by John McCormick
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign today continued its efforts to paint Sen. Hillary Clinton as a secretive politician who has failed to disclose vital personal financial information.
In trying to draw a contrast, Obama’s campaign announced that it has posted Obama’s 2000 through 2006 tax returns, including schedules, on it’s Web site. (The link is here, but it takes a while to download the files, even with a fast connection.)
Most of the documents had previously been released to the Tribune and some other news organizations. Obama, for example, had provided the newspaper with a copy of his 2006 return in April 2007, shortly after it was filed.
“Releasing tax returns is a matter of routine and we believe the Clinton campaign should meet that routine standard and meet that routine standard now,” said Robert Gibbs, Obama’s communications director.
Clinton has said she will release her post-White House tax documents in mid-April, perhaps before the next nominating contest in Pennsylvania on April 22.
But Obama’s campaign has repeatedly criticized her for not releasing the documents sooner, as it has tried to suggest that Obama is an advocate for openness and transparency.
“If Sen. Clinton shares those same ideals, all she has to do is send someone down to Kinkos,” Gibbs said, adding that Clinton’s campaign has been “dead silent” on whether it will release only cover pages or also more detailed schedules.
Asked when Obama would release additional records from his time as an Illinois state senator, Gibbs said that is a non-issue.
“There’s nothing to release,” he said. “I think that has been pretty well documented in the press for many months.”
That is a somewhat different answer than Obama initially gave himself when asked about his Illinois senate records last fall by the Tribune.
Despite Obama’s pledged delegate lead, Gibbs said Obama believes it is up to Clinton, not others, as to whether she should exit the race.
“That’s a decision that Sen. Clinton and the Clinton campaign have to come to,” he said. “It’s not his decision to make those decisions for others. He’s going to continue to campaign hard.”