything they could do to try to make up
for it, and that would have been that. It happens all the
time in campaign scheduling.

But, no, the stupid campaign worker had to come out and tell
them straight out that their not being millionaires was
grounds for cancellation. Seeing as how there quite a few
people in Iowa (and other states) who are not millionaires,
this single incident might be Giuliani's Macaca.

[Schema Thing]

19. And the really sad thing is...

...that if you have 80 acres (and a mule) and cattle and farm, you are really much more wealthy than a "normal" person.

[Az_lefty]

20. Just where are you suppose to find a millionaire farmer anyway?

except for corporate farms, they don't exist.

[druidity33]

25. LAND is money... nt

[cooolandrew]

24. Oh blimey, when will GOPers get that Republicans are an elite party. Rush lied to you freepers.

Although the GOPs behaviour as a whole is anything but classy.

[cosmicdot]

26. The News Editor and writer, Michelle Phillips ...

uses the Republican-rightwing-conservative term "Death Tax" in her article as if in fact that's what it is:

"The Death Tax is a federal version of the Iowa Inheritance Tax."

[Rex]

27. Fuck Rudy, he has less chance than John McCain.

No I mean it, fuck Rudy Ghouliani. He doesn't deserve to go to anyones house, much less run for POTUS.

[Morgana LaFey]

30. This just goes to help prove exactly what the Dems say about

the estate tax: it doesn't kill small farms.

[TacticalPeek]

31. K&R

:kick:

[senseandsensibility]

32. Most people are focused on the callousness of

his actions once he discovered this family wasn't millionaires. But more to the point, this shows the falsity of the repugs claim that "average" people are hurt by the inheritance tax. Going back many years, they have not been able to find a family farmer that would be hurt by this tax. Still, they try to sell it as protecting average taxpayers instead of another giveaway to their donors.

[progressoid]

33. Exactly right. Unfortunatley, a lot of Iowans will see the snub rather than the reality that the

death tax is just political BS.

I suppose it's time for a LTTE.