Here’s An Old Mitt Romney “Scandal” You’re Supposed To Care About

Diarist TeamSarah4Choice at DailyKos makes the following claim:

Between April 2002 through June 2002, Mitt Romney, knowingly, willingly and with forethought intentionally lied to the People of Massachusetts regarding his 1999-2001 Tax Returns when he falsely claimed to the MA People that he had listed Massachusetts as his residency on his 1999-2001 Federal and State Tax Returns.

No need to veer into the left-wing fever swamp, as the supposed proof offered only contradicts the over-hyped assertion.

Why? Because from April 2002 on forward Romney’s amended returns did show his residency as Massachusetts. Amended returns once processed, become the new tax return, changing the original return to include new information. No need to trust me on that, you can see what form 1040X [PDF] says on the first page.

Form 1040X will be your new tax return, changing your original return to include new information. The entries you make on Form 1040X under the columns headed Correct amount and Correct number or amount are the entries you would have made on your original return had it been done correctly.

The amended returns Mitt Romney filled in April 2002 were his official tax returns. From that point forward saying his tax returns showed Massachusetts as his primary residence was 100% true.

I’ll admit to having my eyes glaze over at the repetition of the various forms of the word lied in that DailyKos piece so I can’t say for sure if I saw any assertion that there were statements made prior to April 2002, but since it’s not a part of their main claim I will assume that those statements weren’t made.

A New York Times article not linked at the site tells you all you need to know about this “scandal.”

A state commission ruled today that Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for governor, is eligible to run, despite contentions by Democrats that he did not comply with Massachusetts residency requirements while living in Utah for the last three years.

The Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission, composed of three Republicans, a Democrat and an independent, unanimously ruled that Mr. Romney had maintained his residency status in Massachusetts while serving as head of the Salt Lake City Olympic committee.

…Until early June, Mr. Romney said that he had paid his taxes as a Massachusetts resident while in Utah. Later he acknowledged that in April, after deciding to run for governor, he amended his 1999 and 2000 tax returns to say he was really a Massachusetts resident.

Mr. Romney told the Ballot Law Commission that the mistake had been called to his attention late last year and that efforts to amend the returns were under way before he became a candidate. He suggested that his accountants had made an inadvertent filing mistake, which he did not notice at the time.

Mr. Romney also submitted utility bills, phone bills and Massachusetts property tax bills as evidence that he had maintained his Belmont, Mass., home as his legal residence while in Utah.

We present this non-story for the very same reason that this site argued for Rahm Emanual in his battle to remain on the ballot in the mayor’s race in Chicago. Moving from one state to another for a job doesn’t necessarily mean you are giving up residency.

In this case the election commission determined that Romney met the residency requirement.

End of story. End of “scandal.”