Braun Changes Mind on Releasing Tax Returns

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 4, 2011 2:00PM

Only a few hours after saying she would not release her tax returns "because (she didn't) want to," mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun did an about face did an about face and announced that she will release them.

Braun spokeswoman Renee Ferguson spun the reversal as no big deal. “She had intended to release them after Feb. 22, but everybody made such a big deal of it,” Ferguson said.

Braun did, indeed. Everyone made a big deal out of it because Braun said she wouldn't release her tax returns unless she made it to a possible April runoff election. The other three major candidates for mayor — Rahm Emanuel, Gery Chico and Miguel del Valle — have all released their returns, with del Valle's salary as city clerk accounting for nearly all of his income.

It's a major misstep for Braun, and not only because of the inferred arrogance. As the Sun-Times notes, had Braun released her returns sooner, she could have had a card to play against Emanuel and Chico, who have been accused of cashing in on their political connections. Chico's tax returns show that his law firm, Chico and Nunes, made beaucoup bucks as registered lobbyists for the city. Emanuel, as most of us know, made millions as an investment banker after leaving the Clinton White House, and $320,000 as a director of the failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.