Will Democrats Hold Pam Gulleson To The Same Standard On Unpaid Taxes They Held Republicans To?

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Written By:
Rob Port

Oct 15, 2012
3:45pm

Last year it came to light that a Republican member of North Dakota’s state legislature had serious tax problems. Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch and her husband were tens of thousands of dollars behind in their property taxes, and just months away from having their property seized by the state, and owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay off a state lien relating to unpaid income taxes.

Democrats reacted by calling for Kelsch’s resignation from the legislature saying her tax problems were “a breach of ethics.”

Today we broke the news here on SAB that Democrat House candidate Pam Gulleson accumulated over $38,000 in penalties for property tax late payments from 1990 through 2005, during which time she served both as a legislator in the state house and as a staffer for former Senator Byron Dorgan. Like Kelsch, Gulleson and her husband were often just months away from having their property seized before they made good on their payments. In fact, the Gullesons often let their taxes slide for much longer than the Kelsch’s.

The Gullesons would sometimes let five years go by before they paid taxes on a given parcel of land. Rep. Kelsch and her husband couldn’t go that long as the law was changed in 2007 to shorten the time taxes could go unpaid before property was seized from five years to three (ironically, Gulleson voted for the change, though by that time Gulleson was collecting a salary as a Dorgan staffer and they were paying their property taxes on time).

The question is, will Democrats hold their candidate Pam Gulleson to the same standard they held Republican Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch?

My guess is no.

Update: While appearing on the liberal Mike McFeely talk radio show, Gulleson tried to claim that she’s been “talking about this since day one” in her campaign. Which is why nobody knew about her property tax problem until we broke the news, right?

Later in the show McFeely refers to an unnamed blogger as a “pathological liar” who “just makes things up.” Forget that Gulleson admitted to not paying her property taxes and that I posted the documents to prove it.