On Saturday, Newsweek ran a great expose on the Ark Encounter and the employment discrimination that led to the park losing its $18 million tax incentive.

Lindsay Tucker wrote in her piece:

Why did the state reject an application nearly identical to one it initially approved? Because AiG posted Ark Encounter job listings on its website requiring a “salvation testimony” and a creationist statement of faith. Bob Stewart, then-secretary of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, wrote in a letter to AiG: “The Commonwealth doesn’t believe that Ark Encounter, LLC will be complying with state and Federal law in its hiring practices.” AiG insisted that the job posts were not exclusive to Ark Encounter, but state officials remained unconvinced. After months of pleading with the tourism cabinet, AiG filed a lawsuit against Kentucky officials, asserting that the refusal to extend tax aid was a form of religious discrimination.

And she nailed it. The very discrimination I uncovered that led to Americans United sending their letter to the governor had nothing to do with the faith of Ham but the fact he was using his faith illegally to stop certain people from working for him.

Ken Ham took issue with the entire expose and begins by calling Tucker’s writing “childish and silly,” after she referenced some of the fake animals going into the Ark Encounter exhibits “2,000 seasick animals,” teaching us that Ham not only lacks critical thinking skills but also a sense of humor.

In we are going to talk about childish, let’s discuss one of the standout parts of Tucker’s piece when she references meeting Ham for the first time.

Ham didn’t stand up when an assistant shuffled me into his office one Friday afternoon. He has railed against the media time and time again for, he says, falsely claiming that taxpayer money is going toward building the ark. When he speaks, he does so slowly, his words even and calculated. “No Kentucky taxpayer money is going to build the Ark Encounter,” he tells me. Several times.

He didn’t even have the common courtesy to stand up and greet a guest? Because she is with the media and the media has a terrible knack for exposing the truth? Or perhaps her gender played a role in his attitude.

Ham lied right to her face as well by saying no taxpayer money was going to be used to build the ark when Ham has said time and time again that the $18 million rebate, from taxpayer money, would be used to complete the second phase of the park.

He also failed to mention the $175,000 refund the park would get on property taxes or the $62 million bond the town of Williamstown, Kentucky is on the hook for.

Tucker did not less this pass, however, writing:

What neither of them mentioned in conversations with me or in their many blog posts on the subject is that, as part of the TIF agreement, employees working within the TIF district will be subject to a 2 percent employment tax on gross wages for the next 30 years. In other words, $2 out of every $100 earned by people working at or around the park will go directly to paying off the attraction. So while tax dollars might not actually have been used to build the ark, a boatload that would otherwise go back into the community will instead be used to pay off Ark Encounter’s debt.

And, of course, in the face of all this evidence, Ham attacks Tucker. Ad hominems are all the rage.

Well, here is what she is not telling you about the TIF (and I don’t think she has a clue anyway). First, let me say that perhaps the most frustrating thing to read on the Newsweek site (of the many problems we have with its commentary) relates to TIFs. It’s frustrating because TIF documents related to AiG are all public record and have already been covered in the press. Yet this young “Woodward and Bernstein” wannabe makes it sound as if we’re hiding the TIF aspects and she has found her “gotcha” moment. Now, we simply don’t mention the TIF to reporters because perhaps 1 in 1,000 readers would even know what it is, it is highly complicated, and I don’t understand it all myself.

So when called out of lying about his claims, his best retort is to call the reporter clueless and a wannabe. This from the man who doesn’t even stand to acknowledge his female guests.

Ham has a problem, and it’s that no mainstream media outlet, other than Fox News, will take him seriously. While Fox actually encourages viewers to go and donate while also running ads for the park on their channel, more serious publications are further exposing the work secular activists have been doing for years.

Ham is working very hard to suppress the truth about his parks illegal employment actions and their endless attempt to use taxpayer funds to pay for his monstrosity of a theme park celebrating the fictional mass genocide of a world population.

[Image: Ark Encounter]