PPC Homepage

No wonder Dan Maes hid his tax returns

by | 7:01 am, July 21, 2010 | 10 Comments

As I mentioned in my blog note earlier today, I’m not going to bash Dan Maes on things which I’ve assumed about him without actually meeting him. But that doesn’t mean I can’t and won’t write about things we do know.

And unfortunately for Dan Maes, the new information isn’t good.

Dan Maes’ web site says “Dan has over 20 years of progressively successful experience in sales, management, mid-size and small business development in multiple industries.” His resume says “Specialist in both start-ups and turnarounds.” However, other than starting his own “Amaesing Credit Solutions” in 2005 – more on that in a minute – his resume is almost entirely that of a salesman for “enhanced telecommunications services including voice messaging, unified communications, and audio and data collaboration.”

I’m not putting down any job that anybody has, but with Dan campaigning with lines like “And it’s time we put a real business manager/executive into an executive office”, one infers that he’s claiming not to be just an executive, but a success.

However, when Maes released his tax returns to the Constitutionalist Today, a small Colorado Springs paper which I like quite a bit, the numbers showed a man who has, financially speaking, struggled mightily in recent years.  Having been involved in startups, I don’t begrudge a guy some low numbers during a company’s first year.  But the Maes’ net income during 2007, his company’s best year, was under $52, ooo.   And his average net income for the years surrounding 2007, i.e. 2004, 2005, and 2008, was only $17,000.

Again, I’m not sneering at someone who doesn’t make a lot of money.  We all know that some years are tougher than others for many people, and 2008 certainly wasn’t great for people involved in the mortgage brokering business, which Maes was.  But I have a huge problem with someone portraying himself as a successful executive when, as a Denver Post reporter noted, his “income has fallen below federal poverty guidelines for a family of four at least twice in the past five years” and just barely missed that line in a third year.

It’s no surprise that Maes refused to release his tax returns for as long as possible and then only to the friendliest possible outlet.  When the Denver Post asked for the financial information, “After recommending The Post talk to his accountant, (Maes) declined to give the accountant permission to divulge information.”

Perhaps another early clue that Dan Maes is simply not the savvy businessman he claims is that four out of five items he lists in the “Education” section of his resume are seminars and self-study “via audio-tapes and books.”  Interestingly, he also doesn’t note the subject in which he earned his college degree.

Dan Maes’ business “success” has always smelled fishy to me.  Now we see the fish.

How can it be that the GOP has chosen two candidates each of whom is, at least in a minor way, a fraud?

Link to Original post at Rossputin.com.

Category: Colorado Politics, Syndicated
Tags: >

Comments

  1.   Michelle Miller
      July 21st, 2010 @ 8:29 am

    Wow, you are correct. An average American guy striving for the extraoidnary American Dream supported by average Americans all over this state. Exactly what the founding fathers did not want.

    Now, let’s ask some questions. Not questions I have the answer to; but questions that should be asked.

    How many jobs did Dan Maes create in his endeavors?
    How much tax revenue did he generate in his entrepreneurial efforts?
    If he has such little executive abilities how did he run a successful statewide campaign on such little money and even less name recognition? I mean, he has you writing about him every day so he must have done something right.
    How many jobs has McInnis created in his political career? Well, I guess you can count his campaign staffs.
    I think this average man with extraordinary dreams is exactly what we need! Dan Maes is someone who “gets” what the rest of us are living with in regards to all the laws passed by legislatures like SM.

  2.   Deb E
      July 21st, 2010 @ 8:38 am

    Isn’t it true that a really savvy business owner works to minimize their business’ tax liability, i.e., shows less taxable income? I’m not sure that a lower-than-expected taxable income is an indicator he is a bad businessman, in fact it might actually say the opposite.

  3.   Rossputin
      July 21st, 2010 @ 9:48 am

    Michelle,

    I’ve made very clear and more than once that my problem with Maes is not his level of success but rather portraying himself as a much bigger success than he is.

    Furthermore, my interest here is not in supporting Scott McInnis. I’ve been as hard on him as any Republican has.

    The fact that Maes might “get” your dissatisfaction does not mean he’s a good candidate for governor.

  4.   Lynn
      July 21st, 2010 @ 10:41 am

    Agree with Michelle. It’s amazing that Maes has been able to upset a 22 year career politician with around $100K spent on his campaign. McInnis has spent 1/3 or more of that on candy in a candy store…….I’ve heard Maes speak quite a few times; he’s intelligent. Very intelligent. Starting a new business I totally understand the ups and downs…..my first two years in biz I thought I’d have to go bankrupt, but the odds were with me and I ended up with 6 figures after a few years and a lot of hard work. Maes business income tripled in the second year and then doubled again in the next year. Now, that is good. He also did very well when he was employed by another company. He did turn business around ….let’s give a good smart guy the opportunity to do the same for Colorado. I mean just look at the other candidate…..plagarism, illegally knowing about a 527 and talking about it in a phone message (available on YouTube, not making it up), asking an elderly family friend of many many years to take the blame for his plagiarism, paying his wife for being his campaign manager after he was elected, yeah, McInnis has “experience”, but don’t think it’s what we want. He will be just more of the same old thing that the GOP has run. I truly believe Maes can beat Hickenlooper; his biggest hurdle will be overcoming his own “elite” GOP.

