Way back in November, Sen. Charles Grassley -- Iowa Republican and the party's top man on the Senate Finance Committee -- told six televangelists to turn over their financials, lest they suffer the wrath of Congress, which wants to make sure these preachermen aren't abusing their tax-exempt status. (Um. Um. Um.) Among those targeted, with the help of ol' Ole Anthony, were a handful of North Texans: Wise County's Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and Irving-based Benny Hinn.
Well, last night, KTVT-Channel 11's Jay Gormley got to chat with Kenny Copeland's son John, who's the CEO of Kenneth Copeland Ministries -- one of two ministries yet to comply with Grassley's request. And the kid did not mount the most rousing defense in the history of preacherdom. "There's a lot of doctrine that teaches that you're not a good Christian unless you're poor," Copeland told Gormley, who all but rolled his eyes at Kenny's little boy. "But that's not our doctrine, that's not what we believe." Really, what gave it away? The private jet? Or the 18,000-square-foot home? Or the Web site Copeland started to defend the God-fearing from Grassley's attacks on "religious freedoms"? --Robert Wilonsky