Is this the end of hannity's career?

Discussion in 'Politics' started by joepistole, Mar 30, 2010.

  1. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Complaints have been filed with the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS claiming that hannity has been deceiving folks donating money to his charity. The claim says a good part of the donations are going to hannity and his friends rather than the beneficiaries of the charity. Additionally, they claim that the non profit is more of a political organization than a charity. Thus it should not qualify as a charity.

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/201003290032

    If these charges have merit will this be the end of hannity's career? Will his conservative friends in the court system bail him out? Will the supremes give him a special dispensation as they did george II if he is guilty?

    These are interesting allegations. I look forward to hearing more about it in the future. And I would like to see how the conservative following reacts to these developments. Will the outcome matter to hannity devotees? My guess is probably not...even if he is found guilty.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2010
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  3. Ganymede Valued Senior Member

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    Here's a copy of the tax return. He received 10 million in donations and only paid out 300k. He paid a lot more to his consultants instead of giving that money to the families that really needed it.

    Dead link, looks like Hannity had it removed from their site lol. I was wondering why Joe posted it again.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2010
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  5. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    They'll just say that George Soros set him up somehow. Hannity's a great American, and don't you forget it!
     
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  7. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    http://america20xy.com/blog6/2010/0...-charity-is-‘huge-scam’-conservative-blogger/

    Interesting.

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    And a conservative turned hannity in on this deal. Below is a link to her web page and he tax filing. The filing looks odd to me. Ten million collected in a year and only 397k going out in grants/benefits. That is not a real good pay out ratio for a charity that hannity claims 100 percent is being spent on the charity. The devil will be in the details. If the IRS and FTC investigates the complaints, it will be interesting to follow I think.

    http://www.debbieschlussel.com/6938...ps-kids-of-fallen-troops-g5s-g6s-for-vannity/
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2010
  8. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    Whether people realize it or not this happens in most NGO's and such charities. Most of the UN, aid and NGO donor money goes to 'consultants'. Seems to me that Hannity is behaving right in step with most charity or aid organizations. Only a trickle gets to where its needed or intended.
     
  9. Ganymede Valued Senior Member

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    I agree, charities of all stripes will end up allocating most of the funds collected to "administrative costs".
     
  10. countezero Registered Senior Member

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    Absolutely true. My experiences with NGO's and 501 (c) 3's was such that I would never give to any of them -- and this goes for United Way on down the line. Poorly run, poorly overseen and generally just shit shows...
     
  11. Michael 歌舞伎 Valued Senior Member

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    I'd like to see Hannity get busted. THAT would be great Fox News

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  12. pjdude1219 The biscuit has risen Valued Senior Member

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    um actually according to a site that ranks charities 9 out of 10(that they have rated) spend at least 65% on program expenses.
    http://www.charitynavigator.org/
     
  13. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Well it is a sad state. I remember a few years ago when the United Way CEO was busted for his lucrative personal deals. That is why I don't donate to United Way. The man walked away with a nice fat retirement package too.
     
  14. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    I heard that Dynamic Marketing, the same group involved in the bondage stripper club affair, is the group that sells a lot of stuff at these hannity events. This could get real interesting in the days to come. And of course Dynamic Marketing financials are not presented as they are a private company.

    In looking further at their financials, it would appear to me that this is more of a political action committee than a charity to support the children of veterans as only a very small fraction of expenses go to that cause (10 % or less).

    The overwhelming majority of expense appears to be related to production and distribution of Republican propaganda/personality cult material. Hannity and his friends are certianly getting a lot of good press in this organizations "publications".

    If the items listed as publications on their website are what they get for 3 milliion dollars, somebody ripped them off. The publications appear to flater and promote certian individuals. It is hard for me to see anything worthy of a charity in any of the publications shown on the web.

    It is also noteworthy that the charity claims to have donated 2.5 million dollars to scholarships over its life time. But in recent years according to its tax filing (2006) it has collected more than 25 million dollars. That is less than 10 percent going to benefit the children of veterans.

    What really stands out to me about the organizatiions website is that it is long on fluff and short on details. I was not able to find their tax filings on the website. Given what I have seen of their financials I can understand why...long on fluff short on details. That I think sums of hannitiy rather nicely in and outside of this charity. Below is link to the "charity"s website".

    http://www.freedomalliance.org/

    If this is mostly a political action committee as it appears to me, then hannity and his donors could have some problems with the IRS down the road.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2010
  15. navigator Registered Senior Member

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    Do you ever tire of falling in line with the liberal puppet media and slinging mud at people?

