Charity and Politics Are Not a Good Mix
posted on: Monday, January 14, 2008
By Gary Snyder
Late last year we decided to take stock of all the corruption by accused public officials. They used nonprofits to benefit themselves.
A quick note on methodology. Since a complete catalog of politicos who've been accused of some form of corruption or abuse of power could be endless, we were selective for inclusion in this list. Most of the 25 (6 are from Alabama) listed below were the subjects of criminal probes, but we also included officials who were credibly accused of acts that, maybe not necessarily criminal. These have been culled from public documents including news releases from the FBI, U.S.Attorney’s offices, as well as hundreds of newspapers and other periodicals from across the country.
Enjoy!
1. The Kilpatrick family (as in Mayor of Detroit and Congresswoman and County Commissioner) has another investigation of their charitable practices. Federal authorities are examining the Mayor’s charitable fund as part of a case involving a major financial backer and Kilpatrick’s father. The Mayor’s mother (Congresswoman) and father (county commissioner) have had inquiries about their charitable endeavors.
2. U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan has recused himself from working on the budget of the Justice Department amid allegations that he directed federal money to nonprofits that indirectly contributed to his campaign. At least $202 million of federal dollars have gone to five nonprofits in Mollohan’s district, most of which were under his control.
3. Allegations of using money from a nonprofit for personal and political purposes, has surfaced in a letter from federal prosecutors to Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo. Some $17 million is in question.
4. Millions of defense appropriation contracts have been doled out to board members of a nonprofit. Lobbyists with ties to the same charity have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from the contractors. Congressman John Murtha and a former aide have also been beneficiaries. Murtha’s campaigns have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the directors. Congressman Murtha is a high-ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee
5. Senator steers funds to nonprofit to misuse/Mayor indicted in Congressman Ted Steven’s affair-$450,000
6. U.S. Speaker Pelosi, others failed to report their positions in family charities
7. Alaska State Senator is accused of using nonprofit proceeds for personal gain is now indicted as a Mayor misapplies LOVE Social Services-(Alaska)-$1.2 million and a Pine Bluff Alderman pleads guilty to misuse of funds (AK) -$528,000
8. Some of the same California corporate interests that dominate the Capitol through high-priced lobbyists and campaign donations also bankroll nonprofit organizations that in turn spend tens of thousands of dollars a year entertaining state lawmakers and administration officials far from home -- gifts that otherwise would exceed state limits. California law prohibits public officials from accepting gifts valued at more than $390 from any source. But when it comes to travel expenses "reasonably related" to a legislative or governmental purpose, nonprofit groups are allowed to spend unlimited amounts
9. Alabama higher education has had a sad couple of years. Let’s take a look:
-Former Governor Don Siegelman, went on trial for a bribery scheme that involved funneling $550,000 through the Alabama Fire College. He was convicted by a jury on unrelated multiple charges, including bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Federal investigation of the college begins.
-The family and friend of the college system chancellor, Roy W. Johnson, receive over $300,000 in wages and contract payments. Investigation begins. Board of Education fires Johnson. Federal prosecutor accuse Johnson of taking $300,000 and prosecutors want to seize his $1.3 million home.
-Federal prosecutors charge State Re. Bryan Melton Jr. with funneling $85,000 in legislative grants to a college to pay his gambling debts. Melton pleads guilty and implicates Shelton State Community College president in a scheme.
-Shelton State Community College president Rick Rogers is fired when reports that a private foundation with ties to the school spent more than $560,000 to build him a home. The foundation is under federal investigation.
-Bishop State Community College names interim chancellor. School is put on probation, citing governance, administration, educational programs and financial aid system. After 7 months on the job, he resigns because of $438,000 in questionable costs, including $293,000 in financial-aid fraud.
-Alabama Fire College former deputy director pleads guilty to using state money to buy two Harley-Davidsons and a gazebo-Jacuzzi for his home.
-The county district attorney charges seven people connected with Bishop State, including the women’s basketball coach, with stealing $56,000 in financial-aid and sports-program money from the college.
10. FBI affidavits tie an Oklahoma former state Senator and his estranged business partner to kickback payments to a third party, who admitted to accepting a $250,000 kickback. The latter admitted to helping secure $2.27 million in state funds to a nonprofit. Investigators say that money was funneled into pet projects of the Senator.
11. Five Rivers Community Development Corp. (currently under investigation) might have violated a federal law when it signed a contract promising to pay consultant Charles Clyburn a percentage of public money given to the nonprofit agency. He is the brother of U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., might have violated The Byrd Amendment, a law that prohibits using federal budget appropriations - also known as earmarks - to pay for lobbying efforts. The contract states that Charles Clyburn was expected to secure $1 million worth of earmarks for Five Rivers during an 18-month period by working with federal officials.
