Atlanta Mayoral candidate Mary Norwood announced a news conference Monday afternoon that she was releasing her personal and business tax returns dating back to 2009. She called on her opponent, Keisha Lance Bottoms, to do the same.
Norwood says she and her husband have no outstanding debt outside of their home, and insisted that the kind of personal fiscal responsibility demonstrated by her tax returns shows what kind of leader she would be for the city going forward.
During the news conference, Norwood also suggested that Bottoms had ties to former city political figure Mitzi Bickers, who was previously linked to the City Hall bribery scandal.
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An outraged Bottoms released a statement late Monday afternoon in response to Norwood's suggestions:
This is the tale of two Marys. Mary Norwood is trying to use political jujitsu to distract from the fact that she has a long history tied to Mitzi Bickers. Mary will not be honest with voters about her Republican ties. She will not be honest about her ties to Mitzi Bickers. If Mary will not be honest with voters while running for office, we certainly cannot expect her to be an honest leader after she is elected.
Bottoms did not address the notion of whether or not she would be releasing her tax returns in the remaining two weeks prior to the runoff mayoral election, scheduled for December 5.
Norwood and Bottoms, both members of Atlanta's city council, were the top two vote-getters in the general election on November 7 from among a large field, but neither was able to garner the necessary total of 50 percent plus one vote necessary to secure the victory.
Norwood previously ran for the mayor's office in 2009.
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