CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS SECRETARY OF STATE : Flores Tries to Revive Issue of Eu’s Husband’s Finances

Republican secretary of state candidate Joan Milke Flores attempted Thursday to revive concerns about the financial dealings of incumbent March Fong Eu’s husband, a Singapore businessman whose refusal to divulge the secrets of his wealth forced Eu to abandon her U.S. Senate candidacy three years ago.

Standing outside the locked gates to Eu’s Hancock Park neighborhood, Flores released her income tax returns for the last 10 years and called on Eu to do the same. Flores said the disclosure, although not required by law, was necessary to reassure voters that “we will put their best interests ahead of our own.”

Although Flores did not mention him by name, the challenge was clearly directed at Henry Eu, who is part of an economically powerful Chinese family with interests in Asian mining, real estate and herbal medicines. Henry Eu, who pays the lease on the family’s Hancock Park home, is not a citizen of the United States and carries a Singapore passport.

“Do we as voters have a right to know this information?” asked Flores, a Los Angeles city councilwoman who has been divorced for 27 years. “Absolutely . . . especially since her husband could have investments in California. Until these questions are answered, March Fong Eu will always be in a shadow of doubt.”

A spokesman for Eu said Thursday that the four-term Democratic incumbent will release her tax returns as soon as she can assemble them, but he predicted they will not shed new light on her husband of 17 years because the couple do not file joint returns.

“He is not even a resident of this country,” said Anthony L. Miller, Eu’s chief deputy. “His interest here is having a spouse here.”

Leo McElroy, Eu’s campaign consultant, dismissed Flores’ attack on Eu and her husband as an act of desperation. “You are seeing somebody who has basically failed to have her campaign catch fire and is still trying to light a match,” he said.

Eu has long maintained that her husband does not share information with her about his business dealings and that their finances are separate. Statements of economic interest that she files annually with the state list only two of his many business interests, and aides said her income tax returns do not account for any of her husband’s wealth.

Eu said in a recent interview that she rarely sees her husband. “I am my family,” she said. “My husband is not here much.”

Henry Eu’s secretiveness in 1987 made it impossible for his wife to comply with federal campaign rules, which require candidates and their spouses to divulge their international financial holdings. His refusal to do so eventually led to his wife’s withdrawal from the Senate race.