Spokesman evades answering question on taxes

White House spokesman Tony Snow has declined to comment on a tax issue – that of former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry's taxes – as well as to respond to the late President Ronald Reagan's view of a senator.

The responses, or lack thereof, came on questions submitted by Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House.

"Does the president agree or disagree with what page one of The Washington Times this morning reports is D.C. City Councilman Marion Barry's proposal to charge all U.S. citizens tolls if they come to our nation's capital? Or does he believe Mr. Barry should either pay his income taxes or go to prison, as prosecuting attorneys have asked?" Kinsolving asked.

"I'm going to send you Article I of the Constitution. You can sort of look through some of the executive powers and we'll get back to you," Snow responded.

Barry's toll plan, introduced as legislation yesterday, was needed, he said, because visitors have been getting a free ride on roads and the revenue would help cover repairs and maintenance.

But at the same time an attorney representing Barry was urging a federal judge to affirm a recent ruling that kept Barry out of prison. Prosecutors had alleged that Barry should lose his probation for failing to file income taxes.

Prosecutors claim the 71-year-old should go to prison for ignoring a plea deal on misdemeanor criminal tax charges, but the judge did not indicate when a ruling would be made.

In a second question, Kinsolving asked – unsuccessfully – about Reagan.

"Page one of The Washington Post quotes President Reagan as describing Connecticut's former Senator Lowell Weicker as 'a pompous no-good fathead.' Does President Bush believe that President Reagan was wrong in this statement, or right, or will your refusal to comment leave everyone wondering?

"C," said Snow.

The comments from Reagan come from "The Reagan Diaries" edited by historian Douglas Brinkley, who had access to five books of notes Reagan kept from 1981 to 1989, his eight years in the White House.

The diaries also reveal Reagan thought Alexander Haig was "paranoid" and Michael Jackson "shy."