Posted on 02/02/2006 12:20:18 AM PST by raccoonradio
BOSTON - Marie St. Fleur, a little more than 24 hours after entering the lieutenant governor’s race, decided Wednesday to abandon her campaign after revelations of tax and loan delinquency, according to a top aide to her running mate, Attorney General Tom Reilly.
St. Fleur’s financial troubles sparked revelations from another politician in the thick of this year’s gubernatorial campaign: Deval Patrick, Reilly’s top rival for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, released a statement disclosing that he, too, had been a tax delinquent.
“More than a decade ago, Diane and I had an installment agreement with the IRS to pay, on a monthly basis, an unexpected tax liability,” Patrick said in a statement issued to The Associated Press. “We missed one or two of our installments. This triggered an IRS lien. We took immediate steps to pay off the balance and within five months discharged in full the $8,778 we owed.”
St. Fleur, a Democratic state representative from Boston, planned to read a statement outlining her decision early Wednesday evening at Reilly’s Boston headquarters, the aide told the AP.
The Reilly campaign planned to release a separate statement from the attorney general, said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.
St. Fleur referred a call for comment to the campaign, which didn’t immediately respond.
On Tuesday afternoon, Reilly stood side by side with St. Fleur to announce that he had chosen the state’s first Haitian-born lawmaker as the person he wanted to run with on his ticket.
In Massachusetts, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately through the primary, before being united in a common party ticket for the general election in November. Reilly’s anointment was expected to give St. Fleur a boost at the polls.
But on Wednesday, Reilly got a jolt with the revelation his hand-picked running mate had not only failed to pay $13,000 in federal income taxes, but $40,000 in student loans.
At the same time, St. Fleur was forbidden by the Registry of Motor Vehicles from renewing her driver’s license this year because she did not pay motor vehicle excise taxes to the City of Boston in 2005. The order was issued Dec. 22, five weeks before the attorney general announced he was teaming up with her - apparently with little or no background check.
Both Reilly and St. Fleur refused immediate comment, but the disclosures stood in stark contrast to comments made by Reilly less than a year ago, when the attorney general announced he was prosecuting two men accused of avoiding state income taxes.
“Every citizen who enjoys all that this state has to offer is obligated to pay taxes,” Reilly said in an April 14, 2005, statement. “My office will continue to investigate and prosecute those who choose to avoid the law and their responsibilities to pay taxes.”
The Boston Globe reported that records showed last April the IRS placed a a tax lien of $12,711 against St. Fleur and her husband, an accountant, for failing to pay sufficient taxes in 2003.
In an interview with the newspaper, St. Fleur said she and her husband, Jean B. Lauture, incurred the federal tax obligation because he did not have sufficient payroll taxes withheld from his paychecks in 2003.
St. Fleur said she paid down the $12,711 lien to about $8,000 by making $500 monthly payments since last spring. Later, though, a campaign spokesman told the newspaper that St. Fleur had only made one $500 payment last May, and that the outstanding balance was still more than $12,000.
In addition, the Globe reported, the City of Boston twice filed liens against a house the couple own on Hartford Street in Dorchester. One was lifted in 2002, after St. Fleur made tax payments totaling $2,249. The second was removed in 2003, after payments totaling $4,948.
St. Fleur she accumulated the student loans while attending Boston College Law School. A campaign spokesman said that starting about three years ago, she began making monthly payments of $100, increasing them to $300 about six months ago
Meanwhile, Registry of Motor Vehicles records reviewed by The Associated Press showed St. Fleur could not renew her driver’s license because of a failure to pay excise taxes.
From the outset of his campaign, Reilly has made taxes an issue, trying to contrast his hardscrabble roots with the millions made by Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who is seeking the Republican nomination, and Patrick, a former Clinton administration official, during their careers.
Patrick scoffed at the challenge, but in his statement to the AP, he offered a defense similar to that suggested by St. Fleur.
“Just like us, people find themselves in situations like this at points in their lives,” Patrick said. “A rare few are immune from tight financial times at one time or another. We met our responsibilities, paid our debt and moved on.”
