IDem Senate Hopeful Owes IRS $500K

How can Tom Sullivan handle the taxpayers’ money when he can’t handle his own? The Tetonia businessman, who won the Democratic primary election on May 25 and will challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo in the fall, owes the Internal Revenue Service and the Idaho Tax Commission hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes. “I have this hanging over me, but there are an awful lot of people in Idaho that have this hanging over them,” Sullivan told the Idaho Statesman. “I’ve lived it. I understand it. I’ve climbed out of it. I’ll do it again. And I’m going to help Idaho do it, too.“ We don’t find his logic persuasive. Sullivan owes the IRS between $470,000 and $525,000 and the Idaho Tax Commission between $215,000 and $220,000. He was recruited by the Idaho Democratic Party to challenge Crapo, but he didn’t disclose his debt until just before the primary/Twin Falls Times-News Editorial Board. More here.

Question: Who’s more to blame for the embarrassing situation that Demo U.S. Senate candidate Tom Sullivan is in — Sullivan, for not disclosing his financial problems? Or state Democrats for not vetting him thoroughly before recruiting him to run against incumbent Mike Crapo?