Jumaane Melting Down
Jumaane Williams had a meltdown Thursday because a Post reporter had the audacity to ask a few simple questions about his taxes. Williams is furious over Post reports, based on publicly filed warrants, that he owes big for a failed business venture, including the company’s 10 grand in unpaid taxes and fees. Other court papers show he owed as much as $625,000 (including interest and penalties) on a real-estate loan.
When his opponent in the Democratic primary, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, ran ads raising these issues, Williams and running mate Cynthia Nixon denounced it as “offensive” — “dog-whistling and poor-shaming.” (In fact, the poor usually can’t run up six-figure debts.)
On Wednesday, Williams let reporters examine some of his tax filings for a few hours — but didn’t include the Schedule C documents that would shed light on the matter.
Yet what he did provide raised more questions about $8,000-plus deducted for “grooming and maintenance” — not expenses the IRS will typically allow.
So Post reporter Nolan Hicks started asking about it at Thursday’s joint Nixon-Wil- liams press conference. He didn’t jump to it; Hicks first asked several questions about their plan for “universal rent control.”
Only later, after all the press had the chance for on-topic queries, did he start asking about the grooming deductions.
Williams dodged, refusing to explain how the expenses qualify, and switching the subject to “debt that was wildly inflated by” The Post. Hicks explained that the numbers come from public documents; Williams countered, “The New York Post told a bunch of lies” and demanded Hicks produce the papers then and there.
Advocates who’d shown up for the event began screaming about “racist propaganda,” while Williams complained of “a rabbit hole that will never stop” — apparently arguing that his limited disclosure somehow proves that the warrants don’t exist.
When a candidate says he wants to raise taxes, it’s beyond fair to ask if he’s dodged them, especially when he’s disclosed returns that look weird.
Jumaane Williams plainly has a problem — one that attacking the messenger won’t remotely solve.