Rep. Bruce Long Hasn't Paid Taxes in Years

"A powerful state lawmaker admits he hasn't paid income taxes in years: I Team report tonight at 11." I missed the 6 o'clock news. Evidently from someone who was watching, this refers to Rep. Bruce Long. Seems that his former wife (Middletowner) reported him to the I-team. For all I know he didn't make any money & so didn't have to pay any taxes. Do you still have to file?

*UPDATE* His wife Valerie is angry! Having run into her this summer as I was canvassing this summer, I can vouch for that. Some of what she said she previously told me & my husband. Seems she divorced him in '03 after numerous affairs. The last one left her with souvenir nude pics. He also was a cocaine user who spent time in rehab. He takes the fifth on whether or not he still receives treatment.

Valerie is angry over her child support $. I believe her daughter is in high school. I think he may also have another older daughter with a previous wife. She says that she believes he makes over $200,000 yr. from his Del's Lemonade business (hard to believe). He pays himself a salary of $44,000 (makes about $13,000 plus health insurance from the legislature - he could actually retire with an income from the state under old rules).

She is looking for more child support which fairly represents his income. She wants $120,000/yr. for thier daughter. She currently works for the Middletown School Dept. as a special ed. aide at the high school. She says that after paying bills, she has about $45 left for food. She recently asked him for $25/wk. more & he said no go (bad decision here).

He has sat on the House Corp. Committee for a decade (ironic, huh?). He has stated that has paid no federal income tax on his business in years (but now has his lawyer checking into this). He has filed no Schedule C (?refers to business expenses/income?) He has paid personal income taxes and state business and payroll tax.

All of this info is verifiable. It's contained in her divorce documents. Too bad the Daily News never bothered looking into any of this - right under their nose and all. It would have cost them a little time and $ (for the court papers) though and they don't do research like that (have blogged about this previously). She certainly hasn't been shy about speaking on this. She is to be held harmless for any back taxes that he may owe. So sad to hear about all of this. I know that she has not been well & it's hard for a kid to hear all this about her dad.

Too bad all this didn't come out a bit sooner. He ran unopposed this election & has two years to serve. The rumor was that he was not even going to run as he was living out-of-town with his current girlfriend. His legal residence is with his mom in Middletown.

He's been seen as unbeatable & has built up a tremendous war chest which he didn't even have to touch this election round. It's going to be a LONG two years. Most of this info is thanks to Channel 10's I-Team.

P.S. How could I forget??. He was also charged with spousal abuse (gee, maybe there's something about M'town where this is seen as acceptable behavior) & she has the police report to prove it. He did it on a second occassion, but this she didn't report