  5.   Donald Johnson
      July 21st, 2010 @ 11:32 am

    It is just amazing to see how Maes’ ethical problems and poor business record don’t change some minds. I guess you really have to be invested in a candidate to stick with him even though he’s been misleading people about his business career, his fundraising and his understanding of the state’s governmental processes.

  6.   Rossputin
      July 21st, 2010 @ 12:46 pm

    Deb, trying to defend Maes’ record with that argument is just silly.

  7.   Brian Wilson
      July 21st, 2010 @ 1:51 pm

    You do have a little bit of a point there, but what was Maes supposed to say – “I have been a mediocre businessman and I’m running for governor”? I’d still take him over McInnis or “generic establishment pick” any day. His businesses did seem to be moderately successful until the market crash.

  8.   Rossputin
      July 21st, 2010 @ 2:07 pm

    Brian,

    First let me say that in a generic sense, I massively prefer a businessman who hasn’t been too deeply involved in politics over a career politician like Scott McInnis, particularly one with such a reputation for caring only about himself as McInnis has even among “establishment” Republican friends of mine.

    Now, as to what Maes should have said, that’s a damn good question. I would have suggested something like this:

    “I am entrepreneur who went from working for someone to starting my own business and creating jobs. My business, like so many others in financial services, was dealt a severe blow by the economic crisis. That crisis ended my rapidly growing small business and gave me particular motivation to run for office as a guy who knows that government policies can have massive impact on the real lives of real people.

    “You don’t have to be a multi-millionaire to understand what it means to meet a payroll, to provide a service to customers, and to deal with the dead hand of government in so many aspects of our lives.

    “So while I have not become wealthy like so many establishment Republicans, my experience working hard and being knocked down by a crisis which I believe was fundamentally caused by government has prepared me to be a governor with a singular focus on jobs and the impact that an over-reaching government can have on the entrepreneurial spirit.”

    How’s that?

    He could have played the entrepreneur and the man-of-the-people populist at the same time.

    His problem now is not his lack of success but his campaigning with at least a strong implication that he is something he isn’t.

    Here’s my bad analogy of the day: When Clinton did the dirty with Monica, most people didn’t really care. But when he got on TV and wagged his finger and lied to all of us, people got really angry. While Maes’ lack of business success is not a bad act, like cheating on your wife in the Oval Office (though that’s a damn good story for Slick Willy to tell his friends while drunk, I bet). But his misleading statements are a huge problem.

    Again, I say this not because I like McInnis or the establishment. I would LOVE to see a great grassroots candidate, a businessman, with modest political experience but real savvy and few spelling mystakez.

    I think that a Maes victory in the primary would spell bad news for the Tea Party and for that reason alone I have to suggest that if people vote (and I may not vote), they probably need to vote for McInnis, as distasteful as that sounds. Let the establishment get the black eye. Neither one can beat Hickenlooper, but as crazy as it sounds, McInnis still probably has a better chance than Maes, which is to say I’d think McInnis loses by 12%-15% and Maes by 17%-20%.

  9.   Don Christenson
      July 21st, 2010 @ 2:24 pm

    As a degreed tax accountant, I will tell you that the numbers released say very little about how successful or unsuccessful Dan has been. It seems there are a number of ill-informed people making those judgments that don’t understand business or taxes.

    That aside, how do you measure success? By the bottom line on a tax return that can legally express many different things. Maybe Dan put all excess revenue back into the business instead of his pocket. Before you brand someone as unsuccessful maybe you need a bit more information. My experience with Dan is that he is a man of his word and anything he has told me he would do, thus far, he has done.

    In terms of misrepresentation, again, what do you know that you could share with the rest of us? I’d love to see your resume. Probably no words to impress in there. I agree with Michelle, a small guy with a big desire. Shame on him for challenging the monetary elite.

    I for one would rather see the GOP lose than allow yet another office be bought by the monetary elite who are angry that their boy didn’t make it. It will be “we the people” who decide who will represent us.

  10.   Snorlax
      July 30th, 2010 @ 9:06 am

    Maes padded his resume. Big time.

    Sorry, but that’s dishonest.

    Even if “everybody does it”.

    Maes is backed by the Tea “Party” (which is NOT a real political party) and the “9-12″ group, which is run by Glenn-or-Glenda Beck, a racist right wing nutcase who cries like a wussy.

Praise for PPC From Our Lefty "Fan"

  • "Zany-ass bombast-entertainment...Hackneyed weirdo communist pseudo-nostalgia" --Alan Franklin, ProgressNow

Featured Posts




  • When a young girl gets close to the truth about a long-forgotten mystery, a harmless adventure becomes a threat to the future of the independent commercial settlements on Mars.

  • Advertise Here!

    info-at-peoplespresscollective-dot-org

  • Categories

  • Archives

  • Meta




  • Buy a Tea Party Poster!