April 14, 2010 05:49 PM UTC

Also Known As "Something To Hide"

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: Run for it! The Denver Post’s Chuck Plunkett hands McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy the shovel, this is absolutely surreal:

I’m surprised, really, that McInnis didn’t see this coming and be ready for it.

Now he’s given Hickenlooper – who is providing his returns for the last 10 years by next Friday – yet another chance to look more gubernatorial…

“The key point was we never said he wasn’t going to release his tax returns ever,” Duffy said. “He may indeed. They are very complex tax returns. At some point he may indeed.”

And: “It’s under review now. Obviously we’re not trying to bother CPAs on the 15th of April.”

Duffy called The Post’s request for the returns an “arbitrary deadline,” and said we were engaging in the creation of “straw men” to take down.

“It’s really not that big a deal to him,” Duffy said of his boss. “We kind of view it a little bit as a tempest in a teapot.”

Uh, yeah. Maybe it was.

As the Denver Post reports:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis has refused to release his tax returns, a position that breaks from routine campaign practices in Colorado and nationally.

“He’s already disclosed what he’s required to publicly,” said spokesman Sean Duffy. “At this point he’s not prepared to turn over . . . income taxes.”

GOP candidate Dan Maes also rejected The Denver Post’s request for his tax returns. Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper has pledged to release 10 years of his returns by the end of next week.

Media outlets routinely request tax returns from candidates because they reveal more than mere income: They show sources of income and potential conflicts of interest, charitable giving, the use of tax shelters, how candidates manage their own money and how their tax rates compare with the average taxpayer’s.

Open-government advocates say it’s especially important that wealthy candidates, who usually have a multitude of investments, be forthcoming with their taxes.

In the case of Scott McInnis this does indeed look bad, in fact his failure to disclose–given his known wealth, insider connections, and high-profile lobbying clients–is sure to invite more questions that a simple disclosure would hurt him. Then again, maybe not? Back in 2004, McInnis’ wife’s W-2 forms, as you may recall, got him into some hot water.

As for Dan Maes, it’s tough to get overly worked up about his failure to disclose personal financial information, since what we know of his campaign finances suggests he can barely keep a free checking account open.

UPDATE: Here’s a blast from the past some of you will appreciate–a Denver Post story from autumn 1996, about a new ad from Senate candidate Wayne Allard (managed, mind you, by our own Dick Wadhams), hitting opponent Tom Strickland for not disclosing his tax returns:

The GOP’s new ad declares the Senate race to be “about trust.” It notes that Allard released his income-tax returns to the public and calls Strickland, a Denver lawyer, “a lobbyist who’s made millions yet refuses to release his complete tax returns to the public.”

“Why?” the ad continues. “Maybe it’s because Strickland’s firm lobbied to build a medical waste incinerator in Denver. Or maybe because he represented a company fined millions for polluting our air.

“Tom Strickland’s earned plenty,” the spot concludes. “But has he earned our trust?”

Funny how you can change “Senate” to “governor,” Allard to Hickenlooper, Strickland to McInnis…and you don’t have to change anything else. One “lawyer-lobbyist” to another, see?