EDITORIAL: Transparency for You, But Not for Me

EDITORIAL: Transparency for You, But Not for Me

Democratic candidate for Governor Seth Magaziner is calling for fellow candidate Helena Foulkes -- who is estimated to have a net worth of around $100 million -- to disclose her taxes for the past five years.

Magaziner said, “Candidates in Rhode Island should follow the long-accepted custom that President Trump broke when he refused to release his tax returns.  No one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for.”

Certainly, it seems like good policy for candidates to release tax returns to show how an individual earned their money and how much of their income they paid in taxes. Did they pay their fair share?

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However, at the same time Magaziner is calling for transparency of personal tax returns, he is refusing to answer questions about where he received $800,000 to finance his campaign for General Treasurer.

A GoLocal review found that Magaziner, who has served as Rhode Island’s General Treasurer and who oversees the state's $10 billion retirement fund, loaned his campaign $800,000 in 2014 -- and is refusing to disclose what was the source of those funds. His campaign still has an outstanding loan to back to Magaziner of more than $700,000.

At the time of the loans, Magaziner had only had two jobs after he graduated college -- and fewer than five years of work experience.

Directly after graduating from Brown University, Magaziner became an elementary school teacher for two years and later joined Trillium Asset Management. He worked at Trillium for two years and three months and according to disclosure forms filed by Magaziner with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, he’d earned less than $100,000 at Trillium.

GoLocal asked Magaziner’s campaign what was the source of the $800,000 — specifically asking if it was a family gift or provided by a third party. His campaign refused to respond to repeated questions about the source of the funds. His spokesperson Patricia Socarras only said in an email response, "The Treasurer made a personal loan in 2014 at the start of his first campaign and the entirety of those funds were spent for that election." She refused to disclose the source of those monies.

Magaziner’s campaign has been carrying more than $700,000 outstanding debt for seven years, according to the Rhode Island Campaign Finance Division of the Board of Elections.

While taxes should be disclosed in the spirit of transparency, there is no requirement.

However, the disclosure of the source of third-party funds to underwrite a campaign is a must.

Magaziner too often seems to have one set of rules for others, but he is exempt.

He needs to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law. 

Where did he get $800,000?  Why won’t he disclose it?