Sorry, I gave at the office.
Posted by TIKI AL at January 7, 2006 04:22 AMIt's about time somebody dug into these dodges. Harold Rogers gave 32K of abramoff $$ to a foundation he created. I haven't been able to locate the name of the foudation anywhere. Does it exist beyond paper?
Will the foundation donate it to his election campaign?
Wow, this gives Charities all a bad name by making those average Americans pause or even not bother to donate afraid it might be a scam...only a truly amoral evil person would be capable of something that that. The culture of corruption doesn't even begin to adequately describe them.
I read all about Abramoff's Capital Athletic Fund (charity)...and all the fictitious front companies that acted a slush funds...unbelievable that people actually have a mind that thinks in this warped crooked way. Nothing but a bunch of white collar thieves! Damn them all! Crooks and Liars...yup. Vote republican the party of Crooks and Liars.
Posted by emal at January 7, 2006 06:43 AMThe chilling aspect of Jack "Corleone" Abramoff's political donations is both Republicans and Democrats were all to happy to take his tainted charity.
Dick Durbin (D-IL) receieved $11,000 (now donated to charity) and Hillary received $2,000 from Jack (also donated to charity.)
The ironic thing about Abramoff to me is, Jack may singlehandedly be responsible for handing both the House and Senate back to Democratics.
If this happens, Abramoff will be added to my Christmas card list.
.
Well the creation of these "charitible foundations" may have been legal, but there has been some reporting that they reported giving large grants to real charities who now advise they never received such funds.
I'm not sure that's going to be "legal".
And I think there are IRS regs about percentages of foundation revenues that must actually go to charitable "work" for the charity to retain 501(c)(3)status. Perhaps we'll see if those regs were actually met, or if the returns filed with the IRS were accurate.
BushAmerica is a corrupt enterprise through and through. Its government is about power at the expense of all else, its economy is about profit at the expense of all else, and its people are about self-interested consumption above all else. And it thinks the world should be remade in its image. That WE are the end of history!
A democracy cannot be better than its citizens, and we are a pretty crappy, degenerate people. We are faced with a vast network of Augean stables to clean, most of our citizens are unwilling to help, and, frankly, deny that much of a clean up is even needed.
Posted by euzoius at January 7, 2006 08:19 AMeuzious well said. I have often thought about the fact that our current gov't is a reflection of our society...how depressing. Our country has lost its moral compass, I am truly ashamed.
Posted by emal at January 7, 2006 09:00 AMPwapVt: "Harold Rogers gave 32K of abramoff $$ to a foundation he created."
I knew some of those bastards were going to do that. Kind of expected someone in a leadership position to be the first to get caught, though.
Posted by JGabriel at January 7, 2006 09:10 AMEmal,
We always do extensive research before our donations go to anyone. There are several charity rating sites out there.
Posted by Simp at January 7, 2006 09:16 AMDartyon: "Dick Durbin (D-IL) receieved $11,000 (now donated to charity) and Hillary received $2,000 from Jack (also donated to charity.)"
Actually, neither Dick nor Hillary rec'd any money from Jack. Nor did Harry Reid or any other Democrat.
The money Durbin and Clinton are returning are from Native Americans represented by Abramoff. It's not known how many of those donations were even recommended by Jack.
Seeing as Reid is from a state with gambling interests, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack advised his clients to support Reid. Durbin and Clinton, on the other hand, seem unlikely choices. Could be they were targeted by the tribes themselves.
Posted by JGabriel at January 7, 2006 09:18 AMemal, you and I share the same feelings.
It's a depressing state of affairs.
We'll try to change it. Perhaps some of the "independents" can be gotten to.
Posted by euzoius at January 7, 2006 10:15 AMThe blog investigation of Gannon/Guckert indicated how widespread the practice of fake charities and non-profit orgs had become in the overall scheme of GOP corruption. He registered numerous web domains that fit right in with this scam. It would take an army of Fitzgeralds to unravel the whole rightwing use of these.
Posted by Marie at January 7, 2006 10:20 AMHe registered numerous web domains that fit right in with this scam. It would take an army of Fitzgeralds to unravel the whole rightwing use of these.
That's why the Democrats need to gain at least one house of congress in November and get supoena power. The "culture of corruption" is so deep and wide that everything thazt gets dug up can be used in a "clean government" presidential campaign in 2008. It would still be doable without a house in congress, look how far we've already come, but more difficult.
Actually, the SPAN had some IRS big wig giving a press conference after Abramoff plead(ed).
I think that the IRS is doing a big investigation into all 501(3)(c)s. This could be huge...it may even take down the mega-churches who preach politics from the pulpits. This may be an enormous blessing.
I believe that a lot of the campaign contributions, some given directly by tribes - not through Abramoff - were just that; campaign contributions. I don't think that those monies will receive the same scrutiny.
What is being looked at directly are the real quid pro quos that were linked specifically to do this for me and I'll give you this. Which is really prostitution. oooh.
I think that this will be the impetus to really check out charities and what they are actually doing. This could be a great clean-up of all kinds of things.
Posted by Anjha at January 7, 2006 10:41 AMDartanyon: Ix-nay on the ristmas-kay card for Abramoff, as he is an Orthodox Jew. If the republicans were smart,they would pass a law giving subpoena powers to the minority, because after November they will be in it.
Posted by TIKI AL at January 7, 2006 02:17 PMTake a look at DeLay's charity's web site:
Lots of empty placeholders for an organization that has been in existence for so many years. What's particularly odd, is that this is supposed to be a foundation to help abused children, yet there's a member section that is password protected. Ever heard of a non profit for abused children that had members? I've worked for thirteen years in the non-profit sector and I have never encountered an organiztaion like that with members.
Also, there's a rule for non-profits that requires them to expend a certain percentage of revenue every year on their tax exempt purpose - my FASB bulletins are in the office or I'd give the exact code. DeLays' charity has never broken ground on that home for abused children. But they have spent an awful lot of money on golf fundraisers. The IRS needs to spend some quality time crawling up DeLay's butt on this fraud rather than shaking down the NAACP.
Posted by ann at January 7, 2006 09:03 PM