Do As I Say

Speaker John Boehner, R. Ohio

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

During this interminable election campaign for president, there are calls for the Mittster to release his tax returns, something his father did, for 12 years, when he ran for president back in '68. As per BRT's wont, this blurb is not about the Mittster but rather about the fact eminent pols, John Boener and Nancy Pelosi, are steadfast against the notion of Congressional members releasing their tax returns, a concept yours truly finds should be a necessity given the fact we pay these people to supposedly represent us. 

"When I run for president of the United States, you can hold me to that standard," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who refuses to disclose her returns, told reporters during a tense news conference.

“There are no rules. There are no rules. There’s no rule about releasing his tax return, so what rules are you referring to?” she asked, growing clearly frustrated. Asked about the standard she had cited for a presidential candidate, Pelosi said, “It’s up to the American people. The American people are the judges of that.”

After being questioned about why her demand for more transparency from Romney shouldn’t apply to Congress as well, she briefly changed course and said the issue of tax returns was not important.

Boehner's response was equally interesting.

“I’ve never released my tax returns. That’s my private business, just like it’s your own private business,” he told a news conference.

Boehner called the furor over returns a “sideshow . . . the American people are asking the question where are the jobs. They’re not asking where are the tax returns.”

When anyone strenuously objects to releasing information such as this (Romney Tax Returns?), then something's afoot as the great Sherlock Holmes would say whenever an interesting case would come his way.

Sherlock Holmes