Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, disorganized and off-message for a few too many weeks, didn’t need another controversy that makes the candidate look ridiculous. It got one anyway.
In advance of a campaign swing through Iowa, a Giuliani aide contacted Deb and Jerry VonSprecken, farmers who had recently donated to Giuliani’s campaign. The staffer asked if the VonSpreckens would be willing to host an event on their farm, and the couple, honored to even be asked, agreed.
Deb got to work, contacting local officials and inviting everyone she could find. They even underwent a security check. Then, Team Giuliani called back.
“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.
The Death Tax is a federal version of the Iowa Inheritance Tax.
The VonSpreckens then called Delgado back and told him how upset they were that the event had been cancelled, how much work they had done and that they had been expecting 75-100 people at their farm.
“I invited him into my home,” Deb said of Giuliani, fighting back tears.
Yes, the Giuliani campaign was only interested in the VonSpreckens because it thought they were multi-millionaires. Giuliani needed a prop, not a family, and as soon as the campaign realized the VonSpreckens’ net worth, they were no longer of any value to Rudy “Man of the People” Giuliani.
There are a variety of entertaining angles to this one, which should, if there’s any justice at all, turn into quite a headache for the former NYC mayor.
First, the campaign doesn’t even understand the basics of the estate tax. Jonathan Chait noted that the estate tax currently allows an exemption of $2 million per person, or $4 million per couple. “So if they’re looking to highlight the evils of the estate tax, finding a family with assets over $1 million isn’t going to cut it. As the Center on Budget and Policy priorities pointed out last year, at the 2006 exemption level, only 123 farms in the country would have paid any estate tax at all. How many of those families live in Iowa, and of those, how many are Giuliani supporters? The campaign may be looking for a good prop for a long time.”
Second, Greg Sargent followed up with the VonSpreckens directly, who confirmed the accuracy of the story. “I told [Rudy’s aide] from day one that we were poor folks, just trying to scrape by,” Deb VonSprecken said. “When they [asked us to host the event], I was just ecstatic. We were honored. It was an honor and a privilege. We worked so hard…. 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?” Ouch.
Third, according to a far-right blogger in Iowa, John McCain’s team is pushing this story fairly aggressively.
And fourth, what do you suppose the media would do if a Democratic campaign snubbed a couple of family farmers in Iowa because they weren’t wealthy enough? I mean, obviously this isn’t nearly as fascinating as a Democrat getting an expensive haircut, but couldn’t CNN send a camera crew to the VonSpreckens farm? I bet it’d make for some compelling campaign coverage. (Tip to assignment editors: Deb VonSprecken told Sargent she’d be willing to speak to the media about this.)
Lately, it seems like the Giuliani campaign has been one screw-up after another. Somewhere, Fred Thompson is smiling.