Pelosi Fails To Disclose Role In Family Charity: Paper

Dow Jones Newswires (excerpt) ^ | January 29, 2007

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and two other prominent Democrats have failed to disclose they are officers of family charities, in violation of a law requiring members of Congress to report non-profit leadership roles, USA Today reported in its Monday editions.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana also did not report they serve as family foundation directors, according to financial disclosure reports examined by USA TODAY.

All three foundations are funded and controlled by the lawmakers and their spouses, and do not solicit donations from outside sources.

~ snip ~

[maica]

When Nancy started her theme song for the '06 campaign "Culture of corruption" I was stunned that she would take such a tack, given the known Democrat corrupt actions of the past few years.

Obviously she and Emanuel were astute enough to know where the wind was blowing, and how the DBM would provide 'in kind' contributions of one-sided reporting during the whole campaign year.

They also are much better observers of Republican behavior under pressure than Republicans are of their own behavior.

I have very little hope of this situation changing, given Americans' almost total deference to messages promoted by mass media.

[Grampa Dave]

"He said it "was an oversight" that she had not listed her position dating back to 1992."

Reality: She got by with this illegal action for about 17 years before she was caught.

[Grampa Dave]

"How convenient. You take leftover campaign donations, etc. and set up your own charitable foundation so you can have your cake and eat it too. They get the tax deduction and probably receive some sort of administrative fee to manage it. And they can use it to promote themselves politically."

If we knew how the elite limo rats milk their so called non profits, we might not be able to sleep at night.

[kabar]

Obviously, there is a reason why they set up these phony charitable foundations that don't take donations from anyone else. They could just as easily donate directly to the charities rather than funnel them through these organizations. Follow the money.

[george76]

Duke should have used this defense...

"was an oversight" ...dating back to 1992."

[george76]

In exchange for illegal campaign contributions to his library slush fund from the government of China, Bill Clinton allowed the Chinese to buy American technology, which now makes them capable of hitting American cities with nuclear missiles.

[kabar]

All of these Presidential libraries get money from questionable sources. The Saudis made big contributions to Bush 41's and Clinton's libraries. Once these personal memorials are built, the US taxpayer picks up the operational costs forever.

[razorback-bert]

Rat math, give away $54,000, put in $31,000 and have $2,900 left over.

[kabar]

They probably pay themselves management fees to administer the foundation.

[Ramcat]

She forgot.

Again.

[george76]

Because of Clinton, it will be much easier for the communist chinese to hit our cities with missles.

[Ditto]

All three foundations are funded and controlled by the lawmakers and their spouses, and do not solicit donations from outside sources.

Can you say 'TAX SHELTER'? I knew you could.

[tioga]

The Queen of Ethics has been dethroned yet again.

[SMM48]

If these were Pubs, it would be all over the NYT and all cable and alphabet news outlets for the next 6 months. But, because these are RATs, they will "fix" their omission and that will be the end of it.

(Notice how Dingy Harry's little land scandal has died on the vine?)

[Ditto]

I myself certainly wouldn't have guessed that having a family foundation would also be considered a "non-profit leadership role."

No... it's about Tax Avoidance.

[Txsleuth]

I want just ONE Republican on Capitol Hill to stand up and act MAD....that "corrections" are NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!

Betcha that doesn't happen.

[leilani]

I myself certainly wouldn't have guessed that having a family foundation would also be considered a "non-profit leadership role."

I wouldn't have either, but I'm not a congressional leader who's been directly responsible for passing all these disclosure laws against the rest of us & who has further had the audacity to make a career out of impugning other rep's ethics for failure to scrupulously disclose all their financial ties.

The dirty little secret about Washington is how many of these 'liberal' politicians screeching about the rich not paying their fair share have these nifty 'family trusts' & 'charitable' foundations which conveniently shield their mysteriously expanding fortunes from the ravages of the confiscatory tax structure they've imposed upon the rest of us. Not holding my breath for USA Today to do an in-depth expose about THAT.

[kabar]

Got that.

[Osage Orange]

LOL!!!

Sure....and Muslims will be eating pork soon too.

[Liz]

GRAMPADAVE "How convenient. You take leftover campaign donations, etc. and set up your own charitable foundation so you can have your cake and eat it too. They get the tax deduction and probably receive some sort of administrative fee to manage it. And they can use it to promote themselves politically." If we knew how the elite limo rats milk their so called non profits, we might not be able to sleep at night.

The IRS is currently conducting a nationwide investigation into non-profits, amid concerns that 501C's are used to run just about every kind of fraudulent accounting schemes, some observers say. Legal fees, a line item in most non-profit accounting reports, are well-used money laundering schemes that evade US taxes and use fraudulent accounting techniques to violate US banking and SEC laws. Non-profits use several tax dodges. Many nonprofits, and their donors profit through loopholes amid concerns that NPO's juggle the books. One notorious N/P was paying for the director's housing sub rosa using fraudulent accounting methods.

Corrupt Enron executives-Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Joseph Sutton, Lou Pai, and convicted Chief Financial Officer Andy Fastow - all had so-called “charitable” foundations. And here’s the World Champion of "charities."

CNSNews.com‘s Jeff Johnson reported April 25, 2005 that the Open Society Institute, a private foundation controlled by liberal billionaire and political activist George Soros, received more than $30 million from US government agencies between 1998 and 2003.

Last year, Soros donated at least $20 million---supposedly his own money----to such liberal groups as Moveon.org, in a failed attempt to block the re-election of President George W. Bush. SOURCE http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200504\SPE20050425a.html

On Jan. 18, 2005, Ken Boehm’s National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed a 41-page complaint against George Soros with the Federal Election Commission. Boehm said at the time that Soros' multi-city, anti-Bush media tour was "possibly the largest off-the-books independent expenditure ever run." "It's especially important that the FEC look at it, because it occurred the month before a very close election in key swing states," Boehm said. "Disclosure is the absolute heart of campaign finance law, and Soros' anti-Bush campaign could have potentially shifted the outcome of the presidential election."

Tax records the Open Society Institute (OSI) is required to file with the IRS list "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES" as "Contributors" of amounts between $4.6 million and $8.9 million over a six year period:
* 1998 - $4,611,617
* 2000 - $4,934,678
* 2001 - $5,869,809
* 2002 - $6,138,125
* 2003 - $8,889,802
The amounts total $30,454,031. Records from 1999 and 2004 were not immediately available.

OSI tax records show contributions of:
* $4.41 million to the American Civil Liberties Union and its state affiliates,
* $500,000 to the Pro-Choice Education Project to launch a (pro-abortion rights) "public education and media strategy,"
* $100,000 to the Death Penalty Information Center, an organization that works against capital punishment,
* $100,000 to Catholics for a Free Choice, a religious group that advocates for abortion rights,
* $100,000 to the Pennsylvania Coalition to Save Lives Now "to support needle exchange programs,"
* $80,000 over three years to the Gay Straight Alliance Network, to promote "a traveling photo documentary exhibit by lesbian, gay, transgender, queer and questioning youth,"
* $45,000 to the Democracy Matters Institute "to bring the campaign finance reform movement to college campuses,"
* $50,000 to the Coalition for an International Criminal Court "to promote education, awareness and acceptance of the International Criminal Court," and
* $35,000 to the Abortion Access Project.