Far be it for me to call TPM’s Josh Marshall “stupid”. It just makes a more eye-catching headline in this case. And it also happens to be a fact, as I see it, that Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns from any year prior to 2010, and especially his local state return from 2010, is about hiding evidence of a felony crime, as much or likely more than it is about hiding embarrassing details of off-shore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Switzerland, etc.
Josh argued yesterday that the latter is the reason for the presumptive GOP nominee’s continuing refusal to publicly disclose those tax returns. It’s almost certainly a part of the campaign’s calculations and, as he posits convincingly in his blog item headlined “Kryptonite”, hard visual confirmation of Romney’s foreign tax shelters would be difficult to shake off with explanations to Mr. and Mrs. America.
But the use of legal off-shore tax shelters can be massaged through the “conservative” “messaging” machine with a legitimate-sounding case that avoidance of federal taxes is somehow a patriotic “conservative” duty and/or otherwise yet another example of Romney’s keen business insight and smart, fully legal fiscal discipline which every American should someday aspire to.
What cannot be so easily brushed off or propagandized away — not without completely undermining the current culmination of the GOP’s nearly-decade long effort in creating the imaginary notion of massive Democratic “voter fraud” which must be rectified immediately with polling place Photo ID restrictions (actually little more than the GOP’s attempt to suppress the legitimate Democratic-leaning vote while preventing almost no existing voter fraud) — is the likelihood that those tax returns would reveal indisputable evidence that this year’s GOP standard-bearer is an actual voter fraud felon himself…
To date, there has been no legitimate explanation for Mitt Romney having cast a vote in the January 2010 Special Election for the U.S. Senate between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley. At the time of his vote (which he has admitted doing) he owned no house in MA, and yet he was registered to vote from the address of his son’s unfinished basement in Belmont, MA.
While Romney owned houses in both CA (purchased in May of 2008 for $12.5m) and NH (April of 2009 for $3.5m) at the time, it wouldn’t be until July of 2010 — a full six months after the Special Election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy — that the state’s former Governor would once again own a house there, after purchasing an $895,000 townhouse in Belmont.
The state’s requirements for residency for the purposes of voting are quite clear in MA. Ones residence must be “where a person dwells and which is the center of his domestic, social, and civil life,” according to state law. Yet, the evidence demonstrating that Romney ran afoul of those requirements in order to vote in that election are similarly clear, at least as fairly meticulously compiled by a former Republican Presidential candidate last year.
Romney’s 2010 state tax return, which he still refuses to release, even though he finally released his federal return from that same year, likely shows that he did not pay state income tax in MA, but rather declared himself to be a NH resident for its more friendly tax purposes.
Such a declaration, if revealed via his 2010 state tax return, would underscore the apparent fact that Mitt Romney himself is actually a voter fraud felon.
I can think of no reasonable response to that fact if it were to finally be revealed without ambivalence on official tax returns — not while the GOP has so many years and so much invested in their voter suppression “ferreting out ‘voter fraud’!” canard this year.
Romney’s going to have to deal with the off-shore investment thing whether the tax returns are released or not. He’s already being forced to do so. And, to some extent, his base even likes that part of him, perversely or not. On the other hand, to date, he’s largely been able to keep the voter fraud thing — about which the Pavlovian GOP base has been well-trained over the last ten years to yelp uncritically — far below the radar. That all changes if he releases his taxes and they show what it seems likely they will.
No amount of “conservative” “messaging” will be able to hide the fact that the party itself has nominated someone who, himself, committed voter fraud in a high-profile federal election just two years ago, even as the party is itself in courtrooms across the nation trying to defend their case that access to the polling place must be tightened up in order to keep those ne’er-do-well zombie ACORN “Democrat” thieves from stealing the election yet again by “diluting” the votes of legal American voters with their rampant voter fraud.
And it is that point, even more than embarrassment over off-shore tax havens, as Josh otherwise-convincingly asserts, which is likely the real “Kryptonite” right now to the GOP, and likely driving Romney’s untenable position of keeping years of tax returns a secret even as he runs for the highest office in the land.
RELATED COVERAGE FROM THE BRAD BLOG:
• 6/13/11: Full details about Romney’s apparent voter fraud in MA.
• 6/16/11: My interview [MP3] with former GOP Presidential candidate Fred Karger, just after he first revealed the facts of Romney’s voting record and filed a complaint in the state of MA.
• 1/23/12: Updated details on Romney voter fraud concerns after he finally disclosed his 2010 federal tax return, but refused to release that year’s state return.
