Nearly every wealthy Republican running for office has two options. Reveal every detail of his taxes, or be defeated. With Davis in big trouble there was a chance that Simon could have gotten away with out making full disclosure. But most media types figure the only reason not to disclose is shady activities that if known would cost the privacy seeker the election. I can't think of any reason a wanna be public servant would want to keep his taxes private. If you want your taxes to be "PRIVATE" information don't go into "PUBLIC" service. With Davis in the trouble he is, Simon could either have refused early and often until the story died, or folded early with complete disclosure. Folding a little will only increase the heat. It is an attempt on Simon's part to appease the media. Simon thought he could limit the media appetite with limited disclosure. Simon just gave them an apetizer. A smart politician reveals what he wants revealed before the media asks. Then ever after he claims he made full disclosure and this is an old discredited charge. A smart Policitian releases 500 pages of financial information that the worlds best accountant could not understand. Every time the media asks about his finances or tax returns a smart Politician would refer them to the 500 pages he has already revealed in his "Total Disclosure" and his accountant who had been instructed to cooperate fully. <>Then your fully cooperative accountant, does not cooperate fully with the media. That is what you do if you are smart and guilty. If you are smart and innocent you give the media copies of all your tax returns from the time you were 16 years old. Then refuse to comment on them directly refering all questions fo your accountant who can give the questioner real and accurate information. Even if they contain embarrassing infomration, the story will die down after a week or too of your accountants double talk. After a few days of stories with complex details on tax law, peoples eyes glaze over and the story goes away.
The only chance Davis had was to make this race about Simon's honesty and character and not about Davis's honesty and character. Simon is doing a very good job of making this race about Simon's character and honesty. This type of obvious attempt to control coverage will only inflame all the media. This will make even the small portion of the media that is right leaning, doubt Simon's honesty and truthfulness.
30 percent of the voters are still undecided. That is an unreal number given Davis's unpopularity. They know everything negative about Davis and sixty percent of the voters are not in Simons corner. Thirty percent of the voters are undecided. That 30 percent waiting to decide are Democrats and middle grounders. Simon is doing his best to see that they drop 3 to 1 for Davis. This huge group of independents and disaffected Democrats are waiting for Simon to give them an excuse to hold their nose and vote for Davis. That is exactly what Simon is doing. He is holding their noses for them.
Simon is either very ignorant of the political world, or he his real purpose is to elect Gray Davis.