Frank White’s financial difficulties mount as feds file notice of unpaid income taxes
Frank White owes the IRS nearly $46,000 in unpaid taxes on income that the Jackson County executive and his wife earned in three of the last four years, according to a federal tax lien filed last month with the county recorder of deeds.
A previous lien filed in June 2015 said the Whites then owed $80,790 in back taxes for income earned in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
It is unclear from public records how much of the combined debt — $126,379 — the couple has paid the federal government, although Frank White has previously stated that he worked out a payment plan with the government to over time satisfy the earlier lien.
White has been reluctant to discuss personal finances publicly since reports of his financial difficulties were reported by The Star last December. Again this week, he declined to answer questions about his delinquent tax payments, but instead issued the following written statement through the county’s spokeswoman:
“As I have stated before, I get up every day and do my best to represent myself, my family and my community. I take these responsibilities seriously and am proud of what I have been able to accomplish. I have worked hard to meet my financial responsibilities, have done so in compliance with the law and am moving forward.”
Candidates in Missouri are ineligible if, at the time of filing for office, they are delinquent on state income, personal property or municipal taxes, or taxes they owe on real property at their place of residence.
The statute, however, makes no mention of federal taxes, so his failure to fully pay the federal income taxes he has owed in six of the past seven years does not legally disqualify White from seeking re-election this fall.
Future county office holders could be held to a different standard. Should voters approve certain revisions to the county charter on Nov. 6, candidates for elective office in Jackson County could be no more than one year past due on their federal taxes, unless a payment plan is in effect.
This latest lien is more evidence of the financial strain that the former eight-time Gold Glove second baseman has been under since quitting his front-office job with the Kansas City Royals in 2011. His TV broadcasting career was also cut short that year when his contract was not renewed, a double blow that left him with little income other than his pension from Major League Baseball.
His income has increased in recent years. In addition to his pension, he now earns $145,000 as county executive and received unspecified income from several other jobs.
According to the personal financial statement that he filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission in March, his other employers in 2017 and the first quarter of this year included Union Broadcasting, for whom he hosts the Frank White Show on Sports Radio 810 WHB; and the Kansas City T-Bones baseball club, where he is a coach. White also reported earning $1,000 or more from assorted speaking engagements and personal appearances.
An online auction in June of items from his collection of baseball memorabilia, including his 1985 World Series trophy, grossed nearly $80,000.
In addition to their tax difficulties, the Whites’ house in Lee’s Summit has been listed for foreclosure three times since White was appointed county executive in early 2016 to fill the unexpired term of Mike Sanders. The first of those foreclosure sales was averted in the spring of that year, and the second that fall around the time voters elected White to fill out the remaining two years of Sanders’ four-year term.
A third foreclosure sale was called off this spring without explanation.
The circumstances surrounding the first foreclosure sale notice is under investigation. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker began her probe early this year after an article in The Star raised questions about how the Whites avoided foreclosure in April 2016. This summer she handed the case off to Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, whose investigation continues.
Jean Paul Bradshaw, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is representing White in that matter.
According to The Star’s December 2017 account, the Whites were a day away from seeing their house sold on the courthouse steps to the highest bidder when a benefactor helped them keep their home. A source with direct knowledge of the meeting told the newspaper that the benefactor was Ken McClain, Sanders’ then law partner, who financed the bailout, but did so through a third party to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
McClain, who has business relations with the county, declined comment at the time, as did Sanders, who arranged the meeting where the transaction occurred.
Last week, Sanders was sentenced to 27 months in prison on an unrelated charge in connection with a kickback scheme involving the misuse and theft of campaign donations.
This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 12:00 PM.