Just another rich Republican with a tax scandal.
Gabriel Gomez, the Republican candidate to fill John Kerry's vacated Senate seat, has a bit of a
tax scam problem on his hands. In 2005, he claimed a $281,500 historic tax deduction for pledging to not make any changes to the facade of his historic home, but local bylaws already ban him from making those changes. In essence, Gomez got a big old tax break for nothing, since he could never have made the changes he was promising not to make in the first place. Now that it's a scandal, Gomez seems to think that the best reaction is to
dig a deeper hole.
“I have nothing to hide,’’ said Gomez on a campaign stop in Lawrence, when asked by a Globe reporter why he would not make public the details about how the federal tax deduction was calculated for the easement to limit changes on the home that the candidate and his wife bought for $2.1 million in November 2004.
When "I have nothing to hide" is trotted out along with a refusal to provide information to prove there's nothing to hide, there's probably something to hide.
Gomez has previously released returns for the past six years, the same number released by the candidates in last year’s US Senate race, he said, but refused Thursday to release the couple’s return for 2005 when they took the deduction. It would reveal how much he financially gained from the deal.
“That’s it, end of story,’’ he said.
Nice try, but this won't be the end of the story. He also tried the old
deflection game: this scandal isn't about him. It's about his opponent trying to kill the American Dream.
“For Congressman Markey to suggest that I’ve done anything to break the rules is beyond disgraceful, it’s dishonorable,” Gomez said about the Markey campaign’s claim that he, “bilked taxpayers.”
“I’ve worked for everything I’ve done and I’ve earned everything I’ve done,” said Gomez. “Only in Washington could a career politician hack, slam the American Dream.”
Spoken like a true Republican. A true
rich Republican. With a tax problem. Okay, a true, rich, Republican
from Massachusetts with a tax problem. Where have we seen that before?
Help keep one more sleazy Republican out of the Senate. Please donate $3 to Ed Markey.