Rudy screws over an Iowa farming couple

[KingofNewOrleans]

When this gets statewide press Rudy can kiss Iowa goodbye.

The original story appeared in the Anamosa Journal-Eureka but their webserver seems to be overwhelmed by people trying to access the story so here's the link to TPM's coverage

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/05/rudy_snubs_farm.php

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 farming couple excitedly call all their friends and make plans to host Rudy and about 75-100 Iowans.

But then there's a hitch:

On Tuesday Deb received a call from Giuliani’s Des Moines 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.

So, now the farming couple had to call all their friends and tell them Rudy's not coming because they aren't rich enough.

:wow:



This may go down in the history books for campaign screw-ups

[Colobo]

1. Rudy is that kind of person...

I expect this kind of actions from a slime ball like him.

[Wetzelbill]

2. Well the guy did marry his cousin, so I wouldn't put anything past him nt

That's two tenets of Republicanism right there, you fuck the poor and you fuck your cousin. He might be a shoo in yet.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Not rich enough? Wowww

I wonder how much the couple donated to Rudy.

[MADem]

4. He should have just put on his four illegal World Series Rings, and

using them like a set of brass knuckles, beaten the shit out of that couple!

Might make the good people of Iowa who vote GOP rethink their viewpoint.

[AlCzervik]

5. wow what a elitists asshole!!! I don't care if they say he's campaigning about the

estate tax, he can say he's campaigning for cute adorable puppies but that doesn't make it so.

[Selatius]

6. The death tax is really the only thing left that would retard the rise of a true aristocracy

If most of your money is made through capital gains income, your tax burden is largely 15% unless you take advantage of tax shelters and such. Unfortunately, payroll income is taxed much higher than that, so most working class people pay 25% or more in taxes.

[hedgehog]

7. LOL - Good luck Rudy, on finding any Iowa farm subject to the "death tax"!

All the stories I've seen have said that the death tax is no threat to most farms and businesses!

[enough]

8. k&r

[rockymountaindem]

9. I thought estates under 4 million were exempt for couples

Am I wrong? If that's the case, Rudy's going to have to look pretty hard to find a family farm worth more than that. If word of this gets out, maybe it will make middle and working class people understand that the so-called "Death Tax" really isn't an issue that's going to hurt them. I mean, if this couple were your neighbors and you were in a similar economic position, it might make you think twice about whether you should vote for someone on the estate tax issue.

[Lasher]

14. You are correct.

During 2006 thru 2008 there is a $2M Estate Tax exemption, $4M for couples. And the maximum tax rate for those estates that exceed this amount has been reduced from 60% in 2001 to 45% this year and next. The exemption increases to $3.5M/$7M in 2009. In 2010 the Estate Tax is totally repealed. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 sunsets in 2011 and the Estate Tax goes back to $1M/$2M.

99.7 percent of all people who die in the U.S. this year will be able to pass on 100 percent of their assets free of any estate tax. A surviving spouse can receive the entire estate of his or her deceased spouse, regardless of its size, without paying any estate tax.

Members of a handful of super-wealthy families have quietly helped finance and coordinate a massive campaign to repeal the estate tax.

http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf

Edit to add: And many of the middle class have nothing left to pass on because they end up in a nursing home at the end of their lives. In my state Medicare pays nursing home expenses only for a limited time. After that you have to liquidate all your assets and give the proceeds to the government to continue coverage.

This is working with the Estate Tax cuts to drive us toward a nation of wealthy dynasties and no middle class.

[underpants]

17. Exactly-they are going to have to look really hard

From what I have read most of the formerly small farmers sold off to agrifarm inc.'s years ago and now farm on contract.

[drm604]

10. Please people, watch your framing.

I realize that the OP used the term "death tax" because it was quoting Rudy's campaign staff. That's okay because it was a quote, but we shouldn't be calling it that. "Death tax" is right wing spin. Always call it by it's proper name - "the estate tax". Or, if you want to spin it the other way - "the Paris Hilton tax" (since all of her money is inherited).

[progressoid]

13. Yep, that whole "death tax" plays well out here in the plains.

The fear of losing the family farm drives it. Never mind that most Repubs don't own a farm. Or that more family farms were lost during the Reagan years than would ever be lost from the estate tax. Or that there is a plethora of loopholes to avoid paying this supposed death tax. It's just political manipulation.

I like the idea of the "paris Hilton tax"!

[progressoid]

11. Ha ha ha! That story is chock full of the truth of the Repub party in IA

They get screwed by the party they vote for...but they keep voting for them!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Isn't that funny?

The majority of Repubicans keep voting against their own interest, and this is a wake-up call to them. Hey, stupids! Even the Republican bigwigs think you're losers!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. Wait. Hold on. Guiliani's campaign never confirmed.

The VonSpreckens jumped the gun assuming it was going to happen. I don't believe the Guiliani campaign ever confirmed a definite visit because they needed to verfiy the assets.

[TwilightGardener]

16. The funny part isn't the cancelled shindig--it's the "verify assets" part.

Rudy's digging around for enough millionaires in Iowa who will give a crap about his death tax speech. Makes one wonder if maybe he should address issues that are important, to, say, the OTHER 99% of Iowans!

[formercia]

18. Here's a suggestion for Rudi when he gets to Nevada.

Fugitive sect leader arrested near Las Vegas
Polygamist Warren Steed Jeffs was on FBI’s most wanted list

AP file

Updated: 8:52 p.m. ET Aug 29, 2006

LAS VEGAS - The leader of a polygamist breakaway sect who was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List has been arrested and faces sexual misconduct charges for allegedly arranging marriages between underage girls and older men, authorities said Tuesday.

Warren Steed Jeffs, 50, was taken into custody after he and two other people were pulled over late Monday by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas, FBI spokesman David Staretz said.

Jeffs leads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a group that broke away from the Mormon church a century ago. He is said to have at least 40 wives and nearly 60 children.



Warren Steed Jeffs is shown in this December 2005 photo supplied by a member of his church.

[gratuitous]

19. So unfortunate when reality hinders a political stunt

The fact of the matter is that despite all the Republican whining about the Estate Tax, it just doesn't affect that many people, nobody who has a lick of sense or estate planning is going to lose their family farm or family business just because they die, and most Americans think that little Tommy Trust Fund will somehow be able to scrape by if he inherits only $55 million instead of $100 million.

[hvn_nbr_2]

20. Rudi got foiled by believing the Puke propaganda

All that bullshit about the estate mostly affects small farmers, and he actually believed it.

[NiteOwll]

21. I wonder if the VonSpreckens are

still planning to vote for Snooty Rudy or one of the other Republicons?

They should have realized that they were too poor to be worthy of a Republicon's time. :sarcasm:

[mnhtnbb]

22. When you're courting the base of the haves and have-mores, you don't settle

for the don't-have-enoughs

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Hahahahahaha ...... aaaaaahhhhhhahahahahahahahaha ........

Hahahahahaha

AHHHHHH hahahahahahahahahaha

Dumb and Dumber

[ComerPerro]

24. Not only does this show Republican elitism, but it also prefectly illustrates that the estate tax

only affects a very, very small percentage of the population.