Monday, March 27, 2006
Thoughts on Abuse of Charity 1/8/06
Dear Editor,
Don’t let Spin Dilute the Facts
There were many Republicans that took money directly from Jack Abramoff.
Both parties received donations from lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s CLIENTS. Although that is NOT a crime, many lawmakers are paying back these donations to charities in the wake of last Tuesday's guilty plea to corruption charges by the lobbyist.
Which brings me to, The Abuse of Charity. Donating to charity is one of the best things American’s do. When we hear that Abramoff’s Capital Athletic Foundation took in millions but spent less than 1% on it’s stated purpose, with the rest given to his pet projects, like overseas golfing trips and sky-boxes; or that a lot of the $4.4 million World of Hope’s money went to Dr. Bill Frist’s political friends, it stop’s us from trusting charities.
Many of these charities employ family and friends. Tom DeLay’s wife Christine earned $3,200 a month for 3 years for a total of $115,000 for making lists of favorite charities of members of Congress. She and her daughter were also paid more that ½ million dollars since 2001 by DeLay’s political action and campaign committees, (per documents filed with the Federal Election Committee).
In 1998 DeLay wrote, “We are for full and immediate disclosure” regarding campaign contributions. So let’s apply what he said about campaign contributions to charities connected to politicians.
Don’t let Spin Dilute the Facts
There were many Republicans that took money directly from Jack Abramoff.
Both parties received donations from lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s CLIENTS. Although that is NOT a crime, many lawmakers are paying back these donations to charities in the wake of last Tuesday's guilty plea to corruption charges by the lobbyist.
Which brings me to, The Abuse of Charity. Donating to charity is one of the best things American’s do. When we hear that Abramoff’s Capital Athletic Foundation took in millions but spent less than 1% on it’s stated purpose, with the rest given to his pet projects, like overseas golfing trips and sky-boxes; or that a lot of the $4.4 million World of Hope’s money went to Dr. Bill Frist’s political friends, it stop’s us from trusting charities.
Many of these charities employ family and friends. Tom DeLay’s wife Christine earned $3,200 a month for 3 years for a total of $115,000 for making lists of favorite charities of members of Congress. She and her daughter were also paid more that ½ million dollars since 2001 by DeLay’s political action and campaign committees, (per documents filed with the Federal Election Committee).
In 1998 DeLay wrote, “We are for full and immediate disclosure” regarding campaign contributions. So let’s apply what he said about campaign contributions to charities connected to politicians.
# posted by Florence Vincent @ 5:25 PM 
