06/05/2002 Archived Entry: "MA Gov"

BOSTON -- Mitt Romney, the former Salt Lake City Olympics chief now running for Massachusetts governor, paid property taxes on a Utah home as his "primary residence" between 1999 and 2001, and received a $54,000 tax discount as a result, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.... The state constitution requires a candidate to live in Massachusetts for seven years prior to election.

Romney is calling it a "clerical error". Yea right, to the tune of $54K he forgot to tell the "clerk" where he lived. He's toast, this will hang on him the rest of the campaign. As he himself says, he's lived in Utah for 365 days the past three years. He must have been thinking of running for a political position in Utah. This means the issue could possibly go to the courts, Romney is going to be on the defensive, and it's going to look like he's a tax-cheat, or at best for him, so out of touch with money reality's that $54k can be made by an "error." Well, imagine what the Democrats can say about his fiscal responsibility! If he can't be held responsible for his own payment of taxes....

Besides, didn't Romney sign the document? So, he's saying he didn't read what he signed for three years? That seems incredible, how could anyone like him not know where they were legally living for three years. I think he's lying, and so will most of the voters.

Aso in the MA Gov race, Jill Stein fell short of the required signatures, and will not benefit from state-funding of her campaign. Add in Romney's tax-fiasco with the Green candidate not going to get funding after all, and this is now leaning toward a Democratic takeover. With 4 males in the Dem primary, Shannon O'Brien will win comfortably.

Replies: 3 comments

Supposedly, there is no document with Romney's signature requesting the "primary residency" designation on his home. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. I think what is really interesting about this story is the fact that Romney won't release his 2001 tax returns, even redacted, to show what type of residency he claims (Resident, Non-Resident, or Part-Year Resident). So, even if he is legitimately a MA resident (and MA law appears to be lenient on this question), his message will be drowned out amidst this controversy until he somehow puts it to rest.

Posted by The Kos @ 06/05/2002 09:58 AM PST

Right, lots of questions that Romney is going to be having to address now. He's definetly trying to hide, and not be forthright, which just succeeds in digging his hole deeper. Kos, I can't get your post-links to work, you raise the right questions for sure:

However, this residency issue now casts new light on Romney's refusals. You see, the return requires you to select between Resident, Non-Resident, or Part-Year Resident. Is that what he is afraid to release? Further adding fuel to the theory: Romney refused to release a redacted copy of the report to the Boston Globe showing only the residency question.

Posted by myDD @ 06/05/2002 12:41 PM PST

And I believe that O'Brien has the best chance to knock off Romney

Posted by G.C. Raj @ 06/05/2002 02:08 PM PST