Democratic Virginia Delegate Kathleen Murphy missed half of the meetings that Fairfax County taxpayers expected her to attend, an analysis by The Daily Caller has found.
Murphy, who represents parts of both Loudoun County and Fairfax County, is running for re-election.
The Daily Caller emailed Murphy’s Richmond office but did not immediately receive a response. Murphy’s district office voicemail instructed callers to use her district telephone line. Calls were not returned.
From Sept. 22, 2008, to March 16, 2015, Murphy, who served on the Fairfax County Human Services Council at the time, showed up to fewer than half of the council’s meetings. According to council minutes available on Fairfax County’s website, Murphy was “present” at just 32 of the 76 meetings during the period. She was “excused” for 40 of those meetings and absent for three of them.
Minutes for the other meeting were not available online.
Two months of Murphy’s time on the Fairfax County Human Services Council overlap with her tenure in the Virginia House of Delegates. She ran unsuccessfully for the House of Delegates in 2013 when she was defeated by Republican Barbara Comstock. When Comstock was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2015, Murphy finally won election to the House of Delegates.
During her 2013 race, Murphy faced criticism after the Washington Free Beacon reported that she failed to pay property taxes and business taxes on time in three different states. At the time, she supported what the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform described as the largest tax hike in Virginia history.
In Virginia, where Murphy owns a home in McLean, tax records showed that Murphy has not paid property taxes on time on at least five different occasions since 2005.
The Free Beacon also reported that Murphy’s property taxes on a Staten Island, New York, home went unpaid for at least five years, from 2010 to 2015. According to the New York City Department of Finance, Murphy had a property tax balance of $3,586.24 as recently as April 2015.
In addition to Murphy’s unpaid personal property taxes, she also had unpaid taxes on a real estate business she owns in Vail, Colorado, the Free Beacon reported in April 2013. Taxes on the business, Weskas LLP Rental Property, were delinquent from at least 2011 until 2015. Weskas LLP Rental Property also did not submit the required annual reports to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for at least those same five years.
On Oct. 29, 2013, Murphy refused to take responsibility for failing to pay taxes in New York City, telling the Washington Post of her ex-husband’s residency, “I have no control over that.”
It appears Murphy has now paid her overdue taxes in Virginia, New York and Colorado.
