Senate candidates release tax records @ Stanley for U.S. Senate 2002 Colorado

Senate candidates release tax records
June 6, 2002 - The Rocky Mountain News
By Lynn Bartels

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard makes $144,000 as a U.S. senator, but his earnings last year were $127,962, his tax records show.

The discrepancy is because of money paid into his retirement savings and losses on real estate rentals that he was allowed to use as a tax write-off, said Allard's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams.

Allard, a Republican running for re-election, released his 2001 tax records Wednesday.

His Democratic opponent, former U.S. attorney Tom Strickland, released his tax returns Monday. Strickland made $168,338 but lost $210,864 because of the stock market.

A third Senate candidate, Libertarian nominee Rick Stanley, said Wednesday he doesn't plan to release his tax records.

"They're private and personal, and I'm not required to do so," he said. State law does not require candidates to release their tax records.

Wadhams also provided Allard's tax records to the Colorado secretary of state to post online and called on Strickland to do the same.

"Strickland has called for corporate executives to fully disclose their finances, but he doesn't want it applied to him," Wadhams said. "What is Tom Strickland afraid of?"

Strickland's campaign dismissed the dig as a gimmick designed to deflect voters' attention from Allard's party-line voting record of 98 percent, which is equal to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.