Thanks for stating what needs to be said — and thanks for being very direct & clear.
For the record, Marshall’s TPM is one of my daily reads, has been for many years, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume it is a blog you check regularly. He does carry good stories WHEN IT IS AN ISSUE HE CARES ABOUT.
IMHO, he is not a “progressive” or even “liberal” — he is not a teabagger (YEAH!) and is probably just a “lesser-of-2-evils” democrat (a party that literally stands for nothing on a national basis). Not shared as put-down, I’ve followed Marshall since he went online and this is what I have seen.
You have been reasonable and even I believe as humble and kind as possible give gravity of the legit concerns you express today.
My 2-cents, wholly-related, largely focusing on a MASSIVE MEDIA FAILURE that enables all the insane GOPERs (each fully-sourced & resourced, including back to some BradBlog articles when documentation/more extensive explanation is needed):
Walker/GOP Lies, SCOTUS Did NOT Proclaim ACA Was a Tax
Disgraced Bankster Pulls Out of Romney “High-Dollar” Fundraiser – Is Mitt Reduced to Handing Out Cheap Sandwiches?
The Faith of Mitt Romney: Whose Work is Mitt Romney Doing: A Perspective from Hell (video)
Walker Doing ALEC’s Work: “Divide and Conquer” Health Care Obstruction Kills (NOTE: Romney is doin’ it too!)
Stop the Lies About America’s Founding: American Revolution Was Against Corporate Interests
Did We See the Republican Playbook for 2012? STEAL the November Election?!?!
Our Media Has Let Us Down, Did the Devil Make Them Do It?
Welcome to Hell: Is this fact or fiction?
A Party of Sociopaths: GOP and “rock star” (NOT!) Scott Walker
There is another aspect of the whole weird Mitt scenario. Think Al Gore and John Kerry. They were among the also odd. Read recently Wall Street has invested more in Obama than Mitt.
Obama has the best looking family for the black vote, seems more likely to hug his wife in public, the kids look happy…
Keeps US from having a revolution too.While the Just Us Dept. does not prosecute bank fraud.
Molly said @ 2:
Really? Where did you “read” that? You know, people write a lot of things. Doesn’t mean they are true. So where did you “read” that?
I don’t know if this is relevant to the Molly/Brad exchange and if this is longtime poster Molly, I wouldn’t want to have the misunderstanding that I was posting to challenge directly her statements.
This (interestingly enough from TPM) does point out a concerted propaganda effort by rove/GOPPERs to mislead the public on the monies Obama receives.
Remember, REAL Wall Street money is fully tied to multi-national interests.
I saw a piece on CNN last month which contridicts Molly. It stated wall street has almost completely abandoned Obama. Who knows what’s really true, but I’m inclined to buy the CNN story
Makes sense to me, WingnutSteve. Why support a guy who’s been too friendly to Wall Street when one of your own is seeking office?
Then again, Brad, the guy may have committed voter fraud in MA, but he really knows how to enjoy an ice cream cone.
I might have some serious answers here, except for something that is uncertain to me. What does Romney get for illegally casting a single vote in Massachusetts? Such a tiny “get” with such momentous implications, and yet, as far as I can tell, he did it anyway. Address or answer that question, and I think the rest can become quite clear.
R @7 asks:
Not sure what your purpose is in asking that question, R, but if the point is to suggest Romney didn’t do it, you might want to ask the same question about former IN Sec. of State Charlie White (R) who was convicted of three counts of voter fraud for voting at a precinct in which he no longer resided.
Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that some wealthy Republican elites, like Romney, do it because they think they’re above the law.
And, so far, the lack of response from MA authorities, let alone coverage from the MSM, suggests they may well be.
IOKIYAR!
I was clear enough, Mr. Canning: “as far as I can tell, he did it anyway.” You distracted yourself.
I think political and corporate elites do break the law because they feel they are not likely to be subject to it, however, that general observation, which seems to me to be always attendant to such an examination, doesn’t address why Romney broke this particular law. I think the answer is more important than it looks. However, I don’t intend to distract from Brad’s stuff, so we’ll leave it be. It’s enough that Romney has a lot going on that he can’t afford a semblance of normalcy. So Brad’s doing all right.
Hey Brad, I tried to put this on facebook and a Todd Akin (???) ad came up. You been hacked. Which, I suppose, means you’re doing good work.
shw
With all due respect, R, if Romney committed voter fraud — a felony — his reason for doing so, which only he would know, is irrelevant.
