‘Pro-Troop' Charity Repeatedly Misled Donors, Funneled Millions To Tea Partiers

[Mustang]

Why would anyone donate to any charity that appears to be burning up almost half your donation in overhead, advertising, administration, and who knows what?

How can partisan derangement trump that?

Oh, right, because it IS derangement...

Remember Tom DeLay's financial connection with the dubious 'charity' U.S. Family Network?

U.S. Family Network - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personally, I've never seen any evidence that conservatives care about fraud, or financial shenanigans, or malfeasance of funds if the activities benefit conservative electoral causes. That's why I wasn't surprised by the lack of concern I saw conservatives exhibit regarding the legality/illegality of what conservative 501 (c) groups were doing with many of the 501(c)(3) groups that were supposed to be exclusively engaged in "charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering amateur sports competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals," when there was plenty of evidence that they were using their tax-exempt funds and status to engage in partisan activities.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Why would anyone donate to any charity that appears to be burning up almost half your donation in overhead, advertising, administration, and who knows what?

How can partisan derangement trump that?

Oh, right, because it IS derangement...

Like the Red Cross does?

The mere fact that a charity has high overhead does not make it illegal. Since I actually explored the Pro Publica piece in detail, and pointed out that they didn't actually back up their main allegation against MAF, and no one responded to it, I feel free to assume that the only reason you are harping on this charity, while ignoring others that do the exact same thing, is you are a hack.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Donors were deceived. Where is the pro-troop Conservative outrage? As a veteran, I would be outraged if Liberal charities were funneling money to Liberal political groups.

Tea Party Group Scammed Troops, Robbed Them of Millions in Donations to Fund Own Interests | Americans Against the Tea Party

'Pro-troop' conservative charity mainly exists to funnel money to Tea Party Express founder - Breaking Christian News and Opinion on CNMnewz.com

Quoting stories that are built on the Pro Publica article, and not on facts, doesn't exactly prove your point.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Hot air posted legitimate facts dispelling the lies, after they also reported on the propublica report. You will note, they have been audited by the IRS (no surprise there) and found to be in compliance.

You're dismissing propublica as biased only minutes after you linked to hotair.com for what you claim is credible information?

oh my.

Maybe you should actually read the propublica report before you accuse them of lying.

I did, they lied.

 

[Lakhota]

Hot air posted legitimate facts dispelling the lies, after they also reported on the propublica report. You will note, they have been audited by the IRS (no surprise there) and found to be in compliance.

Maybe you should actually read the propublica report before you accuse them of lying.

I did, they lied.

WHO said they lied? A former Move America Forward employee? Remember, the IRS is not allowed to comment.

 

[rdean]

Seriously, rdean? Did you really think that is a US Marine Corp.mil site?
"EIN News is unique among internet companies for the simple fact that it survived the "dot com" bust and continues to thrive. Since its founding, EIN News has grown to over 25 full-time employees, which includes IT engineers and editors, as well as customer service and sales departments. Our corporate offices are in Washington, DC, USA, while our editing and support staff are located in Prague, Czech Republic."

well, here comes the SMEARS and using our vets to do it they could care less

and again they are suggesting THE IRS go after WE THE people for their Political vendettas

they did this same thing with Sean Hannity folks.

don't let these people ruin a good cause for their dirty hate politics against the Tea Party

you and Huffingtonpost all crawl lower than a snake

the hufferpufferpost and cult members should move to Iran, North Korea, China, none of you deserve to have Freedom

You didn't mention the link from the U.S. Marine Corps News. I guess you think Marines are snakes too?

?Pro-troop? conservative charity mainly exists to funnel money to Tea Party Express founder - U.S. Marine Corps News Today

According to the right, no sites supporting the US Military have any credibility when right wingers don't like what's been said. We've seen it time and again.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Maybe you should actually read the propublica report before you accuse them of lying.

I did, they lied.

WHO said they lied? A former Move America Forward employee? Remember, the IRS is not allowed to comment.

I said the lied, any other stupid questions?

By the way, I notice you didn't respond to the post where I pointed out their lies, why is that?

