BY DAN
KENNEDY
Serving the reality-based community since 2002.
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Friday, August 01, 2003
What "embarrassment"? The
normally astute Glen
Johnson gets weird in his
Globe report today on some delinquent property taxes owed by
John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry on their place in
Nantucket.
In his lead, Johnson reports that
the $10,000 bill is wholly attributable to sloth on the part of the
Kerrys' bank, Mellon Financial Corporation of Pittsburgh.
Here is Johnson's third
paragraph:
"It was our responsibility
to make the payment and we are researching this matter to
determine why the fourth installment was not paid in a timely way,"
said company spokesman Ron Gruendl. "We have sent the payment in
the overnight mail."
The definition of a non-story, in
other words. But then comes this:
Politically, the error
could prove something of an embarrassment, coming at a time when
Kerry, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is
hammering President Bush over the fairness of his tax-cut
policy.
"Something of an embarrassment"?
Why? Because the Kerrys' mortgage company screwed up? This is
insane.
A few months ago, our mortgage
company failed to pay our homeowners' insurance in a timely manner.
We actually got a cancellation notice. Fortunately, we got a "never
mind" letter before Media Log was forced to go nuclear.
Johnson notes that the Kerrys have
also had to pay some late fees in the past, though he doesn't say
whether those were also the result of bank screw-ups.
But come on. If anyone should be
"embarrassed" by the Mellon thing, it's Mellon.
posted at 11:01 AM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