From a legal standpoint, the only question is did he knowingly violate the law. Motive is irrelevant.
So again, I ask, what is the point in asking “why” he did it?
I think the point is that we assume that people have some reason for doing things. It may not be objectively rational, but there should be one. We wonder about these things because we want to figure out what makes our fellow humans (even Romney) tick.
Great Article, Brad! Undoubtedly this is the case. (love the photo too)
Not really OT, there are reports that Mitt Romney is a distant relative of Bush clan (President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush).
And the W stands for WALKER.
There are reports that Wisconsin’s Deceiver-in-Chief, Scott Walker, is also a distant relative.
If there is any merit to that claim, sourced here:
FWIW: Could Scott Walker be a Distant Relative of Bush Clan? What Would That Mean?
then there are some pretty disturbing things to think about:
Is Scottie of the Walker/Bush Clan? Dangerous War Profiteers That Hate Democracy
We are not proclaiming this is all so — just sharing information that has been passed along to us. Please take a look and judge for yourself.
We could see some pretty outrageous stuff this fall and over the next 4 years.
The MSM will do nothing with this. The Democrats will not pursue it. They should, but I would be shocked if they did.
How about we’ll see those tax returns right after we see Obama’s college transcripts?
My sister went to Harvard, graduating with honors. If you graduate from Harvard with honors one of the perks is that they allow you to see any transcript you want. (I can assure you this is true by telling you that it is.) This is great cuz there’s always so much you can glean about a person from their transcript. My sister, being a big smarty-pants like Barack, made use of a little known Harvard codicil and got me in there on the fourth St. Patrick’s day after she graduated so that I was able to look at any transcript I wanted to, also. When I read Barack’s I was very interested to see, and frankly I’m astonished the right hasn’t picked up on this, that the most commonly referred to and unusual fact about Obama in his transcript is that he was apparently born on the sun. This helps explain the color of his skin. It’s obvious when you think about it.
I mention all this because I see no reason to cede the making up of all pure batshit crazy weird and irrelevant bullshit to the (w)right.
New permalink (last link in my post (#14)above has changed) — this is a very disturbing, yet distinctly possibility, Walker may be distant cousin of Walker/Bush clan.
He certainly has some of the same backers
Is Scottie Related to the Walker/Bush Clan? Dangerous War Profiteers That Hate Democracy
Residency of Romney
Excellent piece that I have read no where else.
This story has the potential to undermine Romney’s entire candidacy. We’ll see if this plays wide on corporate media.
As for Marshall’s problem, he appears committed to a corporate (proper) viewpoint that is at variance with facts.
One example being Marshall’s passionate defense of John Kerry’s laughing as a questioner of his was abused and arrested by Fla police for asking a question about the 2004 presidential race RE Ohio’s possible election fraud.
The whole episode, and Kerry and Marshall’s explanations specifically still repulse.
I called Kerry’s office then and their staffers explained that the questioner had a “agenda”—which is an apparent cause for taking away the young man’s rights, as Kerry joked feet away.
Mal @19 writes:
Given that Brad first wrote about the allegation that Romney committed voter fraud in MA more than a year ago, on June 11, 2011, if you haven’t read about the story anywhere else by now, no doubt you never will.
‘Revolution’ is mentioned a few times in the article & this is what it may come to in order to save the country, history shows us this fact.
It’s frustrating to have Romney as our alternative choice, but corporate donations controls both political parties. I might suggest reading a book out about Americans who do take a stand against this corrupt govt & political parties. It’s ultimately about each of us taking a stand.
http://www.booksbyoliver.com
Maybe, America does need a 3rd party to wake up the other two political parties since congress now has just a 7% approval rating & they still ignore us (and ignored by both pol. parties).
Mr. Canning — your interpretation here is probably correct, this and other GOP voter fraud had to be flushed down the memory hole before ALEC’s fraudulent Voter ID bill could be propped up by the media.
The story from 2011 is well-written and important, but at over 1700 words, it becomes hard to feature in print (this approaches a full-page in a tabloid).
I could write something about this to print in VOICES before November and would fully-credit any work I use like what gets posted here.
Has anyone at bradblog considered writing a press-release style piece – closer to 600 words, perhaps as a series or as an article that directs people to more resources online?
I imagine our editors would print this — maybe you could find other alternative papers that would too.
Hope you don’t mind me asking — Brad and Sue Wilson let VOICE reprint her piece on suing FCC over WTMJ & WISN 24/7 walker propaganda.