 

[Ringel05]

Here, the top rated charities that support military and ex military. Move on America isn't one of them as they and most rated unsatisfactory or poor. Wounded Warrior Project is down there with MoA.........

charitywatch.org Veterans Deserve Better from Charities

There are lots of well known charities that use a large chunk of the money they receive for "administrative" costs.
Granted Lakhota is only focusing on this one to score cheap political points and rub it in the noses of he/she/it's political opposites, that much is obvious, but MoA and many others need to be taken to task for their practices. Not simply the ones who support the military but many others who have high "administrative" (or other called) costs.

 

[Ringel05]

Oh yeah, at least half of you wingnuts do the exact same thing so think before ya thank me.......

 

[NYcarbineer]

Funny how the article never actually supports the allegations it made, isn't it?

Maybe funny to you, but the article supports the allegations it made.

Would you like me to rub your pathetic excuse for logic in the fact that it doesn't?

Let us start with the actual source of the story, which you couldn't be bothered to provide a link to.

Pro-Troop Charity Misleads Donors While Lining Political Consultants? Pockets - ProPublica

Now that we have all the hyper-partisan nonsense out of the way, lets see what the partisan hacks actually have to say.

This is the core of everything they are accusing MAF of doing.



Interesting, isn't it. Funny thing, the IRS has never actually seen any evidence of this, despite the fact that they audit groups like MAF every year. I wonder why.

Let us read a little further.

"I personally oversaw the audit where I worked with the IRS as they went over every penny spent with a fine-tooth comb," Callahan wrote in March 2013. "As expected, they reported that we were in full compliance and all our expenditures were appropriate."

Oops, I just pointed that out, yet Pro Publica says this has been going on for years. Perhaps the IRS is incompetent, which would directly counter everything you believe about the IRS. You seem to have a problem.

Reading further we find this.

According to its five most recent tax returns, Move America Forward paid out more than $2.3 million to Russo or Russo, Marsh and Associates for services including "program management and advertising." That's about 30 percent of the charity's overall expenditures over that time.

Wow, they pay for services rendered by other firms. I will admit that this doesn't look good, but it is hardly anything like what the story charged them with doing, is it?

All I see is a lot of vague allegations about questionable, yet IRS approved, ways of spending money. There is nothing anywhere that even hints that MAF is funneling funds to any PAC, which makes the entire premise of this thread absurd.

Want to point out what I got wrong, or are you just going to blither about evil Tea Party assholes?

Did you read the Pro Publica article?

1. Misled donors - shown to have happened, in the article.

"Last year, Move America Forward even solicited funds by claiming a partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the largest hospital for wounded service members in the country. No such partnership existed, Defense Department officials say."

2. Inflated charitable accomplishments - shown in the article:

"Carolyn Blashek, the founder of Operation Gratitude, confirmed to ProPublica that two photographs used in fundraising emails by Move America Forward actually depicted soldiers with packages sent by Operation Gratitude. Blashek emailed ProPublica originals of one of the photographs, as well as others of the same soldiers, to prove it.'

...for starters...

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Maybe funny to you, but the article supports the allegations it made.

Would you like me to rub your pathetic excuse for logic in the fact that it doesn't?

Let us start with the actual source of the story, which you couldn't be bothered to provide a link to.

Pro-Troop Charity Misleads Donors While Lining Political Consultants? Pockets - ProPublica

Now that we have all the hyper-partisan nonsense out of the way, lets see what the partisan hacks actually have to say.

This is the core of everything they are accusing MAF of doing.



Interesting, isn't it. Funny thing, the IRS has never actually seen any evidence of this, despite the fact that they audit groups like MAF every year. I wonder why.

Let us read a little further.



Oops, I just pointed that out, yet Pro Publica says this has been going on for years. Perhaps the IRS is incompetent, which would directly counter everything you believe about the IRS. You seem to have a problem.

Reading further we find this.

According to its five most recent tax returns, Move America Forward paid out more than $2.3 million to Russo or Russo, Marsh and Associates for services including "program management and advertising." That's about 30 percent of the charity's overall expenditures over that time.

Wow, they pay for services rendered by other firms. I will admit that this doesn't look good, but it is hardly anything like what the story charged them with doing, is it?

