Posted on 11/26/2006 2:42:57 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
An Arizona civilian border patrol group has released financial records to answer questions about how the nonprofit spends contributions, but some former Texas members said they still aren't sure where the money goes.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps collected more than $54,000 in registration fees for background checks but spent only about $1,000 for that purpose last year, according to an IRS form and audit report released by group leader Chris Simcox.
The group raised more than $418,000, mostly through contributions, and spent nearly $450,000, including about $280,000 for "program services" and $145,000 on fundraising.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps patrols the border and reports illegal immigrants to authorities. It is different from the Minuteman Project, which also focuses on illegal immigration.
Simcox defended the spending on the group's Web site, saying that its financial state was "much better than most first-year startup national organizations." He criticized the media for "egregiously false" reporting.
But questions about finances and other concerns have led some members to quit the group. Among those was Bill Parmley, the former head of the group's Texas chapter, who left in July 2005.
"There were just too many irregularities," Parmley said. "I just didn't want to be involved in something like that."
Kim Fromme, former director of operations for the group's Texas chapter, quit in February over concerns about where the money was going.
"It didn't go down to the border, that's for sure," Fromme said.
Nah. You maintain the NFL ping list which gets me through boring days, so you're not so bad.
Do you think that Alan Keyes' involvement makes an enterprise above-board?
I didn't realize it myself until recently, and it's confusing.
Simcox wrote this on the MMCD forum: The fence project is a completely different corporation, with separate bank account, separate fund raising etc. All monies donated to the fence go towards the construction of the fence, there can be no cross over of funds.
Is the fence corporation included in the recent financial records--or not?
we were fortunate to have Declaration Alliance, Alan Keyes believe in our mission and put his name on it, becoming a partner until we can stand on our own two legs -we are almost there in less than 2 years -our success is phenomenal and will continue to be just that thanks to the efforts of the volunteers and in trusting Carmen and I to hire the best consultants we could find who believe in the cause and get the most out of every dollar spent.
Partnering with Declaration Alliance appears to be pretty lucrative for the same few people/businesses again and again. Mailing lists rentals, consulting, fundraising, etc. If Alan Keyes is involved, you can bet his cronies are in the background making money off it.
Hard to tell. The records seem to say that part of their goal is to build a fence, but the records just released were for 2005, and the fence project itself didn't get much publicity until 2006.
What is the name of the "fence corporation" supposed to be? I know there is also a Minuteman PAC that donated money to a couple of candidates (but seems to have spent most of its money on fundraising fees.)
I'm still wondering if they should've declared a conflict of interest with American Caging's involvement & Maureen Otis as an officer.
that was not a distinction i observed... as alice said after falling throught the looking glass, it gets curiouser and curiouser.....
I only noticed it because Simcox made the distinction himself.
Did you know, they charge a $50.00 nonrefundable fee to do background screenings? On the surface, that wouldn't appear to be a big deal--but--didn't they only report $1000.00 spent on background screenings? (Only 20 people had background checks???)
And along those same lines, if they're asking for a fee at the front end of the application process, where was it line itemed in the disclosure?
There are several line items on their financial disclosure that seem to contradict public comments.
One is their "partnership" with Declaration Alliance and Alan Keyes.
Another is that they're actually operating "two" (according to Simcox) separate organizations. Page 13, Statement 2 of their financials, states that their org both advocates for political change AND builds fence. But as you know, Simcox himself wrote that they're running two different organizations with separate accounts. He made the distinction, indicating the funds aren't co/mingled. Hmm.
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