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Define “deceiving”

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Illinois

* Press release…

ICYMI: Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s Campaign Falsely Claims Her as a ‘Small Business Owner’

“This is just another example of Londrigan deceiving voters and saying anything to get elected. Voters in Central Illinois deserve better than someone deceiving them in an attempt to earn their vote.” - Travis Sterling, Illinois Republican Party Executive Director

Betsy Dirksen Londigran’s campaign for Congress has spent the past year claiming that Londrigan is a small business owner and an entrepreneur. Her campaign website touts her as a “self-employed entrepreneur - giving her firsthand knowledge of the challenges faced by the small business and self-employed workers.”

When asked to elaborate by a local reporter, her response revealed that she has clearly been attempting to pad her resume to get votes. Londrigan was unable to name the business she owned and failed to provide any additional details to clarify her small business owner claims.

After being pressed by the WCIA’s Mark Maxwell, Londrigan finally admitted that she “had no employees” and was not an “employer.” The interview continues:

Maxwell: “So you had a job, but you weren’t necessarily a job creator?”

Londrigan: “I wasn’t an employer, no.”

…

Maxwell: “So I just want to make sure I’m clear. A lot of people say they’re entrepreneurs and that means they’re job creators. But at no time during this 20 year span you described did you have employees or a payroll.”

Londrigan: “I didn’t manage a payroll other than my own.”

What else is Londrigan deceiving us about?

* Merriam-Webster definition of entrepreneur…

one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise

The interview is here.

Fair hit or not?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 2:47 pm

Comments

Don’t anticipate interviews with Mark Maxwell are going to be cakewalk softball interviews.
Dude throws haymakers when needed. Catches folks all the time with constant follow up.

Comment by Frank talks Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 2:50 pm
Meh,
it would be interesting to understand what her business was and if it was her sole source of income.
I can see a single attorney office being a small business, selling no-way products not so much.

Comment by OneMan Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 2:51 pm
Fair.

Comment by Hold on Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 2:52 pm
Unsure. If she’s self-employed and actually did work then sure, technically she’s an entrepreneur, just by the denotation of the word. At the same time Maxwell is right that the word has a continuation of job-creators, an idea which I’m sure she wasn’t in a rush to disabuse voters of. So a bit of spin on both sides here.

Comment by Perrid Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 2:54 pm
Fair absolutely

Comment by 10th Ward Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 2:55 pm
Unfair.

Plenty of people do independent consulting like BDL. They run a business and work for themselves. Capitol Fax is not so different.

Comment by Precinct Captain Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:03 pm
She may need to show her tax returns to show her income from her business and who her clients were/are. Fair question.

Comment by Bogey Golfer Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:04 pm
Precinct Captain: The story says this: “Londrigan was unable to name the business she owned and failed to provide any additional details to clarify her small business owner claims.”

It is not about just creating jobs. She can’t even say what her job was in this business, or it’s name, or what it did…

Comment by Anonimity Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:07 pm
I think his definition of entrepreneur is incorrect, although she is clearly trying to give an impression that she was more of a business owner than she is.
they deserve each other

Comment by jim Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:07 pm
I don’t believe she was deceptive; she didn’t claim employees other than herself.

Comment by Wensicia Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:07 pm
Interesting. I thought U.S. attorney Erik Jones was the real deal. Democracy ain’t perfect.

Comment by Al Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:07 pm
Question and follow-up are fair, the hit is not.

I’m a self-employed entrepreneur and business owner with no employees. I utilize independent contractors when necessary, but that means I have no business payroll. Jobs aren’t just created by Fortune 500 companies, and self-employed persons consume a substantial amount of products and services that increase employment in those vendor businesses.

To suggest that a self-employed person is being deceitful by identifying as an entrepreneur or business owner is in fact being deceitful. I disagree with the initial hit, but beyond that, why isn’t the ILGOP asking for her input on how they can help her grow her business to add employees, rather than issuing a weak presser?

