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The Secrets of Jay Sekulow
Legal Times (via Law.com) ^ | November 1, 2005 | Tony Mauro

Posted on 11/02/2005 12:17:55 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian

But there is another side to Jay Sekulow, one that, until now, has been obscured from the public. It is the Jay Sekulow who, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle -- complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet [...][snip]

That less-known side of Sekulow was revealed in several interviews with former associates of his and in hundreds of pages of court and tax documents reviewed by Legal Times. Critics say Sekulow's lifestyle is at odds with his role as the head of a charitable organization that solicits small donations for legal work in God's name.

For example, in 2001 one of Sekulow's nonprofit organizations paid a total of $2,374,833 to purchase two homes used primarily by Sekulow and his wife. The same nonprofit also subsidized a third home he uses in North Carolina.

At various times in recent years, Sekulow's wife, brother, sister-in-law, and two sons have been on the boards or payrolls of organizations under his control or have received generous payments as contractors. Sekulow's brother Gary is the chief financial officer of both nonprofit organizations that fund his activities, a fact that detractors say diminishes accountability for his spending.

According to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service, funds from his nonprofits have also been used to lease a private jet from companies under his family's control. And two years ago, Sekulow outsourced his own legal services from the ACLJ, shifting from a position with a publicly disclosed salary to that of a private contractor that requires no public disclosure. He acknowledged to Legal Times that his salary from that arrangement is "above $600,000" a year.

(Excerpt) Read more at law.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: aclj; deserveseverypenny; hero; jaysekulow; lawyers; sekulow
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To: Wallace T.

Non-profit does not mean the organization doesn't make money. What it means is there is no private ownership.


81 posted on 11/02/2005 1:52:45 PM PST by 1L
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To: MarkL

He tried to shove Miers down our throats pretty hard. There's no such thing as a good lawyer no matter what side they're on.


82 posted on 11/02/2005 1:53:34 PM PST by Minus_The_Bear
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To: M-cubed
A true conservative bases his politics on his morals..

What have you been smoking?

83 posted on 11/02/2005 1:53:42 PM PST by Dave S
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To: Lurking Libertarian

Defeat the Left and they will do or say anything to tear you down.

Nice try, moonbats. We ain't buyin'.


84 posted on 11/02/2005 1:53:52 PM PST by Skooz (If you think Adolf Hitler was a Christian, you are a blithering idiot.)
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To: Lurking Libertarian
"Some of us truly believed God told us to serve Jay," says one former employee, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. "But not to help him live like Louis XIV. We are coming forward because we need to believe there is fairness in this world."

Waitaminute. That's not the quote of someone who "truly believed God told us to serve Jay."

That's the quote of a leftist.

Whatever the truth about Jay Sekulow's lifestyle, that quote is a tip-off that somebody's NOT telling the truth in this article.

85 posted on 11/02/2005 1:53:57 PM PST by shhrubbery! (The 'right to choose' = The right to choose death --for somebody else.)
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To: blaise
BTW, it's not just religious organisations. I was disturbed to learn that the head of the Red Cross had a $1M/yr salary. It makes one hesitate to contribute.

You get what you pay for. If you want someone with the ability to work TV and the political world, and put in humongous hours, you need to pay for it. Or would you prefer that we hold a lottery to select a CEO.

86 posted on 11/02/2005 1:58:15 PM PST by Dave S
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To: A Jovial Cad
Using the name of God to reap a financial windfall is not what the Founder of Christianity had in mind, I'd think:

And the first Christians also believed that Jesus was returning in their lifetime to defeat the Devil. Infallible my ass.

87 posted on 11/02/2005 2:04:03 PM PST by Dave S
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To: Lurking Libertarian

I don't mind Sekulow getting paid $1 million bucks a year. That's what he would be making in the private sector. I also don't mind a jet given all the traveling that he does in his good work.

I DO mind using charitable donations to buy a bunch of houses for him and his family. That is outrageous.


88 posted on 11/02/2005 2:08:21 PM PST by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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To: kyperman

I know what you are saying, but at some point it's the same thing as conservatives standing up and saying what they believe in. It's time we stop apologizing to the Left for being successful (God forbid) EVEN if you are a Christian.


89 posted on 11/02/2005 2:24:09 PM PST by LS
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To: Dave S
And the first Christians also believed that Jesus was returning in their lifetime to defeat the Devil. Infallible my ass

Your beliefs, or lack thereof, are not my problem. Neither is your pedestrian intellect, or shabby writing skills.

Please shriek at someone who (1) cares and (2) isn't busy snickering at your splenetic juvenalia.

90 posted on 11/02/2005 2:25:01 PM PST by A Jovial Cad ("In his case there seems to be no answer to the question: How dumb can you get?" -Ike)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

Good for Jay!


