FREEDOM ALLIANCE: WHERES THE MONEY?

OK, as a progressive Blog, you know that the disasters that happen to the not-so-progressive portion of the political world end up as literary fodder on blogs such as mine. Details about the great Sean Hannity and his 501(c)3 charity scam fall into that category. So here goes:

Accusations against Sean, Olie North, and their Freedom Alliance charity have mounted during the week. There's increasing outrage from concerned citizens of every stripe because of what looks like Hannity’s mis-use of the organization's funds. You see, Freedom Alliance is supposed to be a not-for-profit with their mission being to raise money for wounded Veteran's children. They produce concerts and set the money raised aside to help these families.

A grass roots organization called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have formally filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the IRS for what it described as Freedom Concert’s “illegal and deceptive marketing practices by suggesting that all money generated by ticket sales for the Freedom Concerts he sponsors each summer goes to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members.” Now why would they say that?

Surprize! Premiere Marketing actually puts on the concerts. It's solidly a for-profit company that manages the speech engagements for Sean Hannity. They take a huge cut out of the money raised at these "concerts" as administrative fees. When I say huge, I mean over 50%. It looks like a judge is going to have to decide if the 501(c)3 status is permitted when such a substantial amount is funnelled into the Freedom Cruises where Michael Steele and Newt Gingrich come on board and do their shtick.

So it turns out that yet another well intended organization ends up being a front for faux do-gooders to make money for personal gain. It's too bad because the concept is ideal. Producing events to help put offspring of wounded or killed military personnel through college is a noble cause.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW says: “There is much more that will be revealed in the coming days. Most importantly, people will soon have some substantive action taken to ensure money donated to helping veterans and their families actually goes toward that cause rather than feeding into Premiere Marketing and funding politics." I understand some of the artists that participated aren't pleased to hear this either.

It seems the former GOP Chairman in Florida, Jim Greer is facing similar charges regarding the mis-management of funds while he was in that top spot. He has since resigned his post. You can be sure that Sean Hannity will do no such thing. It's just as well because we need him right where he and Glenn Beck can do what they do best.

One a closing note: an organization that I have promoted quite often is www.operationhomefront.net. I think it's got a little more legitimacy at this point and they've done good things locally.