He may indeed be running for Governor from a jail cell, but maybe not for the reasons he expected.

Well, although we all know you can't squeeze blood from a turnip like Sizemore, there sure are a lot of people willing to give it a go.

Qualifications complete. Tap this guy to run the Fed!

Reminds me of some of the wonderful old stories about a Boston pol named James Michael Curley,

Elected at various times Mayor of Boston and as a U.S. House member while servong sentences for various offenses.

Serious question though: #When was the last time the State of O indicted anyone for a criminal state tax offense?

I an no fan of Sizemore, but this has a not so faint whiff of "selective prosecution" about it, IMHO.

YMMV.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Nonny, not selective at all -- the only thing unusual here is that you're hearing about it. People who don't file or who file weird, internet-derived claims of exemption due to the unconstitutionality of income tax or whatever make it really, really easy for the cops.

Although most people with the notoriety of a Sizemore are smart enough to at least file returns.

The funny thing is that he just missed an amnesty that he could have used . . .

While I'm happy to see him sidelined, I would enjoy it more if it was because his ideas (and those of his rich patrons) were soundly rejected in the court of public opinion, rather than because of this technicality.

But really, he knew he was a target of scrutiny. Why didn't he pay a little extra to have a CPA or tax lawyer scrub his tax records squeaky clean?

"there sure are a lot of people willing to give it a go."

Lesson # 1 - Don't mess with the public employee unions or the taxes that feed them.

The guy doesn't even bother to file the returns?
LOL!!LOL!!
Maybe he would make a good governor eh?

George -

Actually, I follow these things quite closely. I spent far too many years representing the DOR with the ODOJ.

And a state criminal indictment for failure to file is so rare so as to be almost nonexistant.

And a sealed, SECRET indictment?

The guy is not a flight risk.

Kroger grandstanding for his union backers.

And Kroger couldn't find a thing against Adams. Kroger you are a policital hack as bad as Sizemore. Some day you will run for governor and loose badly. You and your brand of liberalism and crap is going to end starting 2010.

Kroger grandstanding for his union backers.

You and your brand of liberalism and crap is going to end starting 2010.

Unfortunately, I think this is right. No politician is immune from the perception that they're a member of their own boy's club.

How about a public records request to the DOJ to see how many times they've issued secret indictments charging an Oregon taxpayer with income tax evasion over the last decade or so. That might give you at least some idea about whether there is selective prosecution or not.

It sounds like Nonny Mouse has personal experience, but that experience could certainly be verified and confirmed, unless the public records law has an exemption for this type of information.

If the guy has evaded his taxes, he deserves whatever punishment the statutes call for, and selective punishment shouldn't be an excuse. But Kroger shouldn't be exempt from scrutiny either, and should be called to the carpet by the press and public if he's using the office to prosecute people for their beliefs, rather than their acts. The litigants seem like opposite sides of the same coin to me.

I don't know how rare, or common, criminal indictments for tax evasion are in Oregon. But I imagine it is quite rare for the accused to dig his own grave, under oath, in an unrelated civil matter. But that's exactly what happened here. Take a read of Judge Wilson's ruling from December '08: as far as tax evasion, the writing's been on the wall for a year. My only question was whether the state or the feds would file first.
http://www.oregoned.org/atf/cf/%7B3F7AF7EC-F984-4631-A411-148CD1FB8421%7D/120108_OTU_opin.pdf

This is going to be interesting. According to him, he paid his estimated taxes. The reason he didn't actually file was him and his CPA were afraid, due to another case that is ongoing, that if he did file he would be nailed for filing a false claim.

Anyway, to me this smells bad. If he did pay his estimated taxes as stated (easily proved) then the only reason you go after him for not actually filing is due to politics.

i have no problem with sizemore.what i have a problem with is the arrogant condescending attitude and treatment sizemore gets from the greedy selfish public employee unions.