91 posted on 11/02/2005 2:25:57 PM PST by Lady Heron
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To: calrighty
I don't have a problem with attorneys making good income. I would have no problem with Jay Sekulow or any other lawyer, were he an attorney in private practice, making $1 million or more a year. However, the ACLJ holds itself out as an advocacy group that specializes in the defense of Christians whose liberties are threatened by government authorities or by anti-Christian litigators like the ACLU. The numerous scandals in the 1980s and 1990s involving ministries and evangelists living lavish lifestyles off the offerings of their followers or engaging in illicit sexual activity were a black mark on the evangelical church. Furthermore, the cases of Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, and Jimmy Swaggart are still being used by the anti-Christian Left as evidence of the evil character of the evangelical leadership even though the scandals are over a decade old.

Not only church leaders, but parachurch organizations and even "Christian friendly" nonprofit groups should of necessity take the approach of "Ceasar's wife" being above reproach. Rest assured that if they are caught engaging in illegal or even suspect behavior, the Left will milk it for all it is worth.

I hope that Jay Sekulow, who is an astute man and a gifted attorney, has not made the error of "living large" at the hands of a large network of small donors.

92 posted on 11/02/2005 2:32:02 PM PST by Wallace T.
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To: Wallace T.

"Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, and Jimmy Swaggart are still being used by the anti-Christian Left as evidence of the evil character of the evangelical leadership even though the scandals are over a decade old."

Those epople were sociopaths, with very bad habits. There has never been even a hint of scandal on Sekulow. Smart investors can turn 1 million into 1.5 in one year, 1.5 into 2 1/2 to three million in 2 years, and in five have 8-12 million. It is done every day.


93 posted on 11/02/2005 2:36:50 PM PST by calrighty ( Koranimals & Islamopigs....religions of peace! C'mon troops, finish em off!!)
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To: A Jovial Cad
I'm just quoting some of His reflections on the matter. If you don't like the Author of those words, take it up with Him.

How silly. Nothing's wrong with the Author or His words.

Problem was your simplistic attempt to apply, or rather misapply those words to Jay Sekulow and the topic of this thread.

What does "trusting" riches or having difficulty "entering heave" have to do with Jay Sekulow?
My bet is you have no answer.

*P.S.- The life of King Solomon is not really the example you want to use to back up your argument, is it? If so, I'd study my Bible a little closer...

You can't even seem to understand my "argument" much less the things of the Bible.

The only thing about King Solomon's life I was citing as an "example" was the FACT that GOD HIMSELF MADE SOLOMON RICH.

And God made many other of HIS men on earth RICH.

The Bible is full of scriptures about how God wants his people to be PROSPEROUS.

So please don't attempt to pull a few quotes out of context and misinterpret them as telling us that there is something inherently evil about being rich.

That is NOT what the Bible teaches.

94 posted on 11/02/2005 2:43:48 PM PST by Jorge (Q)
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To: A Jovial Cad; CAWats
...well, to the extent that I do at least I'm not distorting the Word of God and besmirching the name of Jesus to garner that prosperity.

No, you do that for free.

And it's not selling very well even at that price.

95 posted on 11/02/2005 2:47:19 PM PST by Jorge (Q)
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To: Jorge
I well understand your frustration: The Bible makes no textual provision for hucksters to turn a quick buck or rake in the wealth with It's blessings (and, in fact, speaks forthrightly against), and Jesus Himself expressed rage in the Temple against the moneychangers of the "prosperity doctrine" ilk of his time.

I'd be frustrated, too, if I cottoned to the notion that my notion of Religion was the way to get rich and feel good about it, and someone pointed out that the very founding document of that Religion contradicted my worldly lust for riches in nearly every respect...

96 posted on 11/02/2005 2:56:22 PM PST by A Jovial Cad (Definition of a Faux Christian: One who hears the gospel and sees dollar signs...)
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To: A Jovial Cad
Please shriek at someone who (1) cares and (2) isn't busy snickering at your splenetic juvenalia.

"Doth sayeth the Lord"

97 posted on 11/02/2005 3:00:02 PM PST by Dave S
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To: calrighty
I don't know the facts regarding Sekulow and his finances. I hope that he is so clean he squeaks, because even a hint of wrongdoing will be exploited by our enemies to the max. Look at the "Plamegate" situation. Valerie Plame was no more a covert agent than a state trooper in a marked car with a radar gun patrolling an Interstate highway. Joseph Wilson's behavior has been reprehensible. Yet this so-called scandal threatens the freedom, or at least the fortune, of Scooter Libby.

If the Left can make a mountain out of the "Plamegate" molehill, they can do likewise with a prominent figure in the Christian community engaging in less than honorable financial dealings.

98 posted on 11/02/2005 3:11:50 PM PST by Wallace T.
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To: A Jovial Cad
The ranks of the "prosperity doctrine" crowd are more intellectually thin on the ground than I supposed...

And your doctrine is??? Poverty, Sickness, Failure???


It's sooo much easier to be poor and believe God wants you poor, than to be poor and to dare to believe God wants you rich. That's takes faith.


Heb 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Mat 19:26 "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

Luk 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible."


99 posted on 11/02/2005 4:15:44 PM PST by CAWats (I don't have any confidence in my ability to fail - Kenneth Copeland)
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To: mlc9852

Exactly! Of course God-dearing, Conservatives are NOT suppose to live lavishly.......but every Demonrat, liberal can live to the hilt.


100 posted on 11/02/2005 4:19:50 PM PST by Dawgreg (Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.)
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