Comment by Midstate Indy Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:13 pm
The only person to use the words “job creator” was Maxwell. He was the one trying to interject that thought into the conversation, not her. He’s a decent reporter, but once in a while he tends to sensationalize things a little bit to try and make a story sexier.

Comment by beanbag Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:15 pm
Did she sell Avon?

Comment by Flynn's Mom Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:24 pm
I think it’s fair game. She probably fudged on the “small business” claim so a confirmation is in order. She’s gotten a free ride from Bernie in his string of columns over the months as he bolsters her campaign. All is fair in love and politics….

Comment by Wylie Coyote Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:26 pm
Fair game. No need to invent resume filler if you have the A game in the first place.

Comment by Colin O'Scopy Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:36 pm
She was a freelance writer, editor, and designer.

I don’t know if she had an llc or other form of incorporation, but it seems like she ran a small business.

Describing herself as a self-employed entrepreneur seems to me to be saying she didn’t have employees, but had a single person business. What’s the problem?

Comment by Archpundit Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:48 pm
Then why not just say what you are and what you do?

Comment by Wylie Coyote Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:54 pm
===Her campaign website touts her as a “self-employed entrepreneur…”===

A “self-employed entrepreneur” does not automatically mean Dirksen has any employees and it’s deceptive for the ILGOP to pretend it does.

This hit piece by the ILGOP shows sheer desperation. Londrigan has been campaigning in every corner of her big district, while incumbent Rodney Davis has admitted he won’t appear before any crowd he thinks will be hostile.

Non-issue, and unfair.

Comment by Nick Name Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 3:57 pm
Vote smart website has this on her biography
Writer/Editor/Designer, Self-Employed, 1998-2006

Comment by Highspeed Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:00 pm
Late to the party BUT I am kind of a zealot about this one:

People who start their own business and generate income from it ARE JOB CREATORS!

They are solopreneurs (some buzzword) and it totally counts as creating a job if the only job you create is your own.

If we even deny the existence of these job creators as just as important as more traditional employers than our public policies are not going to support these job creators.

So aside from my partisan bias, she is 100% an entrepreneur and a job-creator as she created her own job and generated income for herself and it is a huge disservice to suggest otherwise.

Comment by Dan Johnson Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:04 pm
===Then why not just say what you are and what you do?

I don’t think she was hiding anything–her Linkedin and Vote Smart have exactly what she did–the point about being self-employed makes a point about having to deal with taxes and insurance on your own. Lots of people in the ‘gig’ economy are celebrated as entrepreneurs in the press all the time–seems consistent with what she did.

Comment by Archpundit Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:06 pm
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScPgVBHg494NX-cv66kZWALbm_7fWtRruRD0zkXikEbnB0pQQ/viewform

What’s the business name?

Comment by Hold on Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:16 pm
What’s her product?

Anybody working as a “Writer/Editor/Designer” has to have some samples or their portfolio of their work. She needs to look at this as an opportunity to ’strut her stuff’ and show her work.

This is actually an opportunity to show her capabilities. This could be ‘golden’ for her.

Doing that will answer the questions right there. Plus, that resonates with other small entrepreneurs.

But if she’s just talking and has nothing to back it up for 1998 - 2006, then she’s likely toast.

Remember, there were a lot of small business who got crushed by the ‘Great Recession’, which just happened to start in 2007. But show some of your prior work and establish your credentials.

Opportunity knocks.

Comment by Anon Downstate Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:19 pm
I have my own business, save 30% of each check to pay taxes and business expenses (not enough usually). I’m an entrepreneur. I have created exactly 0 jobs.She just needed to say what she did for work. Being an at home mom/self employed, do what work you can find the time to do is something she should be proud to discuss. Seems a talking point around that would almost write itself. If they’re that desperate to find a lie, seems to me she must be really, really honest.

Comment by itsmyopinion Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:24 pm
I thought she was caught off-base by the question, which may have led to a slightly imprecise answer. To the extent Mark kinda made up his own definition of the word, I don’t think she was being deceptive. Unfair hit.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:25 pm
===They are solopreneurs===

That’s a new one on me. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 4:41 pm