Nothing says "man of the people" like a $1.6M Georgetown mansion with illegal tax breaks

I'm really curious to see how the Roy Blunt (R-K Street/Georgetown) team responds to follow-up questions about the tax breaks he and his wife have been enjoying as full-time residents of Washington, DC. 

First, I don't see how Blunt can reasonably expect people to believe that he is an innocent victim of the District of Columbia government.  There were stories in 2004 about Members of Congress improperly receiving homestead tax breaks, when Blunt says he asked the DC government to address the issue. There were stories in 2005. There were even stories last month about Members' illegal homestead deductions. The whole while, information about his mansion's homestead status was easily available, and was printed on every tax assessment form he received from the District. Blunt had to know this was a potential problem, and didn't care enough to check, or didn't think he would get caught.

Second, the response in this morning's story gives the impression that Blunt was not aware of the problem until The Star brought it to his attention.  However, when comparing the publicly-available data from two weeks ago to what's up now, there is evidence of very recent activity regarding the property's official status with the District government. On March 14, DC records listed "Roy D. Blunt Trustee" as the owner.  But now, as the Star notes, Abigail Blunt is listed as the owner. It's possible that the property database just randomly changed so that it no longer shows Missourian Congressman Roy Blunt as the owner of a $1.6 million house in Northwest Washington, but that would be quite a coincidence.

Third, how does Roy Blunt reconcile his down-home story with his $1.6 million dollar Georgetown home? In fact, the mansion might be even be worth more than $1.6 million, once the tax assessment cap for DC residents is removed. That's quite the upgrade for a humble public servant just going about the people's business, wouldn't you say?

Fourth, what are we supposed to make of Roy Blunt's request for a personal favor from a DC Councilman?  The call to Councilman Jack Evans is just odd. Wouldn't a call to -- I dunno -- the people who actually deal with property tax issues have been more appropriate?  Or maybe Blunt could have just filled out a form and taken care of everything in 5 minutes?  The involvement of a personal friend on the DC Council says a lot about Blunt's strong ties to the DC elite. 

Attached to this post are three documents:

1. The property's public property tax information from March 14, showing Roy Blunt as the owner, plus very clear instructions on how to remove the homestead deduction.
2. The current property tax information, showing Abigail Blunt as the owner, plus very clear instructions on how to remove the homestead deduction.
3. A sample property tax assessment document from the District of Columbia showing very clear instructions on how to remove the homestead deduction

If I'm missing or misreading something, please let me know.