SPLC Engaged in Shady Dealings
The Washington Free Beacon, a lesser-known right-wing media outlet, has a story on questionable dealings by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a driving force behind the Confederate monument removal movement. All of the information is gathered from actual tax returns and SEC records, so it is supported with reliable sources.
Apparently, SPLC has been shoveling funds into offshore accounts for inexplicable reasons. In addition, they spent $20 million on payroll but only $61 thousand on legal services in 2015. This despite the "Law" in their name. The article shows top executive salaries exceeding $350K per year and a $140K minimum salary for directors and trustees.
Here's three paragraphs from the article:
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a liberal, Alabama-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization that has gained prominence on the left for its "hate group" designations, pushes millions of dollars to offshore entities as part of its business dealings, records show.
Additionally, the nonprofit pays lucrative six-figure salaries to its top directors and key employees while spending little on legal services despite its stated intent of "fighting hate and bigotry" using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy.
...
On March 1, 2015, SPLC sent $2,200,000 to an entity incorporated in Canana Bay, Cayman Islands, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records and run by a firm firm based in Greenwich, Ct. Another $2,200,000 cash transfer was made on the same day to another fund whose business is located at the same address as the previous fund in the Cayman Islands, according to SEC records.
Source: Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities
Comments
The veal pen must be really inviting.
Can't trust anyone.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
The King of Hate
Counterpunch is on it too edg. I dropped this in a comment at The Evening Blues. Long story short: https://caucus99percent.com/comment/291154#comment-291154
Here's the full article:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/25/king-of-the-hate-business-inside...
Thanks for bringing this up edg. Just like United Way, the SPLC spends all their money fundraising and paying administrative salaries. Helping themselves instead of helping others.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
I was surprised to see that coming from Counterpunch, as it
appears to be mostly gaslighting and innuendo. They have a ton of attorneys on board, who argue cases and file motions, writs and such, they don't need to incur much in the way of legal fees or expenses, probably mostly filing fees and such. The article mentions that they have 75 attorneys on staff and then says that they only have 61K in legal services. If they weren't trying to fabricate a smear, they wouldn't go there, because those attorneys are on the payroll. I don't think too much of their blather about the offshore investments either. The authors fail to realize that in reporting those transactions, they have made it pretty obvious that they are legitimate investments of legitimate funds (frants, bequests, awards, etc.). They aren't setting up offshore subsidiaries of shifting profits or any of those other games.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
75 lawyers but minimal trial expenses
Here are typical court costs (fees other than attorney) for state court in California. Federal court costs are even higher. 75 lawyers generating only $61K in trial expenses is not a good thing. Unless litigating just a small handful of cases in a year is the goal, something is very wrong.
Okay, I'd like to see a little more detail to this . . .
. . . before we start smearing organizations.
For instance, it says that the SPLC steered money to a firm based in Greenwich, CT, that has a Cayman islands registration. That foreign registration could be true of multiple corporate or investment firms. You may recall this kind of thing came up when Mitt Romney was running for POTUS. It doesn't mean the SPLC is parking its money overseas. It means the firm wants better tax outcomes for its own business practices.
And if the SPLC has lawyers on staff, they'd not need to have lots of legal fees in addition to that. And those high salaries? -- they're pitifully low by attorney standards.
As for program expense levels, what the SPLC does is not the same kind of charitable programming that other organizations do, say a food bank or the Red Cross. The SPLC does legal work, with lawyers, on staff. Their financial accounting will look different, too.
Whenever you look at any non-profit, you need to look closely. Annual reports cover a multitude of sins of shady outfits, and on the flip side of that coin anybody with ill intent can twist data to make any kind of salacious argument. A non-profit-knowledgeable person reading a 990 can usually figure out what's really going on.
Maybe there's something shady about the SPLC, but just maybe there's not. What we're being told, by people who stand to gain (professionally or ideologically) from what they are saying, needs a bit more inspection.
Beat me to it, thank you. Also, the right has been after
SPLC for ages. And, where is the support the the allegation that they are a driving force behind the monument removal.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Major contributor if not driving force.
and
Compared to... pretty much
zero monuments of Union Generals in the North. Well, maybe not zero, but if there are any I can't remember coming across one.
The South has always acted as if they'd won the -ahem- "War of Northern Aggression," probably becuz there was and is no reason to think otherwise. Other than blacks walking around freely not much changed.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Monuments to Union generals do exist
They just don't get anything like the publicity or the tourism. It's the old "Wrong but Romantic" vs. "Right but Boring" paradigm.
Nobody cares if they're related to Ulysses S. Grant or Philip Sheridan or any of those guys. But Robert E. Lee...if there's a Lee anywhere in the family tree, just watch the rush to claim him!
