IS MICHELE BACHMANN’S $10,000 DONOR IN MINNESOTA LAYING LOW FROM THE LAW AND THE IRS?

The Minnesota chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association was dissolved in 2009 after its founder and Michele Bachmann donor Bobby Thompson came under a nationwide investigation By Karl Bremer The Minnesota Chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association took in a total of $1.54 million in contributions from 2005-2009 and claims to have distributed $1.06 million of that to needy veterans and other charitable causes in those same years. Yet the organization, whose founder, Bobby Thompson, donated $10,000 to Michele Bachmann’s campaign committee last April, dissolved in 2009 without explanation just as a nationwide investigation of the group by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times was getting started. As a result of the paper’s investigation, Thompson, who is listed as the Minnesota chapter’s CFO, has disappeared from his Tampa residence, leaving no forwarding address. Thompson’s last known whereabouts was at Bachmann’s high-roller fundraiser with Sarah Palin in Minneapolis April 7 where he made his $10,000 donation to Bachmann, leading some to believe that he may be on the lam in Minnesota. The U.S. Navy Veterans Association has been shut down by states attorneys general in Hawaii, New Mexico and Ohio. Investigations into the group are underway in Florida, Missouri and Virginia. And U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) has asked the IRS to begin an investigation into the organization. However, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson’s office has not responded to repeated inquiries about the organization’s Minnesota activities or the reason for its dissolution. The address for the Minnesota chapter of the Navy Vets group that’s registered with the Attorney General’s Office and the IRS leads to a UPS Store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul (see photo below), an apparent violation of the state’s requirement to file a physical address for the organization in addition to its mailing address. The Minnesota phone number listed for the group still carries a recorded message as if they are still operating in Minnesota. The address listed for the Minnesota chapter’s Commander John Clinton and Lt. Commander Reint Reinders on the group’s 2008 IRS filing is the same Grand Avenue UPS store. The address listed for CFO Bobby Thompson leads to another UPS mailbox in Washington, D.C. The Navy Vets group innocently describes its mission in its Minnesota Attorney General filing as “to assist disabled and needy war veterans and members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their dependents, and the widows, widowers and orphans of deceased veterans.” However, the investigations of the St. Petersburg Times and states attorneys general have found numerous instances of alleged fraud, fictitious names and other misrepresentations of its charitable activities in the group’s chapters across the country. Bobby Thompson appears to have a keen interest in Minnesota Republican politicians. In addition to his $10,000 donation to Bachmann, Thompson has made the following donations: • $21,500 to Norm Coleman’s Senate re-election campaign between 2006 and 2008 • $5,000 to the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee in 2008 • $10,400 to the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2008-2010 Thompson’s organization also hired Edwin Cain, a Stillwater lobbyist with close ties to Bachmann, to lobby for the Navy Vets group. Also read: Complaints about U.S. Navy Vets Assn. phone calls. Ohio AG page about U.S. Navy Vets Assn.

Bachmann's Pal Pod Lobbyist Edwin Cain Lobbied for Shady Veterans Charity

In this morning's DB post, Karl Bremer broke the news about Bobby Thompson: A tax-exempt Navy veterans group founded by one of Michele Bachmann’s top campaign contributors may be under investigation by the IRS at the request of U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). The group is under investigation in at least six states and has been banned from operating in at least three. Webb has asked the IRS to investigate the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a national charitable veterans organization founded by Bobby Thompson of Tampa, FL, after reading “alarming reports” that the charity’s directors cannot be located and its multimillion-dollar expenditures cannot be accounted for.The U.S. Navy Veterans Association was founded by Thompson, who donated $10,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign at her Minneapolis event with former halftime governor Sarah Palin April 7. Thompson was only one of six individuals who ponied up the 10 large to have his picture taken with the Tea Party darlings. According to the St. Petersburg Times there's yet another connection between the shady Florida charity and Michele Bachmann. The lobbyists were Wright, special counsel to the Navy Veterans; J. Kenneth Klinge, a consultant of JKK Associates who once served as executive director of the Virginia Republican Party; and Edward E. Cain, whose Minnesota company, Legislative Associates, is a consultant for the Navy Veterans group. Actually it's Edwin Cain, but he is indeed a registered lobbyist in Virginia for the Navy Veterans Association. Contact info for Legislative Associates appears on the navyvets.org website. Edwin Cain is also a registered lobbyist in Minnesota for the the City of Granite Falls, Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee, the City of Marshall, Short Elliot Hendrickson Incorporated, and would-be personal rapid transit vendor Taxi 2000. Taxi 2000 recently took part in an attempt to flim-flam a $25 million Federal earmark for a pod project in Winona. Picture of Edwin Cain and Bachmann as it appears on Bachmann's congressional website (Click on screenshot to make it bigger): Listen to Edwin Cain promoting the pod boondoggle to the House Transportation Finance Committee hearing on Thursday, April 14th, 2005: You can read about Bachmann and Edwin Cain pushing the Stillwater bridge boondoggle here.

