State Sen. Eric Adams involved in another “NON-PROFIT” scandal

As you may know, I’ve reported extensively on Rep Gregory Meeks who is currently under instigation for the whereabouts of missing money he raised through a non-profit group he started that was supposed to aide Hurricane Katrina victims.



The 30K that was collected never made it to Louisiana and the U.S. Attorney has been looking into what happened to the dough for the past 6 months.



The scandal should have made national news and Gregory Meeks a household word. Had Meeks been a white Republican from the south instead of an African American from New York , the updates on the news would be coming every 24 hours.



However, more important than the double standard of news coverage, is the fact that politicians rob the taxpayers blind through phony “non-profits” they create and money always seems to be unaccounted for.



If you see any politico involved with a non-profit, there’s some stealing going on and they’re hardly ever brought to justice, especially if they’re of the Democrat persuasion.



The New York Post reports that State Sen. Eric Adams funneled $30,000 in taxpayer money to a nonprofit he founded, 100 Blacks Who Care, but doesn't know how, or if, the money was spent.



The Brooklyn group, which got $15,000 in 2008, didn't record the money, as required on its federal tax returns, or document any expenses.



"Once the money is turned over to an organization, we, as elected officials, can't get involved in how they use it. I don't know how it's used," Adams told The Post last week.



The Brooklyn Democrat said he couldn't remember, without checking his records, why he gave the organization the "member item" grants in the first place.



Noel Leader, the group's treasurer, who, like Adams, is a former cop and co-founder of 100 Blacks, told The Post that the organization hadn't received any funding in years and that he did not recall receiving the state funds.



He later said a $5,000 allocation from the state Education Department was probably used for supplies.



"I vaguely remember the $5,000 being used for the workshops, to buy equipment we utilize during the workshops. We have a lot of props, sound equipment, things of that nature," he said.



Adams, Leader and Vernon Wells founded 100 Blacks in the mid-1990s as a nonprofit to give grants of $1,000 a month "to a worthy cause in the African-American community."



They also started 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, a for-profit advocacy group.



Several state lawmakers have gotten in trouble for running nonprofits, including state Sen. Pedro Espada, who was charged this month with embezzling money from his Bronx health-care centers, and State Sen. Vincent Leibell of Putnam County, who pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme involving a nonprofit he created.



Earlier this year, the US attorney opened an investigation into state Sen. Malcolm Smith and Rep. Gregory Meeks after The Post revealed the questionable spending practices of the nonprofit they helped to form, the New Direction Local Development Corp.



State Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, a Westchester Democrat, said she has drafted legislation that would prohibit lawmakers from giving member-item cash to nonprofits over which they have control.



"That's not what state dollars are to be used for," she said.



More details here

Missing Money Meeks Brakes Pledge to Reveal His Files

Never make a promise to the press you have no intention of keeping!

Democrat politico, Gregory Meeks, congressman from New York recently promised on a news show that he would reveal, according to his files the number of Hurricane Katrina survivors he’s actuallyhelped.

In less than 24 hours, a reporter from the New York Post which is on Meeks’s case over what happened to over $30,000 dollars he raised through his non-profit group that was supposed to aide Hurricane Katrina survivors.

There’s a difference between a promise made to help in damage control, and what one is really all about.

The New York Post reports:

Thanks for nothing, Mr. Meeks!

Under intense grilling about missing money from a Hurricane Katrina charity fund, Rep. Gregory Meeks had offered to open his files to show all he'd done for the victims -- but slammed the door when a Post reporter arrived at his Queens office yesterday to take him up on it.

Meeks, who for weeks had dodged questions about the controversial fund, promised on Monday that he would bare his books.

"I'd love to have you come to my office. We can show you the files of the individuals that we helped," the Queens Democrat said in an interview on NY1's "Inside City Hall."

His appearance came after a series of Post articles that revealed troubling questions about New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, or NOAH-F, the Katrina fund associated with another nonprofit he helped create.

NOAH-F received at least $31,000 in donations -- but a Post investigation found that only $1,392 had gone to Katrina victims. The rest is unaccounted for.

Meeks -- who initially promised that "every dime" would go to help victims -- insists he isn't responsible.

But he solicited donations for the charity on his Web site, and happily posed with an oversized $10,000 check to NOAH-F five years ago.

In addition, he steered money to the charity that administers the fund, the New Direction Development Corp., which also has funds that are unaccounted for and is being investigated by the feds.

Less than 24 hours after Meeks offered to open his files, The Post took him up on his invite -- but was promptly rebuffed.

When a reporter asked to see the files at about 9:15 a.m., office administrator Marilyn Wilds-Barnes refused the request due to "client confidentiality."

After being told what Meeks said on NY1, she called the congressman's chief of staff, Robert Simmons, and the reporter was told Simmons would come in to assist The Post at 2 p.m.

Despite the long wait, Wilds-Barnes wouldn't let the reporter stay in the waiting room at Meeks' Jamaica office.

"You can't wait in here. This is a congressional office," she sniped.

So the reporter waited down the hall.

At about 1 p.m., Wilds-Barnes emerged from the office, said Simmons was "stuck in a meeting" and referred the reporter to Meeks' spokeswoman, Lupe Todd.

Todd finally said the files couldn't be shown yet because information from them needed to be redacted.

"I apologize for that," she said.

The files, she insisted, had information about roughly 200 Gulf Coast victims that Meeks' office assisted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Via New York Post

The Last Tradition

Rep Gregory Meeks Dem Politico Passes the Buck on Missing Hurricane Katrina Money

When it hits the fan and your butt is in trouble, always blame the staff!

Such is the case with Rep Gregory Meeks, Democrat pol and member of the Congressional Black Caucus who can’t seem to remember what happened to over $ 31,000 dollars his non-profit group raised for Hurricane Katrina survivors.
If you expect politicians, especially of the Democrat persuasion, to act like a captian of a ship where everything that goes on on board is his responsibility, think again!

These public servants, like Meeks, only know how to accept praise. But, when it goes bad, it’s the underlings fault.

The New York Post reports:

Embattled Rep. Gregory Meeks ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about the gone-missing money from a Hurricane Katrina charity fund he championed.

There is no connection," Meeks said on NY1's "Inside City Hall."

"I was not in charge of administering the funds. It was a community organization."

Later he said, "When community people come and say they want to do good things and they want me to lend my name to it, that's exactly what I would do . . .

"It was never set up for me to oversee. I'm a member of Congress!" he bellowed.

Shortly after the catastrophic 2005 hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast, Meeks told reporters that the NOAH-F funds would help out 30 families who had lost everything.

But after the initial story detailing the unaccounted-for cash, The Post tracked down Louis Rainey, a former Democratic political official in Louisiana whom Meeks had tapped to help identify critically needy families there.

Meeks aide Candace Sandy was given a list of families. But Rainey told The Post they "never saw a dime."

Rainey said Meeks' staffers "came down here, sold a good story and didn't deliver."
Full story

Meeks isn’t the only Democrat politico that uses non-profits to do funny things with taxpayers money. Why do you think Democrats said “nay” to a ban on earmarks for non-profits?

This is the biggest congressional scandal the main stream media purposely does not want to investigate.
Via The New York Post

The Last Tradition