12. Earmark Allan (Mollohan) Congressman from West Virginia earmarked $250 million that was directed to five nonprofits that he created. Friends staff the organizations. Board members of the charities contributed at least $397,122 to Rep. Mollohan’s campaign and political action committees. Since the abovementioned earmarks, the Congressman’s assets grew from less than $500,000 to at least $6.3 million. Despite the aforementioned, Mollohan recently requested a $1 million earmark to expand a wilderness area abutting his property, thereby increasing its value.
13. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has joined in steps to clean up pork barrel spending…apparently everybody else’s. The congressman has tucked $96 million worth of pet projects into next year's federal budget, including $450,000 for a campaign donor's foundation. Hoyer inserted into a 2008 education-spending bill for InTune Foundation Group, who’s Web site describes it as a music-education nonprofit group.
In 2005, InTune got a previous earmark for nearly $500,000 to develop lesson plans on funk music and Nobel Peace laureates. Asked recently how effective that program had been, Education Department officials said they didn't know. InTune hadn't turned in a report on what it did, officials said. "It is significantly past due," department spokeswoman.
14. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, of California, set up a little-known nonprofit group that has paid for many of his international trips. Their donations paid for his and aides' journeys to Israel, China, Japan, Canada and Europe on trips, described by the governor's office as trade missions, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The governor and the nonprofit group have declined to name donors or describe their ties to the state government. Schwarzenegger solicited the $435,000 in gifts for the protocol foundation at a Nov. 7 fundraiser in San Francisco. Only after ongoing inquiries did the Governor revealed for the first time the names of donors to the secretive nonprofit group.
15. A Wake County grand jury indicted state Rep. Thomas E. Wright on charges of swindling banks, corporations and campaign contributors out of more than $350,000. As president of the Community's Health Foundation he got the organization to write a bogus letter a letter promising $150,000 in state money toward the building's renovation. Wright also fraudulently secured a $10,000 line of credit from a credit union for the foundation in 2001. He withdrew the money for his own use and without the knowledge of the foundation's board. He also faces charges of soliciting $8,900 in contributions in 2003 and 2004 from corporations for the foundation to help with the purchase of the building and with educational and minority health-care programs in New Hanover County. Wright used the money himself and falsely told the donors that the foundation was a charity and that the donations were tax-deductible, the indictments say.
16. A state senator helped secure funding from the state's two-year college system for a nonprofit program in Birmingham (AL) and then received about $4,000 a month from the program for nearly three years. The program received more than $310,00 from February 2004 through September 2006 to operate a computer-based tutoring program. The leader of the agency used more than $250,000, or three-fourths of the programs state funding, to pay his son, himself and a friend, according to the program's tax records and interviews with the three.
17. Pleasantville (NJ) Board of Education president James A. Pressley pleaded guilty to attempted extortion, admitting that he accepted bribes in return for his official assistance in steering public contracts to an insurance brokerage company and a roofing business. Pressley agreed to forfeit $40,800, which represents the total amount of corrupt payments he received.
18. Presidential candidate and former (AK) Governor Mike Huckabee formed a nonprofit organization that raised money for him to travel the country promoting conservative politics to fellow ministers and attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan. In its three-year life span, the organization, Action America, collected $119,916 from a dozen or so donors. ... As information about the secretive group began to leak out in 1997, Democrats in Arkansas pressed for the identity of its donors, which Mr. Huckabee has refused to disclose. In addition, he failed to report his Action America income on his 1994 financial disclosure form, resulting in a 'letter of caution' from the Arkansas Ethics Commission in 1997. ... In all, at least 16 ethics complaints, including the one involving Action America, were filed against Mr. Huckabee, with violations found in five of them and a $1,000 fine assessed.
19. The National Defense Center has been a recipient of a ranking member of the Congressional defense community at the Congressman from the Jamestown (PA) community to the tune of at least $671 million in earmarks and R&D funds from the Defense Department. Congressman John Murtha has also befriended the nonprofit, Concurrent Technologies, which has received nearly $250 million with the vast coming from earmarks. Concurrent’s relationship with the Pentagon has come under federal scrutiny. Only one-third of the technologies it developed were put into use. Despite criticisms the funding keeps flowing.
Gary Snyder is the author of Nonprofits On the Brink (iUniverse, February, 2006) and articles in numerous publications. His email: gary.r.snyder@gmail.com; website: www.garyrsnyder.com; phone: 248.324.3700
© Gary R. Snyder, All Rights Reserved, 2008Labels: Philanthropic Malpractice
Late last year we decided to take stock of all the corruption by accused public officials. They used nonprofits to benefit themselves.
