Ossoff: Sorry, but my company’s finances are confidential

Georgia Senate Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff has a few words for anyone wondering about where he got all of his money and the finances of his film production company. That’s none of your business. This beacon of transparency who would like to replace Republican David Perdue in the upper chamber has faced questions recently about payments made to Insight TWI, his movie company, from Asian interests with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. After initially fessing up to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about one payment that somehow failed to show up on his initial campaign finance filing, reporters sought more information. But Ossoff has apparently tired of discussing the subject, telling the Washington Post this week that Insight TWI’s finances are “confidential.” (Free Beacon)

I distinctly remember being told that politicians concealing the details of their business finances was A Bad Thing. Haven’t we heard that about President Trump from the moment he announced he was running for the GOP nomination until the present day?

There are clearly some cases where corporate finances can be considered proprietary information, particularly if the owners are private figures. But Ossoff doesn’t have to worry about offending anyone else when it comes to the film company’s dealings. He’s the majority owner and CEO of Insight TWI. He obtained that position by purchasing the company in 2013 and investing “an unspecified amount” of money into it.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that he got the money to do this via a generous family inheritance. How much did he inherit? Reporters have asked about that also, but Ossoff has declined to offer any specifics.

Most candidates are fairly clear about their financial dealings when disclosure is required. In Ossoff’s case, as CEO, he could readily turn over the company’s financial statements for examination (particularly if he’s been taking money from the CCP) if he wished to do so. It’s also hard to understand what would make him so secretive about his inheritance. There’s nothing wrong with inheriting money from your parents or other relatives… unless you’ve been playing fast and loose with your taxes, of course.

For the record, I haven’t seen any indication that Ossoff has broken the law regarding either his personal taxes or his company’s business dealings. But the fact that he doesn’t want to discuss it with his potential constituents doesn’t exactly fill us with brimming levels of confidence in terms of transparency, either. There are a dozen days left until the Georgia runoff elections. Choose wisely.

Please don’t mock this fine Democrat. He made his money the old fashioned way—he inherited it! But he won’t squander any taxpayer dollars.

Also, please remember he’s not a progressive. He’s a moderate!

He’ll have Georgia’s citizen’s best interests at heart. He’s a healer and a uniter, don’t you know.

And he won’t be joined like a Siamese twin to Bernie Sanders. He won’t be tagging around behind Bernie like a little puppy.

He’ll carefully consider before he votes to expand the Supreme Court, or to give statehood to DC and Puerto Rico.

You can trust Jon Ossoff. He’s not like the others Democrats.

Ossoff’s Father Took $1 Mil from Gov’t Relief Fund,
Ossoff Slams Greedy Business Owners for Raiding PPP
freebeacon ^ | DECEMBER 2, 2020 | Collin Anderson / FR Posted by MarvinStinson

Georgia Democratic Senate hopeful Jon Ossoff said Paycheck Protection Program funds were “raided by larger companies” without mentioning that his wealthy father’s company received as much as $1 million through the program.”[Republicans] don’t care about small businesses. And as we saw, the PPP funds were raided by larger companies,” Ossoff said during a Wednesday-morning campaign event in Decatur.

The Democrat said nothing about his father Richard Ossoff’s involvement in the program. The elder Ossoff’s Atlanta-based company, Strafford Publications, received between $350,000 and $1 million from the PPP on June 9. The company—which collects an estimated $28 million in annual revenue—has amassed Ossoff’s father a sizable fortune that allowed him to purchase a private plane in 2014.

Ossoff’s father has been a major driver of the Georgia Democrat’s political career, contributing more than $17,000 to his son’s campaigns since 2017 and nearly $150,000 to other federal Democrats since 2002. Ossoff’s father also footed the bill for his son’s Washington, D.C., residence while Ossoff worked as a congressional aide to Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.), and Ossoff used a large family inheritance to purchase control of his foreign film company in 2013.

Ossoff on Wednesday also noted that the PPP’s reauthorization has been “blocked since late summer,” saying that securing a second round of small business loans through the program “goes back to who has power.”

In October, however, Senate Democrats shot down a standalone measure allocating $258 billion in PPP funds, as the proposal did not include larger economic relief. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called the measure a “political stunt,” sparking criticism from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (D., Ky.).

“The Democratic leaders have spent months holding out for a long far-left wish list of non-COVID related priorities and restricting additional aid until they get it,” McConnell said. “There’s no reason the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program should wait another single day.”

Democrats also voted against GOP coronavirus stimulus packages that included PPP funding in September and October.
Ossoff is running to unseat Republican Sen. David Perdue in Georgia’s January 5 runoff. The Democrat on Wednesday criticized Perdue for having “no sense of what ordinary people are going through” but did not discuss his family’s wealth and its impact on his political career. Perdue has labeled Ossoff a “trust fund socialist who lives off his family’s money.”

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