PA-Gov: Wolf campaign rips Wagner for not releasing his tax returns — and GOP challenger fires back

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's campaign ripped Republican challenger Scott Wagner on Monday morning for not releasing his tax returns — but Wagner's campaign hit back immediately.

"What's he hiding?" Wolf's spokeswoman Beth Melena asked in an email, PennLive reported. "We know he's trying to bail out his failing business by raising rates on small business owners and consumers. And the people of Pennsylvania deserve to know the real story."

Wagner was criticized during the primary campaign when he — along with his two GOP opponents — declined to release their returns, which PennLive characterized as "a Pennsylvania political tradition that dates back at least two decades."

But Wagner's campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo fired back at Wolf in a Monday morning email to TheBlaze, calling out what he termed the sitting governor's refusal to give information to voters in the state concerning a host of matters.

"Scott has been transparent by meeting every single disclosure requirement," Romeo wrote. "Governor Wolf is hiding from Pennsylvanians how much of their hard earned dollars he wants to give to Amazon, he won't reveal the facts surrounding Mike Stack's mistreatment of staff despite the fact that the investigation was funded by tax payers, and won't explain why he still has Mary Isenhour on his campaign team, even though she did not block the appointment of Tim Solobay despite knowing he had committed acts of sexual harassment prior to being named to the post. So if Governor Wolf wants to make this race a referendum on transparency, we like our chances at the ballot box."

Candidates are required to file a Statement of Financial Interests each year with the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission, PennLive said, adding that the statement asks for direct and indirect income sources and gifts or travel received. The outlet said the statement has been criticized for offering "insufficient amount of information."

Wolf and Wagner both filed a statement of financial interest in May, PennLive reported.

Former Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's campaign released over a decade's worth of his tax returns in 2014, PennLive reported, and challenged Wolf to do the same. Wolf's campaign said the governor has made public his 2010-16 returns and intends on releasing his 2017 return this fall, as he received an extension for this year, the outlet noted.