A quick note on methodology. Since a complete catalog of politicos who've been accused of some form of corruption or abuse of power could be endless, we were selective for inclusion in this list. Most of the 25 (6 are from Alabama) listed below were the subjects of criminal probes, but we also included officials who were credibly accused of acts that, maybe not necessarily criminal. These have been culled from public documents including news releases from the FBI, U.S.Attorney’s offices, as well as hundreds of newspapers and other periodicals from across the country.
Enjoy!
1. The Kilpatrick family (as in Mayor of Detroit and Congresswoman and County Commissioner) has another investigation of their charitable practices. Federal authorities are examining the Mayor’s charitable fund as part of a case involving a major financial backer and Kilpatrick’s father. The Mayor’s mother (Congresswoman) and father (county commissioner) have had inquiries about their charitable endeavors.
2. U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan has recused himself from working on the budget of the Justice Department amid allegations that he directed federal money to nonprofits that indirectly contributed to his campaign. At least $202 million of federal dollars have gone to five nonprofits in Mollohan’s district, most of which were under his control.
3. Allegations of using money from a nonprofit for personal and political purposes, has surfaced in a letter from federal prosecutors to Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo. Some $17 million is in question.
4. Millions of defense appropriation contracts have been doled out to board members of a nonprofit. Lobbyists with ties to the same charity have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from the contractors. Congressman John Murtha and a former aide have also been beneficiaries. Murtha’s campaigns have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the directors. Congressman Murtha is a high-ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee
5. Senator steers funds to nonprofit to misuse/Mayor indicted in Congressman Ted Steven’s affair-$450,000
6. U.S. Speaker Pelosi, others failed to report their positions in family charities
7. Alaska State Senator is accused of using nonprofit proceeds for personal gain is now indicted as a Mayor misapplies LOVE Social Services-(Alaska)-$1.2 million and a Pine Bluff Alderman pleads guilty to misuse of funds (AK) -$528,000
8. Some of the same California corporate interests that dominate the Capitol through high-priced lobbyists and campaign donations also bankroll nonprofit organizations that in turn spend tens of thousands of dollars a year entertaining state lawmakers and administration officials far from home -- gifts that otherwise would exceed state limits. California law prohibits public officials from accepting gifts valued at more than $390 from any source. But when it comes to travel expenses "reasonably related" to a legislative or governmental purpose, nonprofit groups are allowed to spend unlimited amounts
9. Alabama higher education has had a sad couple of years. Let’s take a look:
-Former Governor Don Siegelman, went on trial for a bribery scheme that involved funneling $550,000 through the Alabama Fire College. He was convicted by a jury on unrelated multiple charges, including bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Federal investigation of the college begins.
-The family and friend of the college system chancellor, Roy W. Johnson, receive over $300,000 in wages and contract payments. Investigation begins. Board of Education fires Johnson. Federal prosecutor accuse Johnson of taking $300,000 and prosecutors want to seize his $1.3 million home.
-Federal prosecutors charge State Re. Bryan Melton Jr. with funneling $85,000 in legislative grants to a college to pay his gambling debts. Melton pleads guilty and implicates Shelton State Community College president in a scheme.
-Shelton State Community College president Rick Rogers is fired when reports that a private foundation with ties to the school spent more than $560,000 to build him a home. The foundation is under federal investigation.
-Bishop State Community College names interim chancellor. School is put on probation, citing governance, administration, educational programs and financial aid system. After 7 months on the job, he resigns because of $438,000 in questionable costs, including $293,000 in financial-aid fraud.
-Alabama Fire College former deputy director pleads guilty to using state money to buy two Harley-Davidsons and a gazebo-Jacuzzi for his home.
-The county district attorney charges seven people connected with Bishop State, including the women’s basketball coach, with stealing $56,000 in financial-aid and sports-program money from the college.
10. FBI affidavits tie an Oklahoma former state Senator and his estranged business partner to kickback payments to a third party, who admitted to accepting a $250,000 kickback. The latter admitted to helping secure $2.27 million in state funds to a nonprofit. Investigators say that money was funneled into pet projects of the Senator.
11. Five Rivers Community Development Corp. (currently under investigation) might have violated a federal law when it signed a contract promising to pay consultant Charles Clyburn a percentage of public money given to the nonprofit agency. He is the brother of U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., might have violated The Byrd Amendment, a law that prohibits using federal budget appropriations - also known as earmarks - to pay for lobbying efforts. The contract states that Charles Clyburn was expected to secure $1 million worth of earmarks for Five Rivers during an 18-month period by working with federal officials.
