Thursday, September 2, 2010

Still More Grist for the Linda McMahon Bankruptcy Mill

Once upon a time Linda McMahon and her husband went bankrupt.

Just once, I think. In 1976 in Connecticut, I think.

Though Linda in her Daily Beast interview would have you running the thread all the way back to North Carolina in the mid-1960s or Maryland in 1970.

It’s a central, crucial bullet point of her Senate campaign biography — yet she can’t give a straight answer about it. And the reporters covering the campaign are too busy polishing their film school applications by writing essays on the symbolism of her TV commercials and glossy mailers.

But let me help out my friends in the Nutmeg State with a little more actual information.

* In Greenwich in 1984, two separate federal tax liens covering six tax years were filed against Vince and Linda McMahon. One lien referred to unpaid assessments in payroll taxes from 1973 through 1977. (Vince McMahon has commented that a botched attempt to exploit tax shelters had precipitated the 1976 bankruptcy filing.) The liens totaled more than $142,000. Later in 1984 releases were filed, indicating that the liens were paid or settled.

* Also in the 1975-76 period, six property foreclosure lawsuits were filed against the McMahons in Connecticut state courts. The records themselves no longer appear to be available, only the docket information that they were filed by the following entities: Hartford National Bank & Trust, Bristol Construction, CBT [?], and Society for Savings.

* What the hell does this have to do with Vince working in a quarry or Linda using S&H stamps (which, by the way, is not the same as government food stamps) to buy baby paraphernalia for their son Shane? Also: She was married at 17 and “soon” pregnant. Is four years later “soon”? And finally: Was this all during the period when she was attending East Carolina University and acquiring the non-existent education degree that she falsely added to her resume at the time of her 2009 nomination to the Connecticut State Board of Education? You tell me.


Irv Muchnick

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