Following a request from Allyson Schwartz during a debate Wednesday night, Tom Wolf released the terms of the loan that partially financed his campaign.
The loan from M&T Bank totals $4.45 million, less than half of the $10 million that Wolf contributed to his campaign in the end of last year. It’s to be repaid in quarterly payments of $150,000 between January of this year and December of 2016. Because the $10 million was given as a contribution, not a loan to the campaign, Wolf cannot be paid back with any money raised for the race.
Wolf secured the loan with personal assets, including a great deal of stock in the Wolf Organization, his family’s company.
“Pennsylvanians are starting to get some answers,” Schwartz spokesman Mark Bergman said. “If Tom Wolf can’t pay back this loan, the bank will control a good chunk of his company. And the last time the Wolf organization was indebted to this bank, the majority of the employees lost their jobs. It’s clear that Tom Wolf is putting his own personal ambition before his employees.”
The Wolf Organization was on the verge of foreclosure in 2009 when Tom Wolf returned to run the business, instead of running for governor in 2010. The company had lost all of its value, and while it has not yet returned to pre-recession profits, it did stave off foreclosure from M&T Bank. The Wolf Organization had taken out a loan in 2006 to buy Wolf and his two cousins out of the business when they wanted to retire, the loan was just one piece of the buyout, which was also funded by other investments.
“Unfortunately, Rep. Schwartz’s frustration over her political standing has driven her to mischaracterize Tom’s record. These sorts of desperate attacks are exactly what’s wrong with politics today. And it shows why we need a different kind of leader who will give Pennsylvania a fresh start.,” Wolf spokesman Mark Nicastre said this morning.
State Treasurer Rob McCord and former DEP Secretary and White House adviser Katie McGinty are also running for the Democratic nomination for governor.
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23 Responses
Gotta agree with Bob Howard. Why is asking questions about how a campaign is getting money negative or desperate? I think borrowing $4.5 million & having to be PUSHED to reveal the details of the loan validates the need for the question to be asked. Clearly Wolf would rather this didn’t come up at all, doesn’t that make you think?
I’m on the fence, but it’s either Wolf or McCord. Schwartz looks sad and desparate.
When is asking a question about a candidate who leveraged his company to near bankruptcy and cut jobs to get his money out for himself negative campaigning? It reveals a lot about the candidates character. We need to know more not less about who these candidates are.
It will be fun to watch this onion be unpeeled after Wolf becomes the nominee. We in York know the real Wolf and be assured that Corbett will be returned to office when the truth is revealed. Schwartz/Obama was a loser from the start.
I do not understand the comment on here that this is a negative issue, or that it’s a non-issue. Putting the jobs of your company’s employees on the line to win a campaign is a tell tale sign of how Wolf would run the State. If your own gains are put in front of the gains of the average working person, that is a huge problem. He’s running on the fact that he’s a good businessman and cares about the citizens of PA. Those claims are NOT being shown in his campaign. And if Wolf is being carless with his business and the lives of his employees, in any way, in order to become Gov. then we, as voters, must be concerned, must NOT turn a blind eye to this and really should be applauding Schwartz for bringing it to light.
According to the recent F&M poll…
Some 46% of voters are still undecided. Is that still true? And how many of them are likely voters.
If more than 50%, then 2-3 candidates have a pretty good shot. It comes back to GOTV.
Wolf has already committed to donating his salary as Governor to charity. Something Corbett would never do.
As a M&T shareholder I am very concerned about the judgement of the people that made this loan. You can not repay this loan on the Governor’s salary and $150k per quarter through 2016 is not enough, so there must be a balloon at the end that will require refinancing. This is also a company that does not appear to have a record of stable earnings. Based on what I read the probability of a bad outcome for the bank or the Company’s employees , one way or another, is very high.
I wasn’t going to vote for Schwartz anyway, but this desperate attack by her affirms my belief that she is a poor candidate. The way Wolf answered this attack during the forum and followed up releasing the bank loan document was great. I am all but 100% certain I am voting for Wolf on May 20th.
TOM CORBETT 2014
It was simply a matter of time to see which of the “also ran” candidates would be the first to go negative. Look for the “outsourcer” to follow suit very soon. Truly a pathetically desperate tactic, and one very few voters appreciate !!
Pauly sounds like a bitter old estalishment McCord supporter who is so desperate, grabbing for anything to catch up to Wolf.
Wolf will be the nominee. This is a non-story compared to the outsourcing record McCord has. Get over it. McCord is a loser, a distant 2nd or 3rd place loser at that.
Welcome to politics Mr.wolf.If this guy is crying wolf now.Can’t wait to see what he does when Corbett hammers him about other things that are far more of substance than this.
Jon – Wolf and his associates are the definition of old boys club. I’m blown away by the naivete.
And Schwartz wonders why her unfavorable numbers are so high.
Wolf will be the nominee.
Keystone Politics did a great article on this. Statistically Wolf has a 97% of winning the nomination next month. I wish the other candidates would save and consolidate resources, so we could avoid a divisive primary with an obvious result.
Schwartz is indeed making an error. What this highlights is that Wolf is “all in”, with his own money/obligations. He is committed to making PA a better place to live and work. It would have been easy to sit back and leave the state’s problems to politicians in the good “ole” boy/girl network, while cruising through life with his accumulated wealth. Wolf is tapping the same electorate that Scott Wagner overwhelmingly received – those of us starving for a different kind of politician, not beholden to special interests, that have real world problem solving and consensus building abilities. We’re not looking for “politics as usual”. “Schwartz at the debate was truly, “politics as usual”.
Question-
It’s not that Schwartz is merely “asking a question”, it’s that she’s basing her “concerns” on made up two-part scenario in which Wolf can’t pay back his loan (part 1) and then is subsequently beholden to the bank in an improper way while governor (part 2) while the bank abuses his company’s employees.
I’m more concerned about someone like Schwartz who sided with the lying mother-$%#-ers at NSA over American privacy.
Why is asking the truth about your money you are using to campaine – negative? It appears she was just asking. You can’t brag about all this money and not expect someone to ask about where you got it from. Fair question in the political world!!
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The point she has a hard time making is when your company almost defaulted because of loans they took out to pay you and your two cousins, is it wise to then take out more loans that were not really needed using your stake in the company as collateral to run for governor. The company has debt to pay wolf and now wolf has debt with the company as collateral to run for governor. Is this how the state will be run if he is elected?
“If Tom Wolf can’t pay back this loan”..
If Schwartz was a decent candidate, she’d be the front-runner, instead of making up ridiculous hypothetical scenarios.
Exactly why Corbett will win in November.weak democrats.
I think this just makes Allyson look bad and negative.
In case anyone reading this is going to be in Lancaster tomorrow (Saturday), head downtown to Central Market where State Rep. Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster) and 3-term Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray (D) are publicly endorsing Tom Wolf along with a handful of other local electeds, including Lancaster School Board members.