12. Earmark Allan (Mollohan) Congressman from West Virginia earmarked $250 million that was directed to five nonprofits that he created. Friends staff the organizations. Board members of the charities contributed at least $397,122 to Rep. Mollohan’s campaign and political action committees. Since the abovementioned earmarks, the Congressman’s assets grew from less than $500,000 to at least $6.3 million. Despite the aforementioned, Mollohan recently requested a $1 million earmark to expand a wilderness area abutting his property, thereby increasing its value.
13. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has joined in steps to clean up pork barrel spending…apparently everybody else’s. The congressman has tucked $96 million worth of pet projects into next year's federal budget, including $450,000 for a campaign donor's foundation. Hoyer inserted into a 2008 education-spending bill for InTune Foundation Group, who’s Web site describes it as a music-education nonprofit group.
In 2005, InTune got a previous earmark for nearly $500,000 to develop lesson plans on funk music and Nobel Peace laureates. Asked recently how effective that program had been, Education Department officials said they didn't know. InTune hadn't turned in a report on what it did, officials said. "It is significantly past due," department spokeswoman.
14. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, of California, set up a little-known nonprofit group that has paid for many of his international trips. Their donations paid for his and aides' journeys to Israel, China, Japan, Canada and Europe on trips, described by the governor's office as trade missions, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The governor and the nonprofit group have declined to name donors or describe their ties to the state government. Schwarzenegger solicited the $435,000 in gifts for the protocol foundation at a Nov. 7 fundraiser in San Francisco. Only after ongoing inquiries did the Governor revealed for the first time the names of donors to the secretive nonprofit group.
15. A Wake County grand jury indicted state Rep. Thomas E. Wright on charges of swindling banks, corporations and campaign contributors out of more than $350,000. As president of the Community's Health Foundation he got the organization to write a bogus letter a letter promising $150,000 in state money toward the building's renovation. Wright also fraudulently secured a $10,000 line of credit from a credit union for the foundation in 2001. He withdrew the money for his own use and without the knowledge of the foundation's board. He also faces charges of soliciting $8,900 in contributions in 2003 and 2004 from corporations for the foundation to help with the purchase of the building and with educational and minority health-care programs in New Hanover County. Wright used the money himself and falsely told the donors that the foundation was a charity and that the donations were tax-deductible, the indictments say.
16. A state senator helped secure funding from the state's two-year college system for a nonprofit program in Birmingham (AL) and then received about $4,000 a month from the program for nearly three years. The program received more than $310,00 from February 2004 through September 2006 to operate a computer-based tutoring program. The leader of the agency used more than $250,000, or three-fourths of the programs state funding, to pay his son, himself and a friend, according to the program's tax records and interviews with the three.
17. Pleasantville (NJ) Board of Education president James A. Pressley pleaded guilty to attempted extortion, admitting that he accepted bribes in return for his official assistance in steering public contracts to an insurance brokerage company and a roofing business. Pressley agreed to forfeit $40,800, which represents the total amount of corrupt payments he received.
18. Presidential candidate and former (AK) Governor Mike Huckabee formed a nonprofit organization that raised money for him to travel the country promoting conservative politics to fellow ministers and attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan. In its three-year life span, the organization, Action America, collected $119,916 from a dozen or so donors. ... As information about the secretive group began to leak out in 1997, Democrats in Arkansas pressed for the identity of its donors, which Mr. Huckabee has refused to disclose. In addition, he failed to report his Action America income on his 1994 financial disclosure form, resulting in a 'letter of caution' from the Arkansas Ethics Commission in 1997. ... In all, at least 16 ethics complaints, including the one involving Action America, were filed against Mr. Huckabee, with violations found in five of them and a $1,000 fine assessed.
19. The National Defense Center has been a recipient of a ranking member of the Congressional defense community at the Congressman from the Jamestown (PA) community to the tune of at least $671 million in earmarks and R&D funds from the Defense Department. Congressman John Murtha has also befriended the nonprofit, Concurrent Technologies, which has received nearly $250 million with the vast coming from earmarks. Concurrent’s relationship with the Pentagon has come under federal scrutiny. Only one-third of the technologies it developed were put into use. Despite criticisms the funding keeps flowing.
Gary Snyder is the author of Nonprofits On the Brink (iUniverse, February, 2006) and articles in numerous publications. His email: gary.r.snyder@gmail.com; website: www.garyrsnyder.com; phone: 248.324.3700
© Gary R. Snyder, All Rights Reserved, 2008
Labels: Philanthropic Malpractice
posted by Gary at
3:22 PM
1 Comments:
This is a nice rundown of the headliners, but there are probably a thousand others who did not hit the front page.
When have our politicians ever had a clean ethical bill of health with regard to business, religion, or any other segment of society?
These other segments are no more accountable than our rag-tag third sector.
By
Tidy Sum, at 12:23 PM
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