* The AP focused on guns…
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and GOP challenger Jim Oberweis disagreed Monday on whether to require universal background checks for firearms purchases, with Durbin saying it would reduce violence in a country “awash in guns” and Oberweis saying he’s not convinced the checks would have the intended impact.
Oberweis, an Illinois state senator and entrepreneur from Sugar Grove, is trying to unseat Durbin — the U.S. Senate’s No. 2 Democrat — in November. They met Monday before the Chicago Tribune editorial board for their first joint, televised appearance of the 2014 campaign.
If you missed the debate yesterday, you can watch it here.
* ABC 7 went with these two issues…
Tax returns and residency take center stage in a face-to-face meeting in the race for the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Both Democratic incumbent Dick Durbin and Republican challenger Jim Oberweis appeared before the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune.
Durbin demanded proof that the Republican is an Illinois income tax payer. Oberweis’ wife lives in, and takes a homestead exemption in, the couple’s Florida house, making her a permanent resident there. The candidate says he still lives in Kane County.
Later, Oberweis would not guarantee he’d make his state return public, but insisted he does pay Illinois income taxes.
* Oberweis made good on releasing his returns…
Oberweis accused Durbin of lying and insisted he pays Illinois taxes. “If it’s an important issue, I will provide you the state income tax (forms),” Oberweis said.
Hours later, he landed a counterpunch by releasing his 2012 and 2013 Illinois state income tax returns. In 2013, Oberweis reported $1.726 million in total income and paid $61,739 in state taxes. He overpaid by $4,485, money that will reduce his 2014 obligation.
His 2012 state tax return reported almost $1.43 million in income and a tax bill of $60,871.
* After the debate, Oberweis pointed to another tax issue…
According to the Oberweis campaign, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin was caught lying today at the Chicago Tribune editorial board session when asked about his role in the IRS scandal.
In a press release, Oberweis said Durbin was asked unequivocally whether he or his U.S. Senate staff had ANY contact with the IRS during the IRS scandal other than the well-publicized letter he wrote asking the IRS to target Crossroads GPS on Oct. 10, 2010.
Durbin responded that there was no other correspondence.
Oberweis then produced an email from a Durbin staffer to an IRS staffer two days after the Crossroads letter. The email was first revealed by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in its June 16, 2014 report titled, “How Politics Led the IRS to Target Conservative Tax-Exempt Applicants for the Political Beliefs.”
“Dick Durbin flat-out lied to the Tribune editorial board. This is important because we don’t know how deep Dick Durbin’s role was in the IRS scandal that he himself characterized as reminiscent of the worst abuses of the Richard Nixon era,” Oberweis said.
The brief e-mail, which is here, is from a Durbin aide. The Durbin campaign later responded to the Oberweis claim…
Durbin campaign spokesman Ron Holmes later dismissed the email’s significance, saying it was sent by Durbin’s staff to alert an IRS employee to Durbin’s already-disclosed letter a day after it was sent.
*** UPDATE *** Sheesh…
He thinks Evergreen Park is a black neighborhood?
