Holsclaw releases tax returns, urges opponents to do the same

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

LOUISVILLE — Bobbie Holsclaw, whose Republican campaign for governor appears financially strapped, made public her income tax returns from 2003 to 2011 Friday and challenged her opponents to do likewise.

Holsclaw’s latest income tax return shows she earned $113,799 as Jefferson County Clerk in 2010 and $17,456 in Social Security benefits. She paid $20,355 in federal income tax for the year.

“It’s never a fun thing to do to release your personal business but people whose money you are going to be handling have a right to see how you have handled your life,” Holsclaw said during a news conference Friday in Louisville.

Holsclaw also said she will amend the campaign finance report she filed with the state on Wednesday that showed her campaign collecting just $7,240 during its first two full months. The campaign had $2,725 on hand for the May 17 primary election.

That compares to about $750,000 her GOP opponent, Senate President David Williams, reported in January and nearly $55,000 her other challenger, Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, reported at the time.

Holsclaw said her report this week was premature and did not contain all her fund raisers held through the reporting deadline of midnight April 15. She said she did know how much money the amended report will show, but that she is raising about $20,000 a week.

Williams and Moffett have not yet filed their campaign finance reports for the first three months of this year. The filing deadline is April 20.

Holsclaw said she did not know what, if any, TV advertising her campaign will air. But she said the race is “anybody’s ball game” because turnout will be low, and “we will get our message out in other ways.”

If anybody needs to get out of the race, she said, it should be Moffett. “Someone needs to tell me how he even deserves to be in the race. What has he done in Kentucky that anybody knows about?”

Moffett’s campaign manager, David Adams, said Moffett runs the only private school voucher program for underprivileged children in the state and one of the largest in the nation.

Holsclaw and Kentucky Democratic Party chairman Dan Logsdon are calling on Williams and Moffett to release their tax returns.

Williams’ campaign manager, Scott Jennings, said he can think of no other candidate for governor who has disclosed more financial information than Williams.

He said Williams has filed financial disclosures with the Legislative Ethics Commission and Executive Branch Ethics Commission as a state legislator.

But state Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon noted that the legislative disclosures contain far less detail than tax returns and do not provide information about gambling losses.

Earlier this month, the Herald-Leader reported that Williams had reported gambling losses of $36,000 from 1999 to 2002, according to his divorce records. In order to report those losses for tax purposes, Williams had to have won a greater amount than he lost, according to a 2003 document in his divorce case.

Williams has said he has not gambled in recent years.

Holsclaw said Friday that her income tax returns will not show any gambling on her part.

Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear at first refused to disclose his income tax returns during his 2007 race for governor. He later released a list of his assets and liabilities, then decided to make public his income tax returns.

Filed Under: 2011 Statewide Races • Bobbie Holsclaw • David Williams • Elections • Governor's Race • Phil Moffett • Steve Beshear