Posted on 10/22/2004 8:50:15 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
Kerry Campaign Stonewalling on Nannygate Questions
Does John Kerry, whose billionaire wife Teresa employs a small army of housekeepers, gardeners, cooks, chauffeurs, butlers and other hired help at her five estates around the country, have a Nannygate problem?
Two calls this week to the Kerry campaign press office, asking if Mrs. Heinz has paid Social Security taxes on her domestic staff, have so far gone unreturned.
Questions about whether candidates and their spouses are illegally paying domestic help off the books have bedeviled the political campaigns of the rich and famous since 1993, when Clinton Attorney General nominee Zoe Baird crashed and burned after her Nannygate predicament was revealed. Her replacement, Kimba Wood, had the same problem and had to withdraw.
In California's 1994 Senate race, both Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican Michael Huffington admitted hiring illegal aliens, canceling the problem out.
More recently, however, similar charges dogged EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. Last year, when Arnold Schwarzenegger released his tax returns after announcing his gubernatorial bid, Nannygate problems were among the first things reporters looked for. There were none.
Even largely baseless Nannygate accusations were enough to derail the nomination of the eminently qualified Linda Chavez to become Secretary of Labor.
But with less than two weeks to go in this year's presidential campaign, the question hasn't even come up for the woman who has undoubtedly hired more nannies than any other political spouse in the history of American politics.
That's due, at least in part, to the fact that Teresa Heinz continues to guard her tax returns more closely than the nation's nuclear secrets.
Some say, however, that even the small bit of information revealed in the Kerry campaign's two page tax document dump last Friday show telltale signs that the Heinz Kerrys do indeed have a Nannygate problem.
The Internet blog site "Desert Rat Ramblings" noted, for instance:
"Lines 55 and 59 on [Teresa's] Form 1040 are Social Security and Medicare taxes paid to Household employees, ie: nannies; housekeepers; gardeners; etc. . . . What Heinz-Kerry is claiming on her tax return for Household 'wages' extrapolates to approximately $7,500 - $8,000/year.
"$8,000 a year paid to household staff from a billionaire?"
Aside from Social Security taxes, questions about whether the would-be first couple obtained the proper I-9 immigration forms from their employees, and maintained proper W-2 records, have also gone unanswered.
Only a press corps that was actively working for a Kerry win would have let these questions fester till the last two weeks of the campaign.
Absent more thorough media scrutiny - or the Kerry campaign's decision to be more forthcoming about Teresa's finances - the American public would be right to conclude that something is being covered-up.
OH...THIS could be a great revelation>
Yes, here we go again. The MASSIVE DOUBLE STANDARD OF THE LIBERAL LEFT. YOU MUST OBEY THE LAWS, BUT WE DO NOT BECAUSE WE ARE THE ELITIST LEFT, AND WE ARE ABOVE THE LAW...
Even if it were true: too little to late?
I'm not entirely sure how they came up with that $8k figure from what's on the 1040. I don't see any information about taxes paid for nannies etc, except a reference that form 941's had been filed for same. Line 55 is tax that THK paid on money she earned in a self-employed capacity, and has nothing to do with household staff. Sorry, I'd love there to be something to this, but I just don't see it.
I do not think it is a little too late, I do think it needs to get up on Drudge though.
Terrayzah says: "Shut up, Newsmax, you'll never have a real job. =BELCH= more beer...."
When I run for office, will I get in trouble for not contributing payroll taxes on my kids?
It will never see the light of day. There is no way the MSM will dare to raise any point that would shed a negative light on Kerry or the Ketchup Queen.
As someone posted yesterday, all that money and still no class.
Note what she put down for "occupation!"
Someone needs to email this to Rush Drudge and Fox.
Major bump.
..."For all of you out there that is happy that George Bush is not leading in the polls by a large margin, it is a wonder that he is not 10 points behind with all the help he is getting from the press."
I can't imagine ANYONE in FR happy that GW is not leading in the polls by a large margin...quite the contrary. Should take some stress off of us! I do AGREE Bush could definitely be behind in the polls by 10 thanks to the MSM....that is so evident! Now, what do we do about it???
Surprise, John! It's October!
So being a philanthropist pays a couple mil a year?
She may have supposedly "earned" 2 mil, but she sure as heck didn't live off it.
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