Rotorua Lakes Council candidate Mariana Morrison has said she is “only human” after revealing she has twice filed for bankruptcy.
The New Zealand Herald reports:
Mariana Morrison, who is running for a seat on the general ward in the October elections, said she was addressing this now in the spirit of “transparency and integrity” and that blemishes on her financial record from more than a decade ago were not relevant today.
The newspaper says the Insolvency Register records Morrison being declared bankrupt in October 2007 and June 2011.
Morrison applied for both bankruptcies. The information has always been publicly available, but Morrison decided to front-foot the issue on Facebook last week.
After she repaid her debts, the Herald says, she failed in two attempts, in 2017 and 2021, to annul her bankruptcy.
“This chapter of my past does not define who I am today, I am only human,” she said. “It was a mistake made in youth, without full knowledge of the consequences.”
She was confident her previous financial difficulties did not disqualify her as a potentially successful candidate for Rotorua Lakes Council.
“What defines me is how I’ve responded, grown and continuously stayed committed to serving others,” she told Local Democracy Reporting.
“I believe the best leaders are those who’ve overcome adversity and can lead with understanding, integrity and without judgment, but understanding.”
The article notes that Morrison is the granddaughter of entertainer Sir Howard Morrison and a former Bachelor NZ contestant who went on to have a career in the navy as a chef and broke records as an open water swimmer.
She also obtained degrees in law and business.
“I’ve managed enormous budgets and delivered with accountability,” she said.
“Local government is about governance, making informed decisions and setting strategic direction. I bring both the experience and qualifications in strategic leadership to this role.”
Previous bankruptcy is not a prohibitive factor in running for local elections in New Zealand. Candidates must be aged over 18, be a New Zealand citizen and pay a $200 deposit.
A bit of bankruptcy hasn’t troubled American politicians either.
PoO was steered to a website which lists several notable individuals – including U.S. presidents, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and musicians—who experienced bankruptcy or severe financial distress.
The newspaper says the Insolvency Register records Morrison being declared bankrupt in October 2007 and June 2011.
Morrison applied for both bankruptcies. The information has always been publicly available, but Morrison decided to front-foot the issue on Facebook last week.
After she repaid her debts, the Herald says, she failed in two attempts, in 2017 and 2021, to annul her bankruptcy.
“This chapter of my past does not define who I am today, I am only human,” she said. “It was a mistake made in youth, without full knowledge of the consequences.”
She was confident her previous financial difficulties did not disqualify her as a potentially successful candidate for Rotorua Lakes Council.
“What defines me is how I’ve responded, grown and continuously stayed committed to serving others,” she told Local Democracy Reporting.
“I believe the best leaders are those who’ve overcome adversity and can lead with understanding, integrity and without judgment, but understanding.”
The article notes that Morrison is the granddaughter of entertainer Sir Howard Morrison and a former Bachelor NZ contestant who went on to have a career in the navy as a chef and broke records as an open water swimmer.
She also obtained degrees in law and business.
“I’ve managed enormous budgets and delivered with accountability,” she said.
“Local government is about governance, making informed decisions and setting strategic direction. I bring both the experience and qualifications in strategic leadership to this role.”
Previous bankruptcy is not a prohibitive factor in running for local elections in New Zealand. Candidates must be aged over 18, be a New Zealand citizen and pay a $200 deposit.
A bit of bankruptcy hasn’t troubled American politicians either.
PoO was steered to a website which lists several notable individuals – including U.S. presidents, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and musicians—who experienced bankruptcy or severe financial distress.
- Abraham Lincoln
Before becoming president, Lincoln co-owned a general store that failed, leaving him with significant debt. After his partner died, Lincoln was responsible for all liabilities. He declared bankruptcy, had his assets seized, and spent years repaying his debts, eventually recovering and rising to the presidency[1][2][3][4].
- Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson struggled with chronic debt due to poor crop yields, inherited obligations, and lavish spending. He utilized bankruptcy protections briefly available in his era and died deeply in debt[1].
- Ulysses S. Grant
After his presidency, Grant invested in a Wall Street firm run by his son and Ferdinand Ward, who embezzled funds, leading to the firm’s collapse. Grant went bankrupt and repaid creditors by selling his memoirs[1][2][4].
- William McKinley
McKinley cosigned a friend’s debt, which led to his own bankruptcy while he was Governor of Ohio. He recovered and was later elected president[1].
- Harry S. Truman
Truman co-owned a clothing store that failed after World War I. Although his partner declared bankruptcy, Truman worked for years to pay off the debts himself[2][4].
Truman’s experience was cited by Donald J. Trump in 2016 when he argued that candidates should not be disqualified from the presidency because of their business failures.
It soon became obvious why Trump was keen to ensure business failure should not disqualify presidential candidates.
In September 2016, the Washington Post reported:
“You’ve taken business bankruptcies six times.”
–Hillary Clinton
“On occasion – four times – we used certain laws that are there.”
–Donald Trump
THE FACT CHECKER | Clinton is correct.
Trump’s companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which means a company can remain in business while wiping away many of its debts. The bankruptcy court ultimately approves a corporate budget and a plan to repay remaining debts; often shareholders lose much of their equity.
Trump’s Taj Mahal opened in April 1990 in Atlantic City, but six months later, “defaulted on interest payments to bondholders as his finances went into a tailspin,” The Washington Post’s Robert O’Harrow found. In July 1991, Trump’s Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy. He could not keep up with debts on two other Atlantic City casinos, and those two properties declared bankruptcy in 1992. A fourth property, the Plaza Hotel in New York, declared bankruptcy in 1992 after amassing debt.
PolitiFact uncovered two more bankruptcies filed after 1992, totalling six. Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts filed for bankruptcy again in 2004, after accruing about $1.8 billion in debt. Trump Entertainment Resorts also declared bankruptcy in 2009, after being hit hard during the 2008 recession.
Why the discrepancy? Perhaps this will give us an idea: Trump told Washington Post reporters that he counted the first three bankruptcies as just one.
A month later Mother Jones reported on
How Trump’s Casino Bankruptcies Screwed His Workers out of Millions in Retirement Savings
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts employees had been among those who collectively lost millions of dollars in retirement savings when the company’s value plummeted.
When the stock price was near its nadir as bankruptcy loomed, the company forced the employees to sell their stock at a huge loss.
More than 400 employees lost a total of more than $2 million from their retirement accounts, according to a lawsuit.
The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed when a judge found no illegal actions on the part of Trump’s company. But the conflict shows how Trump’s exploitation of bankruptcy laws for his personal gain did end up hurting his employees.
The New York Times recounted that Trump used his company as a means of transferring his personal debt load onto shareholders, issuing rounds of junk bonds to build up cash that would erase his own debts.
“Even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well,” the Times wrote.
“He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.”
Mother Jones reported:
“I don’t think it’s a failure,” he said of the bankruptcy in 2004. “It’s a success.”
A success for him, at least. Mother Jones noted he kept a $2 million annual salary after the company emerged from bankruptcy and took in more than $44 million in compensation over the course of the 14 years he served as chairman of THCR.
But the article did acknowledge that Trump had never had to declare personal bankruptcy, while the company he set up to operate his Atlantic City casinos went through numerous corporate restructurings to reduce its debt load.
Fair to say, that’s where Trump’s experience and Mariana Morrison’s can’t be considered comparable.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
No comments:
Post a Comment