Is Rev. Wright Al Franken’s Accountant?

I was staggered this week to see Al Franken on the cover of both local newspapers! Did he refuse to shake another college student’s hand? Did he grunt while exercising? Did he tell a joke that people didn’t understand?

No, it was for releasing the information that due to an accountant’s error, he had failed to pay taxes for speech income in states he was not a resident, mistakenly paying (overpaying) those taxes in New York state, where he then lived.

The Star Tribune story is massive and strikes me as a local distraction from a very important Senate race. Should we be offended by Al Franken or perhaps the newspaper?

Perspective is a bitch, I know, but that doesn’t let the paper off the hook. I mean, so Al Franken’s accountant screwed up? Big deal. What next, stunning news that his cleaning lady put a plastic-wrapped microwave burrito in the compost?

It has got to be a meaningful and important story because the Strib put it on the front page and jumped to a nearly full page following. But the media refuses to make essential connections and put things in context. Why does this matter? What does it tell us? (I know, not their job. They’re objective. Please.)

GOP apparatchik Ron Carey is deputized for that. He’s “troubled” and “offended” because of the “double standard.” (What double standard would that be, Ron? Maybe I should direct that question to the newspaper?) Sen. Coleman is “troubled” because thousands of local small businesspeople “meet their obligation” in tough economic times. And if their accountant screws up, they pay the tax and interest and penalty just like Al did. (Then their troubled neighbors burn their houses down and chase them out of the county.)

The fundamental point in all this is that our political campaigns are too long. After a few weeks of discussing the issues, the media tires and preoccupies itself with nonsense. In the case of the national media, it starts immediately.

So how stupid are we? How easily distracted? I’m not sure Al Franken is the savviest politician—he has not sanitized and glossed every aspect of his resume or recast his positions to suit the zeitgeist. But if we’re stupid to enough to fall for the idea that this tax thing is meaningful in any way, shape, or form, the media and their manipulators who play us for fools have won again.

Comments

[Aaron Landry]

Exactly. Well put.

[Jason DeRusha]

Adam, while I agree with your point about the length of the campaign giving rise to what some call the "Silly season" I have a nit to pick.

Considering you're a member of "the media", I wish you wouldn't paint "the media" with such a broad stroke.

"The media" isn't doing anything wrong here. You are taking issue with certain corners of "the media." I hate it when people blast "the media" but they really mean "political reporters" or "NBC News" or "The New York Times." I always try to push people to be more specific.

Complaining about "the media" is as pointless as complaining about "the internet" or "video games." It's such a broad category, it becomes meaningless.

[Tami]

The story matters because it's a commentary on either Franken's integrity or competence. Was it deliberate tax evasion (due to greed or even just convenience) or a mistake? If it was a mistake, Franken still has the responsibility of making wise decisions on who to trust. Either way, it matters. As a voter, it's my responsibility to give power to someone can trust. It's not stupid to evaluate a candidate's integrity or competence; it's vital.

[Robb]

Jason: I found Adam's comments on the "media" fairly specifically aimed at the StarTribune article. At the same time, I've been reading about politics in newspapers, magazines, and listen to broadcast on radio and TV since high school civics when Richard Nixon and George McGovern ran for President in 1972.

I find it is easy to paint broad strokes because across-the-board the level of coverage from label pins to Rev. Wright, finger point, name calling, religious badgering, and swift boating of candidates has never been worse. The broad brush applies because the low level of reporting, analysis, commentary and exit-poll spinning has never been this pervasive in the recent history of media.

I think what we are seeing in American media is a kind of re-invention of its purposes and goals. And, most specifically it begins with FOX TV and the Rupert Murdock empire, where the media has become a boutique or niche industry to carry either an ideological agenda or to self-serve a very consolidated group of individuals. And this gets worse as more and more publications shut down due to declining ad revenues.

Even American Idol with its constant "news-worthiness" and the creeping nature of promotion into the news is radically shifted all of media away from a reporter-centered news and investiagtion to owner/producer mandated media.

The standards set by Edward R. Morrow, Dorothy Thompson, Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, and Harrison Salisbury, where unprecedented freedom and support was given to the reporter in the field have surely passed. Now stories pre-written by Roger Ailes or other trusted higher-ups and not by observation of what's happening on the ground.

