INDIANAPOLIS – As yesterday’s brutal AP report on Congressman Young’s long finance record of skirting the rules for his own benefit revealed, Young’s campaign “did not respond to direct questions from the AP about the Republican’s tax issues, use of congressional mailers or FEC fines.”

The story explains how Congressman Young took “improper tax deductions” on a home he didn’t own, paid his taxes late then bounced his check to pay the late fees, and took nearly $100,000 in prohibited donations that cost him about $30,000 in fines.

This investigation isn’t the first report of Congressman Young skirting the rules and abusing taxpayer money. Young spent more than half a million in taxpayer dollars on self-promoting political mailers since 2010—an amount more than any other member of the Indiana congressional delegation.

Perhaps given an extra day, here are some “direct” questions Congressman Young or his campaign should answer for Hoosiers:

– As a member of the House tax-writing committee, does he feel it’s appropriate that he’s failed to pay his taxes on time and tried to claim a tax credit he didn’t deserve?

– Why did he try to claim a tax credit of more than $5,000 for a home that wasn’t his primary residence?

– Why did it take him four years to pay his delinquent property taxes, even when the County auditor reminded him of them?

– How can he account for his campaign’s nearly $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions?

– Why has he spent more than $500,000 on campaign-style political mailers, when in 2010, he called the practice “akin to partisan gerrymandering”?

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