More tax trouble for Boy Wonder Berry

Remember how mayoral candidate Michael "Boy Wonder" Berry and his henchman Allen Blakemore announced that they had a silver bullet to aim against Orlando "Steel Blue Eyes" Sanchez in the form of a Sanchez supporter who was delinquent on his taxes? Remember how the very next day one of Berry's key backers was revealed to have had the same problem? Well, the cosmos isn't finished giving Berry his payback, and this time it's personal:

In May, Berry's political handlers blasted rival candidate Orlando Sanchez as "irresponsible" for holding a fund-raiser at the home of someone who owed back taxes.

As it turns out, Berry and his wife, Nandita, owed the Houston Independent School District $2,996.83 for taxes due Jan. 31 on their residence on lower Westheimer.

"That account is delinquent for 2002," said HISD spokeswoman Adriana Villarreal.

Berry, a first-term councilman, said he and his wife thought they had paid their HISD bill earlier this year.

Upon learning they had not, Berry said, "we sent somebody over to pay it." He said his wife usually handles the tax bills.

HISD records show the original tax bill of $2,116.41 had accrued $880.42 in late penalties.

Oopsie. Well, at least Berry stood up like a man about it...sort of:

"Obviously, taxes need to be paid and I take full responsibility," Berry said. "I'm a public official and I know that people investigate every inch of my life.

"Nandy made an oversight and Nandy paid it."

Whatever. This has been fun and all, but can we get back to talking about stuff that matters? I'm bored now. Thanks.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on July 10, 2003 to Election 2003 | TrackBack