Sec. of State Shirley Weber Announces All Recall Candidates Must Show Tax Returns

[Judi Lynn]

‘It actually only stands to help their cases, especially those that have records that show more hustle than Newsom

By Evan Symon, June 16, 2021 3:11 pm

Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced on Tuesday that all recall candidates will need to give their tax returns from the past five years according to a 2019 law.

In 2019, California passed a law requiring candidates across many elections, including the presidential and gubernatorial elections, to release their tax returns, largely due to former President Donald Trump refusing to release his tax returns for several years. While the California Supreme Court largely invalidated the law in late 2019, the part about Gubernatorial candidates remained law.

However, the law’s language of candidates being “on a direct primary election ballot” raised questions as soon as the recall election was confirmed by the state earlier this year. Some argued that since the recall is a special election, that it shouldn’t be counted as a “direct primary election.” Others retorted that it was the election of a Governor that it should be covered. Still others argued that only Newsom should release his taxes since his was the only name on one of the ballot questions.

Weber decided on Tuesday that recall elections were indeed covered and that all candidates needed to show their tax returns, basing it on a precedent set during the 2003 recall that based gubernatorial candidate qualifications in recall elections on primary gubernatorial election requirements.

More:
https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/sec-of-state-shirley-weber-announces-all-recall-candidates-must-show-tax-returns/