Blaming the entire scandal on your wife: Priceless.
Two simple rules: 1) Texas law forbids using campaign contribution for personal enrichment like buying yourself a condo. 2) You can only claim one (1) homestead tax exemption. To claim more than one is illegal.
Real World Rule #1: Unless you like sleeping on the couch, don’t throw you wife under the bus for something you did.
In an ever
expanding scandal where
Legislators are being caught
funneling campaign contribution back into their accounts through their spouses, current representative for HD 32, Gene Seaman (R-Corpus Christi) is finding himself at the
center of the storm.
FACT PATTERN 1: The "Rent to Own" SchemeGene Seaman’s wife, Ellen Seaman, bought a condo with cash on Town Lake in Austin in 1999. She has a front company called Austin Land Co. This front company is not registered with the Secretary of State thereby hiding the true owner(s) of this property. Gene Seaman has paid over $126,000 from campaign contributions to pay his wife rent and condo dues through Austin Land Co. Austin Land Co. mailing address is the condo’s address (guess that make dropping off “rent” easy).
If you weren’t doing anything wrong, why would Seaman go through all the trouble to hide that his wife was receiving a monthly check from the campaign fund? So who gets the blame for this? The wife, of course. From an early report from Texas Weekly
“he puts the blame squarely on the candidates wife: ‘Ellen owns the property, she made an honest mistake and was totally unaware of it until you raised the question. This is not a Gene Seaman mistake’” Nice. I can see it now, “Honey, while you are out can you pick up some more Ensure and…. take the fall for my total lack of moral center and integrity.”
I am sure that the Insurance PACs that have given him almost $300,000 do not have a problem giving for his mortgage and ultimately to his personal checking account. However, I have real trouble believing that Joe-Donor likes to think of his contribution should go to paying for the mortgage on Seaman’s luxury condo on the lake.
I have a question for the taxman. If Seaman sells the condo, will he report the sale as income since he’s pouring campaign contributions into the equity of the condo or he will play dumb, not pay taxes by saying it non-taxable event. Does Seaman depreciate the value the condo since they claim its a rental property? I thought it was a homestead?
Speaking of taxes...
Fact Pattern 2: The "we don't pay taxes cause we're special" schemeGene and Ellen Seaman live on Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi (they must like living next to the water) at a home valued at $316,000. Both Ellen and Seaman are registered to vote there. They both claim a
homestead exemption and over-65 exemption on this home in Corpus Christi.
“Homestead exemptions remove part of your home's value from taxation, so they lower your taxes. For example, your home is appraised at $100,000, and you qualify for a $15,000 exemption (this is the amount mandated for school districts), you will pay school taxes on the home as if it was worth only $85,000.”
According to the Travis County Appraisal District, Ellen Seaman claims a homestead and over-65 exemption for the waterfront condo in Austin. That condo is valued at $234,345 but has a taxable value at $163,152. However, that is before you apply the (illegal) tax exemptions. Nice deal huh?
“Unless Gene and Ellen Seaman were divorced or legally separated, they could not legally have the two sets of exemptions, said Nueces County Assistant Chief Appraiser Michael Mantz . . . To qualify for each of the exemptions, the property owner fills out a form and signs a sworn statement on the application. False statements are punishable as a Class A misdemeanor or state jail felony, depending on the circumstances, according to appraisal district officials and a disclaimer at the bottom of the exemption form.”
So what does Seaman say?
"Ellen is in the process of trying to figure out where that mistake was made," McCall said. "She was totally unaware of the exemptions on the property until yesterday. There is no way Ellen walked in and signed any form saying that condo was her homestead. If it came in the mail she might have accidentally filled out the homestead form thinking it was the over-65 form. "
Yeah, right. You don’t just accidentally fill out a homestead exemption
form (pdf) and swear that the information is true and correct under the penalty of law. Maybe Gene filled it out for her and said “Just sign it, trust me” or “Don’t worry about it, I’m a State Representative.” We’ll never know. Ok, we might if they get charged with a crime….
McCall responds in Texas Weekly, "This had absolutely nothing to do with Gene Seaman or his campaign or his campaign office." Dude! You are so sleeping on the couch. I don’t think the “its not me, its my wife routine” will win you many snuggle points.
*shudder*
Never mind, let’s not go there.
This is what really irks me about CondoGate. While Texans are working hard to pay their mortgage every month, the Republicans are buying luxury homes on the lake with campaign contributions. In Seaman’s case, he adds to the illicit behavior by claiming illegal exemptions. Talk about G.R.E.E.D.Y. No wonder we don’t have enough money to pay for our communities needs. We have people who don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
Also, laundering your campaign contributions through your wife is just plain unethical, dirty … and in the end probably very illegal.
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