Pro-Abortion, Pro-Tax Increase, and Pro-Illegal Immigration Bob Corker's ethical problems are growing by leaps and bounds every single day.News that was first broke on the blogosphere by Mike Kopp, has now reached the mainstream media.
Today's Lebanon Democrat reports:
"Ghosts of former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker's 1994 U.S. Senate bid are coming back to haunt his current campaign for the very same seat."
"Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Bob Tuke challenged Corker to explain his tax returns from 1985 and 1989 where Corker a very successful contractor and real estate developer apparently paid no federal income taxes. Tuke freely admitted the issue was part of the 1994 GOP primary, saying Corker should again "disclose" the circumstances surrounding the returns. Tuke also offered he did not believe Corker had broken any laws.
"I think Tennesseans pay their fair share of taxes, and they¹re entitled to know if candidates have found ways not to pay taxes," Tuke told The Lebanon Democrat on Thursday. "If that's the case, I just think that needs to be disclosed, and I know it was in '94. You know, if you¹re clever enough to do it before '94, maybe there's a way to do it after '94. I don't know."
The Democratic Party¹s release was sent out as a post on the party's www.gofortruth.com website, a source targeting the Internet community of bloggers covering the Senate race.
Other Republicans challenging Corker in this year's Senate primary also questioned the former mayor's income tax returns from the 1980s after the Democratic Party's press release.
Van Hilleary campaign manager Jennifer Coxe said the issue brought into question Corker¹s electability.
"Mayor Bob Corker raised taxes on working Tennesseans multiple times," Coxe said. "Millionaire Bob Corker didn't pay taxes multiple times. A millionaire mayor who raises taxes on Tennesseans and didn't pay them is not electable."
Corker responded by explaining Tuke and the Democrats had gone back in their files and pulled up his personal tax returns his 1994 campaign released to the state¹s media covering the years 1976 to 1994. Corker said the nature of his real estate business during those years meant he did not owe the federal government anything in either 1985 or 1989. He added he 'voluntarily' sent checks of $7,500 and $5,000 to the Bureau of National Debt those two years. Corker also said between 1976 and 1994, he paid 26.98 percent of his income in taxes.
Tuke's release noted "average"Tennesseans paid about 15 percent in taxes each year. "Here is what I think generally happened," Corker told The Democrat. "When you make capital investments in real estate and those kinds of things and there is also a lot of depreciation that goes with that, some years you owe a lot of money and some years you don't."
With Bob's unwillingness to address any of the ethical issues that have been brought to light, he is quickly turning into Silent Bob!
Update: The Ed Bryant campaign reports on Corker's Taxing Day!
51 Days
Days of Congressional Inaction on Ethics
Above is the number of days that have passed since Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to bribing Congressman.
It is also the number of days in which Congress has failed to pass an ethics reform bill that would limit private travel, ski and golf junkets, and would call for a full disclosure of expenses by lobbyists on members of Congress.
It is time for Congress to step up and pass an ethics reform bill that would do all of the above. In addition, it is time to end the pork barrel spending system as we know it and establish an independent ethics commission that would review ethics complaints against members of Congress.
I am proud Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is fighting for that reform!
Read Congressman Ford's call for reform of the House rules here!
