Posted on 02/08/2006 1:05:30 PM PST by george76
Marie St. Fleur was a candidate for lieutenant governor for less than 24 hours before she had to drop out over unpaid taxes...leaving voters to ask how a key player in crafting the state budget could make such a mess of her own checkbook.
It is a question Massachusetts voters have asked themselves before.
Massachusetts, dubbed "Taxachusetts" years ago for its tax-happy ways, seems to churn out scofflaw lawmakers unable or unwilling to pay their own taxes on time.
It did not take long for another candidate to reveal that he, too, has had tax problems.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick disclosed he fell behind in his federal taxes more than a decade ago.
The IRS put a lien of $8,778 on his property...
The most galling thing of all is that some of Massachusetts' tax-delinquent lawmakers have strongly opposed efforts to cut taxes.
"It takes a special type of chutzpah to say, `I am going to raise your taxes, but I'm not going to pay them myself,'"...
six members of the 160-member House failed to file tax returns in recent years.
Whether Massachusetts is any worse than other states is not at all clear.
"This happens everywhere. There are tens of thousand of state legislators and state officials," said Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for the watchdog group Common Cause.
"Elected officials like many other people have financial problems at home. The difference is that they are held at a higher standard because they hold the public trust."
Republicans like Nuzzo say a big explanation for all the tax-delinquency cases in Massachusetts is the Democrats' lock on the vast majority of elected offices in the state.
"Because this is a commonwealth where Democrats just win, there is no one to hold them accountable,"
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
St. Fleur, a state lawmaker who is the vice chairwoman of the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, was late in repaying $40,000 in federally backed student loans, failed to pay automobile excise taxes in 2005, and had a $12,711 tax lien placed against her by the IRS.
unpaid taxes are not a career-killer.
In 1997, state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson pleaded guilty to failing to file tax returns from 1991 to 1994.
She was sentenced to house arrest, then sent to a halfway house for 30 days by a federal judge after twice breaking a 9 p.m. curfew.
Voters in Wilkerson's district overwhelmingly returned her to office with 74 percent of the vote in 1998.
She is now facing a campaign finance lawsuit filed by the state attorney general alleging she failed to report nearly $27,000 in donations and refused to explain more than $18,000 in personal reimbursements.
I love St. Fleur. She's the final nail in the Reilly campaign.
"unpaid taxes are not a career-killer."
At least, not in Massachusetts. In NH, it would be...
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