Filed under: Yankees, AL East, MLB Biz
As you may or may not know, the New York Yankees are building a new Yankee Stadium that will be a monument to all that is great about the New York Yankees and New York and baseball and America in general. In order to acquire additional government money for that new stadium, the Yankees are engaging in the most American of methods: sleazily influencing politicians to change the law in their favor.
The Yankees used their close ties with New York Representative Charles Rangel to lobby with the IRS. Unfortunately for patriots and baseball lovers everywhere, they failed (via WoW):
"Dan," the e-mail begins, "Happy New Year. Per our discussion, attached is 1) a proposed letter from Congressman Rangel to the IRS and 2) talking points. If you have any questions, please call me. Thank you. Best, Randy." Levine says the letter and accompanying "talking points" were written by the city but "reviewed" by Yankees in-house tax lawyers before being sent to Rangel. Ultimately, the IRS rejected the Rangel letter and requested a letter directly from the city in May, the mayor's office said.
In other words, if the Yankees want that $66 million off their plate, they'll need a letter from the city of New York directly. I'm sure that will be hard to come by.
In the meantime, Rangel has received $45,000 in campaign contributions from the Yankees. And yet he failed to secure America's Team even more of America's money. Which of course begs the question: Why does the IRS hate freedom so much?
This message approved by George Steinbrenner.
