Facts from the Front – September 2016

by Moe White –

A Tale of Two Charities

The X Foundation

Back in 2013, the “X” Foundation, named for a famous presidential candidate, contributed $25,000 to a state Attorney General’s reelection campaign. A few days later, the AG decided to drop its developing investigation of X’s bankrupt enterprise, which was already being investigated and/or sued for fraud in four other states.

Several weeks later, X hosted a fundraiser for the AG at his private luxury club, at which the AG raised several hundred thousand dollars from X’s wealthy friends but paid only a few thousand dollars in rent.

Problem was, campaign contributions by charitable foundations are illegal. So in its tax filings, the X Foundation claimed the money went to a nonprofit in another state (which never received any such donation). Three years later, when caught, X Foundation paid a $2,500 fine, and X himself [claimed to have] reimbursed the foundation out for its illegal political contribution. There’s no evidence the AG has ever returned the illegal donation.

The same year, X personally donated $35,000 to a different state’s AG, who was running for governor. Coincidentally, that AG also decided not to pursue an ongoing investigation of the bankrupt X enterprise. What luck! What serendipity!

Foundation Y

Meanwhile, the “Y” Foundation, also named for a famous presidential candidate, was awarded the top rating—Four Stars in both accountability and transparency—by charity watchdog group Charity Navigator, based on annual tax documents filed by the Foundation. That Foundation also earned an “A” rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy’s Charity Watch and a “Platinum” rating from the philanthropy watchdog group GuideStar.

Candidate Y served four years in high office a number of years ago, and during that time, according to official logs and records, had at least 17,500 phone contacts and/or meetings with people in and out of government and around the world.

In 84 cases (.0048 % of those contacts), people who had donated to the Y Foundation asked for favors from Y—and almost all of those requests were ignored or denied. Two former donors, who were both involved in philanthropic and international affairs, actually got to talk with or meet Y—though it turns out Y had been a friend of both men for more than 25 years.

Sweet or sour, clean or corrupt

Which charity would you trust? Foundation Y, with its four-star Platinum A rating, or Foundation X, which has already had to pay a fine for illegal campaign contributions?

Me, too. Foundation Y, and candidate Y, are clean as a whistle, while Foundation X and candidate X are provably tainted with fraud and corruption. Right?

So guess which one is being investigated for what news media call its “scandalous” “pay-for-play” operations?

And the beat goes on.

Facts From The Front is a monthly column by copy editor Moe White in which America’s Constitutional democracy is defended against ongoing assaults by those who prefer less palatable alternatives: oligarchy, autocracy, theocracy, feudalism, fascism, and other nondemocratic methods of government. Among the qualifications for White’s commentary and ridicule are hypocrisy, dishonesty, corruption, unbridled greed, flat-out lies, and sheer idiocy on the part of public figures.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in “Facts from the Front” are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Urban News.