All I see is a lot of vague allegations about questionable, yet IRS approved, ways of spending money. There is nothing anywhere that even hints that MAF is funneling funds to any PAC, which makes the entire premise of this thread absurd.

Want to point out what I got wrong, or are you just going to blither about evil Tea Party assholes?

Did you read the Pro Publica article?

1. Misled donors - shown to have happened, in the article.

"Last year, Move America Forward even solicited funds by claiming a partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the largest hospital for wounded service members in the country. No such partnership existed, Defense Department officials say."

2. Inflated charitable accomplishments - shown in the article:

"Carolyn Blashek, the founder of Operation Gratitude, confirmed to ProPublica that two photographs used in fundraising emails by Move America Forward actually depicted soldiers with packages sent by Operation Gratitude. Blashek emailed ProPublica originals of one of the photographs, as well as others of the same soldiers, to prove it.'

...for starters...

Did you? They claimed that the charity funnels millions of dollars to the Tea Party as their main accusation, and provided no evidence to back it up. In other words, they lied.

By the way, if you read my post you will see that I am not actually defending MAF. In fact, I actually agree that MAF needs to change the way it works. That said, the Pro Publica article failed to prove its main allegation. In fact, all the evidence they presented contradicts it. If they were actually doing this the IRS would have caught it, and filed charges. The fact that they didn't is all the proof a rational person needs to dismiss the major allegation. In fact, I notice you didn't actually address it in your reply.

Interesting.

Feel free to agree with me about the little stuff while ignoring the lies that were published just because you are a fucking hack.

 

[R.C. Christian]

Was Bono the head of this organization?

 

[Peach]

Move America Forward is smearing vets and gutting patriotism for political gain.

These types of crimes can easily land the principals in prison for more than a decade.

All who oppose investigation and prosecution should be charged under RICO statutes for aiding and abetting a racketeering and crime organization.

IF and I emphasis IF they did something illegal charge them but keep your pretend outrage to a minimum please.

I'd love to know the name of ANY group with tens of thousands of members/supporters that does not have a few bad apples, JUST ONE.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Would you like me to rub your pathetic excuse for logic in the fact that it doesn't?

Let us start with the actual source of the story, which you couldn't be bothered to provide a link to.

Pro-Troop Charity Misleads Donors While Lining Political Consultants? Pockets - ProPublica

Now that we have all the hyper-partisan nonsense out of the way, lets see what the partisan hacks actually have to say.

This is the core of everything they are accusing MAF of doing.



Interesting, isn't it. Funny thing, the IRS has never actually seen any evidence of this, despite the fact that they audit groups like MAF every year. I wonder why.

Let us read a little further.



Oops, I just pointed that out, yet Pro Publica says this has been going on for years. Perhaps the IRS is incompetent, which would directly counter everything you believe about the IRS. You seem to have a problem.

Reading further we find this.

Wow, they pay for services rendered by other firms. I will admit that this doesn't look good, but it is hardly anything like what the story charged them with doing, is it?

All I see is a lot of vague allegations about questionable, yet IRS approved, ways of spending money. There is nothing anywhere that even hints that MAF is funneling funds to any PAC, which makes the entire premise of this thread absurd.

Want to point out what I got wrong, or are you just going to blither about evil Tea Party assholes?

Did you read the Pro Publica article?

1. Misled donors - shown to have happened, in the article.

"Last year, Move America Forward even solicited funds by claiming a partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the largest hospital for wounded service members in the country. No such partnership existed, Defense Department officials say."

2. Inflated charitable accomplishments - shown in the article:

"Carolyn Blashek, the founder of Operation Gratitude, confirmed to ProPublica that two photographs used in fundraising emails by Move America Forward actually depicted soldiers with packages sent by Operation Gratitude. Blashek emailed ProPublica originals of one of the photographs, as well as others of the same soldiers, to prove it.'

...for starters...

Did you? They claimed that the charity funnels millions of dollars to the Tea Party as their main accusation, and provided no evidence to back it up. In other words, they lied.

By the way, if you read my post you will see that I am not actually defending MAF. In fact, I actually agree that MAF needs to change the way it works. That said, the Pro Publica article failed to prove its main allegation. In fact, all the evidence they presented contradicts it. If they were actually doing this the IRS would have caught it, and filed charges. The fact that they didn't is all the proof a rational person needs to dismiss the major allegation. In fact, I notice you didn't actually address it in your reply.

