McCaskill revealed that after her own review of the plane’s records, she had not paid personal property taxes on the aircraft over the past four years.
Mark Twain said, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” But in the case of Missouri Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, her political death is imminent. Or in 2012, whichever comes first.
First, she supported ObamaCare when 71% of her state voted against it. Then she was hit with an ethics complaint after being forced to pay more than $88,000 to the Treasury Department after she used taxpayer funds from her Senate office account to pay for nearly 90 flights on her own airplane. And now she has more ethics problems with the same plane.
Politico has the story of McCaskilll’s rough landing:
In a conference call Monday afternoon, McCaskill revealed that after her own review of the plane’s records, she had not paid personal property taxes on the aircraft over the past four years.
“I have discovered that the personal property taxes on the plane have not been paid. There should have been a reporting to the county of the existence of this plane. There are people I could blame for this, but I know better. I take full responsibility,” McCaskill said to reporters, after revealing she had conducted her own audit of all 89 flights she had taken.
“This was a mistake, It should have been reported in Missouri. It will be paid in Missouri today,” she said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrCa5909UuQ
Yes, of course, it was a mistake. Same kind of mistake Tim Geithner made on his taxes. Same kind of mistake John Kerry made when he saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by docking his new yacht in Rhode Island instead of Massachusetts. Same kind of mistake Charlie Rangel made when he didn’t report income on his Caribbean hideaway.
McCaskill said she would be sending a check for $287,273 to St. Louis County Monday for the back taxes she owed between 2007 and 2010. She also said she had campaign lawyers looking into the flights to determine if any more in-kind contributions needed to be reported to be in compliance.
Asked if this would hurt her reelection bid, McCaskill replied, “I don’t know, I’ve tried to handle this like I handle anything else,” citing her advocacy for transparency and accountability in Congress.
Far be it from us to write any premature political obituaries, but Claire McCaskill’s political career is as dead as Knut the polar bear.
Source: Politico.com
