Say Anything Blog

John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is refusing to release her tax records despite the fact that her income is obviously entwined with both her husband's and their presidential campaign.

From the Drudge Report:

"This is my life, my business, not John's," Mrs. Kerry recently explained to a campaign staffer, a top source tells the DRUDGE REPORT. "I think it is very important to keep the privacy zone. There is a tradition of this."

This probably wouldn't be a big deal, but if this excerpt from Drudge is true then I think Teresa should disclose her tax records in the interest of full disclosure.

In December '03, Kerry announced that he loaned his campaign $6.4 Million by mortgaging a share of a Boston home he jointly owns with his wife.

Teresa Heinz Kerry paid cash for the Beacon Hill mansion in January 1995.

But according To Kerry's own 1994 senate personal financial disclosure [signed May, 15, 1995], Kerry's own personal net worth was somewhere between a negative $130,000 to positive $34,995.

The current loan on the house carries an annual interest payment of $200,000, records show, more than Kerry's $158,000 Senate salary.

Kerry's campaign insists he intends to pay off the 30-year mortgage himself.

"Sen. Kerry is a man who has considerable assets," spokesman Michael Meehan explains.

But Kerry's own financial disclosures show no assets sufficient to pay the loan -- or even a way to keep up with the interest payments!

Remember that Kerry wasn't all that concerned about the President's privacy back when he was calling for the release of medical records to prove Bush's service in the National Guard. Bush released private medical records after Kerry called for them to be made public. Heck, the New York Times even reported on the President's hemorrhoid. Now its time for that kind of disclosure to be reciprocated.

Plus, Kerry has expected full disclosure from his rivals in the past (also from the Drudge article):

I think people want to know whether someone they possibly might send to Washington to represent them in the Senate is someone who pays their fair share of taxes,'" Kerry said. "Why is James Rappaport hiding his tax returns?" Kerry asked. "Why is it some people can live up to that standard and he can't? It seems to me that he ought to be able to release those returns and clear the air...

"Why doesn't he just release them? What is he hiding?"

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, Senator.

Lets see those records.