CHARITABLE VETERANS GROUP FOUNDED BY MAJOR MICHELE BACHMANN CONTRIBUTOR IS UNDER INVESTIGATION NATIONWIDE

A DUMP BACHMANN EXCLUSIVE! Shady nonprofit founder Bobby Thompson gave $10K for a photo of Bachmann-Palin in Minneapolis April 7, was also major Norm Coleman donor. By Karl Bremer A tax-exempt Navy veterans group founded by one of Michele Bachmann’s top campaign contributors may be under investigation by the IRS at the request of U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). The group is under investigation in at least six states and has been banned from operating in at least three. Webb has asked the IRS to investigate the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a national charitable veterans organization founded by Bobby Thompson of Tampa, FL, after reading “alarming reports” that the charity’s directors cannot be located and its multimillion-dollar expenditures cannot be accounted for.The U.S. Navy Veterans Association was founded by Thompson, who donated $10,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign at her Minneapolis event with former halftime governor Sarah Palin April 7. Thompson was only one of six individuals who ponied up the 10 large to have his picture taken with the Tea Party darlings. Thompson’s organization was the subject of a major investigation by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times last spring. According to the Times: “The group bills itself as “nationally recognized U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Service Organization,” with 41 state chapters, more than 66,000 members and $22.4 million a year in income that it says it uses for gifts to military personnel, veterans and their families. But the Times found little evidence of the nationwide charity. Its officers, directors and auditors were nowhere to be found, its offices a network of rented mailboxes, its records kept secret. Of 85 officers listed on tax papers, the Times could find just one, founder Bobby Thompson, who lived in a $600-a-month Ybor City, FL, duplex. He said he is a retired Navy lieutenant commander and “trust fund baby” who poured more than $180,000 of his own money into political campaigns.” Indeed, Thompson has spread a considerable amount of his largesse around to other Minnesota Republicans. According to figures compiled by the Times, besides his $10,000 donation to Bachmann, Thompson also donated: • $21,500 to Norm Coleman’s Senate re-election campaign between 2006 and 2008 • $5,000 to the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee in 2008 • $10,400 to the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2008-2010--most recently on May 6, 2010. The Times investigation sparked a series of individual state investigations where the group has chapters. According to the Times’ chronology: On March 21, the St. Petersburg Times published stories that examined the legitimacy of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and questioned why a search for the 85 officers on Navy Veterans federal tax returns turned up only one: Bobby Thompson. At least six states have since taken action. April 1: New Mexico orders the Navy Veterans to cease and desist operations there, after determining officers' names and addresses listed on tax returns are "fictional." Its attorney general continues to investigate. April 7: Florida consumer service officials confirm they have opened an investigation. Later, Attorney General Bill McCollum opens a separate investigation. Mid April: Missouri opens an investigation. May 17: Hawaii determines Navy Veterans is not legally registered and orders the group to stop fundraising there. May 18: Sen. Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat and former secretary of the Navy, asks the Department of Veterans Affairs to review how it screens veterans service organizations listed on the VA website. The VA removes the group from its website listing of veterans service organizations and begins its own review. May 27: The Roanoke Times reports that Virginia's consumer affairs agency is investigating the Navy Veterans. May 28: Sen. Webb asks the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the charity founded by Bachmann’s big contributor. Also Friday, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray orders the Navy Veterans to stop fundraising there after determining that the group's registration documents “contained false and misleading information.” June 16: Florida regulators move to shut down the Navy veterans group in that state. In Virginia, lawmakers have called on the governor to initiate a State Police investigation of the Navy Veterans group. MORE MINNESOTA CONNECTIONS A “Bob Thompson” is listed as the CFO of the Minnesota chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. John Clinton is listed as their commander and Reint Reinders lieutenant commander. Their office is listed at 1043 Grand Ave., No. 555, St. Paul MN 55105 The Times investigation found a number of unsubstantiated claims on the organization’s website, including plagiarizing letters sent by troops to students at a Minnesota grade school: A year ago, the children at the Academy of Saints Peter and Paul in Minnesota wrote letters to American troops overseas, including a U.S. sailor stationed in Iraq named Vivian N. Kamara. After receiving the children's letters, Kamara posted her thanks to them in a message on anysoldier.com, a website that connects deployed U.S. troops with Americans who want to send mail or care packages. “We are proud to report that we have received our first set of letters from the Academy of Saints Peter and Paul,” Kamara wrote. Without permission, Kamara's letter was copied and put on the website of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, with a key alteration: “Academy of Saints Peter and Paul” was erased, replaced by “the Middlesex County Girl Scout troop.” Word that the credit deserved by the Catholic school students was claimed by someone else distressed Heidi Dondelinger, an administrator at the academy. The letters were a project during Catholic Schools week for the suburban Minneapolis academy, which has about 100 students, preschool through eighth grade. “That is such a bizarre thing to do,” Dondelinger said. "What's so frustrating is that it was so important to our kids to do these letters for the soldiers. “That some other group is getting the credit is so upsetting. And all to put money in someone's pocket.” As for the Girl Scout troop that got the credit on the Navy Veterans website — the group already featured a color photo of 11 girls from Troop 04-6, from Middlesex County, N.J., along with letters they were said to have written to thank the Navy Veterans for sending care packages to U.S. troops. “Our country is free because of what the Navy Vets have done for it. God bless you,” said the letter from “Albina Z.” of Troop 04-6. Except there is no Troop 04-6 in Middlesex County … The Times continues: The Kamara letter is the latest example of manipulated data or unverifiable claims made by the Navy Veterans, a nonprofit that continues to raise money around the country. Founded in Tampa, the IRS granted the group tax-exempt status in 2002 … … the Times reported that the Navy Veterans lifted letters troops had written to anysoldier.com, copied them to its own website and altered some of them to make them appear that soldiers were thanking the Navy Veterans. The Times interviewed three U.S. sailors whose letters were copied, including Kamara. All three said they never received packages from the Navy Veterans or wrote them thank-yous. “I've never heard of them,” Kamara said. The Navy Veterans told the IRS that in the last two years, it spent a total of more than $16 million on care packages. The full St. Petersburg Times series on the U.S. Navy Veterans Association can be found here. Soon after the Times investigation began, Bobby Thompson cleared out of his duplex and left no forwarding address. However, it appears he may have last been seen at the Hilton Hotel in Minneapolis on April 7. Perhaps investigators should ask Michele Bachmann if she’s seen her pal Bobby lately. She should at least be able to provide them with a current photo. Karl Bremer is a freelance writer in Stillwater, MN. Photo of Bobby Thompson from VA Watchdog dot Org

