Longshot GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger has spent the bulk of his campaign doing three things: achieving various "firsts," chief among them being the fact that he's the first openly gay candidate for the GOP nomination; fighting -- along with Buddy Roemer, Gary Johnson, and for a hot minute, Thad McCotter -- to score an invitation to one of the innumerable debates; and trying to personally bedevil Mitt Romney. At the moment, the campaign trail has left Karger somewhat behind as the next contest for which he's secured ballot access is in Michigan.
But that doesn't mean he can't get in on the news of the week. In this case, that means demanding greater transparency on the matter of tax returns. Today, his campaign sent out the following release, and as you can see, he goes well out of his way to stick it to Mitt:
Thursday, Jan. 26 at 11 a.m. Fred will release his 2000 to 2010 federal tax returns in Adrian, Michigan in front of the George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy at Adrian College, 110 S. Madison Street, Adrian, MI. Eleven returns will all be posted on www.fredkarger.com plus his 2011 estimate.
"I completely agree with former Michigan Governor George Romney who was the first presidential candidate to release 12 years of his federal tax returns when he ran for president in 1968," said Karger. "At the time he said he released so many years of tax documents because one year was not enough. I will follow his lead."
"I have always campaigned for truth and transparency in politics," said GOP candidate Karger. "I am for full disclosure and I strongly urge the other five remaining Republican candidates for president to release at least 12 years of their tax returns. So Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer you owe the American Public full disclosure. It's the right thing to do.
Karger's not alone in suggesting that Romney has failed to really deliver on the promise of full disclosure. Still, my guess is that Buddy Roemer might be the only candidate on that list who'd be willing to do this.
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