Golding Paid Less in Taxes Than Rivals, Records Show

County Supervisor Susan Golding paid no federal income taxes in 1990, the year her then-husband, Richard T. Silberman, went to jail and Golding was forced to make the payments on a $1.3-million La Jolla home with little more than her income as a government official, according to records made public Thursday.

For virtually every year available, Golding personally paid a smaller percentage of her income in taxes than did any of her three rivals in the race to become San Diego’s next mayor, despite her marriage to Silberman, a wealthy businessman later caught in an FBI sting, according to a comparison of the candidates’ tax returns.

Golding paid $2,481 on an adjusted gross income of more than $89,000 for 1991; no taxes on a nearly identical income in 1990; $4,088 in taxes on income of more than $101,000 in 1989; and $8,370 on income of $121,682 in 1988, according to federal tax returns Golding showed reporters at her accountant’s office Thursday.

The couple, divorced earlier this year, filed separate returns. Golding has declined a challenge from opponents to release Silberman’s tax records.

Golding’s marriage and financial ties to Silberman--a former aide to Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., who was jailed in 1990 for his role in agreeing to launder what he believed was drug money, have frequently been made a campaign issue by her opponents in the campaign to succeed retiring San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor. The mayoral primary is June 2.

A campaign consultant for San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts, one of Golding’s campaign opponents, said Thursday that, by failing to release Silberman’s tax returns as well, Golding left voters without necessary information about her finances.

“Susan Golding’s returns create more questions than they answer,” said John Whitehurst, Roberts’ consultant. “The point of asking candidates to disclose their tax returns is to show voters two things: If there are any conflicts and how the candidates live. Because she has failed to disclose (Silberman’s returns), she has failed to do both things.”

In her 1984 campaign for the supervisor’s seat she still holds, Golding criticized rival Lynn Schenk for refusing to release the tax returns and income data of her husband.

But Golding said she has “no legal right to release Dick’s returns, whether (we’re) married or not.”

Jenny Dean, a spokesman for mayoral candidate Peter Navarro, who early in the campaign issued the challenge for all candidates to disclose their tax returns, said Golding’s initial efforts to exclude some media organizations from her news conference “suggests to us that Susan has something to hide.”

Indeed, Golding’s news conference became something of an issue itself when spokeswoman Nikki Symington first invited only three newspaper reporters to the event. After complaints from KNSD-TV (Channel 39), Symington said she relented and invited all local media.

Golding said the initial decision was made in response to requests from print reporters and in an effort to keep down the size of the media throng poring over her records. She said she promised other media they could review the records next week, when her accountant returns from vacation.

Golding refused to allow reporters to copy her returns, saying she feared that the information would fall into her rivals’ hands and turn up in campaign mailings later. Reporters were allowed to inspect the documents at the downtown office of her accountant, Norman J. Eisenberg, who was on hand to explain them. Future inspections will be allowed, she said.

Golding said that, during 1990, she lived on savings and assets as she struggled to make the payments on the home on La Jolla Scenic Drive, which she sold in May, 1991, for $1.3 million--a loss of more than $82,000. According to property records, she then bought a University City condominium for $426,000, borrowing $319,000 to make the purchase.

“I lived on my salary and the money I had in the bank,” Golding said Thursday. “I have practically no savings left. It was not a pleasant year.” The assets were predominantly funds from the sale of a house owned by Silberman, as well as bank accounts and other investments of her own, Golding said.

Golding’s return for 1990 shows that her deductible mortgage interest of $100,783 exceeded all of her income for the year. The yearly mortgage payments exceeded $70,000, she said.

In 1989, Golding at first claimed nearly $125,000 in Silberman’s legal fees as a deduction, but later amended her return to exclude the claim.

Golding was audited in 1989 and 1990, but the examinations of her records were routine and she has paid no penalties, Eisenberg said.

Councilman Roberts has also refused to make copies of his returns, allowing reporters to view the records at his campaign office.

The records show that the current deputy mayor and former partner in an architectural firm paid $49,058 in federal taxes on an adjusted gross income of $202,968 in 1990; $17,400 on $112,319 in 1989; $27,197 on $136,499 in 1988, and $30,074 on $140,521 in 1987.

Roberts filed jointly with his wife, Helene. He did not make his 1991 return available.

Navarro, a college professor and founder of the managed growth organization Prevent Los Angelization Now!, paid $13,151 in taxes on an adjusted gross income of $67,996 in 1991. Navarro and his wife, Janet, filed separate returns for the year, but Janet Navarro’s return was not available Thursday.

According to a summary of the couple’s returns for 1988 through 1990 prepared by Navarro’s campaign, the couple together paid $16,273 in taxes on more than $72,000 in income in 1990; $14,372 on more than $90,000 in 1989, and $2,108 on more than $40,000 in 1988. The couple’s gross adjusted income was not available.

Businessman Tom Carter, who has released summary pages of his 1989 and 1990 federal tax returns, paid $3,011 in taxes on an adjusted gross income of $24,034 in 1990, and $54,964 in taxes on income of $291,293 in 1989.

The sharp decline in income resulted from Carter leaving his job as a top executive of the former Great American savings and loan institution and forming his own development firm, campaign consultant Luke Breit said.