What is she trying to hide…?

There are now three candidates still left in the race for the White House, but only one of them has released his income tax returns: Barack Obama.

In an editorial on February 27, the Washington Post called on Hillary Clinton and John McCain to make their tax returns public, which they both have so far refused to do. “I’ve said that I’m going to release my tax returns when I’m the nominee,” the Post quotes Clinton as saying, while noting that McCain “isn’t even pledging to release his returns once he becomes the nominee,” which the paper rightly calls “even more disturbing” than Clinton’s decision.

The Post calls Hillary’s suggestion “contrary to historical practice,” noting that John Kerry released his returns in December 2003, long before winning the nomination, and that Al Gore, as a sitting vice-president, had made his returns public even before declaring his candidacy in the 2000 presidential election.

“If it’s legitimate for voters to expect nominees to disclose their returns, why not primary candidates, especially at this winnowed stage of the process?,” the Post rightly asks.

“Indeed, Ms. Clinton’s refusal to release her returns is exactly contrary to her campaign’s argument that Mr. Obama has not been ‘fully vetted,’ as campaign adviser Harold Ickes said Monday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor,” the editorial board notes. When it comes to Hillary, Ickes is quoted as saying, “There’s nothing left to vet.” Responds the Post: “Really? Then show us the tax returns.”

Hillary’s refusal to release her tax returns until she wins the nomination may be inconsistent with her claim of having been ‘fully vetted,’ but it is perfectly consistent with the Clintons’ pattern of secretive behavior — as exemplified in their refusal to make their presidential papers public.

As First Lady, Hillary was, by her own account, directly involved in policymaking at the highest level; and yet, she has kept her papers from the Clinton administration under lock and key just as Bill has. And so it is doubly false for the Clintons to suggest that Hillary is ‘fully vetted.’ To this day, we do not have the full record of the Clinton administration, including Hillary’s role in it.

The significance of the Clintons’ refusal to release their presidential papers can be seen in the Ohio debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in particular in the debate between the two candidates over their positions on the North American Free Trade Act. “You know, I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning,” Clinton claimed in the debate in Cleveland on February 26. But we have no access to records that would document Hillary’s claim that she tried to influence her husband and his administration on NAFTA in a positive direction — because the Clintons have embargoed their presidential papers.

Hillary Clinton’s refusal to release her income tax returns is part of a larger pattern of secrecy, obuscation, and even deception, and it suggests the possibility that a Hillary Clinton administration could be as secretive as the administration of George W. Bush.

At the very least, Hillary’s refusal to make her tax returns public contrasts sharply with Barack Obama’s openness as well as the principle of transparency that we should all insist that elected officials abide by in their business dealings — and above all, those who aspire to be the president of the United States.