The political coverage in this country now is tactically crafted for maximum effect and stimulation of a viewing audience or in accordance with emotionally impactful themes -- patriotism, fear of security, invasive diseases, foriegn enemies within, and criminal and predatory behavior, etc.

I am not suggesting these themes never existed in the past as they were prominent during the era of "yellow-journalism" in the teens and twenties of the last century. However, in recent years these trivial, sinister and sensationalist stories appear to have moved more front and center. And they appear so banal and trite in comparison to the real perils we face.

But, you have to admit, particularly in the case of Rev. Wright, how manufactured, spun and manipulated this "controversy" is by and in the media. It is completely out of any proportion to the issues the country faces with horrific war, slumping economy, a heath and fuel crisis, a massively growing national debt, fiscal mismanagement, a subprime lending crisis as big as the savings and loan crisis of 20 years ago, a loss of credibility for the U.S. in the world, rampant government corruption and the destruction of the constitutional rights of our citizens.

And we are talking about Franken miss-filing his taxes and paying too much in one state and not enough in the other or the wacky statements of Rev. Wright? Everybody in the media is distracted by design.

[Jim Leinfelder]

If elected, let's hope this will inspire Franken to do something about this byzantine tax code that is an onerous expense to the citizens of this country. To wit:

A study of how low-income taxpayers collect tax refunds, including an analysis of the spatial distribution of commercial tax preparers and "rapid refund" loans in the nations 100 largest metropolitan areas, finds that:

In the Washington, D.C. area, taxpayers claiming an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) of $1,500 spend, on average, more than 10 percent of this amount on tax preparation, electronic filing and a refund loan if they use a commercial tax preparer. One local preparer's prices were typical of those for national chain preparers: $60 for preparation of a federal return with the EITC, $34 for a state return, $20 for electronic filing, and up to $90 for a refund loan, for a total of $204.

The nation's largest commercial tax preparation service and tax refund lenders earned $357 million from "fast cash" products in fiscal year 2001. This more than doubled the approximately $138 million these companies earned on similar products in fiscal year 1998.

Electronic tax filing and reparation services cluster in neighborhoods where large numbers of families claim the EITC. High-EITC zip codes are home to 50 percent more electronic tax reparation services per filer than low-EITC zip codes. Cities and suburbs in the U.S. South and West are home to low-income neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of tax preparers.

An estimated $1.75 billion in EITC refunds in 1999 was diverted toward paying for tax preparation, electronic filing and high-cost refund loans. In 1999, nearly half of the $30 billion in EITC claimed nationwide was refunded through high-priced loans.

For the full report: http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=114&subsecID=143&contentID=250480

[Stewart Woodman]

While I agree we are stuck in the middle of "silly season". Your comments on Frankin are off base.

Frankin's tax issue speaks directly to his weakness, i.e lack of proven management ability. At this point our country can ill afford to elect another leader who is incapable of managing basic financial matters-like paying taxes.

[HIram]

Al Franken trusted his accountant. Norm Coleman trusted George Bush. Which choice has damaged the country more?

[Robb]

Touche, Hiram, touche!

My first reaction to the Franken tax filing story was, "He's a comedian, a writer, a guy who stays up way too late and is blury-eyed all day with caffein stained teeth, alright, what do you expect?"

But as the story started to play itself out, it is clear that Al Franken intended to pay all his taxes and his accountant sent the checks to the wrong states. Businesses do this all the time and then they correct with penalty.

The "judgement" issue is way, way overblown for political hyperbole. And in light of the absolutely incredible mismanagement of the treasury and government contracts today OH PLEEZ! Over $12 billion has gone missing from the federal treasury to one contractor -- Haliburton -- alone. $12 billion. They just happen to be from Texas. They just happen to be Dick Cheney;s former employer. They more than likely will be W's future employer. We're not talking about a few tax dollars that got sent to the wrong state by an accountant oversight.

And do you know who was suppose to be providing Congressional oversight investigating this gross mismanagement? Norm Coleman. Did Coleman do anything? No.

Not only did Coleman trust George W., he was in George's back pocket and he feared Dick Cheney. And who wouldn't. Here's a guy who shoots his friends in the face with a shotgun on hunting trips. Imagine what he does to those who question their backdoor thief of U.S. Treasury dollars in public.

And we not talking about an accounting oversight, Woodman, this is billions in outright thief. Cheney tells us that all his money in Haliburton is in a blind trust. Oh really blind to whom?! Cheney will still get his cut of the loot from our public treasury.