Romney To GOP: I Won’t Release More Tax Returns (updated) [View all]

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Last edited Wed Jul 18, 2012, 09:16 AM - Edit history (2)

Romney To GOP: I Won’t Release More Tax Returns

MItt Romney brushed off calls from within his own party to release additional years of tax returns on Tuesday, explaining again that Democrats would use such information to distort his record.

Via the Huffington Post:

“Oh, I think people in my party just say, ‘Look, this is a non-issue, just release the returns and it will all go away.’ My experience is that the Democratic Party these days has approached taxes in a very different way than in the past,” Romney told WPXI, an NBC Affiliate in Pittsburgh. “Their opposition people look for anything they can find to distort, to twist, and to try and make negative, and I want to make this a campaign about the economy and creating jobs. And they want to make this campaign about attacking people and diverting attention from our job picture in this country.”

Romney addressed the issue in a taped interview, meaning it was delivered before Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) suggested the former Massachusetts governor release them, notes Huffington Post’s Sam Stein.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-to-gop-i-wont-release-more-tax

Updated to add this from Steve Benen:

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Of course, by that logic, Romney shouldn't give speeches or do interviews, either, since those rascally Democrats might try to distort, twist, and make negative the things he says out loud. This is not, in other words, much of an excuse for indefinite secrecy.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports today that while there are clear divisions within the Republican Party over Romney's handling of the issue, there are also divisions among the candidate's own staffers.

The political pressure on Mitt Romney to release more of his personal income tax returns is causing some divisions inside the GOP presidential candidate's camp, according to a Republican strategist close to the campaign.

Although some advisers are arguing privately that Romney needs to release additional filings to curb the political fallout, others are resisting that suggestion, reflecting the candidate's longtime reluctance to publicly disclose information about his personal finances.

For what it's worth, Matthew Dowd, a strategist with the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, said on NPR yesterday that Romney would have to do something to deal with his Bain/disclosure problems "within 48 hours."

And what happens if Romney doesn't? Dowd didn't say, but the implication seemed to be that the damage to the Republican's campaign would be lasting and significant.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/18/12809264-romney-rejects-gop-calls-for-more-disclosure