Last month, in one of his first acts as a candidate, the attorney general released his own income tax returns for the past three years and called on his rivals to do the same. Had St. Fleur followed that demand, it would have covered the IRS returns for the year in which she and her husband now face the federal lien.
>>had not only failed to pay $13,000 in federal income taxes, but $40,000 in student loans.
Nice.
>>forbidden by the Registry of Motor Vehicles from renewing her driver’s license this year because she did not pay motor vehicle excise taxes to the City of Boston in 2005
Ironically enough, Reilly may have been "urged" to choose her by, speaking of the City of Boston, Mayor Tom Menino
>>little or no background check
Let's trust him with the highest office in the Commonwealth!
>>“Every citizen who enjoys all that this state has to offer is obligated to pay taxes,” Reilly said in an April 14, 2005, statement. “My office will continue to investigate and prosecute those who choose to avoid the law and their responsibilities to pay taxes.”
Will you be prosecuting Ms. St. Fleur, sir?
St. Fleur led an unsuccessful campaign to give in-state
tuition to illegals, shot down only due to pressure
from voters, spurred by conservative talk radio. They want to increase our taxes but won't pay theirs...and they want illegals to get the same tuition rates (or even less) as
residents of the Commonwealth despite being illegal!
From the state that brought you Mike Dukakis.
"From the state that brought you Mike Dukakis."
not to mention our dear sweet Teddy. lol
soooo...what do you think this guys chances of winning the election are? slim to none would be my guess. lol
What's amazing to realize is that the gross incompetence of the MA 'Rat candidates for Governor & Lt Gov might end up seeing the presumed RINO Gubernatorial standard-bearer, Kerry Murphy Healey, pull off an unprecedented 5th consecutive win in a row for the GOP (meaning at least 20 years controlling the Executive). They're only a year behind tying their longest continuous control, from 1858-1875.
Cult of corruption...no culture about it....
Just another Dem Deadbeat!
Move along, nothin' new here. (at least in the state of MA)
Deval Patrick was in the Clinton "Justice" department. Sued banks and other compnies for discrimination.
> the presumed RINO Gubernatorial standard-bearer, Kerry Murphy Healey...
You're not counting Christie Mihos out, are you?
I think Reilly is history, but Deval Patrick will survive this. The libs adore him.
I agree, if either Reilly or Patrick wins the 'RAT nomination, I think Mihos will take it. I'm leaning toward him now. Healey is a total non-entity. I think Mihos could really shake things up, and he's a good conservative by Massachusetts standards who can win independents with his style and independence.
At this point, I think only Bill Galvin could salvage the governorship for the 'RATs. That's quite a change.
Patrick's tax scandal isn't that big a deal and he successfully buried it by releasing it yesterday. I give his media people credit for that.
In a word....flake?
I'm not sure what's going to happen with Mihos. He was considering an Independent run (in which case, the 'Rats would be sure to grab the Governorship). Healey, I would agree has been a non-entity (who shouldn't have even won the nod for Lt Gov in '02 over Jim Rappaport (where did ole Jim go ?)), and would continue to do nada for the moribund state party. But even at that, she would tend to likely present such a non-threatening image that the voters might still give her the nod over any flawed 'Rat nominee (not that I want her, only to observe she would be acceptable to the MA electorate).
It also stands to reason that there may be pressure brought on Mihos to perhaps accept a running-mate status.
Of course, the only thing positive that could come from the 'Rats regaining the Governorship is that they'll be free to pursue a radical agenda that makes Dukakis look like Jesse Helms, and might actually force the GOP to do something about its equally dead grass-roots. Romney tried and failed miserably, which is why he isn't even bothering with a 2nd term run.
Like I said, I thought she'd be toast against Rappaport, and she still managed to pull out a win. Of course, there's not very many GOP primary voters in MA anymore.
It was unclear, but I was talking about the general election, not the primary. I have no doubt the party apparatus can get her through the primary.
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