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Kasich not disclosing tax returns — does public care?

Spokesman for Strickland campaign calls the refusal ‘pure hypocrisy.’

Candidate for Ohio governor John Kasich at a 2009 meet and greet in Warren County. The Kasich and Strickland camps are going back and forth over one of the issues non-disclosure brings up: Does the public care what candidates make and how open they are about it? Staff file photo by Nick Daggy

Nick Daggy/Staff Candidate for Ohio governor John Kasich at a 2009 meet and greet in Warren County. The Kasich and Strickland camps are going back and forth over one of the issues non-disclosure brings up: Does the public care what candidates make and how open they are about it? Staff file photo by Nick Daggy

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 1:49 AM Sunday, June 13, 2010

COLUMBUS — As a state senator running for Congress, Republican John Kasich voluntarily released three years of income tax returns and challenged his opponent to do the same, according to newspaper articles published in 1982.

That was then, this is now.

This year Kasich, the Republican candidate for governor, is the one who refuses to release his income tax returns.

“This is pure hypocrisy,” said Lis Smith, spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland’s re-election campaign. “After releasing his tax returns and touting his transparency in his 1982 campaign for Congress, Congressman Kasich is now saying that Ohioans don’t have a right to know how much money he made working at Lehman Brothers, sitting on corporate boards, and giving paid professional speeches across the country.”

It’s unclear whether Kasich’s secrecy about his finances will emerge as major theme in this year’s campaign. Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols called the issue an attempt by Strickland to distract voters from his failures as governor.

“John and his wife, Karen, have already released more information than they’re required and are happy to provide more if the General Assembly decides it’s necessary,” Nichols said. “Does anyone really believe, though, that Ohioans care more about John and Karen’s income than their own, especially since, in Montgomery County, people have seen their incomes grow 34 percent less than the national average since Ted Strickland has been governor?”

The back and forth obscures one of the issues the non-disclosure brings up: Does the public care what candidates make and how open they are about it?

“The danger for the Kasich people, is it will look like he is hiding something and that will force him maybe in the end to release them — unless of course he really is hiding something,’’ said Paul Beck, a professor of political science at Ohio State University. “I think what Kasich has to worry about is people will sort of develop this impression of him as someone who got rich on Wall Street at a time when Wall Street was doing things that proved to very detrimental to us. He doesn’t want them to form that impression.’’

At first, Kasich didn’t release any records of his years at Lehman Brothers. Then, in a compromise last month, he allowed reporters to look at — but not copy — his 2008 income return and a summary.

That year, he made $1.39 million on investment returns and earnings.

In contrast, Strickland has publicly released 10 years of federal tax returns. His 2009 joint return with wife, Frances, shows the couple made $166,321.

In 1982, the shoe was on the other foot.

Kasich, then 30, was running against Bob Shamansky, a first-term Democratic congressman and Harvard educated lawyer. Shamansky released his 1981 return six months after Kasich released his.

Kasich won and went on to serve nine terms in Congress.

Jack Torry from the Washington Bureau contributed to this report.

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