I generally like Tony Messenger, formerly of the Springfield News-Leader and now with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He’s a strong writer unafraid to call BS on an argument in no uncertain terms (such as today.) But in an item yesterday, Messenger slipped into a mode that’s all too comfortable for reporters and pundits alike – finding some “equivalent” negative item against the other side to show balance.
Messenger debunks Jeff Roe’s phony argument that Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee is not a qualified voter in Saint Joseph. Almost as an aside at the end, he brings up Montee’s supposedly false charges that Sam Graves failed to pay property tax on two planes he owns. According to Graves, they’re “salvage planes” (planes only used for spare parts), and therefore he doesn’t have to pay taxes on them. What’s more, the county assessor (a Democrat even!) agrees with him that they are “salvage planes”.
But by her own admission, the county assessor didn’t even take a look at the planes, even though they are registered with the FAA. I’d love to be able to own two big houses and call them “ramshackle barns” for tax purposes without fear of inspection.
Going beyond this silly argument, it’s rather amusing that Sam Graves likes to think of himself as a small businessman and farmer, yet is quibbling over how many airplanes he owns. How many small businessmen do you know with two planes used purely for spare parts to service his other airplanes?