Finally a news outlet got it right on the Ness tax mess. She had enjoyed a deafening silence surrounding her severe tax problems in the media until the El Paso Inc. got on the bullhorn this weekend. It was about time somebody in the media acted responsibly.
There's nothing in the article that I haven't told you about already. However, it was nice to read the news from the top guy in town and he made every other reporter in the city look like amateurs or that they have been on Ness' payroll. It was truly astounding to see the news of Ness' tax problems in actual print - in a legitimate news source. The El Paso Inc. usually doesn't do negative pieces on anyone or anything, but had to make an exception in this case.
I don't think mentioning Ness' lie about Lilly paying out a $117,000 lawsuit was worth it given that Crowder admits he saw documentation that proves otherwise. He got sucked into spreading Ness' lie as others have done.
The words from Tom Fenton, the publisher of El Paso Inc., were as poignant as any I have written on the subject. To go against their unwritten rule of endorsing a candidate is major. Fenton understands just how impossibly bad El Paso would look if we elected one of the biggest tax cheats in the region to an office that oversees the spending of tax dollars. El Paso Inc. promotes El Paso - the publisher obviously sees the election of Ness as being bad for El Paso.
The election was pretty much over already, but these two articles should inspire El Paso Inc. readers to further turnout to vote on Monday and Tuesday. The readers of El Paso Inc. aren't Ness voters by nature, they are Lilly voters. After reading this, those that were planning on sitting this one out, or didn't care, now care enough to vote. This pretty much ended anything Ness had left in the tank. The turnout through Thursday showed high turnout at the precincts Lilly won in the general election - that was bad news for Ness and these recent pieces are even worse news.
We did learn something about Ness' ability to tell the truth in the article. In this piece she claims that "her bookkeeper had underpaid taxes on the firm's earnings." She had widely stated earlier in this race that her accountant had amended her returns because the accountant thought she could have gotten more money back in the past. The story has changed - drastically. What hasn't changed is her inability to take the blame for her own actions.
I also thought it was odd that she proudly laments that she didn't file for bankruptcy after getting in all of this trouble. It's odd because declaring bankruptcy at this point would be the smart thing to do. When you're in debt to creditors - IRS, scorned vendors or both - to the tune of $250,000 or more and you're the sole earner for your two children - bankruptcy is the best financial move to make. It's guaranteed in the constitution for a reason and Ness' situation is what they had in mind when they gave us this financial tool. The fact that Ness would brag about making the wrong decision about declaring bankruptcy is beyond me. She's only guaranteeing that she won't have a bright financial future for her kids by not using every tool available to her to get out of debt. I implore her to get with a bankruptcy attorney ASAP and get her financial future squared away.
Why don't you just comment on their site, rather than ride coat tails, sucka?
Posted by: Pfft | June 06, 2011 at 09:51 AM
bankruptcy doesnt get you out of irs debt. there are only 2 things certain in life, "death and taxes". if she files bankruptcy she would screw maybe other attorneys that she owes and credit card companies. you cant just pay the people you want too first and then file. everything gets thrown back in for the last several months. maybe she wants to do the right thing and pay everyone off.
Posted by: chapter 7 | June 06, 2011 at 10:17 AM
What edition of the Inc are you talking about?
Posted by: Tim Collins | June 06, 2011 at 12:03 PM
tim-it came out yesterday...will be online tomorrow
Posted by: paul j strelzin | June 06, 2011 at 12:25 PM
Gracias
Posted by: Tim Collins | June 06, 2011 at 12:31 PM
Not really - it's the same issue with a different title and spin. I don't see anything new here. It's a shame that there have been this many articles on the same dirt? Personally, I'm tired of the mud slinging and hope these two can talk more about the issues before I make a decision.
Posted by: CPA/MBA | June 06, 2011 at 02:14 PM
LNG refuses to talk about the real issues - other than vague promises to allow domestic partner benefits (overturning the will of the voters) in exchange for the city not paying a dime for dependent/spouse coverage as they do now; Her mailers don't outline an issue campaign - its not good enough to say "I will answer my phone and at the same time practice law full time and oh by the way Lilly has judgments against her". I can hardly wait for her to miss Tuesday council meetings week after week because of her law practice. She states she has already made agreements with all the judges to make sure she never has to be in court on Tuesday's - if that was possible then how come Steve Ortega couldn't get the same deal? Has she got some kind of influence over the judges at El Paso County Court and District Court? I bet there are lots of lawyers out there that want that kind of special treatment. Budget season starts in July - there are meetings every single day on the budget - will she skip out on those because the judges only said they would excuse her on Tuesdays?
She has not said a word about how she will vote on a very tight budget; certificates of obligations, general obligation bonds, police and fire union contracts, furloughs, layoffs, how exactly she would bring in jobs, how exactly she would conduct economic development. She doesn't have a clue about any of those things and I bet the one and only time she ever went to a council meeting was 3 weeks ago when she went to cry about having to pay the cost of her ORR documents.
Lilly does have a track record and I have yet to see LNG take each major initiative Lilly advocated for, voted on, supported, and tell us if she was for, against or didn't care on everything Lilly has done in office for 6 years. LNG has no clue whatsoever of what has gone on in District 1 and most especially citywide for the last 6 years. Her silence tells me she has no issue with the way Lilly conducted herself except "she doesn't answer the phone". Whoopee. LNG - you don't like paying taxes. Which is worse?
Posted by: disgusted with LNG | June 06, 2011 at 03:04 PM
I read EP Inc this morning. I was a little disappointed that the story didn't point out that bankruptcy would not excuse Ness-Garcia's tax debt. In any case, no one likes paying taxes but we do it. And it pi___es us off when someone else doesn't pay what is due. I can tell you, from the amount of taxes she owes, she was making a lot of money. She was driving on roads pay for with others taxes, benefiting from the security provided by our military, etc., but she wasn't paying a dime for any of those benefits. Ness_Garcia clearly believes that laws don't apply to her. And she also keeps bringing up the motherhood thing. No one forced her to be a single monther. That was another choice she made and it isn't something she should be proud of.
Posted by: Angie | June 06, 2011 at 03:47 PM
chapter 7, Fantasy Island was canceled many years ago.
CPA/MBA, my, very impressive. But you haven't figured out that Mess the Ness is the only one slinging mud and not talking about issues? If you haven't made up your mind by now, you are very uninformed.
Posted by: Diana | June 06, 2011 at 05:49 PM