Did St. Cindy’s peace group commit fraud to attract donations?
posted at 10:55 am on April 5, 2007 by Allahpundit
Send to a Friend |
printer-friendly
Niiiice work here by Sweetness & Light. He’s a teensy bit unfair when he says the process of filing for 501(c)(3) status should only take a few minutes (true with respect to filling out the application, but it can take months to be formally approved by the IRS) but otherwise he’s got himself a solid case of malfeasance.
Do their actions rise to the level of fraud, though? To prove criminal fraud you typically have to show intent to deceive or at least some knowledge on the part of the defendant that his/her actions were deceptive. Seeing as how she’s still studiously agnostic about what went down on 9/11, Mother Sheehan doesn’t strike me as the type who’d have any sense of what “501(c)(3)” might mean beyond the fact that it’s associated somehow with charities. She’s not trying to deceive, in other words; she’s just stupid. Nor would this be the first time she and her inner circle of merry pranksters haven’t been able to pull it together, man, to file paperwork necessary for their activities:
A nationally known anti-war group in Mclennan County has lost its corporate status with the state, and a former member is calling for an investigation.
Officials in the Texas State Comptroller’s office said the Crawford Peace House hasn’t handed in required paperwork in nearly a year…
Its corporate charter is now revoked.
“Why? Because we’re just not responsible about doing it, I guess. I can’t answer that. I would like for someone to come and volunteer for us to do that work for us,” Peace House Board Member Kay Lucas said…
When asked about specific numbers and receipts, Lucas said she didn’t have any available.
She also said the delinquent status for filing was in part due to paperwork being sent back.
“The IRS was asking us all these questions that I just did not know how to answer,” Lucas said.
They collected $700,000, according to one former member. A shade over $11,000 is still left. Without a corporate charter, there’s no limited liability for the officers and directors. Which means Mother Sheehan, potentially, is personally on the hook for any outstanding debts.
Well, look at it this way. They can take the house and their property, but a part of her will always be there.
Exit question: How much is the IRS loving Cindy these days?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Hmm, maybe this will motivate Dems to get rid of the IRS.
One can hope.
JasonG on April 5, 2007 at 10:58 AM
You may call her stupid, but her handlers are anything but. They have the bulk of the $700,000, and I would bet
Cindy has very little. She has been taken for a ride, and used, as most of us have known. Now she will face the grim reality that she, and her son, have been used as a money machine.
The liberal caring machine, at its best…taking and never giving.
Mayber Chavez will bail her out.
right2bright on April 5, 2007 at 11:02 AM
Not to put too fine a point on it, but a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is prohibited from engaging in “propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation” as a substantial part of its activities.
Now, tell me again what purpose of Ma Sheehan’s bunch served?
spd rdr on April 5, 2007 at 11:09 AM
That picture still reminds me of Alf.
dougless on April 5, 2007 at 11:12 AM
Ignorance and stupidity shouldn’t be excuses for breaking the law.
darwin on April 5, 2007 at 11:17 AM
Nice going. Just blame it on Johnson.
Kid from Brooklyn on April 5, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Sorry, can’t get excited about the IRS coming after anyone, even CS. Thugs are thugs.
Drum on April 5, 2007 at 11:22 AM
To: spd rdr
re. 501(c)(3) non-profits
When selective enforcement of laws, and selective investigations, and selective reporting, all designed to help Democrats, is revealed, it does more than just expose the double standard. It undermines faith and belief in law and justice. That’s corrosive to our society. Even if one believed that the “Progressives” are right about everything, policy wise, the ends do not justify the means, if overall faith in our institutions is destroyed.
Case in point: How many people, on either side of the political divide, are proud to bring their children to Washington DC? I’m afraid much damage is done. It’s not just the particular bums we have now that are hated, it’s the whole institution.
JiangxiDad on April 5, 2007 at 11:22 AM
No big deal. She’s a Democrat. They can do as they please.
JammieWearingFool on April 5, 2007 at 11:24 AM
Pehraps Sheehan’s inablity to perform even basic bookeeping tasks and financial management, or even have the hire someone who can, speaks volumes on her lack of intelligence and just downright common sense.
This is the same stupid, igorant, misguided, naive, fool that wants to influence others to her views of how wrong foreign policy of the United States is. The inept nature of the moonbat becomes glaringly apparent. Perhaps the IRS should also examine Code Pink’s books in detail as well.
omegaram on April 5, 2007 at 11:25 AM
She’ll get a pass. The squeals of ‘FASCISM, POLICE STATE, DISSENT CRUSHER’ would be deafening, and the media would drum that message hard.
Bad Candy on April 5, 2007 at 11:28 AM
Sorros will bail her out … and then formally kick her to the curb.
crosspatch on April 5, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Check the fridge. I bet there are some wads of cash in aluminum foil just waiting to be thawed.
She can do whatever she wants against the US government. Didn’t you hear about her heroic son being killed in Iraq? She’s above the law since she told him not to go.
Hening on April 5, 2007 at 12:30 PM
You might be correct in this. However, just as the left sees Bushrovian plots to steal all the world resources behind every move on the right, it’s just as likely these people are just as dumb as she. After all, the people in the blockquote above are some of her handlers.