I think brad has my contact info — IMHO, this a piece like this would work better coming from a long-time advocate and someone that gets some national exposure.
I don’t see as OT, but please excuse if you seee it differently — the link I will share is related to the media propaganda that enables all of the larger-issues in this thread (and IMHO, Brad’s signature issues).
Believe-it-or-not, Milwaukee
Pravda, ooops,Urinal Genital, I mean, Journal Sentinel is literally catapulting the propaganda that:$1.85 million = $5.26 million.
Shame on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: More Lies & Walker Propaganda
Obama has been dogging the bankers so I doubt he is getting more money from them then Rmoney but there are entities that are deployed to NPR and here that are saying that.
I’ve lived in Salt Lake City all my life and Rmoney didn’t save the Olympics and doesn’t represent the values of my neighbors.
My opinion is as good as anybody’s.
larry — I don’t get what you mean, “dogging the bankers”
Do you have a linky that documents obama has actually taken a meaningful stand — remember, this is a man that has repeatedly proclaimed they did nothing illegal.
Even giving obama the benefit of the doubt here, the story that is emerging clearly indicates that “nothing illegal” proclaimations were premature.
And since obama ran as a constitutional scholar and lawyer, such proclamations don’t pass the smell test with some folks.
Considering how much money Obama got from the banks in 2008, it’s sort of remarkable that he has said anything negative about them, but he has. It’s mostly lip service, I admit, but it has persuaded them to support Romney.
Sorry, I don’t have the links.
Most of the big bank money is going to Romney, but he may have a problem if Libor spills over the pond.
Romney On Banking Scandal: That’s Just the Way America Works
What did Romney give as his residence on his federal tax form?
lysias, apparently it’s reacted.
“Since the Romneys redacted the street address on their federal return, we can’t know for sure if the address used is their son’s mansion or their recently-purchased townhouse in Belmont”
https://bradblog.com/?p=9083
First, let me say I’m not positive about this math so someone who doesn’t use Turbotax like me should check it before ricocheting everywhere over the web. That said, I think this is correct:
Romney hasn’t released his state level tax returns but Schedule A of his 2010 Federal return (the schedule for itemized deductions) indicates he paid $672K in state and local taxes on $21M of adjusted gross income – that’s 3.2%. Now he did have $3M of charitable gifts so if MA doesn’t cap those that lowers him to $18M as the denomiator for an effective rate of 3.7%, But MA’s tax rate on both regular income and capital gains was 5.3% at the time. That’s a huge gap unless he was claiming partial year residency in a non-tax state like NH. So it seems likely from this evidence that that is what he did.
Maybe the MA dept of revenue should audit!
You people are complete idiots and I just thank God that come November you will all have to live with the American people’s decision that Obama is even worse than Carter!
TGDC –
That’s a very interesting observation. Let me see if I can find someone who knows these numbers better than I. Hopefully someone sees your comment here in the meantime. Or perhaps I’ll run it as it’s own item to try to attract a few more eyeballs to it…
If you look at his tax return, he paid about $650 in state income taxes in 2010. His NH tax liability would’ve been about $150K, which suggests that he was a Mass. resident and paid Mass. income tax.
Earnest and Brad…
I have no doubt Romney committed a felony voter fraud crime. Just as I have no doubt that Ann Coulter did as well.
Just as the Bush DoJ tried for years to find evidence of massive voter fraud and failed, these are just one’s and two’s here and there.
The GoP pants twisting fear mongers cry about the threat posed to democracy by voter fraud, yet nowhere have they ever produced evidence that voter impersonation fraud has impacted a single election negatively.
Romney may have committed a felony, but it had no impact on the election.
This scam about voter ID has nothing to do with protecting elections (since none have ever been impacted) and everything to do with keeping likely democratic voters from voting.
As in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, it’s about the numbers.
New Hampshire does not have a general sales tax or an income tax on an individual’s reported W-2 wages. There are taxes on an individual’s interest and dividends income, inheritance, business taxes, consumer excise taxes and other taxes as listed below.
A 5% tax is assessed on interest and dividend income.
http://www.revenue.nh.gov/faq/gti-rev.htm
Photos of Romney and Cheney together forbidden at Wyoming fundraiser
By David Ferguson
Saturday, July 14, 2012 12:47 EDT
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/14/photos-of-romney-and-cheney-together-forbidden-at-wyoming-fundraiser/
Media Barred From Photographing Romney With Cheney At Fundraiser
By Ben Armbruster on Jul 13, 2012 at 12:52 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/13/516395/media-barred-photos-romney-cheney/