Democrat nominee for Texas Governor Bill White will not release all of his tax returns for the years he was in government service. But that hasn’t stopped Texas Democrats from scouring the tax returns, freely released by Governor Perry, and using that data to make two complaints about the Governor’s filings with the Texas Ethics Commission.
To the Democrats, their filing is a big-hit but, to voters it will just be another foul ball. You see, unlike their rich-guy candidate Bill White (remember, Democrats claim to be the party of the little guy), the big discovery of the Dems is, they claim, that Governor Perry failed to disclose over $200,000, not income, but debt on a College Station house and about 5% of that amount in rental income.
Charging that the governor, never a rich-guy or big salary earner, is actually two-hundred-grand less well-off, carrying mortgage debt like most voters, is hardly going to come across to voters as scandalous.
Meanwhile, very well-off trial lawyer Bill White continues to keep his tax returns secret for the years he was an official in the Clinton Administration. He finally released, after much pressure, his returns for his years as Houston’s mayor, but for some reason refuses to inform the public of his financial doings while on our payroll in other capacities.
Who knows, maybe if White would release his tax returns we might have an equal chance at scouring his record. With what little we have seen, we’ve learned that the high-income man, who constantly mentions being a Sunday School teacher in ads, doesn’t appear to have caught the lesson on tithing.
Robert Pratt is host of the top-rated Pratt on Texas radio program which can be heard at www.PrattonTexas.com
