Feb 7, 2008 7:44 am US/Central
Key Romney Fund-Raiser Evaded Taxes
Republican Hopeful's National Finance Co-Chair Resigns
BOSTON (CBS) ―
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Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney (File)
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
On the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries, a key player in Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is stepping down.
Well-known Boston businessman James Sims, a multimillionaire, resigned after CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston discovered he is a serial tax-evader.
Sims, one of Romney's top national fund-raisers, owns a Beacon Hill mansion on the market for about $7 million. His title: Romney for President national finance co-chair.
"A candidate's success in a presidential election really depends on how much money a campaign chairperson or chairpersons can bring into the campaign," said Thomas Whalen of Boston University.
Sims is a very successful businessman. Besides his Beacon Hill mansion, he has property on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in Florida and in California worth at least $12 million.
Until WBZ-TV called him, Sims owed more than $500,000 in back taxes in two states:
- $263,000 on his Boston mansion, dating back three years.
- $266,000 in back taxes on his California estate near Pebble Beach, dating back four years.
Lisa Signori oversees tax collection for the city of Boston.
"Some people choose not to pay their taxes on time," Signori told us.
But Sims has a history of ignoring tax bills. Since 1992, there have been numerous liens on his Boston property, totaling hundreds of thousands in back taxes. Those liens were released after Sims paid up years later.
In 2004, Sims began ignoring his tax bills again. City officials spent the next three years chasing him.
"A delinquent taxpayer could receive up to six notices from the city of Boston, once they're delinquent," Signori said.
Again, the city slapped a lien on Sims' mansion. And when he still failed to pay up, the city moved to foreclose. In December, a judge awarded the 17-room home to the city after Sims ignored repeated warnings he'd lose his house.
"It's rare. It's rare," Signori said.
Sims paid his tax bill after WBZ-TV called him. After he was told the station was working on the story, he paid his tax bills on his Boston and California properties.
Sims wouldn't talk on camera. Instead he issued this statement:
"I previously had been under the impression that these payments had already been made. I apologize to all involved parties for the delay and take full responsibility for not being more closely involved in the payment process."
On the campaign trail Monday night, Romney said he knew nothing about Sims' tax problems.
"As you know," he said, "you get a lot of supporters and a lot of helpers, and not everything they say, and not everything they have done in their life, do you subscribe to."
As of Feb. 4, Sims has a $36,000 property tax bill in California that's two months overdue. He has another $36,600 in liens against him in that state for non-payment of other taxes.
Keep in mind - while Sims was stiffing the taxman, he and his wife doled out more than $300,000 in contributions to political candidates including Mitt Romney, even as Romney himself was vowing to catch tax cheats just like Sims.
In recent days, knowing this story was about to air, Sims resigned his position in the Romney campaign.
Jim Sims' troubles with tax collectors are part of a larger WBZ-TV investigation on tax cheats.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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