Caprio, Chafee Take More Shots at Each Other

Caprio, Chafee Take More Shots at Each Other

Independent Lincoln Chafee sharply criticized Democrat Frank Caprio yesterday following a GoLocalProv report that Caprio had accepted more than $20,000 in donations from state workers.

“This is just another chapter in ‘Old Politics’ starring Frank Caprio,” Chafee’s campaign manager, J.R. Pagliarini, said in a press release. Pagliarini cited a string of other examples—from his return of $60,000 in “pay to play” donations from law firms to another GoLocalProv report that 30 percent of his contributions are from out of state.

“This just shows that outside the State House, he’s a master of ‘pay-to-play,’ but inside the State House, he’s a master of ‘pay-to-stay,’” Pagliarini said. “This is further evidence of the type of cronyism and corruption that has hurt our economy and makes it difficult to attract new jobs to our state.”

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Caprio spokesman Nick Hemond said that Caprio has raised over $2.7 million in his run for governor from thousands of Rhode Islanders “who believe in Frank Caprio and his plan to create jobs.”

Caprio Demands Release of Tax Returns

The Caprio camp also fired back yesterday, demanding that Chafee release his campaign tax returns for the years he failed to pay taxes on investment income as a Senate candidate. Caprio also called on Chafee to release the most recent tax return from his current campaign for governor.

"People who pay their taxes know that you submit a form to the IRS or the Rhode Island Division of Taxation. You don't just call up and say you're going to send in a check. In the interest of transparency, I am calling on Senator Chafee to make his campaign's tax returns public," Caprio said.

Chafee: No Tax Returns Were Filed

Mike Trainor, deputy campaign manager for Chafee, released the following response:

“As the Caprio campaign well knows, there are no tax returns to be released. Since the Chafee for Senate and Chafee for Governor campaigns, through an honest misunderstanding of complex IRS regulations that apply to political campaigns, believed it could write off investment income against the cost of fundraising, no state or federal income tax returns were filed.”

He continued: “This week, all returns will be filed, along with estimated tax payments to the IRS and to the State of Rhode Island. Senator Chafee will pay the unpaid tax relating to the Chafee for Senate campaign, and the Chafee for Governor campaign will pay the $8 in 2009 income tax it owes (plus penalties and interest) on the $159 of net investment income it earned in 2009, plus the required $500 minimum tax to the State of Rhode Island.”