Go figure.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Exactly. And I'm sure
there are some statues here commemorating Union soldiers, generals even, but, I don't ever remember seeing a one, or anyone pointing one out. Then, my memory (like everything else) ain't what it used to be.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
(Brevet) Brig. General William J. Palmer
Well, I'm not in the North, but the West. Yet this monument to (Brevet) Brig. General William J. Palmer has played a significant role in my life:
source
The red brick building in the background is the high school I graduated from, William J. Palmer High School.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Chicago has ...
Grant in Lincoln Park
and Logan in Grant Park
Fun fact about statues made during this era:
When a soldier is riding a horse, four hooves down means he served in battle, three hooves down means he was wounded in battle, and two hooves down means he died in battle.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
fun fact -- statues of soldiers on horses
/
..... but died in a civilian bed in peace .....
..... and died in bed from those wounds ......
I learned those rules via General Palmer's statue. His mount has all four hooves on the ground, despite the fact that he died in 1909 from complications from a fall from a rearing horse he suffered in 1906. The rules we're discussing are why that statue's made the way it is.
Frankly, a more descriptive memorial would have had Palmer, the founding father of the Denver and Rio Grande family of railroads, "at the switch" of a steam locomotive!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Not necessarily...
As I understand it, there were no hard and fast rules about military statue design - more like conventions that shifted over time.
Case in point: John A. Logan (above with three hooves) was wounded in 1862 but died in 1886, after a long post war career as a Congressman, Senator, and VP candidate.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
shifting conventions
Indeed. The conventions as I cited them are probably what prevailed when Gen. Palmer's statue was cast in 1929.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Exactly
At This moment, only one other news rag
is pitching this story -- the Daily Caller, which is just tabloid trash.
I'm not taking the word of the washington beacon , a Reich wing propaganda outlet.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Exactly...
If you can't dispute the facts, attack the messenger.
@edg I don't bother trying
I don't bother trying to dispute
Rush Limpblah's facts either.
And as I recall, you were here singing praises of Trump all during the election. That praise didn't exactly pan out. Or perhaps you are thrilled with Conman Trump. Hahaha.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Singing Trump's praises?
You are confused. I was a Bernie Sanders supporter.
@edg You gave me all
You gave me all sorts of shit
during the election when I called Trump a conman and told people not to believe a word he says.
Ok, 24 hours later and your Reich wing propaganda sheet is still the only media pitching this horse shit about SPLC.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
You may be confusing me with someone else.
I can't locate any comments in my comment history or yours where I gave you shit and have no recollection of ever doing so. Could you provide links to them?
That doesn't even make sense, dance.
SPLC is a non-profit organization. There are no tax outcomes for its business practices because it is a tax-exempt entity.
There are tax outcomes for the financial-services company
. . . where the SPLC parked some of its endowments. The investment company is registered abroad, not the SPLC.
[edited for tone, with apologies -- for a sec it felt like I was at TOP. But seriously, folks, we at c99p were the ones who were skeptical readers. Has that changed?]
I am skeptical.
I'm skeptical of any non-profit that engages in shady activities. They should avoid the appearance of impropriety. Do you want SPLC to become another ACORN, where Republicans are handed its means of destruction on a silver platter?
Okay, gloves slightly off.
YOU are the one making this an ACORN thing, giving play to nonsense allegations. First, you couldn't distinguish between the non-profit and a for-profit investment firm that handles their account. Then, when that was pointed out to you, you say who cares, it's the appearance it would have for others just as ignorant about the difference. This diary and your comments are nothing short of concern trolling, and possibly more. Your source had ulterior motives that you casually omit.
How does it cast impropriety for the SPLC to invest its endowments? They are pretty much required to do that or explain to donors why they don't want those endowments to grow. Investment firms locate overseas for their own internal purposes, not to give the SPLC some extra special benefit, and in the current environment the investment firms that don't use every angle they can are usually the ones that also do poorly for their clients. I personally don't like the tax-avoidance schemes these investment firms and other corporations use, but that's not the point; the point is the SPLC has to invest its assets where they will do well, and for now that's with firms that may avoid taxes for themselves. Sucks to live in a capitalist world.
Now if you really just don't like the SPLC, or want to pitch for a competing non-profit, simply say that, be honest. Otherwise, bring some real substance into these aspersions you're throwing.
Love of Money Is The Root of All Evil
The United Way is a well known scam. Here are others:
https://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-articles/charitywatch-hall-of-...
Charitable organizations are the worst. How about Salvation Army? Professional panhandlers for God.
Make your check out to God and send it to my P.O. Box!
Anyone wanna bet that there are all kinds of phone fundraisers for Hurricane Harvey?
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
See my reply to Meteor Man, above. The right wing has been
after the SPLC for ages, including bomb and assassination threats and incessant slanders here and there. The arguments highlighted here are really self defeating. Either the authors aren't counting on people thinking about the details, or they don't understand enough about accounting and taxes to be competent to read anybody's financial statements.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Which part of tax exempt do you not understand? n/t
There is very little about tax exempt that I don't understand,
also very little about both legitimate and illegitimate offshore investments and business transactions. I am a retired CPA who specialized in auditing offshore and foreign matters. The stuff they throw out there is an attempt to con folks into suspecting scamming and wrongdoing, but is not remotely evidence of same. The fact that they are reporting it is a strong indicator that it is on the up and up, btw.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Confession
is good for the soul. But I have no power to grant absolution. I sincerely hope you're one of the good ones. But offshore banking centers create a large number of problems and many of them are legal. The US government has spent the last 35 years making things that are harmful to the general public legal.
