Our favorite ersatz White House Press Corps pavement pounder, James Guckert, is in more trouble than his recent pseudonym-using, credential-manufacturing, journalism-faking, internet porn kingpin experiences would indicate. The Wilmington, Delaware
News Journal reports that "James D. Guckert, who reported under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon, failed to pay Delaware more than $20,700 in personal state income tax from 1991 through 1994, according to documents filed in Superior Court in Wilmington."
Said Guckert/Gannon to the newspaper: "When it rains, it pours." According to the article, he would not comment further.
Don't worry, Jim, it's not a criminal offense. But as the article bitingly notes, "if Guckert were to win the state lottery ... , Delaware would collect whatever debt he owed." Good luck!
A little more salaciousness below.
According to official records:
Guckert owed $9,484 in taxes; $7,697.69 in fines and $3,560.71 in interest.
The judgment, which was filed Oct. 18, 1996, said interest would continue to accrue at a rate of 1 percent a month on the unpaid balance, and the penalty would accrue at 0.5 percent on the tax.
According to the Director of the State Division of Revenue, the judgment has not been satisfied. He is prohibited by law from disclosing whether it has been partially satisfied.
For the record, here is how the article describes the controversy to date:
Guckert resigned Tuesday from Talon News, a conservative Internet news outlet owned by the Web site GOPUSA, following criticism from Democrats and news media watchdogs on the Web that he acted more like an administration ally at news conferences than an objective journalist.
Online writers called "bloggers" published his real name and the Wilmington address where his Internet domain was registered around the time that he resigned. They also discovered that several gay pornographic domain names had been registered through his domain.
Guckert said he registered those domain names for a client while he was working to set up a Web-hosting business in Wilmington.
Guckert applied for a congressional press pass in April but was rejected on grounds that he did not work for a bona fide news organization.
Now, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., are calling on Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the leaking of a classified CIA memo containing the identity of undercover agent Valerie Plame to Guckert, according to Slaughter's Web site.
