Obama Camp to Clinton: Show Us Your Taxes

[ProSense]

Obama Camp to Clinton: Show Us Your Taxes

By Matthew Mosk
Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign aides stepped up their effort to force Democrat Hillary Clinton to release her tax returns yesterday, to shed light on the sources of income that enabled her to loan $5 million of her own money to her presidential bid.

While Obama made public his tax return last year, Clinton's top advisers have maintained that they will only release the tax returns she filed jointly with husband Bill Clinton if she can secure her party's nomination.

"Why should Democratic voters have to wait until after the primary campaign is over to find out important information about Senator Clinton's finances that Senator Obama has already disclosed?" asked Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "For someone who claims to be fully vetted, hiding a campaign loan from voters until after Super Tuesday and refusing to release your tax returns until after the primary doesn't seem like the best way to prove that there are no surprises for the Republicans to find once they start digging."

Yesterday, Obama stopped short of calling on Clinton to release her tax return when asked the question by reporters traveling with him. "I'll just say that I've released my tax returns. That's been a policy I've maintained consistently. I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from. But I'll leave it up to you guys to chase it down."

What is known about the source of the Clintons' income stems largely from the financial disclosure forms she filed as a presidential candidate and as a senator.

Clinton was able to draw on her joint bank account with her husband to make the loan. Last year, Hillary and Bill Clinton cashed out a blind trust with stock holdings valued at $5 million to $25 million, with the aim of avoiding conflicts of interest during the campaign.

More recently, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the former president will collect about $20 million in a deal to end his business relationship with the investment firm of billionaire friend Ron Burkle. Burkle is also a top fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Aides also noted that she reportedly received $8 million from the publication of her autobiography in 2003.

[Thrill]

1. Why does she want to wait until after the nomination to show these?

Scared to show that money trail to the Democrats while they have a choice

[Yael]

13. Welcome to the GOP main talking point:

Can you TRUST her?

As a dem -- no, I can't.

[Cha]

2. The clintons are the big

coverup secrecy candidates..cover up a bush, hide their tax returns until they're safely back in the white house, cover up another bush.

[thunder rising]

3. "a top fundraiser" buys out Bill's interest in some bogus business for $20M?

[Stephanie]

8. That would be Ron Burkle >>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4442259

[Zueda]

4. Can she bring us Open Government?

[tyne]

7. Exactly

[ProSense]

14. A good place to start would be to release her tax return,

and then the records from the 90s that people have been seeking under the FOIA for years.

[K Gardner]

5. Why Does Obama Hate the DARKNESS???!!

[MethuenProgressive]

6. They're with EIGHT YEARS of Senate records Obama claims he never kept.

That's some big lying going on by Lord Obama.

[ProSense]

12. That's part of Hillary's desperation: present votes minor compared to secrecy and dubious dealings

First, let's put the silliness about records to bed:

A November 14 Associated Press article quoted Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) saying of his Illinois state Senate records: "I don't have -- I don't maintain -- a file of eight years of work in the state Senate because I didn't have the resources available to maintain those kinds of records." But the article, by Mike Baker and Christopher Wills, went on to report: "While any file from Obama's time in the state Senate would be far smaller, the idea that no papers exist at all is questioned by one historian," and then quoted historian Tyler Pensoneau saying, "It goes in scrapbooks or maybe boxes. I don't think it's normal practice to say it's all discarded." But as the very quote by Obama included in the article makes clear, Obama did not say that "no papers exist at all," nor did he say that "it's all discarded"; he said he did not have the resources to maintain the records for eight years of work. Some records from Obama's state Senate career, as the AP later acknowledged, are available via public records requests from various state agencies.

link

chart

Now, let's move on to Hillary's big glaring problems.

[DJ13]

9. Obama has every right to seek full dislosure of her tax returns

Campaign finance laws prohibit a spouse from financing a campaign, so that $5 million she lent herself last month cannot have come from any money she has jointly with Bill.

Its a valid question to wonder if that much money was in a seperate account that Bill cannot access, and if so where she obtained that kind of money getting paid $160,000 to be a Senator.

[Indenturedebtor]

10. Who cares!

Winning is everything. When she gets into power she'll reform her ways. What are you stupid or something? Have some more kool-aid son

:sarcasm:

[DJ13]

11. Well, I never!

No seriously, I never!

:evilgrin:

[bigtree]

15. cheap campaign ploy

All the info they need has been provided in her Senate financial statements she's already released. This is a cheap fishing expedition reminiscent of Nixon and his innuendo attacks on his opponents.

[Major Hogwash]

16. What have those 2 got to hide anyway?

Marc Rich's thank you letter?
James Carville's conehead hat?
Bush senior's e-mails to Bill?

[ProSense]

17. Interesting list! n/t