It’s not just the state’s $2.3 billion budget deficit that’s giving Gov. Sonny Perdue a headache.
The AJC’s Alan Judd reports that the clock is ticking for the governor to repay a $21 million loan given to him last September by a small bank in Perry, Ga. Perdue borrowed the money for his two agricultural businesses. (Since taking office in 2002, the governor has differed from his predecessors in that he still operates his businesses rather than placing them in a blind trust. The strategy seems to have paid off — according to Judd, Perdue’s financial holdings have risen in value since he took office.)
But…(cue ominous tone)
… public records and interviews suggest the governor got the loan under remarkable circumstances.
The lender — a farm credit bank based in Perry — allowed Perdue to put up collateral worth less than 20 percent of the loan’s value, according to a security deed filed in Houston County Superior Court. Commercial lenders typically insist on a far greater level of collateral, and the federal agency that regulates farm banks requires strict underwriting standards to guarantee loan repayment.
The bank, AgGeorgia Farm Credit, focuses on real estate lending and carries just $55 million in business loans on its books, according to its latest quarterly report. Now a large proportion of that portfolio is devoted to the governor, who is a familiar figure to AgGeorgia’s leaders: Eight of the bank’s 23 directors contributed to Perdue’s re-election campaign in 2006.
Oh, and what was the loan for? Perdue won’t say.
