Monday 22 February 2010

Non Profit Scandal: Did 2 NY Dems Pocket Hurricane Katrina Money?

Malcolm Smith

Gregory Meeks

Rep Gregory Meeks, a member of the Congressional Black caucus, is under investigation for a familiar way CBC members love to steal taxpayer money by using non-profit organizations to hide their alleged dirty deeds in the name of helping people.

However, Greggie is not alone in the shenanigans; New York State Senator Malcolm Smith is also under suspicion for non-profit-money grabbing.

The New York Post reports:

Meeks' controversial charity, New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, is now under investigation by federal prosecutors.

According to its own filings, NOAH-F delivered just $1,392 of the roughly $31,000 it raised

"These people came down here, sold a good story and didn't deliver," said Louis Rainey, a former Louisiana Democratic political director who himself lost his home to Katrina.

"We didn't get the funds," Rainey told The Post.

"We never got a dime."

Meeks and state Sen. Malcolm Smith, also a Queens Democrat, established NOAH-F shortly after the storm to help 30 displaced families and made the new charity part of their previously organized New Direction Local Development Corp.

At the time, Meeks told the Times-Ledger, a Queens weekly, "Every dime, every dime, will go to these 30 families."

Full Story

In another story reported by The Post relating to the deceitful use of non-profits:

Rep. Gregory Meeks secured a $100,000 federal payout for a Far Rockaway community group whose executive director is a frequent campaign contributor.

The Queens Democrat -- now facing scrutiny for his ties to a controversial Hurricane Katrina charity, earmarked the funds for Ocean Bay Community Development Corp.'s job-training program in the 2010 spending bills, while his campaign pocketed $1,500 from Ocean Bay's executive director, Patricia Simon.

"It's a form a legalized bribery," said Melanie Sloan, of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Americans have to wonder if he is looking out for what is good for the country or good for his campaign coffers, and you really have no way to know."

The US Attorney's Office has launched a probe to find the missing money. The hurricane-relief effort was launched by a nonprofit group, New Directions Local Development Corp., founded by Meeks and state Sen. Malcolm Smith, also of Queens.

Both Meeks and Smith have said the New Directions was run by a board that made decisions about how its funds were used.

Full Story

Oh, blame it on the board!

When is NBC, ABC, and CBS going to launch a serious journalistic investigation on how Democrats blatantly are using these non-profits?

I call on my bloggers to report these types of stories which I’m sure are happening in your hometowns as well.

Via The New York Post

The Last Tradition