Admirable candor, indeed

Congratulations, Stan:

Stanley P. Weiner, key figure in Royals’ plan to stay in KC, retires from law firm

By DAN MARGOLIES
The Kansas City Star

Tax lawyer Stanley P. Weiner, a key figure in Ewing Kauffman’s plan to keep the Royals in Kansas City , is retiring after 25 years at Shook, Hardy & Bacon.

One of the top tax lawyers in the country, Weiner was instrumental in devising the complicated succession plan under which the baseball team’s founder and owner bequeathed the team to the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts.

The IRS blessed the plan after more than two years of deliberations, agreeing that the donation of the team was tax-deductible for the Royals estate. Absent that approval, the gift of the team would have triggered a deal-killing tax bill of $60 million or more.

The highly unusual plan — devised by Weiner and Sylvan Siegler, his Shook colleague and friend — was designed to keep the team in friendly hands in Kansas City and buy time while a permanent owner was sought. Proceeds of the team’s eventual sale to David Glass went to charity.

The plan ensured the team’s continuing presence in Kansas City — although, as Weiner joked Friday at a Shook reception in his honor, “whether you think that was a good thing or not” is another matter.

Weiner was also a force behind the establishment in 1984 of Missouri ’s IOLTA program, which requires the state’s lawyers to place short-term client trust funds into interest-bearing accounts. The interest is distributed to nonprofit organizations that provide civil legal services to the poor and conduct programs that improve the administration of justice.

In 1976, as a lawyer with Smith Gill Fisher & Butts, Weiner and Ed Smith represented H&R Block Inc. in hearings before Congress on the regulation of tax-return preparers. The resulting legislation governs such matters as when preparers are liable for errors and penalties.

Weiner, a Kansas City native, attended the University of Michigan Law School. After getting his law degree in 1967, he clerked for the chief judge of the U.S. Tax Court. He moved back to Kansas City in 1973 and joined the law firm of Smith Gill Fisher & Butts. He hooked up with Shook in 1984.

Among other things, Weiner has served as chairman of the Heart of America Tax Institute, president of the Lawyers Association of Kansas City, a member of the board of the Harvesters Community Food Network, president of Camp Quality USA and president of the Jewish Community Center.

Weiner, who turns 68 next month and has some health issues, said that four decades of practicing law was enough and that he wanted to spend more time with his two grandchildren.

“I’ve been doing this for 40-some odd years,” he said, adding with admirable candor, “After a while, it gets to be a drag.”

Stanley P. Weiner, key figure in Royals’ plan to stay in KC, retires from law firm - Kansas City Star (29 June 2009)

Up early in the morning

Since beginning to cohabit, Carrie and I have lived through a bunch of elections, especially if you count primaries and local stuff.

I don't remember when we started doing this, but it was pretty early: we'd try to be at the polling place by 6:15 AM, and generally by 7 AM we would sit down for a hearty breakfast at the neighborhood coffee shop (not a Starbucks, more like a diner).

At some point it became a tradition, so I'm looking forward to doing that tomorrow.

Speaking of Starbucks, if you visit tomorrow and tell them that you voted, a tall coffee is on them, free gratis.

We'll be watching the returns come in on CNN... and we'll be glued to fivethirtyeight.com too.

Here's what to watch for as the returns come in.

P.S. Thank you for helping keep enrevanche one of the relatively few places on the Interwebs where people talk politics (and other topics) in the comments in mutually respectful tones. Virtually speaking, this is my house, and y'all are all good houseguests.

Stick a fork in me; I'm done

About ten hours of work today; an hour (or a little more) of fielding phone calls and e-mails from concerned friends and relatives, and another two of actually visiting with Mom, who is doing a little better, thank God, in the actual hospital.

I am ready for a light supper and about twelve hours of sleep.

And it's 8PM.

Gah.

Thanks to everyone who has written in (or posted in the comments.) We've got reinforcements helping with the Mom-sitting, she's in a regular hospital room and not the ICU any more, and things are looking up - the progress is just slow.

An explanation of my absence, with catblogging

Back in the RTP area; Mom's travails with ill health continue.

An Emergency Room admission on Wednesday night for dehydration after two days of stomach upset turned into an ICU admission for elevated blood pressure and arrhythmia, and now there are new elements in the mix... the trajectory now will hopefully be from ICU to regular hospital room this weekend, and from hospital room home sometime next week.

Blogging will either be extremely light or extremely heavy for the next several days, depending on the mood state I happen to be swinging through at any given moment. :-)

Here, have a cat picture from the Home Office in New York City (with two bonus dogs.)

The king, on his cardboard throne, with his royal guard.

Any question that Mister Gato is Lord of All He Surveys? Those Chows are guarding his regal little behind.

Be sure to check the Friday Ark at The Modulator for more quadruped goodness, and the Carnival of the Cats this Sunday at Scribblings.

P.S. The flight into RDU -- on Continental, thanks very much, though I was out of town on the first thing smoking when I got the phone call -- was character-building, involving a small plane (a 37-seat Embraer) and wind shear. A passenger on the plane--an adult, and thank God not me--apparently soiled themselves on the first landing attempt, which was aborted when the plane sort of plummeted, shuddered, and skittered sideways all at the same time...