The National Review's Meghan Clyne has an excellent piece today headlined "Home Is Where the Tax Break Is; Tom Daschle declared D.C. his primary residence." Excerpt:
Whether there is, in fact, "something more" to the Daschle story ought to be the target of legal inquiry, says New York attorney Mark Smith. "Where there's smoke, there's fire," he explains. "If Tom Daschle represented under the penalty of perjury that he was a resident of the District of Columbia when in fact he was not, that could be a basis for civil and possibly even criminal penalties.... When you sign a document concerning your tax status that you know is false, then you have a problem. You're not supposed to lie to the government."Smith adds that, while it's unclear what the outcome of a legal inquiry into Mansiongate would be, "if there's a dispute or a controversy as to whether he's a resident of South Dakota, someone needs to look into it." Although Daschle may claim he is a South Dakotan publicly, Smith argues, the tax records are statements of fact — and fact-finders should be dispatched to determine definitively where Daschle "domiciles" (and whether he has committed any kind of fraud). "This is clearly a legitimate question that people ought to be asking, and it would be nice to have an answer before the election."
Read the whole thing.
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