During a recent MSNBC debate, Senator Clinton
was asked if she would release her tax returns. She answered, "Well, I
will do it as others have done it, upon becoming the nominee or even
earlier." But the very next day, her campaign backtracked, saying, "As
is customary, as the Democratic nominee Sen. Clinton will release her
tax information in April at tax time."
But waiting until April is not customary. In
the 2004 Democratic primary, Governor Dean, Rep. Kucinich, Senator
Lieberman, and Senator Edwards released their tax returns in April of
2003 – a full year earlier in the primary process. Senator Kerry
released his tax returns in December of 2003, and General Clark
released his tax returns in January of 2004.
Senator Clinton's refusal to make this very
basic disclosure has raised a number of eyebrows among advocates for
increased transparency. As her top Ohio supporter Governor Ted
Strickland said in his 2006 campaign, if a candidate is not releasing
his or her "tax return, what is he hiding? We should question what's
going on."
Senator Clinton should explain why she believes
voters in the upcoming primaries shouldn't have access to the same
information as voters in the general election.
Senator Obama has made a practice of releasing
his tax returns (the summary and the schedules), because he believes
that after seven years of secrecy from the Bush Administration, we need
increased transparency in our government. Allowing voters to evaluate
this information is good for the process, but this is particularly true
when a candidate decides to use his or her own personal fortunes to
fund their campaign, which Senator Clinton did when she loaned her
campaign $5 million.
Senator Clinton's refusal to release her tax
returns is part of a pattern of secrecy that has imbued her campaign
and raises questions about the sort of change she would be willing and
able to bring to Washington.
Equally troubling is the fact that three years
after Senator Clinton said all the record in the Clinton library would
be available, less than 300,000 of the 78 million documents have been
released.
In the debate, Senator Clinton tried to cast
some of the blame on the White House for the delayed release of her
records, saying, "Now, also, President Bush claims the right to look at
anything that is released, and I would urge the Bush White House to
move as quickly as possible." But White House Press Secretary Dana
Perino said that Clinton representatives have known since Jan. 31 that
the documents – Senator Clinton's daily public schedule during her
husband's presidency – have been deemed ready for public release by the
National Archives. "To my knowledge, we have not been contacted by Mrs.
Clinton or anyone else about moving more quickly with the review and
release of Clinton material, specifically, her schedules."
Senator Clinton's misleading answers andrefusal to release her taxes and her White House records speak to thefundamental choice facing voters in this election – more of the sameWashington games or change the American people can believe in.
Slainte,
Rob Harrington
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