The real estate firm which bears his name is causing Heath Shuler, former UT and NFL quarterback and Democratic challenger to Rep. Charles Taylor in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, embarassment by their failure to pay back taxes. Shuler still owns 20% of the company, but has no operational control. Tim Whitmire of the Associated Press has the story:
A real estate brokerage house associated with Democratic House candidate Heath Shuler belatedly paid over $69,000 in unpaid taxes Friday after The Associated Press raised questions with the campaign.
Shuler, a former star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, has a 20 percent stake in the Knoxville-based business, Heath Shuler Real Estate, which he founded with his brother, Benjie, in 1998. They sold it in 2003 to four men who formed HSRE and HSRE Properties but kept the football player's name.A recent AP review of tax records in Knoxville and surrounding Knox County found the businesses had been chronically delinquent in paying their local taxes. The AP presented the information to the Shuler campaign this week.
Read the whole story at the link above. While there is no wrongdoing on Shuler's part in this, it is the last sort of story a challenger in a tight race needs. CQ Politics has this contest rated as "Leans slightly Republican," Cook Political Report calls it a toss-up, and Election Projection (who is based in NC) has it "Weak Democratic gain."
We previously reported on this race three weeks ago.
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Congressional Races, Democrats, North Carolina, Scandal