Interesting.

Feel free to agree with me about the little stuff while ignoring the lies that were published just because you are a fucking hack.

Lying about their affiliations is the little stuff? Claiming someone else's work as theirs is the little stuff?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Lying about their affiliations is the little stuff? Claiming someone else's work as theirs is the little stuff?

Did you read the title of this thread? Of the Pro Publica article? Don't both claim they are illegally funneling funds to the Tea Party? Since that is an actual crime, and the shit you are talking about is pretty typical of fake charities, yes, it is little stuff.

The article made a claim, and then proved that they were lying by pointing out that the IRS had audited them, and found no laws were being broken.

In other words, the entire premise of the thread, and the article, is a lie. You keep focusing on little stuff in an attempt to back up the lie, it isn't working.

 

[Lakhota]

Lying about their affiliations is the little stuff? Claiming someone else's work as theirs is the little stuff?

Did you read the title of this thread? Of the Pro Publica article? Don't both claim they are illegally funneling funds to the Tea Party? Since that is an actual crime, and the shit you are talking about is pretty typical of fake charities, yes, it is little stuff.

The article made a claim, and then proved that they were lying by pointing out that the IRS had audited them, and found no laws were being broken.

In other words, the entire premise of the thread, and the article, is a lie. You keep focusing on little stuff in an attempt to back up the lie, it isn't working.

Once again, dumbass, who said they passed an IRS audit? It was former executive director, Shawn Callahan, with Move America Forward. The IRS can't comment on audits.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Lying about their affiliations is the little stuff? Claiming someone else's work as theirs is the little stuff?

Did you read the title of this thread? Of the Pro Publica article? Don't both claim they are illegally funneling funds to the Tea Party? Since that is an actual crime, and the shit you are talking about is pretty typical of fake charities, yes, it is little stuff.

The article made a claim, and then proved that they were lying by pointing out that the IRS had audited them, and found no laws were being broken.

In other words, the entire premise of the thread, and the article, is a lie. You keep focusing on little stuff in an attempt to back up the lie, it isn't working.

Once again, dumbass, who said they passed an IRS audit? It was former executive director, Shawn Callahan, with Move America Forward. The IRS can't comment on audits.

Did the IRS file charges? Are they investigating the charity?

The answer to both of those questions is no, which proves the IRS didn't find anything illegal.

Feel free to throw a fit and stamp your feet.

 

[Lakhota]

Did you read the title of this thread? Of the Pro Publica article? Don't both claim they are illegally funneling funds to the Tea Party? Since that is an actual crime, and the shit you are talking about is pretty typical of fake charities, yes, it is little stuff.

The article made a claim, and then proved that they were lying by pointing out that the IRS had audited them, and found no laws were being broken.

In other words, the entire premise of the thread, and the article, is a lie. You keep focusing on little stuff in an attempt to back up the lie, it isn't working.

Once again, dumbass, who said they passed an IRS audit? It was former executive director, Shawn Callahan, with Move America Forward. The IRS can't comment on audits.

Did the IRS file charges? Are they investigating the charity?

The answer to both of those questions is no, which proves the IRS didn't find anything illegal.

Feel free to throw a fit and stamp your feet.

How the fuck would you know whether the IRS or Attorney General is investigating?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Once again, dumbass, who said they passed an IRS audit? It was former executive director, Shawn Callahan, with Move America Forward. The IRS can't comment on audits.

Did the IRS file charges? Are they investigating the charity?

The answer to both of those questions is no, which proves the IRS didn't find anything illegal.

Feel free to throw a fit and stamp your feet.

How the fuck would you know whether the IRS or Attorney General is investigating?

Because you have access to the Internet?

 

[Lakhota]

Did the IRS file charges? Are they investigating the charity?

The answer to both of those questions is no, which proves the IRS didn't find anything illegal.

Feel free to throw a fit and stamp your feet.

How the fuck would you know whether the IRS or Attorney General is investigating?

Because you have access to the Internet?

Go ahead, sparky, look it up.