Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

8:39 p.m. • 5-18-13

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Sun: Thunderstorm.
    • Hi: 78° F
  • Mon: Thunderstorm.
    • Hi: 78° F
  • Tue: Thunderstorm.
    • Hi: 83° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Published: 2012-07-19 17:44:00
Updated: 2012-07-19 20:40:48

Ann Romney: Releasing more on finances would be 'dangerous'


Ann Romney
Ann Romney
print friendly

Mitt Romney's wife is reinforcing her husband's refusal to make public more of his of tax returns, saying they've put out all that's necessary about the family's finances.

"We've released a year. We're going to release another year," Ann Romney told WRAL News on a campaign stop for her husband in Greensboro Thursday. "That will be two years. We think it's very representative of our tax situation."

That response is one that the likely GOP presidential nominee has repeatedly echoed himself on the campaign trail.

But it's seen as not enough by President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, Democrats and some members of the Republican Party – including Rep. Walter Jones with North Carolina's Congressional delegation – who want Mitt Romney to put the issue of whether he may be hiding something behind him before it begins to weigh more heavily on his candidacy.

The Romneys have said the family gives 10 percent of its income to the Mormon church and that the former Massachusetts governor took no salary during the four years that he held that office.

That, Ann Romney says, should be enough to ease people's concerns about his finances.

But, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll this week, 54 percent of Americans believe the White House hopeful should release additional years of tax records beyond the 2010 returns he released in January and the 2011 returns that Ann Romney says will be released.

Releasing anything more, Ann Romney says, is dangerous.

"The reason it's dangerous for us is that it just gives the Democrats more fodder to attack us with," she said. "That is the simple reason. As you've seen over the last four weeks, the attacks that have come our way – they've all been financial. They've all been about his business dealings. We just aren't going to give them any more material."

North Carolina was one of four states on Romney's campaign agenda Thursday, in which she focused on sending a message about jobs, the economy and the wealth of average Americans.

She says her husband is running to help average Americans realize the prosperity that has blessed their lives – maybe not the vast wealth that the Romneys have accumulated, but a good job for the millions of people in this country who don't have one.

"No, we are not struggling financially, but the reason Mitt's running is to help people have a brighter economic future," she said. "That's why we're doing it."

"We are very sensitive to those struggling right now. There are millions and millions of Americans that are out of work. It's not right, and we can do better," she added.


315 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 315 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments
Romney will do a great job bring jobs back to America.....because he always does what he is hired to do. When at Bain his job was to make money for private share holders.... What has OBama bone......sent millions so Jon's to other countries....with tax money that was not his.

Romney has succeeded at everything he has done.....what has Obama done?

fehanline: I'm saying that its asinine to blast Romney for doing what an untold number of individuals and companies are doing, and have done, for a long time. Having an offshore account is not illegal--after all, the congress of the US set the rules up so that people could take advantage of them. My point is that the democommies are being hypocritical as all get out for slamming Romney for doing the same thing that they themselves are doing.

Obama has all his history of his past locked up......why won't he release them? We don't know anything about his past.. When will the limbs get smart and ask some question about his past........like why did he turn in his law license (because he lied on the application and the were about to be revoked)....why did Michelle turn inher law license? (because she was charged with insurance fraud...she had to turn them in or the would be revoked).......see a pattern here.......

@ josephlawrence43: So we are to expect that all businessmen are crooked and that's the best we can hope for?

I guess it is time to really tighten the screws and have far more regulations as it is then obvious that the kleptocracy can't help themselves in making as much money off of other people's misfortune, that they caused

All this talk about Romney and his offshore accounts, like he is the only politician to ever do that. The banks in the Cayman Islands were established by an American company to facilitate foreign investment in the US. Not only individuals but corporations take advantage of their presence. Who you might ask? How about Debbie Wasserman Schultz--Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, and the Hon. John Kerry just to name two. So if those two leading Democratic lights have offshore accounts, why is it so evil that Romney does??

View Comments VIEW ALL 315 COMMENTS