Paula White On Larry King

November 27, 2007

The Facts

Paula White, one of the “famous six” evangelist being investigated by Senator Charles Grassley, was on Larry King last night. She talked about several things, including her impending divorce, her latest book, how she got to where she is, and, of course, briefly about the mega-millions her organization takes in.

My View

Everyone who is familiar with Larry King knows that he does not conduct an aggressive or controversial interview, and he is very lenient with giving his guest time to answer questions, and to talk. He rarely challenges a guests’ answer. (These are the primary reasons I watch King; plenty of the other stuff on other programs & stations.)

I found two things amusing in Paul’s answers. The first was how she was ordained and obtained her ministerial license. The second was her answers and comments about the money relative to being a tax free organizations and, as such, exposing her financial records. As I watch the program, I also recorded it, so I watched the latter segment again to be sure I understood what she said.

Now, I don’t know if anyone is familiar with the interview by 60 minutes many years ago with the then governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards. (You might recall that he and his son went to prison later on several convictions.) The interview took place during Edwards’ third or forth term in office or campaigning for reelection; I can’t recall which (he served two consecutive 4-year terms in office the first time around, then two seperate 4-year terms). But during the interview, he was repeatedly asked about some of the kickbacks he received during an earlier term. Edwards always came back with the same answer; “it was not illegal to do that at that time, but there is a law against it now, so I don’t do that anymore”. Get it? “It doesn’t matter that it was immoral, the wrong thing to do, and screwing the citizens of Louisiana out of money, it just wasn’t against the law so it was ok to steal”.

That Edwin Edwards interview immediately popped into my mind when I heard Paula White’s answer to the question mentioned above. Her answer was to basically reference the tax law that says anybody with a valid license declaring them a religious organization can use that tax law to not pay taxes. She did go on to say that 87% of the income was put back into the church. However, it’s what is the definition of “back into the church” and what’s included as expenses in that 87% that is in question. Her web site financial report, something she referred to, has several “catch-all” categories. And when you are talking about the volume of income she has, a lot of ”expenses” can be hid in many different categories.