Another Point of View

Some comments have claimed we don't allow supporters of Bachmann to air their opinions on Dump Bachmann. How's this?

Does Bachmann Care About Struggling Churches or BP's Profits?

One News Now: Months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and its well started gushing oil, the British petroleum giant says it has yet to decide how to handle claims filed by religious groups and other charitable organizations that are endangered because people can no longer afford to contribute. Pastor Dan Brown prays BP PLC comes up with a solution quickly: He said he filed a $50,000 claim last month over lost revenues at Anchor Assembly of God. His small, storefront church outlived Hurricane Katrina and is now struggling because of the oil crisis. Shrimpers and oystermen left jobless by the oil spill in this seafood town can barely afford to feed their families and pay their boat loans, much less give money to their church, Brown said. Giving and tithing is down by $12,000 over the last few weeks, he said, and the oil spill will cost another $38,000 in lost revenues over the next year, making up the total of the church's claim. "You can't tithe what you don't have," said Brown, whose congregation operates a food bank and gives away bread each Sunday to help struggling families. "We're fighting for our lives just like a business." Comment from Karl: This sounds like exactly the kind of "fleecing" Bachmann was talking about. I can't wait to see her press release condemning this redistribution of wealth to churches and their phony claims.

"Catfight" Producer Has New Play in Fringe Festival

John Ervin has a new play called "The Tiki War" at the Fringe Festival this year. John Ervin also produced "Catfight!" in 2008 - "Dedicated to Michele Bachmann":

A Few Words About Comment Moderating

We are all volunteers here at Dump Bachmann. Moderating comments is time consuming, but sadly necessary. All viewpoints are welcome, but there are a few rules. They are the usual rules that blogs have about civility etc. There two particular rules that readers should remember. Initial comments have to address the subject of the post . No hijacking a thread from the beginning. After one or two comments, the subject can change. For instance, if the subject is Bachmann's abuse of her franking privilege, the thread cannot begin with "Obama is a socialist". There will be no tolerance for comment spamming - mindless repetition of the same comment. Anyone who breaks these two rules will be warned and if the rules continue to be broken, they will be banned. Have a happy Fourth of July.

