Romney admits he lied about MA residency

Well, well. Republican Mitt Romney finally admitted why he wouldn't release his income tax forms. Turns out the Massachusetts gubernatorial hopeful outright lied just days ago when he claimed he was always a MA resident. In fact, he filed as a part-year resident in 1999, and as a non-resident in 2000.

This is a major problem for the front-runner, since MA law requires governors to have MA resident for the 7 continuous years prior to the election. In short, it doesn't look like he can stay in the race.

Romney was fully exposed when he refused to release his tax returns two days ago, something all other candidates had done, even with the financial data redacted. Romney's campaign staffer told the Boston Globe that Romney had filed as a MA resident, but that they were going to have to take the spokesperson's "word for it". Talk about loss of credibility.

The MA Democratic Party says it's 50-50 whether they will challenge Romney's candidacy. Doing so might make the Dems look afraid and petty. It seems Romney is doing a fine job of digging himself a hole with his lies and obfuscations. The Dems should either let the status quo stand (making a political issue of Romney's candidacy, not legal), or have someone unaffiliated with the Democratic Party make the challenge.

Posted June 07, 2002 09:35 AM | Comments (0)