Someone forgets to buy plane tickets 7 days in advance and they pay $1200 a pop instead of $300. They’ve probably accrued late filing penalties out the wazoo. I suspect they’ve cut solidarity checks to a few liberación charities in Venezuela (viewing them as charities). And someone’s got to pay for all those miles of pink fabric and barrels of pink paint. The money burn rate must be intense. It may well be that they really are the kind of folks who say “I must have money in my account, I still have checks.”
But, like I said, you may just as well be correct.
eeyore on April 5, 2007 at 12:40 PM
Thank you, I think I will.
However, as the only parent ever to have lost a child in combat, she has absolute moral authority.
saint kansas on April 5, 2007 at 12:48 PM
London I see it this way… Lefties glop onto the Cindytrain set up CindyTrain corp. put her up front for the cameras, count the money as it comes in, spend it even faster. Then when it’s all gone, and the Cindytrain runs outta steam, jump out and leave Cindy to foot the bill… And then blame it all on Rove.
Gwillie on April 5, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Ignore the London thing, that was a cut and paste error.
Gwillie on April 5, 2007 at 12:52 PM
Lying fron St. Cindy? No! I mean, just because she went home to California to be with her “sick/dying” mother doesn’t mean she cant make a completely unscheduled/surprise appearance on Jay Leno the same day!
Neo on April 5, 2007 at 12:57 PM
Well, I believe that Pink Xerxes is their accountant, so you can bet that there are some minuses in the plus column and vice versa.
ReubenJCogburn on April 5, 2007 at 1:02 PM
If the IRS goes after Sheehan the Dems will cry foul. Some will even mean it, because they believe that Sheehan’s icon status exempts her from trivial things like tax law.
And, of course, they will somehow blame Republicans for the mess.
Fatrap on April 5, 2007 at 1:03 PM
Good points, I think we may both be right. Some have their hand in the cookie jar, others are just stupid. Either way, they belong together.
right2bright on April 5, 2007 at 2:37 PM
That’s funny.
right2bright on April 5, 2007 at 2:39 PM
You know…………………. I really could have gone through the day without reading or knowing that. I thought it was just an urban legend, now thousands will be planting their uterus’ across the land.
“Farmer in the field, planting his crops……… What the fu$#!”
PinkyBigglesworth on April 5, 2007 at 2:50 PM
.
It’s amazing how one sentence can sum up the liberal mindset so perfectly.
forged rite on April 5, 2007 at 2:55 PM
Great, insightful, one of the simplest yet best posts.
right2bright on April 5, 2007 at 3:15 PM
I think that claptrap about her “parts” is an out and out lie, Pinkie - I haven’t had a surgeon yet even offer me any of my “parts” back.
thebookkeeper on April 5, 2007 at 4:51 PM
You’re right, AP. They are idiots. I’ve started and successfully run a 501(c)3 and have been involved at the Board level with several others. If you don’t know the answer to something the IRS is asking you, you go look for the answer and don’t stop until you have found the answer. Starting and running 501(c)3’s takes dedicated bucket work and it’s no place for slackers and folks looking for “that good feeling that comes from, you know, doing something.”
GPE on April 5, 2007 at 5:28 PM
Sheehan and company (Code Pink, etc) have a history of collecting money from suckers that they send to their Heroes of the Revolution in Cuba, Venezuela and anywhere else there’s a tin pot dictator. Medea Benjamin once admitted in an interview in a French newspaper to giving money collected for “Iraqi Children” to insurgents.
Cindy and Medea were just in Cuba recently, now they can’t account for 700 large? Sounds less like stupidity and more like treason!
Rob Taylor on April 5, 2007 at 5:33 PM
I am just $10.00 away from proving it is all just a mistake. Your donations can help St. Cindy recover from yet another baseless, homophobic, racist, masochistic, anti-American, politically motivated VRWC hate attack.
Please make all tax deductible donations payable to Yet Another Liberal Scam Inc.
RedinBlueCounty on April 5, 2007 at 7:45 PM
It’s looks like CPH is now in a legal quagmire and still doesn’t have an exit strategy.
On a serious note: IRS questions? Legal paperwork? Coffers filling with $700,000 in donations and they give an answer like “The IRS was asking us all these questions that I just did not know how to answer”? Just one more inadvertant hint that the “absolute” in “absolute moral authority” means “pure; not mixed” with things like intelligence or reason.
Dusty on April 5, 2007 at 8:03 PM
RedinBlueCounty, do you have PayPal? Heh.
major john on April 5, 2007 at 8:29 PM
Oh, my, thanks Bookkeeper, I wasn’t looking forward to tonights sleep………. Thank you!
“Farmer in the field, planting his crops……… ‘Did you hear that?’”
PinkyBigglesworth on April 5, 2007 at 10:26 PM
She should, but she won’t.
Pablo on April 5, 2007 at 11:48 PM
Testing…
Bad Candy on April 6, 2007 at 8:22 PM
Sorry, Testing again…
Bad Candy on April 6, 2007 at 8:26 PM