April 25, 2004
IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THE GAME YOU PLAY BY THE RULES:
Privacy of Wife's Fortune Casts a Shadow Over Kerry: Senator John Kerry's campaign is bracing for a battle over whether to disclose his wife's tax returns. (KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and DAVID E. ROSENBAUM, 4/25/04, NY Times)
Now that Senator John Kerry has made his military records public, his presidential campaign is bracing for an even bigger battle over whether to disclose his wife's tax returns, a highly charged issue that pits the privacy of his wife and her children against the political exigencies of his candidacy.But Mr. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry — whose personal wealth, estimated at more than $500 million dollars, derives from the family fortune of her late husband — said this week that she would not release her returns because her finances were deeply entwined with those of her three adult children and she wanted to protect their privacy.
Two of her sons are active in the campaign while the third lives an intensely private life.
"What I have and what I receive is not just mine, it is also my children's, and I don't know that I have the right to make public what is theirs," Mrs. Heinz Kerry told reporters. "If I could separate it, I would have no problem."
But citing history and the demands for candidates to release information about their finances, several political analysts said disclosure seemed inevitable.
There's a simple way to keep your private life private: don't run. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 25, 2004 8:43 AM
She could always divorce Kerry and retreat to Idaho, Pittsburgh, France, and who knows where else?
Posted by: jim hamlen at April 25, 2004 9:04 PMIf she does publisher tax returns you are going to be really disappointed. The Heinz assets are undoubtedly held in a series of trusts. Her return will be a couple of schedules routing income and deductions from K-1's issued by the trusts. After you have read the return you will know very little more than you do now.
Some of the talking heads have said that they want to know more about her charitable contributions. From what I know, her charitable money comes out of family foundations and will not show up on her individual 1040. The hard part is that it may be difficult to track down all of the foundations. If you can track them down, you can find out what they spent their money on, but the filings come in slowly and the foundations can be pretty well hidden with not a lot of effort.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at April 25, 2004 11:16 PM