Posted on 07/24/2006 10:16:33 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
As supporters of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, we were disheartened to read Jerry Seper's front-page article Thursday about questions and criticisms of President Chris Simcox's management of the organization. According to the article, the volunteer group has not made any financial statements or fundraising records public since April 2005 -- circumstances that have strained relations between Mr. Simcox and several of his top employees, some of whom have resigned in protest.
Mr. Simcox must resolve these problems quickly. Failure to do so would only encourage the organization's critics -- who have made no secret of their desire to see the Minuteman volunteers arrested for vigilantism. But more importantly, according to Mr. Simcox's estimate, Americans have donated $1.6 million to the corps because they believe in their mission to secure the southern border. In return, the least they should expect is transparency and the assurance that their donations went to help the volunteers in the field. But the truth is that no one except Mr. Simcox knows how much money has been donated and what it has been used for.
So far, Mr. Simcox has been unable to come up with a good explanation -- at least one that can be independently verified. And while he insists the money went to help field operations, workers at these locations tell a different story. For instance, Vern Kilburn, who resigned earlier this year as director of operations for the organization's northern Texas sector, told The Washington Times that only two checks for $1,000 came from Minuteman headquarters in October and that other directors across the country "are having similar problems." Some volunteers said that money promised by Mr. Simcox for food and supplies never arrived. "An awful lot of equipment I saw was donated," said Mike Gaddy,...."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
LOL...now THAT is both funny AND clever. :-)
You know my question is this. When is CNN going to take a little responsibility here. When is LOU Dobbs? I think largely trougt that media outlet(that benifited through some increased ratings) this group could do no wrong in may peoples view. I mean Lou Dobbs does the finiancial show for goodness sake.
I am just waiting for them to eat some crow and maybe just maybe talk about how they were snookered along with everyone else
He'll NEVER investigate or even ponder, out loud, about any of this. After all, it wouldn't do his ego any good, now would it?
This editorial is a far cry from the "retraction" by the WT that the MCDC were predicting last week.
There won't be a retraction. Also, the November IRS filing is used as a dodge to keep from having to disclose anything now. That is legal, but not helpful when you are trying to raise money under a cloud. Even the many spinoff orgs will be affected by the cloud they are under and the positive publicity will diminish. They will not be raising 55mil.
They are really between rock and a hard place.
According to what I've read, the MCDC is a "project" of the Declaration Alliance, so I assume Simcox has entered into some formal written and legal agreement with the Keyes-founded organization. What exactly is a "project"? Does this just mean the DA has a client to peform fundraising and some administration/consulting for, or have they become somewhat of a subsidiary to the DA?
Does anyone know when this was officially done? More importantly, why isn't Simcox simply deferring all of these questions to the DA anyway?
Bookmark
Sometime last year he more or less merged the group with Alan Keyes' Declaration Alliance. In reviewing the Declaration Alliances' published reports to the IRS and FEC, it appears that only 5% or so of what they take in is spent on the stated purposes of the organization.
Both groups (the MCDC and the Declaration Alliance) should have filed their Form 990s for 2005 with the government already, but have requested three month extensions so that the reports are not due until November 15 of this year.
"Every time Sean's "dear friend", Connie Hair whispers into his ear, Sean falls for some kind of garbage."
Connie Hair? Man, she gets around. She seems to be the spokesperson for every group involved in this, and there are plenty. Who the heck is she, anyhow?
can a john mccain hearing into the whole matter be far behind???? when it rains, it pours.
Well .. if you want a "questionable book" - how about "Fiasco" - some idiot who believe the kook left's line that this whole war was not only illegal, it had no plan and it's all George Bush's fault!
Good grief .. when are these idiots going to grow up ..??
Hey buddy.
Overwhelming irony alert.
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