Nathan Deal to put assets in trust

Deal’s situation appears to be much more complicated than his predecessors’, a review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicates. Almost as soon as he takes office, he faces successive waves of maturing loans that he apparently cannot repay without selling at least some of his holdings.

By the time he leaves office, Deal could owe significantly less than the millions of dollars of debt he now carries. But his holdings, to be placed in a blind trust, also could shrink.

By Feb. 1, Deal is scheduled to repay $1.6 million of a loan he guaranteed for his daughter’s failed business. A year later, Deal and a business partner are supposed to pay off a $2.5 million loan. And the next year, he and his partner will face yet another due date, for a $350,000 loan for the auto-salvage company.

Deal also owes more than $800,000 on two home mortgages and $500,000 on a second loan for his daughter’s business, according to his financial disclosure statements.

The governor-elect intends to work out payment plans with his lenders by the end of December, Evans said. After he takes office in January, the trustee will be responsible for making the required payments.

How Deal plans to restructure his debts is unclear, as is where the trustee will get money to make the payments. Deal and his aides refused to answer specific questions about his finances, while authorizing Evans to speak only about the blind trust. The trustee has not yet been appointed.

Besides his salary as governor of about $140,000, Deal will be eligible for a federal pension of about $52,000 a year, based on nine terms he served in Congress. He and his wife receive about $48,000 a year in Social Security and other retirement benefits, according to tax filings. In all, Deal should earn about $240,000 a year while governor, not counting income from business ventures or investments.

But he will not transfer new income into the trust, Evans said. And Deal recently indicated he already has tapped into his largest liquid assets: retirement savings accounts set up to benefit him and his wife, Sandra.

Ethics advocates generally applaud Deal’s decision to use a trust to insulate him from potential conflicts of interest. At the same time, advocates suggest Deal’s finances might invite questionable solutions, no matter who oversees them.

“It sends a good signal,” said Bill Bozarth, executive director of Common Cause of Georgia, a nonpartisan watchdog group. “But the devil’s in the details.”

“It’s important that his financial problems are treated the way anybody else’s would be,” Bozarth said. “The system should not give preferential treatment to the person who holds the highest office in the state.”

Deal’s personal finances became a political liability in this year’s campaign after the AJC reported in September that he was on the hook for $2.3 million in loans he guaranteed for his daughter and son-in-law. Deal also lost about $2 million he invested in the couple’s Habersham County sporting goods store, Wilder Outdoors, which opened in 2006 and closed in 2009. The store building, which Deal and his wife own, has stood empty for almost two years.

The financial disclosure on file for Deal at the time indicated he owed more than the value of all his assets. He amended the disclosure statement twice to reflect higher values for property he and his business partner own. Deal also disclosed two additional business loans not listed on earlier statements. He described the omissions as an oversight.

Deal’s finances apparently had little effect on the election’s outcome. Days before the Nov. 2 election, a poll by the AJC and the Georgia Newspaper Partnership suggested voters were far more likely to base their choice for governor on issues than on a candidate’s integrity and character.

To help reduce his debt, Deal has put two pieces of real estate up for sale: the former location of Wilder Outdoors, as well as his primary residence in Gainesville.

The residence has been on the market for a year. But Deal’s asking price of $985,000 has attracted no buyers.

Deal has said the business property is under contract. However, his aides declined to identify the potential buyer or to reveal the purchase price. As of Thursday, no sale had been recorded in Habersham County property records.

Besides managing Deal’s debt, the trustee will have to oversee his half-interest in the auto-salvage company, working with the partner who operates the business day to day. The company has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in past years from a state auto inspection program. And, according to congressional records, most of its earnings come from insurance companies — all of which have lobbyists representing them in the state Capitol.

The trustee will have “the complete authority to operate the business,” said Evans, the lawyer setting up Deal’s trust. “Nathan would have no involvement at all.”

Making decisions about a continuing business venture could be complicated for a trustee, said Atlanta attorney Harold Abrams, who managed Barnes’ trust from 1999 to 2003.

“It’s one thing to sell securities with the advice of people who work in that area,” Abrams said. “It’s something else to be involved in running a business.”

Deciding which assets to shed to pay debts would put excessive pressure on a trustee, Abrams said.

“That’s a real personal thing that probably doesn’t fit into a blind trust,” he said. “There’s a limit to what investments can be handled in a blind trust.”

If the debt restructuring is completed by the end of the year, Evans said, the trustee would simply maintain Deal’s holdings.

“Everything will get locked in place,” Evans said. “Then it will go into the trust. ... Then, at the end of four years, everything comes out.”

State law contains no standards for structuring or operating a blind trust. Federal law requires officials to choose trustees with whom they have no business or other affiliation. Once a federal official’s assets go into a blind trust, only the change in their overall value is publicly reported.

In Georgia, officials must file annual disclosures listing each asset, according to a 2000 opinion by Attorney General Thurbert Baker. Aides to Barnes had asked whether public disclosure undermined a blind trust’s integrity.

“If the General Assembly determines that ‘blind trusts’ serve the public interest better than full disclosure, it may amend the law to so provide,” Baker wrote. “Until that occurs, however, Georgia’s ethics laws require disclosure.”

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A governor’s assets and liabilities

Gov.-elect Nathan Deal faces a series of deadlines to repay debts throughout his term. He is creating a blind trust to manage his assets and liabilities, and is trying to restructure his debts before taking office in January.

These are among the assets Deal will place into the trust:

Here is a look at what Deal owes:

Sources: Financial disclosures filed with the State Ethics Commission, real estate records.

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A governor’s earnings

Deal and his wife, Sandra, are expected to have an annual income of about $240,000 during the next four years, not counting investment income or earnings from his auto-salvage business.

Sources: Tax returns, state auditor, and Congressional Research Service.