Assemblyman Arberry: Runs the Ways and Means Committee, owes $500,000 in back taxes and unpaid debt
Say, isn't Speaker Buckley making a big deal about ensuring "that we (Nevada) collect all unreported and unpaid taxes"? Maybe she should start with her own caucus.
With 10 short months left to cement his legacy as a lawmaker, Assemblyman Morse Arberry has found himself isolated and alone on one issue from his peers: he does not pay his taxes and fails to pay his debts, now totaling nearly $500,000...I guess it's easy to balance the state budget when you can take money from taxpayers, like the legislature did when it passed a record-setting, job-killing, billion-dollar, secret tax increase in the last legislative session.
Arberry joined the legislature in 1985 and has served on the Ways and Means Committee nearly his entire time in office. That powerful group controls spending and a large part of the tax revenue for Nevada.
Standing beside his Mercedes-Benz sedan outside the non-profit Urban League, where Arberry works, the Democrat said his real estate company, Canyon Lake Mortgage, had many problems over the last few years.
He repeated the same explanation used weeks ago that he needed to speak to fellow investors to understand the true picture of what was happening with the homes. All six are listed in Arberry's name, however.
"It's a public record. I'm not trying to hide it," he said.
Arberry owes more than $2,200 dollars at his Walker Street address near Martin Luther King and Washington. The bill has not been paid since May of 2008, on the same day the I-Team's initial story on tax problems first aired...
The back taxes are not Arberry's only financial problem. Arberry owes more than $496,000 in homeowner association dues, foreclosing homes, and sewer and trash liens...
"What I saying is that you won't be calling me," he said. "I've been in the legislature for 25 years and I think I did a damn good job balancing the budget based on moneys we had to work with," Arberry said.
When reminded he appears to have problems balancing his own budget based on the toll in debts, he walked away. "I'm not going to discuss my personal issues with you. You have a nice day," he said.
When it comes to his personal life, though, Assemblyman Arberry can't just take money from his fellow citizens. Instead, he'll just drive away from tough questions in his $91,000 (if purchased new) Mercedes-Benz.
Do as they say, not as they do.
Random note: Assemblyman Arberry isn't the only Ways and Means Chairman who's failed to pay his taxes.
(Great job by the I-Team from Channel 8 and h/t Dullard Mush)
