What's Moonves up to?

Our friend Michelle Leder at footnoted.org has come across a weird passage in the CBS honcho’s new contract. It notes that the company will pay his state in local taxes in both NY and in L.A., where he has his main residence. That's not the weird part; companies routinely pay local taxes for executives who can certainly afford to write out a check themselves (Moonves made $24.5 million last year). What stood out to Leder was this:

You shall promptly notify CBS of any New York State or Local taxing authority’s assertion during an audit respecting any payment by CBS, respecting incremental New York State and Local taxes and fees, on your behalf or reimbursement to you, but you shall be under no obligation to defend against such claim by the New York State or Local taxing authority unless CBS requests, in writing, that you undertake the defense of such claim on behalf of CBS and at CBS’s sole expense.

Now, why would CBS ask Moonves to do something so specific unless there was a specific circumstance behind the request? It could suggest - and it's only a guess - that Moonves is in fact being audited for some aspect of this bi-coastal arrangement. Meanwhile, Moonves faces an even bigger PR mess: the upcoming reality show "Kid Nation." CBS denies allegations that it put children in jeopardy when shooting the series, but there are all kinds of troubling questions - as in why "Kid Nation" was filmed during the school year with no studio teachers present, and why kids were working on a TV production with no parents on the set? Nikki Finke pieces together what is known and concludes that Moonves is talking out of both sides of his mouth. From Deadline Hollywood Daily:

A top company source said the CBS general counsel alerted the board about the allegations surrounding Kid Nation only because that first New York Times article was coming out on August 18th. Of course, the New Mexico newspapers had been covering the controversy for weeks before that, And TV Week besides. An Albuquerque Journal dated July 18th accusing CBS of working kids up to 24 hours a day on the set and paying them only $5,000 for the experience and calling it legal. But the board was kept in the dark about the problems then because presumably the company and directors only cared what the NYT said. Since the Times went out with articles, "a couple of board members have asked Les questions, and he's responded," the CBS source told me just now. "What Les said to the board is that he's confident there was nothing inappropriate done and the children were treated very well."

Well, I for one am relieved to hear that.