Carol Moseley Braun To Release Tax Returns, Reversing Course After Criticism

Carol Moseley Braun sounded defiant Monday morning when reporters asked her why she wasn't planning to release her income tax returns until after the February 22 mayoral election.

"Because I don't want to," she said, and then ended the press conference.

But after an afternoon of media criticism on the issue, the Braun for Mayor campaign quietly reversed course on the question, declaring that the former ambassador to New Zealand will in fact be releasing her tax returns imminently.

The Sun-Times reports her campaign's spin on the issue:

"She changed her mind. It is no big deal," Braun spokeswoman Renee Ferguson said. "She had intended to release them after Feb. 22 (Election Day), but everybody made such a big deal of it."

But her opponents weren't so generous. Gery Chico, another mayoral candidate, said Monday afternoon that he sees it as an issue of transparency. "There's nothing to hide. You pay your taxes, you pay your bills, you give it out," Chico said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Chico, Rahm Emanuel and Miguel del Valle, the three other major candidates in the race, have all released their returns. They proved a potential liability for two of the men: Chico's forms showed that he had made millions of dollars at his Chico and Nunes law firm, which lobbies City Hall, while Emanuel's testified to his earnings on Wall Street and at the failed Freddie Mac mortgage company.

Del Valle's income was almost entirely from his job as city clerk.