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Look - a talking goat!

April 08, 2010

Tom Wheeler, the designated fall guy for the Iowa film fiasco, gave a long interview this week to the Des Moines Register. Mr. Wheeler has been indicted for "non-felonious misconduct in office," which seems to be the same as a charge of criminal ineptitude.

Mr. Wheeler spent the interview deflecting blame:

• Wheeler said he frequently sought guidance on expenditures from the state Department of Revenue, including in-kind, deferred or sponsorship transactions in which no cash changed hands. In particular, he said, he conferred with Jim McNulty, a senior manager in the taxpayer services and policy division.

McNulty declined to comment for this article, referring questions to the attorney general.

That would be out of character for Mr. McNulty; he isn't exactly known as a taxpayer-friendly sort of guy. A representative of the Attorney Generals office said it didn't go down the way Mr. Wheeler says.

Mr. Wheeler comes off as an amazingly trusting soul:

• Wheeler said he never thought filmmakers were out to take advantage of him or the program. Of Kip Konwiser, a Los Angeles filmmaker, and Dennis Brouse, star of a public television series, who face questions about their tax-credit claims, he said: "I never felt like they were holding back. I felt they were good business people who were on the up and up."

When asked whether perhaps some people in the film industry thought of Iowa's liberally run program as a gold mine, he said: "I don't know what they were really thinking."

Hey, Tom, here's a clue:

Nicole Schafer was the personal assistant to Bruce Isacson. He directed the movie "South Dakota."

Shafer said Isacson, repeatedly abused the system, using money from state credits to buy an SUV, laptops and iPods.

"A couple of times, he would make jokes like, 'Thanks, Iowa,' as he's buying things," Shafer said.

Mr. Wheeler has a lot to answer for in letting Hollywood loot the state treasury even more than they were supposed to, but "non-felonious misconduct in office" really means "goat." If being inept is a crime, they may as well just lock the doors to the state Capitol from the outside. Trying to pin a rap on Mr. Wheeler is just a way to distract us from the 147 legislators who passed the film giveaway, and from the Governor who signed the bill and then put a credulous fanboy with a $120,000 budget in charge of passing out millions of taxpayer dollars to Hollywood sharpies.

State 29 has more.