Mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun released portions of her most recent federal tax returns Tuesday that suggest the former U.S. senator and ambassador is struggling financially, with net income of only about $15,000 in 2009 and losses of $225,000 the year before.
After saying Monday she would not release her taxes "because I don't want to," Braun's reversal offered a less-than-complete picture of her financial health. She did not release schedules or attachments to explain her 1040 forms and did not provide information about the small organic coffee and tea business she started in 2005.
Braun recently told the Tribune she delayed paying property taxes on her South Side home in a bid to keep the company afloat and had taken out additional mortgages on the home, which she is now trying to sell. Braun's 2008 federal income tax return shows she had $55,000 in wages but lost more than $225,000 that year, including more than $200,000 in what she called a "net operating loss." The return did not name her business, Ambassador Organics.
No similar loss was reported on Braun's 2009 returns, but she claimed no wages. The $15,954 she claimed as income appears to have been derived largely from public pensions; in addition to her six-year term in the Senate, Braun was a former state representative and Cook County recorder of deeds.
In a statement accompanying the returns, Braun said she regrets her remarks Monday "sent the wrong message."
Braun, who has touted her business experience, said in the statement that the tax returns "are one measure of the fight I have waged to keep my business running. It is not unlike what many small business owners and regular Chicago families are going through."
Her campaign referred questions about her finances to her longtime attorney, Louis Vitullo, but he said late Tuesday he was unprepared to provide answers.
"I think Carol could have chosen a more glamorous role, in terms of more public speaking or consulting," Vitullo said. "If folks don't know what tough times these have been, then God bless them."
Braun's Ambassador Organics company, based on South Cottage Grove Avenue, imports items for repackaging and distribution through Internet sales and in the Dominick's grocery chain. A Dominick's spokesperson on Tuesday confirmed the line is for sale in some of the chain's stores.
A spokesman for the Braun's business, Kevin Lampe, traveled with Braun to Washington when she addressed the Senate over the summer and discussed the administering of antibiotics to farm animals. He said to his knowledge, the company has been Braun's main work for several years.
Braun returned from duties as U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand in 2001, and says on the company site her appreciation for organic food grew there. She has been a hands-on manager, Lampe said.
"She's by no means a figurehead," said Lampe.
Tribune reporter Ray Gibson contributed to this report.
--Jeff Coen and David Heinzmann
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