UPDATED Mollis Fires Back: Why Hasn’t Taylor Released Tax Returns?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Secretary of State Ralph Mollis asked why his Republican challenger, Catherine Taylor has not released her tax returns—a week after she said she would discuss the matter with her husband and make a decision.
“It’s time to stop misleading the hard-working voters of Rhode Island,” said Mollis, a Democrat. “If Catherine Taylor truly believes in transparency then she should stop dodging the question and instead engage in the type of open and honest government she has been touting and just release her tax returns.”
His criticism came a day after Taylor reamed him out for taking matching funds based on donations from two indicted North Providence councilmen. (UPDATE: Taylor's campaign has released a response. See below.)
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTTaylor has made transparency a centerpiece of her campaign, pledging to be more aggressive in making the votes of the General Assembly available to the public on the Secretary of State’s Web site.
But Mollis accused Taylor herself of hiding important information from voters. He said voters deserve to know the extent of her personal wealth, to determine if she “truly deserves such financial assistance from taxpayers.”
“This is simple question—what does Catherine Taylor not want us to know?" Mollis asked. “If she sees nothing wrong with accepting over $175,000 in taxpayer dollars through matching funds, which everyone running for elected office has the legal right to do, then tell the truth about your personal wealth.”
Taylor Protecting Husband's Privacy
Taylor campaign manager David Kang said she was not releasing her returns to protect her family's privacy.
"Catherine has followed the letter and the spirit of every law as a candidate and a citizen," Kang said. "There are plenty of candidates, such as Gina Raimondo, James Langevin, and Lincoln Chafee, who have not released their returns to protect the privacy of those dearest to them. However, there is only one candidate who has received donations from public officials indicted by the FBI for bribery, extortion, and illegal gambling - and then had the audacity to leverage those donations to receive taxpayer money in public matching funds- that candidate is Ralph Mollis."
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