McCrory's refusal to disclose tax returns

The line between being coy and outright deception is pretty thin:

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the presumptive Republican nominee for North Carolina governor and favorite for the office in November, brought this issue to the forefront recently when he said he won't release his tax returns this year. He says that he'll release all of the financial data required under state ethics laws but that his return is private.

So much for running on a platform to eradicate the "culture of corruption" in State Government. And this idiotic statement had me laughing outloud:

“One piece of good news is the governor will not be re-elected,” McCrory told about 150 supporters. “But let me warn you that the old bosses of North Carolina are all gathering right now.
“And they’re going to pull in someone who’s been very tied to the Easley-Perdue administrations for the past 10 years, the same policies and the same culture of corruption that we’ve had for far too long in North Carolina.”

Oh, you mean like these guys:

More than a dozen featured donors at a recent Pat McCrory fundraiser in Jacksonville gave money to Perdue in the past, including a few longtime Democratic contributors who backed former Govs. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley.

For McCrory, a couple of names on the Jacksonville fundraiser may not work in his favor. Billy Sewell, who owns a chain of Golden Corral restaurants, and John Pierce, a business partner, were subpoenaed in a 2009 state investigation about Easley's questionable campaign contributions.

Also in 2008, McCrory called on Perdue - then the lieutenant governor - to return contributions from Sewell and his father, Louis Sewell Jr., a state transportation board member. A News & Observer investigation found that the elder Sewell had steered funds to an intersection and road where he and his son have financial interests.

McCrory's refusal to disclose his income tax return might please some anti-government zealots, but it should raise the eyebrows of everybody else (regardless of party affiliation). He's either trying to hide something, or he thinks he's above making those pesky financial disclosures. Either way, it's a recipe for more corruption down the road.