What is Cindy McCain hiding?

If Cindy McCain thinks her vow "never" to reveal her income -- from a beer distributing company -- is going to settle the issue, it won't.

One of the minor (but not insignificant) reasons why John Kerry lost the US presidential contest four years ago was the intransigence of his wife, Teresa Heinz -- in refusing to discuss the scope of her wealth, which conservatively is in the ballpark of $1.2 billion. As the widow of Sen. John Heinz III she wound up with a bonanza, a big chunk of the Heinz ketchup fortune.

There's no evidence she's lived a life of sloth (despite having five houses with Kerry); quite the contrary, she is known to be a very generous person -- for example, she donated $20 million towards the construction of a performing arts centre in Pittsburgh. Certainly she is not like Paris Hilton or Angelina Jolie Voight, just two women who believe they're entitled to their entitlements by birthright and who give money to charity (and in the latter case, adopt children) just for show.

But the fact is Mrs. Kerry does have quite a lot of money, she manages at least two sizable charitable endowments and she's still coy about what her draw is from that and any possible contacts with the federal and state (Pennsylvania) governments. People are entitled to a certain amount of privacy; but the venire of that privacy strips away quite a bit when you, your spouse or your sibling is a public official. The income she has disclosed indicates she gets most of her money at present from tax-free municipal bonds and pays a tax rate of just 12%-- another red flag, when most Americans pay a marginal rate of 33% (when income taxes and social security are combined).

The voters fully expect complete disclosure of one's assets and sources of income, for both the candidate and the candidate's immediate and extended family, to ensure any conflicts of interest will be on the table.

If one thinks this is an unreasonable concept then imagine the humiliation an already unpopular Jimmy Carter had to endure when his brother, Billy (as in Billy Beer), was found to be a lobbyist for the government of Libya. While this was technically not illegal at the time, many people correctly questioned both Billy and Jimmy's judgment.

Michelle Obama has had no problem revealing her income. Neither has Bill Clinton although he's reticent about the sources, which by anecdote include some pretty nasty dictators and their financial backers.

So what's Cindy's problem? At least Heinz admits she's kind of fast and loose with the tax rules. No such luck from Mrs. McCain who won't reveal penny one. Is the reason why she won't disclose her income is that she hopes that John will repeal the federal beer tax? Because she certainly would have the connections already to make that happen. Whether she realizes it or not, she's increasingly become a liability for her husband's campaign -- and, for the record, the age difference has nothing to do with that.

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