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The banker behind Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan

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Herman Cain has so far been willing to name just one advisor who helped him craft his catchy 9-9-9 tax plan.

“One of my experts that helped me to develop this is a gentleman by the name of Rich Lowrie out of Cleveland, Ohio,” Cain said at Tuesday’s Washington Post-Bloomberg debate. “He is an economist, and he has worked in the business of wealth creation most of his career.”

But according to Lowrie’s LinkedIn page, “economist” might be a bit of a stretch.

Lowrie holds a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Case Western Reserve University and spent much of his career working in the investment banking industry. He now leads a wealth management group of Wells Fargo Advisors in Cleveland.

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From 2005 through 2008, Lowrie served on the board of advisors of Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit advocacy group with ties to the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

Lowrie did not immediately return a request for more information.

In a recent interview with The Washington Examiner’s Byron York, Lowrie, Cain’s chief economic advisor, described how the 9-9-9 plan first came to be.

“I was with Mr. Cain and I asked him, ‘How bold do you want to be?’ and he leaned toward me with his big, booming voice and said, ‘BOLD.’”

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At Tuesday’s debate, Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive, said he also has “a number of other well-recognized economists that helped me develop this 9-9-9 plan. It didn’t come out of a pizza box, no.”

Pressed to name his other advisors, Cain again referred to Lowrie.

“He’s been my lead economist on helping to develop this,” Cain said.

kim.geiger@latimes.com

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