Posted on 10/16/2005 6:16:27 PM PDT by wardaddy
A legislative retreat raised more than $163,000 last year from agencies in government and private industry that lobby the General Assembly, according to documents made available yesterday.Advertisement
This year's retreat, scheduled for more than 2,000 participants next month at Paris Landing State Park in Henry County, is expected to fetch similar sums from the same group of underwriters, said Barbara Nance, executive director of the Office of Minority Affairs.
The Legislative Retreat and Training Seminar, in its 31st year, is the pet project of the Black Caucus, but it is organized by the legislatively created minority affairs office.
Top donors who contributed $10,000 each included five taxpayer-funded entities and a health insurance plan that has a TennCare contract. Other donors last year included pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, utilities and universities.
The Black Caucus, which includes the 18 African-American members of the legislature, and its close association to the retreat have come under scrutiny since a white Republican legislator from Knoxville asked the caucus for a copy of its bylaws.
That lawmaker, Rep. Stacey Campfield, said he wasn't surprised by the list of deep-pocketed donors.
"I find it very curious," he said. "The other key component is: 'Where does the money go?' "
(Excerpt) Read more at wbir.com ...
Just $10,000 extorted to not be called "racist". Sounds like the race pimps are holding a SALE. Usually the prices are much higher.
Let them give equal amounts to all races, for segregated racist group think sessions. Not just to one particular racist group.
Those who attend the meeting are Caucusians.
Ah hah! I guess the "whiff of corruption" may yet be discovered coming from the lefty's. Well, the MSM will make sure to throw some Glade and incense over there...
All Black Caucus are nothing less than a bunch of Black racists and race hustlers lining their pockets with shake downs of Whites for Benjamins.
To be shook down once again by the race hustlers, perhaps?
The attendees are not all white.
This all started a few months ago when a white congressman asked why he could not join the Black Caucus and the recent bribery scandals here have heated it all up.
It amazes that the local media here will even touch this.
Gives me hope.
Picked it up and sent it to Mike Fleming here in Memphis, he's been covering this a lot lately.
Ms. DeBerry sold hers for just $200 and a dinner in Tunica.
It sorta started out as a lark with that white guy asking if he could join.
Surprising the main old media outlets will cover it.
and should be illegal for public employees
They said he could only be an honorary member, one would say (2/3) of a citizen.
Sampfield is a pretty cool guy, he just needs to hire a speech writer. :)
By Marc Perrusquia
Contact
October 17, 2005
NASHVILLE -- Over the past decade, more than $1 million in private and public contributions has flowed through the Office of Minority Affairs, an obscure state office in the weathered War Memorial Building.
With inconsistent oversight, that money has financed the Annual Legislative Retreat and Training Conference of the Tennessee Black Caucus, widely considered one of the state's most successful conventions.
The money has paid for scholarships for disadvantaged youths and helped senior citizens, but at times it's landed in the pockets of the powerful, too.
At least $6,100 went to House Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry between 1997 and 1999, according to records reviewed by The Commercial Appeal. That included $1,100 in gifts and $1,700 to travel to Africa.
Another $2,000 went to Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville.
Barbara Nance, a state employee who manages the fund, said there are sound reasons for the expenses, yet documentation isn't always easy to come by.
Some bank statements have survived the years, but others couldn't be located.
Neither could the retreat's executive committee minutes, nor records documenting thousands in credit card spending.
"We don't have anything to hide,'' said DeBerry, who founded the retreat 30 years ago and is calling for new controls that could include having a nonprofit corporation run it.
DeBerry volunteers countless hours to organize the annual event attended by up to 2,000 state employees, schoolchildren, politicians, ministers, educators and others.
As she plans for the 31st retreat next month at Paris Landing State Park, DeBerry fears the event may become a victim of mounting criticism of Black Caucus spending, as well as the retreat's history of informal management.
"We never thought we'd get that big,'' said DeBerry, D-Memphis, an elected legislator who holds the No. 2 leadership post in the state House of Representatives.
The retreat serves as a sort of people's convention in which citizens weigh critical issues and recommend a platform to lawmakers.
Another key component is the retreat's youth outreach. Teens across the state get to meet college recruiters and participate in the Youth Mock Legislature. Any harm to those programs worries DeBerry the most.
"The kids are the most important part of the program,'' she said.
Among a half-foot-thick stack of financial records dating to 1995 that officials released last week is a $2,000 check written from the retreat's bank account to Armstrong.
While Nance authorized most checks, the Nov. 20, 1998, check bears DeBerry's signature.
No reason for the payment is listed on the check.
At the time, Armstrong was chairman of the Black Caucus and likely was being reimbursed for a cost he incurred helping with the retreat, Nance and DeBerry said.
The caucus hosts the retreat but doesn't control its funds.
Armstrong couldn't be reached Friday.
DeBerry's signature appeared on several checks, including two totaling $1,400 that she wrote to herself in 1999, one for hotel accommodations and the other for a reason that was illegible.
The newspaper identified 10 checks totaling nearly $6,200 that DeBerry received between 1997 and 1999, including one for $1,000 in 1997 to attend a National Black Caucus conference and another for $1,715 to attend the "African Summit '97,'' which she recalled was a conference attended by American legislators.
She received a $100 check in May 1999 for a "Happy Belated Birthday,'' and another for $1,000 that year for a "gift.''
Asked about the gifts, DeBerry and Nance said the retreat's executive board likely made the gifts because DeBerry volunteered so many hours for the event.
Records released under the state public records act detailing more than $1 million in expenditures since 1995 seem to raise as many questions as they answer.
Records for three full years -- 2001, 2002 and 2003 -- were unavailable. Nance said they were with Nashville accounting executive Harvey Hoskins, who is reviewing them and didn't return two calls to his office.
Between 1995 and 1999, the retreat transferred $54,000 to $95,000 a year to the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, records show.
That entity is a nonprofit organization that could accept tax-exempt donations from contributors who wanted to sponsor the retreat, DeBerry said.
Since 2000, those donations have been replaced with ads sold for the retreat's program to corporate and public organizations.
The few donor records made available show that Tennessee Managed Care, parent firm of now-defunct TennCare contractor Access Medplus, gave $15,000 during the 1998-99 fiscal year. Blue Cross-Blue Shield gave $10,350, while state prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America gave $5,000, as did TennCare contractor OmniCare. Memphis Light, Gas and Water gave $4,000.
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