I know there are attorneys who give accurate information on when it's legal to have the sheriff take over a dwelling and move the furniture on the lawn. They are careful to stay on the right side of the law. I don't find them or the structure of the laws they explain especially admirable.
I too have some involvement in finance. I can tell you that large public pension funds, if they have the clout, pressure fund managers based in places such as the Cayman Islands to open an entity under US jurisdiction. It offers numerous advantages ranging from reliable indemnification and legal issues resolved in US courts to reduced headline risk. A fund manager based in the Cayman Islands would start with a significant red flag when responding to an RFP from just about any public pension fund.
SPLC is a non-profit.
It doesn't need tax avoidance schemes to conduct legitimate operations because it's a tax-exempt organization.
Non profits are subject to tax on a lot of things, but that
isn't the point. The atricle is an attempt to make it appear that there is a concealment of revenue scam of sort going on, but their data doesn't show it.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I agree with others... I'd like to see a lot more on this...
... before I leap to any conclusions.
What I know is that automatically I dislike anyone moving money to the Cayman islands. Yeah, I get it. The "good" case is that they are dodging taxes, fees, or something else which is then going to fall on the backs of others. The less good cases go downhill abruptly. But really, if we started worrying about every legal entity that had an offshore account... well... I'm guessing about 90% of the corporations in the US would disappear.
Insofar as the court costs, I'd have to take a look at what they actually did as an organization for... say... 2016. Then I could get some sort of feel for what those "low" court costs mean. Perhaps their main thrust is not filing law suits but that begs the question, "OK, so other than publish lists, what do they do?"
All in all, my feel is that this is a lot of numbers thrown around with no context for the numbers. Then they are pitched as a scare story. I'd like to see some better research. For now, I'm putting this one in #RussiaGate territory.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
I no longer refer to the traditional
Right vs Left dichotomy when trying to determine the trustworthiness of any particular media report. Obama and Clinton in tandem, have shaken my faith in the reliability and honesty of many ostensibly liberal institutions. IMO, the truth about various controversial claims is now as likely (or unlikely} to come from one side of the political spectrum as the other.
native
I agree.
I used to trust the Washington Post and New York Times. Both have demonstrated that they are biased and untrustworthy, first with their treatment of Bernie Sanders and more recently with their anti-Russia crusade. And other things as well.
I bet it's money laundering* ...
Moving shady (Clinton Foundation?) cash through a tax exempt organization and then parking the cash off shore.
Best part about this scam: not only do you get to keep all the tax free money you allegedly gave to the charity, but you get to write off the amount again as a donation.
*assuming the story is legit
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Ten Million Dollars
will bend a lot of spines. Look at how cheap politicians go for.
I'm reserving skepticism, but it looks bad. The Counterpunch article points out:
That was then. This is now:
Net assets of $170 million? These are easy figures to check through public records. Looking for a fact check now.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
SPLC Is Very Wealthy
They have a $300 million trust fund and a vigorous fund raising arm to raise $45 million. I dunno, I'm not a cpa. The optics are bad for a group with a trust fund that large.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4482
(after thought edit) Curious how their expenses exactly match their annual income.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
The point of a trust fund is to build the fund to the point
where you can operate for one business cycle on the earnings of the fund without touching the principal. That guarantees that you can continue to function during periods of little or no revenue without having to downsize or deflect resources away from operations.
Allowing entities to build such trust funds or creating such funds for them is a lot of what people giving endowments is all about. Instead of giving x bucks for current operations, people donate or bequeath x bucks in trust with the earnings to be used for operations or further accumulated as operational condisions necessitate.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
*assuming the story is legit
could be a postscript for many, if not most recent media reports.
native
If one is engaged in money laundering, one does not report
it to the IRS. A lot of investment firms and insurance companes (which make most of their money through investments) use Bermuda, The Caymans and other "tax havens" for for the tax secrect advantages they offer to the criminally inclined, but for legitimate purposes related to maximizing their investment earnings. They aren;'t the only ones, either, check the registry on the next Princess Cruise Lines ship you see.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
In any case, I don’t want the SPLC deciding what I can and can’t
see on web searches, social media, or the Internet in general.
“Hate group, hate site” etc. is the new “conspiracy theory.” Truly justified in relatively few cases, it is a convenient label that, starting now, can and will be used very broadly to make inconvenient information disappear.
Glenn Greenwald:
In Europe, hate speech laws are often used to suppress and punish left-wing viewpoints
absolutely (++)