Republican candidate for Congress Rob Cornilles campaigns at Pioneer Courthouse Square. - IMAGE: vivianjohnson.com
Cornilles is the Republican nominee in the Jan. 31 special election to replace former U.S. Rep. David Wu. He’s running by talking up his credentials on the No. 1 issue voters want to hear about: creating Oregon jobs.
His proof has been the success of his sports marketing company, Game Face, which his campaign claims is “one of the most influential consulting and executive training firms in the sports industry—worldwide.”
But news reports have since shrunk those claims down to size, citing problems with regulators, tax liens and the fact his company is a ghost of its former self.
What has received less attention is one of Cornilles’ chief campaign pitches: that tax breaks hurt small businesses and their ability to create jobs.
“Who gets stuck paying a full tax bill?” Cornilles asks on his campaign website. “People like you and me, and small and medium-sized companies like the ones in Oregon that don’t have tens of millions of dollars to stuff the tax code with special-interest perks.”
HERE’S THE PITCH: Cornilles' ad.
But earlier this year, Cornilles led a team that proposed revamping Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum—a plan that counted on millions of tax breaks for its investors.
Cornilles and his partners proposed an $80 million remodel of Memorial Coliseum that relied on big tax breaks for its investors.
He and his partners, financier Kirk Iverson and producer Tim Lawrence, sought to turn the Coliseum into what they called an “Oregon Media Free Enterprise Zone.”
Dubbed the Veterans Media Center, the former Coliseum site would become a giant multimedia facility, including sound stages, production studios and three theaters.
“This concept is quintessentially Portland,” Cornilles says on the proposal’s website. “Veterans Media Center will fuse Oregon’s creativity and natural resources with an industry searching for a more sustainable place to produce innovative content. We’ll create family wage jobs while expanding a market, and our region will experience such an economic boon that we’ll find ourselves front and center on the worldwide media stage.”
The proposal counted on substantial tax breaks for investors, who “will receive a 100% State of Oregon (transferable) tax write-off in addition to federal matching incentives co-developed by the City,” according to a May business plan.
Backers said at the time the proposal could be eligible for as much as $30 million in tax credits.
Cornilles and his partners held a flurry of meetings with elected officials and business leaders this year to pitch the idea.
When WW asked Cornilles about the potential tax breaks, however, he said he didn’t recall they were part of his partnership’s proposal. (News of the potential for tax credits for the project, however, appeared in news reports; see “Lights! Camera! Coliseum!” WW, May 18, 2011.)
When shown a copy of his group’s plan, he said one of his partners wrote it.
“I’m not as familiar with it as you might think,” Cornilles says. “It was not a formal proposal.” He said the plan was simply “a concept.”
The plan so far has had little traction, and Cornilles continues to use his company, Game Face, to bolster his campaign claims that he’s a job creator.
“Oregon needs job creators and career builders, something Rob has been doing successfully for nearly 20 years,” his campaign says. “Voters of the First Congressional District have an alternative. In this Special Election, we can choose between a career politician or a career builder.”
His opponent, state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton), has no record of job creation. She’s worked as a government lawyer for three years, and in private practice for another three before giving up her practice to raise a family.
That’s given Cornilles an open field to talk about his experience as a businessman and to promote his plans to create jobs.
Cornilles founded Game Face Inc., in Tualatin in 1995. Since then, the company has worked in three areas of the sports business. He trained people to become sports franchise employees, recruited front-office personnel for sports teams, and advised and trained teams how to sell more tickets.
“We have an unusual and unprecedented ability to actually know what teams want and need,” Cornilles tells WW.
Excellent article .
Together w/the O's 12/12 article, one can get the impression Cornilles is either a hapless oddball, a serial liar or something equally disturbing in between.
He's a salesman... and it appears that he's not very good one either.
This article is a classic example of the type of negative attacks that we have come to expect from partisan insiders when they become desperate. Rather than focusing on what voters care about - jobs, they are trying to distract voters by spreading false information about Rob's business experience.
Anyone who listens to Rob on the campaign trail will be impressed by his experience and skills and know that he is the only candidate that can go back to Washington and push policies that will help someone like me who will be graduating soon to get a professional job.
I also find it interesting that the fact that Bonamici has NO job-creating experience is being completely overlooked in this article. Is that not important, also?
Three grafs from the bottom: "His opponent, state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton), has no record of job creation."
So far I fail to understand what having owned a business has to do with being an effective legislator. The skills aren't necessarily transferrable. Having run a business is not an experience that qualifies him to be in congress, regardless of how successful it is.
We're voting for Rob....Suzanne Bonamici Simon's husband was David Wu's personal attorney. That makes Suzy Q nothing better than "david wu in a skirt."
The first district deserves a change and a fresh face,especially a face who's actually "met a payroll."
This article is a joke. It's a desperate attempt to slam Rob when he actually has real life experience which is what we need in congress. Bonomici is just another career polititian. 98% with-party voting record. That type of attitude is what is currently failing us in DC. We need someone who is going in with a clean slate and an will to get things done that are going to benifite us here in CD1... like creating jobs. ps. Bonomici has created no jobs. She doesn't even use the word jobs in her speeches or ad's. How is that not a priority? We need something new...
Yes, Suzanne's husband provided legal counsel to David Wu...counsel that probably involved recommending that he resign when it became apparent that he could no longer serve his district. Implying that Suzanne will now dress up in tiger costumes because her husband served as Wu's attorney is ludicrous. By your argument then, Cornilles is nothing more than the spouse of a trust fund baby.
All this proves is that Rob really is a qualified businessman. Anyone who has been an entrepreneur for many years will suffer set backs, will hire employees and probably have to downsize too at some point. They'll be flush some years and have trouble making all the payments in other years. They'll also have a complaint from someone at some point or another too. And they'll run afoul of some government bureaucracy at some point. It appears that Rob has always tried to remedy the situations as they arise. That's what it means to be in business. Everything here seems perfectly normal. Small business owners are big risk takers. It's an up and down thing. His opponent has been safely tucked away in legal/regulatory/government work. America needs more Rob Cornilles-types and fewer Suzanne Bonemici-types if it wants to prosper...
@Matt -- your theory that by taking big risks (and apparently failing pretty significantly, given the precipitous decline in those jobs he "created") he becomes qualified to take risks with taxpayer money?