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Taxpayers Subsidize Sedition
Organized Crime Granted Non-Profit Status

April 16, 2003

President Bush is more than miffed because somebody in Russia is supplying weapons to our enemies in Iraq and Russian President Vladimir Putin is forestalling the inevitable mea culpa.  Putin probably wants his cut of the arms deals, in cash, before he shuts them down.  Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, has his panties in a twist because a U.S. bomb and missile attack on Iraqi television was an “attempt at censorship and may have breached the Geneva Conventions”.  He doesn’t want to miss the next episode of “Let’s Execute Allied POW’s” on “Survivor-The Baghdad Chronicles”.  And the U.S. taxpayer, while being gored between the double beasts of terrorism and terminal taxation, is directly subsidizing government-sanctioned sedition. 

Ramsey Clark, that darling poster child for the Hate-America crowd, and his organization (spelled “front”), the International Action Center (IAC) should be the immediate focus of an Internal Revenue Service audit and possibly a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) investigation. 

More precisely, the 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization, the People’s Rights Fund, Inc. (PRF) that the IAC uses as a bank for its far-flung network of protest organizations is the bull’s-eye in a seditious pyramid scheme. 

The IAC, with an address at 39 W 14th St, Manhattan, NY lists a telephone number of 212-633-6646.  An AnyWho (AT&T) search of that address and phone number returns the following:  International A.N.S.W.E.R., Coalition To Stop US Intervention In The Middle East, Haiti Support Network, International Action Center, Iraq Sanctions Challenge, Millions For Mumia, Mumia Mobilization, National Peoples Campaign, Peace For Cuba, People’s Rights Fund, US Out Of Korea, Workfainess and Support Network For The Armed Forces (S.N.A.F.U.).  Don’t worry…it only gets more deceiving. 

Think of the IAC as, in gangster terminology, a Front for a plethora of protest organizations or cells.  From the IAC website, links are provided to the commonly funded above organizations.  In one or more of several ways, the resources of the PRF supply funding to a network of cells. 

The organizations comprising this purported coalition of interests are, in actuality, nothing more than interlocked cells for the same gaggle of malcontents.   S.N.A.F.U., despite its misleading name, is a cell that encourages US military personnel to “resist and to contact SNAFU” for coaching on resistance methods.  In essence, S.N.A.F.U. is inciting sedition. 

Another of IAC’s links, presently its feature link, is to the Vote To Impeach organization.  You guessed it…another pseudo-anonymous website collecting e-ballots for the impeachment of the President.  Whether one agrees with the present war or not, the President is acting in accord with the War Powers Act and the blessing of the Congress.  To make incendiary and baseless allegations against a President, especially when, in a time of war, they are linked to other resistance movements with no disclosure of their interlocked natures, is seditious.  Donations, linked from the IAC website, go to the same Washington, D.C. address as that listed for VoteNoWar.org.  

VoteNoWar.org is, in its own words, “a project of International A.N.S.W.E.R. (IA)”.  This cell is collecting e-signatures for its ballot to stop the war in Iraq.  More significantly, it is a portal soliciting volunteers and donations for the anti-war movement.  It also credits its parent IA for organizing the national and often-seditious anti-war rallies throughout the nation.  Bingo, right again, all donations are funneled to the PRF. 

The financial cleaning…I mean clearing house for all of these cells is the People’s Rights Fund of 39 W 14th St, Manhattan, NY.  To the point…this is not about the war with Iraq…it is about a cesspool of non-profit entities that consistently fly under the IRS’s radar screen of questionable compliance. 

The People’s Rights Fund, as a non-profit corporation operates under IRS code 501 (c) (3).  To comply with the regulations, the PRF must annually file a form 990 that is the non-profit equivalent of an individual’s form 1040.  The PRF must have been the early victim of a WMD attack because in each of the archived years from 1997 to 2001 a request was made for a filing extension, “Bookkeeper has been ill and unable to compile the necessary information in time to file return.”  Nothing like the dog eating the homework for 5 consecutive years. 

From 1997 to 1999, the PRF stated “the organization’s primary exempt purpose” as “Educational Research, Publications” in Part III of form 990.  For the years 2000 to 2001, it left that space blank.  Maybe a proverbial case of searching for a purpose in life or perhaps, the PRS just won’t kiss and tell. 

They represent, in lines a and b of Part III, that the bulk of the PRS expenditures are for “Grants to educational organizations resulting in publication of educational brochures, books, studies and/or videos of contemporary problems and events” and “educational conferences each attended by over 1000 participants and observers which examined contemporary issues and events.”  Damned funny way of describing violent protests, property damage and arrests.  In 2001, they spent $293, 286.00 on these events. 

The PRF must be the most efficient organization in America…a model of capitalism.  In 2001, its president declared a workweek of 1 hour compared to ½ per week for both its vice-president and secretary-treasurer.  It’s hard to understand how an organization that received total tax-free revenue of $350,105.00 gets-by with a total contribution of 2 hours per week cumulatively from its top 3 officers.   