Bachmann Still Defending Big Oil Companies

Does Michele Bachmann Still Think Michael Steele "Be Da Man"?

Open letter from William Kristol to RNC Chair Michael Steele: Dear Michael, You are, I know, a patriot. So I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican party. Your tenure has of course been marked by gaffes and embarrassments, but I for one have never paid much attention to them, and have never thought they would matter much to the success of the causes and principles we share. But now you have said, about the war in Afghanistan, speaking as RNC chairman at an RNC event, "Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in." And, "if [Obama] is such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?" Needless to say, the war in Afghanistan was not "a war of Obama’s choosing." It has been prosecuted by the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama. Republicans have consistently supported the effort. Indeed, as the DNC Communications Director (of all people) has said, your statement "puts [you] at odds with about 100 percent of the Republican Party."

Bradlee Dean's Ministry of Hate is Begging for Friends on Facebook

YCRBYCH Facebook page: You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, Inc. All we need is 6 more people to like this page so we can reach 400. Can you help us? Suggest us to all your friends!!! Pathetic...

Is Bachmann Using "Racist Code Words"?

John Amato at Crooks and Liars: Using racist code words is built into the psyche of all conservative pols so when Mrs. Crazy spouts off that the USA could become "Zimbabwe," they understand that what she's really saying is Obama is not a citizen, but an African/Muslin hiding out in the White House and undermining our values like so many Russian cold war spies did in the 70's and 80's. That's according to many movement conservatives like the Abramoff run College Republicans of days gone bye. Laura Ingraham says that Bachmann is not afraid to take on President Obama. What a stud, girl. Here come the black helicopters everybody. Phony 'One world' conspiracy theories have populated the Militia and Patriot movements for decades and have proven to be quite profitable actually for those that transmit these seriously unbalanced views. Bachmann: Do we really want to tie our fortunes to Venezuela or Zimbabwe? Ingraham: We're tied to China. Bachmann: That's right, we are because they've been buying our debt. Ingraham: We are in a global economy. Bachmann: Of course, of course, but we don't want to become MORE dependent. That's really the point. She could have said Greece or Iceland or Spain, but no...it's Zimbabwe. You get the imagery. Listen: I remember when Bachmann said this: "This is their agenda," Bachmann states bluntly. "I know it is hard to believe, it's hard to fathom -- but this is 'mission accomplished' for them," she asserts. "They want Americans to take transit and move to the inner cities. They want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, [and] take light rail to their government jobs. That's their vision for America." Hmmm... "inner cities", "urban core", "tenement" - what do you think?

Bradlee Dean's Ministry of Hate Wants Your Vote on Chase Community Giving Facebook Page

Bachmann & Emmer's favorite Xtian-hate-rock-ministry YCRBYCH's Twitter is tweeting their fans to vote at the Chase Community Giving Facebook page. Cast your vote for You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International in Annandale, MN http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/ ab I just voted for You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Int... to win $250k on Chase Community Giving! According this January, 2010 HuffPo article titled "Accusations Of Fraud In Chase Community Giving Contest On Facebook", it's fairly easy to stuff the ballot box: Invisible Children has won $1 million as the winner of the Chase Community Giving contest on Facebook. However, this victory may come with a price, as the final days of the contest spurred accusations of voter fraud. My question is why YCRBYCH is asking for $$$ when it seems they have TONS of $$$ - enough to buy all sorts of expensive bling-bling; a fleet of custom-painted vehicles, billboards, a tour bus etc. Does your church have a fleet of custom-painted vehicles? UPDATE: YCRBYCH Facebook now has this urgent message: Okay everyone...THIS IS SERIOUS...we need YOUR vote TODAY!!! Chase is spliting up $5 million dollars to the top 200 charities that you vote for. We need 500 votes to be in the game. Please click on the link below place your vote and leave your comment in support of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International in Annandale, MN. So far, the MInistry of Hate has received only seven votes. This is the 2009 You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International "promotional video". also featuring the fleet of custom-painted YCRBYCH vehicles: More about Tom Emmer's support for YCRBYCH here. More about Bachmann's support for YCRBYCH here.