Vets charity allegedly funneled donations to Minn. Republicans

[Avidor]

Source: Minnesota Independent

A charity under investigation in five states has deep ties to Minnesota, from substantial contributions to state Republicans like former Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. Michele Bachmann to its employment of a Minnesota lobbyist and a recently closed St. Paul operation. Officials in other states are calling the United States Navy Veterans Association (USNVA) a fraudulent charity, and its founder and sole organizer, Bobby Thompson, has disappeared in the wake of investigations alleging the group diverted charitable donations intended for military veterans to Republican candidates and political action committees.

Read more: http://minnesotaindependent.com/61239/vets-charity-group-allegedly-funneled-donations-to-minn-republicans

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More at the Dump Bachmann blog:

http://bit.ly/dlg2Ux

[Tempest]

1. Veterans charity may be a front for one man’s political agenda

For more than a month, the I-Team’s been investigating a charity first brought to light by the St. Petersburg Times. The charity’s Ohio headquarters lead to a Cincinnati address that turns out to be a mail drop at a UPS store.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg to what turns out to be a national fund raising arm Ohio’s top prosecutor says could be diverting millions of dollars contributed by Ohioans and residents in other states to fund one man’s political agenda.

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/Veterans-charity-may-be-a-front-for-one-man%E2%80%99s-political-agenda

[Tempest]

2. Mystery surrounding U.S. Navy Veterans director Bobby Thompson grows

In 2006, Ohio politician Betty Montgomery reported a $500 contribution to her 2006 campaign for attorney general from U.S. Navy Veterans director Bobby C. Thompson. His address was listed at 934 Smiley Ave., Cincinnati.

A Bobby Thompson did live there, just not Bobby C. Thompson. It was Bobby no-middle-initial Thompson, a 67-year-old retired metalworker who says he lived in that Smiley Avenue house with his wife, Ernestine, during all of 2006, but he never wrote a campaign check to anyone.

"I ain't never been in the Army, ain't never been in the Navy, ain't never been in the Air Force, ain't never been in the Marines, and I don't make contributions,'' he said. "And I have a problem with this."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/mystery-surrounding-us-navy-veterans-director-bobby-thompson-grows/1108943

[dmr]

14. I have a hard time believing he was working alone.

Wonder who he was in cahoots with.

[Tempest]

3. Cuccinelli Still Won't Give Fake Vets Group Donations To Real Veterans

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) took $55,000 in campaign contributions from the U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA) founder Bobby Thompson before it was revealed that the USNVA was quite possibly a scam that existed solely for the personal enrichment of one Bobby Thompson. After his fellow state Republicans discovered it, they hastily turned around and gave the tainted donations to actual non-profits that help individual veterans. Not Cuccinelli, though: he insisted on keeping them even as he told reporters that he also would not be initiating any investigation into Thompson or USNVA.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/us_navy_veterans_association/

[madmom]

4. sean hannity, glen beck now this guy. yep repugs support the troops big time!

[blm]

5. Deception: It's the Republican Way.

.

[sabrina 1]

6. To Republicans, the troops are just a tool to be used.

What happened to all the yellow ribbons and flags and 'Support the Troops' banners now that the troops really need help, many of them homeless already and suffering from the effects of those Republican supported wars?

[FiveGoodMen]

9. 'Support the Troops'

One of the most Orwellian phrases in the world.

Never, never, never means what it says.

'Support the abuse of the troops by our lying, thieving politicians' is what people really mean every time they say that.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Gee, why would anyone have suspected Bobby Thompson? He just looks so damned honest!

Surely there's been a mistake! :eyes:

From VetVoice:


http://www.tampabay.com.nyud.net:8090/multimedia/archive/00113/A4S_bobbyandgee0321_113246c.jpg

Bobby Thompson, left, poses with Hillsborough County Sheriff David
Gee, as Gee accepts a Navy Veterans Association donation to the
Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches. With them are association volunteers
Blanca Contreras, left, and Karmika Rubin, since named special counsel.

Suppertime on a Sunday evening, a phone rings in suburban Tampa. Some 1,200 miles away, in a call center in Michigan, a cheerful telemarketer starts his pitch for a donation to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.

Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan need your help, he says. Any donation, even $20, would help pay for care packages.

He says the Navy Vets group has a long history. "They have a main office right there in Tampa. They really are on the up and up.''

How much of the donation gets to the Navy veterans, the homeowner asks, and how much goes to the telemarketer?

"That's a good question, I'm glad you asked. Hold the line and I'll get a supervisor.''

The supervisor says 20 percent goes to the charity. When the home­owner presses for more details, the line goes dead.

Other questions about the nonprofit went unanswered as well. In a six-month investigation, the St. Petersburg Times could find only one officer in the entire organization, and the nonprofit declined to reveal where its millions of dollars of income went.

More:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/multimillion-dollar-nonprofit-charity-for-navy-veterans-steeped-in-secrecy/1081213

Reprinted in VetVvoice.
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3846

[Avidor]

10. Last seen gettting his picture taken with Bachmann & Palin for $10K

[WileEcoyote]

8. Wonder if Gary Jarmin's oily hands are on this one

Hey just saying. It's got his smell all over it.

Think I like about these rascals is that pull mega millions of dollars away from rank & file GOP sucker base.

[mikeSchmuckabee]

11. Why is Yakov Smirnof representing Navy Veterans?

[Brother Buzz]

13. I was thinking Billy Mays but I understand he's still dead

[davidinalameda]

12. is this guy still on the run

or have they caught him yet

[No Elephants]

15. Republicans love exploiting the troops and "patriotism."

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Avidor.