In response to the question (Part III of form 990), “During the year, has the organization attempted to influence national, state, or local legislation including any attempt to influence public opinion on a legislative matter or referendum?” the PRF checked NO.  A quick reading of the goals put forth by the affiliate organizations funneling dollars to the PRF and probably receiving some back makes this negative response a real leap of faith. 

Part VII, line 51 of Form 990 asks, “Did the reporting organization directly or indirectly engage in any of the following with any other organization described in section 501(c) of the Code (other than section 501(c)(3) organizations) or section 527, relating to political organizations?  a. Transfers from the reporting organization to a non-charitable exempt organization of (i) cash (ii) other assets.  c.  Sharing of facilities, equipment, mailing lists, other assets or paid employees”.  The People’s Rights Fund answered NO to all the above. 

A search of both IRS 527 (political organizations) records and 990 records showed no registration or filing for International A.N.S.W.E.R. or many other links on the A.N.S.W.E.R. and IAC websites, yet these other organizations funnel their donations into PRF and are listed as having the same office addresses and telephone numbers as the PRF.  Additionally, they are obviously using IAC websites for the furtherance of their agendas. 

If PRF-supported organizations like A.N.S.W.E.R. are either 527 or 501(c) qualified, why are they not listed as having filed any compliance forms and/or disclose their legal names?  If they are not exempt, why isn’t the PRF declaring that it has transferred and/or shared cash, other assets or facilities with them?  Once again this has created a grey area of credibility that any legitimate non-profit would clarify. 

For the 2001 Form 990, the PRF declares revenue of $350,105.00.  Of this amount $347,309.00 is itemized as “Direct public support”, $1396.00 is itemized as “dividends and interest from securities” and $1400 is “Gross rents”.  On Schedule B of Form 990, the PRF itemizes four individual contributions of $14,000.00, $28,500.00, $7000.00 and $8000.00 for a total of $57,500.00.  This leaves an un-itemized $289,809.00 from “Direct public support”.  Although this method of reporting may well fall within present IRS guidelines, the taxpayer directly subsidizes it because the PRF is tax exempt and the donors are allowed deductions for their contributions.  This type of non-disclosed money trail should be reviewed by the Congress and revised.  The taxpayer has a right to know what they are paying for. 

As an organization that states its purpose as “Educational Research”, the PRF, in order to comply with the code, must adhere to IRS Revenue Procedure 86-43, 1986-2 C.B. 729.  This is to insure that the organization is pursing allowable education and not prohibited propaganda.  The Public Interest Watch organization clearly explains this:

• They provide that the presence of any of the following factors in presentations made by an organization is indicative that the organization is not educational:

   

  1. The presentation of viewpoints unsupported by facts is a significant portion of the organization's communications.

  2. The facts that purport to support the viewpoints are distorted.

  3. The organization's presentations make substantial use of inflammatory and disparaging terms and express conclusions more on the basis of strong emotional feelings than of objective evaluations.

  4. The approach used in the organization's presentations is not aimed at developing an understanding on the part of the intended audience or readership because it does not consider their background or training in the subject matter.

In a fundraising message dated July 20, 2001, the PRF’s main operational entity, the IAC, stated the following, “President Bush, in an attempt to win support for his  anti-people political program is bribing us with his new $300 plus tax return.”  They proceed to state that; “At the International Action Center we have formed a committee of 200 to help fund the September 29th mass demonstration.”   Under IRS Revenue Procedure 86-43, 1986-2 C.B. 729, this does not appear to qualify as non-propagandistic education. 

Further, it is an admission to organizing and funding a mass demonstration whose purpose was, “to protest Bush, the IMF, the World Bank and their policies.”  Would not the party responsible for organizing and funding an event also be responsible for the conduct of that event?  If a continuing pattern of violence and/or sedition was conspired or even tolerated through a web of organizational fronts, would that not start to look like RICO domain?  At the minimum, would not the organizing and funding entity be liable for any damages to public and/or private property resulting from the event? 

 The PRF, through the IAC, has a history of propagating action cells or fronts with the fertility of a gerbil.  The donations raised by any of these cells are funneled back for further disbursement to the PRF.  With the bald face of innocence will the PRF funded IAC protest that it has no pattern of organizing and funding inflammatory and biased demonstrations that usually result in mass arrests?  These are issues that mandate both IRS oversight and Justice Department investigation. 

Over the last decade, about 30,000 new non-profit entities have been created annually.  The non-profit sector in America is estimated to represent from 6% to 12% of the nine trillion dollar U.S. economy.  How non-profits conduct their business and account for their dollars is serious business for the American taxpayer.  It is, after all, the American taxpayer who is subsidizing this sector. 

Perhaps the PRF could claim more autonomy from oversight for its conduct if the taxpayer wasn’t subsidizing its activities but that is not the case.  The People’s Rights Fund, Inc. is a tax-exempt non-profit supported by the subsidization of America’s taxpayers and the public should know the full nature of what they are paying for.

 

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