Candidate owes thousands,refuses to pay (Hartmann, SOS)

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DAYTON - Greg Hartmann, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, left the private sector owing Pepsi Cola Bottling Group a debt of $15,000, which he says he has no plans to repay, a newspaper reported Friday.
Pepsi won a $15,141 judgment against Hartmann over a 1992 contract for goods and services he signed while serving as vice president of Airline Distribution Services in San Francisco, the Dayton Daily News reported.

The value of the debt and interest stood at $29,768 by December 2001, according to a court order from the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco.
(snip)
Hartmann, 39, a lawyer whose father represented Vice President Dick Cheney in an 2000 election-law matter in Texas, told the newspaper he won’t pay the sum because he considers it corporate debt.

“I signed those (contracts) in my capacity as an officer of that company,” he said. “There’s no personal liability. When I left the company, the company was a going concern and it was their responsibility to defend the lawsuit.”

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=314575&Category=13