Renzi didn’t reveal $200K

[133724]

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) failed to disclose a $200,000 payment he received from a business partner in 2005 in apparent violation of House ethics rules. Prosecutors could use the omission as evidence that Renzi intended to conceal a transaction he knew to be controversial or even improper.

The $200,000 was a payment from James Sandlin to settle a debt related to a previous business transaction involving land in northeast Arizona, one of the lawmaker’s attorneys, Grant Woods, told a newspaper last week.

This explanation might have been expected to dispel suspicion that Sandlin gave Renzi an illegal gift in exchange for action Renzi took to help Sandlin sell a $4 million parcel of land.

But Renzi’s claim that Sandlin’s $200,000 payment was a legitimate business transaction is weakened by the fact that he failed to disclose it in his personal financial disclosure report for 2005 filed with the House clerk.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/renzi-didnt-reveal-200k-2007-04-25.html

[mtnester]

1. Will it be:

"I forgot," "I don't recall," "I did not know," or "I am an idiot?"

[AndyA]

2. I vote for "all of the above" and add "my dog ate the note I wrote to myself

to remember to include this. Or, the maid threw it out accidentally." One or the other.

When oh when are they gonna come up with new excuses for their dirty deeds? :shrug:

[badgolfer]

3. Renzi

I bet he didn't include it on his income taxes for the 2005 tax year either.

[azmouse]

4. Renzi is toast.

And when he resigns, AZ will have a special election to replace him. The election was very close last Nov so it's very possible a Dem will get his seat. Oh how I wish I lived in the area that gets to vote for his replacement.

[gratuitous]

5. Oh come on! You people are so suspicious

Damn, it's like none of you has ever forgotten a stray $200,000 payment you received. Renzi's just a salt-of-the-earth, man-of-the-people kind of guy who can't hire some fancy "accountant" to keep track of every last nickel that passes through his hands. Okay, this was 4 million nickels, but I think my point stands. Leave the poor guy alone. Stop looking at him, I say!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. And he says he will not resign

They're going to have to drag him off kicking and screaming in handcuffs all the way to his cell. Well, he didn't actually word it like that, but that's how I like to imagine it taking place.

[Coventina]

7. Must've slipped his mind.

I hate it when I forget $200,000 bribery payments, it really throws my account book off....