And the politicians?, who obviously didn't care, instead welcomed the funding!
Stand-ins Posed as Members of Navy Veterans Association
May 16, 2010 Lt. Cmdr. Bobby Thompson was under the gun.
A newspaper was about to report that his charity, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, which reported annual income of $22 million and tens of thousands of members, appeared to consist of just one person — him.
Thompson said the group’s members are real and doing good deeds.
To show that, he could draw on what was supposed to be a coast-to-coast network of volunteers: 66,939 association members, 41 state chapters and dozens of officers, spending millions upon millions for gifts to veterans, military men and their families.
But rather than use any of them to demonstrate the group’s good deeds, Thompson looked for stand-ins. He found them at the office of Donald E. Phillips, a Tampa developer and political power broker. Continued
Fla. contributor to Va. campaigns raises questions
A man who lived in Florida and gave $67,500 to Virginia campaigns is under investigation.
May 16, 2010 The mysterious director of a Navy veterans fundraising group that's under investigation in three states contributed $67,500 to the 2009 campaigns of key state officials.
Starting July 1, that group can resume soliciting money in Virginia under a state law that Gov. Bob McDonnell signed April 12, despite an unusual last-minute plea from its sponsor, Sen. Patsy Ticer, that he veto it.
Her office requested a veto after Ticer, D-Alexandria, became suspicious of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and its former director Bobby Thompson.
Ticer had introduced the bill, SB 563, in January and it sailed through the Virginia House and Senate on unanimous votes. Continued
This has been heating up since the St. Petersburg Times investigation was reported a few months back.
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