A birdy tells me that the Seattle Times is apparently asking a number of candidates to release their tax returns, as has CrossCut’s Austin Jenkins of Gov. Chris Gregoire and Dino Rossi. Considering the press gave Gregoire zero credit for releasing her returns in 2004, while Rossi refused, it’s hard to see why any candidate would be motivated to comply with the request this time around.
But it also strikes me as a bit hypocritical that journalists, who justifiably hold themselves up as essential elements of our democracy, should righteously demand disclosure of others that they don’t demand of themselves. I suppose I might support strengthening our state disclosure statutes so that they actually require candidates to release their tax returns, but currently… they don’t. So if journalists are going to demand that politicians expose their personal finances to greater scrutiny than required by law, I suggest they lead by example.
So here’s my offer: if Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen releases his 2007 tax return, I’ll release mine, and, I’ll join him in publicly demanding that Dino Rossi release his.
Of course, Rossi ain’t gonna, ’cause he obviously has something to hide. But at least with our returns on the table, Frank and I can mock Rossi in good conscience for his lack of openness.
Howsabout making disclosure the basis for a bribe?
The state will chip in a large amount, say 2million dollars, to any gubernatorial campaigns that does include full disclosure in primaries and finals. If Rossi agrees and CG does not, he gets 2 million.
If neither agrees, the money stays in the treasury.
So as usual – the right wing turds have a double standard – not exactly news. They are crooks plain and simple and for years they’ve been pulling off this shit where they say – HEY Lookie There and hope people won’t notice the funny little man behind the curtain. Of course Rossi has something to hide just like SIN Dee McCain.
The whole “release your tax returns” thing is overblown. Do you really think Christine gets a 1099 from the tribes and unions? Not likely. MAYBE you could play Nancy Drew if there is a huge discrepancy between the way the person lives and their returns, but there are always excuses by some highly-paid mouthpiece.
And at what point do we stop? Is Darcy releasing hers? Maybe we should demand that Darcy release all of her HR records to prove that she actually managed more than her own time at MS. What about her medical and psych records? Were medications to blame for the multi-car accident she cause a few years back?
About the only thing interesting — let alone relelvant — that has come out of Disclosuremania has been that Obama got a sweetheart deal on his mortgage. And with other Demsocrats in Congress having much dirtier mortgage deals, the public shrugged.
You want to get interesting? Hook up both candidates and journalists (and pseudo-journalists and bloggers) to a lie detector test. Have the public send in questions. You can ask about Christine and the tribes, Christine and the unions, Rossi and the BIAW, Blethen and his motives, Goldy and his relationship with Darcy… Televise the sucker. Friday nights at 8:00.
Do you suppose Frank deducts the dog-shootin’ bullets as a business expense?
Goldy,
I don’t really see Mr. Blethen as a journalist. He’s as much of a journalist as I’m the owner of a restaurant, which I’m not.
My tax returns are boring as hell: only 3 pages each.
If we go to a flat-rate tax, everyone’s tax returns will be boring as hell, and we’d have to find something important to talk about.
Mark’s high again.
I do wonder if having everyone release their tax records isn’t a bit overly intrusive. Running for office shouldn’t mean giving up your right to privacy.
Dino’s a crooked little snake and the Democrats have had plenty of time and data to prove this, but have they?
Sorry, we don’t need less privacy we need better journalist and a political class with bigger balls.
Goldy,
Sorry to disappoint, but Frank’s return, like those prepared by nearly all other rich folks, would most likely qualify as fiction anyway.
@3: “The whole ‘release your tax returns’ thing is overblown”…..
Unless, of course, you are a raging lunatic republican. cf Teresa H. Kerry and campaign of 2004.
The whole reason for a candidate to release tax returns to the public is to determine where the candidate receives his money. It is predicated upon the assumption that the candidate fears the IRS more than they fear political scandal. So combined with public disclosure of campaign financing, it is supposed to ensure that the public know who is providing financial support for a candidate, and in what amounts.
