"Tea Party aligned Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan -- which his attorney argued is the bank's fault for lending him the money in the first place."I of course posted this link to my Facebook and Google+ page, and discovered via comments that another of my colleagues and friends, Invisible Homeless Kid's blogger, advocate, dear friend and Director/Producer of On The Edge, Ms. Diane Nilan had long ago written about this man's horrific impact on poor folks in a blog post back in January, after he took out the loan to renovate a Calhoun Georgia motel, The Oglethorpe Inn. The project went bellyup, forcing 80 people into homelessness as a direct result of his woefully inept business acumen.
Btw, Calhoun Georgia has little in the way of resources for folks hitting the bricks, and if you don't know this about Georgia, I'll clue ya in; they don't much care for "those homeless people" in most parts of the state, either. Back in 2006 or so, Atlanta ranked #4 in the National Coalition for the Homeless' review of the "20 Meanest Cities for the Homeless."
As I did a little reading on Diane's page, I found a link that also tied Mr. Graves, this upstanding and fine example of a savvy businessman turned politician, to an IRS lien because he hadn't paid the taxes on his company, Tich Properties, LLC
I bring this to your attention today because...
A. this is one of the guys who has claimed he knows best how to manage the trillions of dollars of debt the US has and has held our country hostage with the debt ceiling debacle. I never want people to forget just what incredibly inept men like Tom Graves have done to the poor and the middle class by their sheer stupidity in the business world and political realm; and B. I want to make sure that as many people as possible recognize exactly how hypocritical some of these Republican Tea Party members really are.
I would add here that if there are any Democrat politicians who have read this and are feeling smug at the moment, I do hope you'll wipe that smirk off your face. Frankly, I find many of you more reprehensible than I do most of the Tea Party crew. YOU have repeatedly ignored what "we the people" have asked of you and routinely voted against our wishes on numerous occasions. Your party has become so out of touch with what the vast majority of true Democrats want for our country that you don't accurately reflect the Democratic ideals and you definitely don't vote in our best interests anymore.
I think I can speak for many when I say we must hold our noses when choosing between the lesser of two evils while in the voting booth and we're sick and tired of you not listening to us. Don't for a second think that our loathing of Tea Party hypocrisy translates into automatic votes for you....
Huge thanks to Diane for all the work she's already done to help expose this grossly incompetent "businessman" turned politician. About the only Republican I can think of who may be a better example of a completely feckless individual is George W. Bush. We all remember what this man did to our country before running out on us while leaving behind the debt that people like Tom Graves now uses to manipulate and control President Obama.
