Deadbeat McCains Forgot to Pay Taxes on Oceanfront Condo

Newsweek is all over this--how did it get missed by the media? Oh, wait! They're involved in a massive lip-locking mancrush the likes of which have never been seen before!

When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona.

San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County records show the bills, which were mailed to a Phoenix address associated with Mrs. McCain's trust, were returned by the post office. According to a McCain campaign aide, who requested anonymity when discussing a private matter, an elderly aunt of Mrs. McCain's lives in the condo, and the bank that manages the trust has not been receiving tax bills on the property. Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: "The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due."

Dan McAllister, treasurer- tax collector for San Diego County, said that about 3 percent of San Diego's approximately 1 million property owners default on their property taxes each year. The county assesses a 1.5 percent penalty for each month that goes by unpaid and puts houses up for sale after five years. "We do hear an awful lot of excuses for why people don't pay," McAllister said. "Under the law, the property owner is responsible for keeping the address current. We're only as good as the information we are given."

Fair enough, but if you're going to run for President of the United States of America, and if you can't pay taxes on all seven of the homes you own while you steadfastly try to convince everyone you're a good guy, you should probably fire the idiot that let this one get away. This is San Diego freaking County--basically, as close to McCain country as anyone is ever going to get, even more so than Orange County, to be sure. And no one in the county government thought to clean this up on behalf of McCain? As in, step on his foot and make it go away before Iowa and New Hampshire?

And how's that Karl Rove trick about making Obama look like the elitist going? You know, so many people can relate to the McCains. Just last week, I'll bet you a lot of them were deciding between buying gas or buying food and they said to themselves, "damn! I forgot to pay taxes on my condo in La Jolla!"

--WS

Another Reason To Watch the Watchers...

Some ace reporting from Ryan Singel--reminding us exactly why we need oversight of ANY agency investigating US persons:

For the second time in five months, a jury has deadlocked over charges against an inept group of Miami cultists, a massive setback for the Justice Department who accuses the group of plotting to topple the Sears Tower in Chicago.

The Justice Department built the case using paid informants and numerous wiretaps, but the six men on trial (one was acquitted) say they only pretended to want to wage jihad in order to swindle $50,000 from a government informant. The supposed ring-leader of the so-called Liberty City 7 Narseal Batiste was known for roaming Miami streets in his bathrobe to find recruits.

When the indictments were announced in 2006, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole described the arrests as "yet another important victory in the war on terrorism" and a "grim reminder of the persistent threat environment that exists here at home and underscores the need for continued vigilance and cooperation."

THREAT LEVEL is reminded of a snippet from FBI wiretapping documents that trumpeted the surveillance of the group, saying the wiretaps led to other leads and more than 50 intelligence reports.

We provided continuing support for a FBI Miami counterterrorism case which during this time period [October 2005 through September 2006] has intercepted in excess of 1800 telephone calls. Intercepted communications and call data records provided by the system that HAT [High-Capacity Access Team] installed, operates and maintains allowed for the identification of a previously unknown terror organization and individuals operating in the United States. This information has supplied the probable cause for additional case and FISA initiations at other FBI divisions. The derived intelligence has been disseminated to the intelligence community, via approximately 50 IIRS [Intelligence Information Reports], as well to allies of the United States.

One can only imagine the contents of the 50 intelligence reports about a group whose idea of secrecy was to station a guy in a military uniform with a mask on outside their warehouse when having 'meetings.'

You know, if we had a functioning system of overseeing what the FBI is doing and what our intelligence agencies as a whole are doing when they look at US persons, someone would have been able to step in and put a quick end to this ridiculous incident. The FISA provisions worked the way the wingnuts claim that they don't--no one was "denied" anything in this case. They SHOULD have been able to cut this off and have the local police deal with these idiots. If anything, this case proves there should be stringent oversight of the value of the intelligence, not just the process of giving permission to eavesdrop. These were clearly not "international terrorists." These were "wannabe badasses" who could have been arrested and charged locally for being stupid with firearms.

Oversight means more than just blessing off on whatever a G-man or a DIA analyst wants to do for months on end--oversight should function as a gatekeeper of sorts, ensuring that we are directing our resources at real threats and real targets, and not wasting our time on shambling, bath-robe wearing idiots. These particular idiots were more of a danger to themselves than they were to the public. You could, literally, make the case that they should have been committed to a mental health facility and treated, instead of being brought up on shaky Federal charges. Sure would have been a better use of resources and money.

This used to be a pretty badass country. If someone like this popped up on the radar back in the day, they were rounded up and dealt with accordingly, you know, with real courts and judges and the rule of law and Habeas Corpus and all that. Quaint, yes. But effective.

I mean, how many Michigan militia are running around right now?

The Sudanese sure know what to get excited about

Never mind the genocide going on just over the horizon - a teacher disrespected the prophet! Death to the infidel!

Give me a fucking break. That entire part of the world needs to stop acting like histrionic brats and make with the calming the fuck down already.

I can not muster any sentiment but mockery for the Sudanese right now.

An English school teacher got 15 days - but the foam-flecked masses want her executed - over the choice of name bestowed upon a teddy bear by a group of seven year olds.

I think they are getting excited about the wrong miscreant adult.

What the fuck kind of slacker parents are raising these kids, anyway?

It is the parents of the little apostates who have failed to instill proper reverence and virtue in their children! Why else would these good little sprouts of the tree of Islam be so heretical?

Round up those moms and dads and get answers! They are failing Islam! Flog them!