    You continue to make threads that are full of accusations and lead a pep rally for everybody to pile on. Do you ever consider what the facts are before you post, or is an accusation justification enough as long as its a rep in question?

    Are you aware that someone was arrested today for a death threat against rep Cantor? And that a random bullet did actually break his window? I found it interesting that when the dust settled and the facts came out the thread died. This thread seems to be following the same course.

    But I am sure, Joe, that you have kept up with this Hannity story too, way too much dirt to potentially let pass by, so I want to give you a chance to redeem some credibility that your not just a politcal hack. What is really going on between Hannity and the charity in question?
     
  16. Ganymede Valued Senior Member

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    He posted a link to the tax return. So what do you mean when you insinuate no one considered the facts? The facts are clear as day. He collected 10 million, and only paid out around 300k to the military families. Everything is itemized on the tax return. So do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with the facts then come back and lets debate the numbers.
     
  17. pjdude1219 The biscuit has risen Valued Senior Member

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    how do you fall in line with something that doesn't exist?
     
  18. navigator Registered Senior Member

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    He posted a link to a blog.

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    When does the otherside become important? It took 2 minutes to find this, you know, getting both sides of the story prior to drawing conclusions.

    Then found this...

    :shrug:
     
  19. navigator Registered Senior Member

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    For the record, if this turns into much ado about nothing, I hope those fanning the flames will get a reality check.

    If there are shenanigans then the charity and possibly Hannity should be held accountable, but IMO its best to reserve judgement.
     
  20. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    LOL. If a little truth feels like mud to you, you have my apologies. But truth is a good disinfectant. I find it odd that a devotee of the right would be concerned with little things like facts and truth. For example, show me where does one find this "liberal media"? I have not seen it and I have been around for a long time. Just because someone confronts you with fact and reason and blows your position out of the water, does not mean they are "liberal". It just means they are right.

    As for Cantor, what has that got to do with the price of tea in China...nothing. It still does not change the fact that Cantor lied when he said someone shot at his office. The Richmond Police Report clearly refutes that story. And just because someone is arrested or not arrested is not proof of guilt. Just look at the tape of the congressman being spit by the Tea Bag folks as he walked to Congress. That very rude Tea Bag Party activist was not arrested. But he clearly assualted the Democrat Congressman.

    It is funny but very predicatable that you and others with your point of view always result in ad hominem...personal attack when confronted. My personal integrity remains intact. I have not lied, I have not distorted unlike what typically happens with the devotees of the right in this country. So before you go accusing others, look at yourself. I would be much pleased if we could find more reason, fact and rational discussion in our public discourse. But that is the last thing those on the right want these days.
     
  21. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    A few little minor details

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    , I posted the link to hannity's website where he posted his refutation of the charges leveled against him. So, before you go making allegations, it is always good to read what you are trying to refute.

    Two, it is becoming rapidly apparent that hannity has a mix of intertwined companies. At first brush, there appears to be a lot of accounting game shells in play related to this business of hannity and his friends.

    Let's also look at the complaint, the complaint is that hannity claims 100% of the money collected is going to the children and veterans. A brief scan of the financials would show that is clearly not the case. A huge portion is going for administrative costs and or "publications". Now how does 375k in scholarship money out of 10 million collected in a given year justify 3+ million in publicaations and almost 10 percent in salaries and benefits? It is strange to say the least. But hannity should not be telling people 100 percent of the money collected is going to those the charity says it is helping. If it is a charity, it is clearly a very ineffective way of delivering benefit to the intened reciepients.

    The issue here with hannity and his supposed charity is not what you would characterize it to be but rather what it is. It is those annoying little facts that keep getting in the way of supporters of the extremist right wing.
     
  22. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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  23. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    You can avoid much of that by sticking to the more leftwing and less religiously affiliated NGOs and charities. Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, and even more so some of the smaller setups, are generally pretty efficient at getting the money to where it is supposed to go. When the earthquake hit in Haiti I just looked in my normal sources of reliable info, found a perfectly reasonable little outfit with open books that had been on the ground in Haiti for years dealing with housing and related infrastructure in a couple of areas the quake hit, and sent them a small check without fear of seeing most of it spent on soliciting me for more money. I have no problem donating to the Red Cross - they handle the profits from my blood with reasonable effectiveness.

    The UN, "aid", and other stuff connected with rightwing institutions and the IMF etc, is of course problematic - which should be recalled whenever the amount of "aid" from the US is brought into some discussion of the character flaws of the people of some country - say, Haiti.

    Hannity has no idea how to run a charity. The word itself probably associates with golf tournament, in his mind.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2010

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