Rossi probably learned from the last time around that there would be a call for his tax returns. He’s probably cleaned them up since then. You know, have all the business industry money he collects go to fund his “foundation”, which pays a lot of his expenses, leaving him to report only a respectable salary and normal deductions. Maybe just enough “business” income to file a Schedule C, and to therefore declare himself to be a successful businessman.
It’s a pretty easy system to manipulate, if you have some foresight several years in advance. If Rossi’s tax returns show anything else other than his “foundation” salary and some modest Schedule C income, he’s dumber than I thought.
Any chance we can get the foundation’s books? My guess is that’s where the real dirt lies.
3 TRM
That’s the biggest fucking smoke screen I’ve ever seen.
@11: NEVER underestimate the “dumbness” of dino rossi – who else would release a transportation plan with a whole bunch of hoopla and then forget to mention how to pay for it?
If Rossi is not releasing his tax returns – then he truly IS hiding something. The perenial governors candidate from BIAW almost ALWAYS has something up his dirty little sleeve.
3 TRM
Here:
Uh, they have good credit and a high income. Go to myfico .com and they’ll tell you that “a borrower with very good credit can expect a mortgage rate about 30 basis points better than someone with pretty good credit, and a borrower with excellent credit can expect about a 50 basis point discount.” The Obamas’ mortgage rate was 30 points better than average. Good credit. Good income. If you were the “Producer” you claim to be, you’d know that.
Similarly:
Oooh, what a word, “dirty.” A slightly favorable interest rate, “dirty.”
Duke Cunningham buys a home for far under the market, sells his old home for over market, and pockets the $700K difference in return for steering $millions$ in government contracts to his benefactor, and you want us to think that a slightly lower interest rate is “dirty.”
Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the House, makes $1.5 million on property curiously and happily close to a highway deal he shepherded through Congress, and you want us to think that a slightly lower interest rate is “dirty.”
Yes, it’s Through The Looking Glass in Republican World every day.
13 CRN
I distinctly remember Dino Rossi saying he’d pay for 520 expansion from, as he put it, “my slush fund.”
TRM
If you don’t claim to be a “Producer,” my apologies. And you should, because the babes put out for it.
Ah, Goldy, did just figure this one out? Is it any wonder why journalists rate lower in trust that used car salespeople?
This is what really the matter with media today – they have the God-given right to ask anything of anyone at anytime, but don’t dare question their motives or goals.
Goldy, as a long time reader and one who comments from time to time, I would have to say that you have (uncommonly) harmed the issue at hand my confusing the issue with a rant against our “good friend” Frank.
I have zero interest in Frank’s tax return as a voter. He is not seeking the highest elected office in our state. I don’t give a rip what Frank is hiding. Let the IRS do with him what they will.
As for Dino, it is a shame that your story does not stay focused upon just what he is hiding from the people of our state who he intends to lead.
Dino like anyone who seeks public office should willingly subject themselves to public scrutiny. Throughout his political career Dino had been given a pass and like a young child, this has only resulted in more strident ethical lapses on his part.
HorsesAss and you Goldy should be yelling from the highest of the Issaquah Alps for Dino to release not only his full tax returns but also all of the real-estate transaction and partnership records from the Windsor Court Apartments scam. The questions these documents raise must be answered and delay must not be tolerated.
The tax returns will show just how much BIAW cash reached Dino’s pockets from his Forward WA scam and I am sure will also yield some new and sleazy surprises. The papers of this state and the Gregoire campaign let us all down last time when Rossi was given a pass in regard to his BIAW lobbyist apartment “investment” scam which laundered between $150,000 and $200,000 in bribes paid directly to Dino. Leadership from this influential blog is essential!
If not the papers, then who Goldy, will call for disclosure of these crucial records.
rhp6033 @11:
Your points are well made, and yet we should demand release of his tax records anyway. You and I might be pleasantly surprised at the level of arrogance that 18 years without scrutiny can create.
Even his publishing company and “book” gig operated at a loss while paying all his expenses as he fueled the flames between mid 05 and the end of 06 spouting campaign themes across this state.
Gee Goldy, you would think one had to earn and be gainfully employed to have a tax return. Dosen’t apply to most of the HA happy-hooligans here, including you.