He just lost his DFL endorsement for the coming election, but now it appears state Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, has even bigger problems.

The Duluth News Tribune reports today that Chaudhary owes the IRS $250,000 in back taxes.

Tax records show that Chaudhary and his wife, Denise, failed to pay $100,000 in income taxes in 2007 and $151,000 in 2008, the paper said.

He told the paper that the delinquent taxes were the result of his wife’s wrongful termination by Celgene, a biopharmaceutical company:

“It forced her to exercise or lose some of her stock options,” he said. “In general, she had to use some of her stocks to purchase other stocks, and so that led to a huge tax liability.”

He said his wife has filed a wrongful termination suit against Celgene with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission.

He said he didn’t know the reason for the 2007 tax delinquency and was checking with his accountant to learn more.

Chaudhary, a three-term state senator and former state House member, had his DFL endorsement pulled last month, after publicity that he’d pushed a bill through the Legislature that would have improved fishing on a northern Minnesota lake where he has a cabin. Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the entire natural resources bill, in part because of Chaudhary’s legislation, the paper said.

Chaudhary is still running in the Aug. 10 primary but now has an endorsed DFL challenger.