Congressman Conyers:How to be a Millionaire

[cal04]

A man by the name of Ward Connerly found that he could become a millionaire by becoming the chief executive of a non-profit. That's right. The top employee for an organization that purports to serve the public interest collects $1 million annually. For a working thirty hours a week. Great work if you can get it.

So what public interest activity nets such extraordinary compensation from a non-profit? Working to advance ballot initiatives to defeat affirmative action. That's right. The American Civil Rights Institute, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, and the American Civil Rights Coalition, a 501(c)(4) tax exempt organization paid its president, Mr. Connerly, over $1 million.

You may not be surprised to learn that there are actually laws that prevent this abuse of the tax code, specifically Section 4958 which prohibits the payment of excessive compensation to employees of tax exempt organizations, requiring special taxation rates for any “excess benefit transaction.”

Of course, ballot initiatives on affirmative action are often used to increase voter turnout by promoting racial division. The tax code should not be abused to support this kind of activity.

Congressman Charlie Rangel, ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee, joined me in bringing this abuse to the attention of the Internal Revenue Service. It is unconscionable for this type of activity to take place at taxpayer expense. My hope is that the IRS will act swiftly to end this gross misuse of the tax code.
http://www.conyersblog.us/

Conyers urges audit of affirmative action foe
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060804/POLITICS/608040350/1022

[marmar]

1. I always suspected that Ward Connerly was a slimeball...

Now we have confirmation....

How does John Conyers keep his eyes on so many issues at a time? If he's not busting Connerly's fraud, he's writing 1,000-page reports on voting fraud or holding hearings on presidential abuses of power or investigating fraudulent Iraq War intelligence. Nobody in Congress works harder.

[me b zola]

2. Expose all of these cockroaches for the filth that they are

Another big thumbsup for Reps Conyers & Rangel :thumbsup:

[gumby]

3. Wow.

That's how these creeps work. From Ward Connerly to Ralp Reed to Grover Norquist to Tom DeLay to the Bush Family.

They keep the money circulating in order to Deprive the people in order to further enrich the wealthy. They keep the money flowing among themselves to buy Congress and make the laws that take more and more from average citizens and keep that money acclimating in their greedy, hateful, blood-stained circle-jerk.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Okay, you're getting warmer, you're getting WARMER!

Definitely, a start. So my question is, if there are laws on the books to stop these abuses, why is no one stopping them? In Conyer's case, he gets all this publicity and a referral to the IRS. But what does an average citizen have to do if they encounter this kind of corruption?

Crime, Crime. Everywhere you look, you'll find it, and not one regulatory agency available to stop it. Too much of it relies on common citizens to step up and sue, but here's the problem:

1) What ordinary citizens have $10.000 to START a legal action?
2) Who can find a lawyer they can trust to keep the costs down?
3) If the corruption is bad enough, will your lawyer be intimidated by powerful, political law firms from the other side?
4) If you need a powerful attorney to fight a powerful opponent, will the costs really be kept down to $10,000?

This is a job for a public agency. We desparetely need one to refer all the local white collar crime we've witnessed so we can put an end to it.