TV interview shows Gideon doubling down on her false excuses for dodging Freeport taxes while raising taxes on Town Council

Members of the press,

Sara Gideon has now been untruthful with a second Maine reporter about the circumstances surrounding the collapse of her family business. 

In a WMTW piece that ran tonight, Gideon presents key falsehoods. It’s important to note that there are still zero source materials or an affidavit to back up Gideon’s false claims, and many, many questions remain unanswered. Gideon previously lied to the Portland Press Herald about this situation.

False claims from tonight’s WMTW piece:

1. "My husband was involved – my husband was involved – in a business that was around creating housing," Gideon said.

Reality: Despite her attempts to distance herself, Sara Gideon was also involved -- by her own admission later in the story. “When I asked the candidate about that, she replied, "I did a couple of hours on that project, yes.”” A Nexis search shows that Gideon was Concord Brook’s Marketing Director.

2. “Gideon's campaign staff says Ben and his partner had exited the project before any liens were imposed and ceded control to MB&T bank.”

Reality: Ben Gideon was listed as the owner of the business every single year that the business didn’t pay its liens. He had not exited the project. 

3. Gideon claimed that her family business “did resolve everything” and had “made everyone whole.” 

Reality: As WMTW correctly reported, Gideon’s current financial disclosure shows an outstanding loan related to this project (BUT, for some reason, previous disclosures are missing this information). Everyone is not whole. Everything is not resolved. 

4. Concord Brook was “not a family business.”

Reality: The business was in Gideon’s husband’s name, she’s on the founding website documents, a Nexis search shows that she was the Marketing Director, and it was run out of their family home. 

5. The liens were not Gideon’s “personal responsibility.”

Reality: The Gideons purchased a million dollar oceanfront home shortly after these liens were resolved. Even if you believe Gideon’s false construct of what happened, shouldn’t a family with these financial means pay the liens off because they were their personal responsibility?

But more directly -- if the failed business was not their responsibility, why are they still paying off the loan 12 years later?

Some unanswered questions:

1. Where’s the proof? Gideon still has offered no proof to support her claims about who was in charge of paying the taxes. No affidavit or source materials produced -- nothing but a letter from their lawyer.

2. Why is she lying? Gideon is publicly twisting herself in knots. Why not just tell Mainers the truth?

3. Where did the money go? Between the $4 million loan and the $600k foreclosure sale price, someone lost a lot of money. Where did it go?

4. Why did she raise taxes? Gideon said that the liens occurred during the 2008 recession (they didn't). If her family business was experiencing such financial hardship, why did she vote to raise her neighbors’ property taxes?

5. Why was the outstanding loan related to this project only included in Gideon’s current financial disclosure - not her previous disclosures?

6. Why didn't the Gideons pay their taxes or their debt to the bank if they had the resources to buy such a lavish home? Just months after their last tax lien was paid off, Sara purchased a million-dollar oceanfront home with a 300' dock in South Freeport. 

At least five Gideon falsehoods in a four-minute TV piece. That’s a good indication that there’s much more to this story...