Minutemen not watching over funds
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 20, 2006
A growing number of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leaders
and volunteers are questioning the whereabouts of hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars in donations
collected in the past 15 months, challenging the
organization's leadership over financial accountability.
Many of the group's most active members say they have
no idea how much money has been collected as part of its
effort to stop illegal entry -- primarily along the
U.S.-Mexico border, what it has been spent on or why it has
been funneled through a Virginia-based charity headed by
conservative Alan Keyes.
Several of the group's top lieutenants have either quit
or are threatening to do so, saying requests to Minuteman
President Chris Simcox for a financial accounting have been
ignored.
Other Minuteman members said money promised for food,
fuel, radios, computers, tents, night-vision scopes,
binoculars, porta-potties and other necessary equipment and
supplies never reached volunteers who have manned
observation posts to spot and report illegal border
crossers.
Gary Cole, the Minutemen's former national director of
operations, was chief liaison to the national press corps
during the group's April 2005 border watch in Arizona. He
was one of the first to raise questions about MCDC
finances. He personally collected "tens of thousands of
dollars" in donations during the 30-day border vigil. But
despite numerous requests -- many directly to Mr. Simcox --
he was never told how much money had been collected or
where it went.
"This movement is much too important to be lost over a
question of finances," Mr. Cole said. "We can't demand that
the government be held accountable for failing to control
the border if we can't hold ourselves accountable for the
people's money. It's as simple as that."
Mr. Cole said he was removed by Mr. Simcox as a
national director after the April 2005 border campaign "for
asking too many questions about the money," but he returned
in October and again in April of this year to help locate
and man observations posts for the Minuteman border watch
in New Mexico.
"I didn't want the thing to fail because it is much too
important, so I came back to help out," said Mr. Cole, who
spent five months on the Arizona and New Mexico borders
living out of a camper on the back of his pickup. "But that
doesn't mean my concern went away."
Absent accounting
Mr. Simcox, in an interview last week with The
Washington Times, estimated that about $1.6 million in
donations have been collected, all of it handled through
the Herndon-based Declaration Alliance, founded and chaired
by Mr. Keyes. He said the donations, solicited on the
group's Web site and during cross-country appearances,
included $1 million directly to MCDC and $600,000 for a
fence on the U.S.-Mexico border.
But Mr. Simcox's numbers could not be independently
verified, including claims in a 3,961-word statement issued
after the interview that he spent $160,000 on "our last two
monthlong border-watch operations."
The Minuteman organization has not made any financial
statements or fundraising records public since its April
2005 creation. It also has sought and received extensions
of its federal reporting requirements and has not given the
Minuteman leadership, its volunteers or donors any official
accounting. A financial statement promised to The Times by
Mr. Simcox for May was never delivered.
"I agree that the Minuteman volunteers and those who
donated money to us have a right to know how much has been
collected and on what it has been spent, and I know there
is a lot of concern in the ranks regarding finances," Mr.
Simcox told The Times. "That's why I sought capable
accountants to get those answers, and I intend to make them
public as soon as they are available.
"I can't wait for the final audit to answer and
embarrass our critics, those who have tried to destroy this
organization," he said, blaming the concern about his
leadership and accountability on open borders and anti-rule
of law lobbyists, racists and "those who were terminated
from MCDC for violating our code of conduct."
In the statement, Mr. Simcox said that a "fully
accredited, independent auditor" had begun an accounting of
income and expenses and that a final audit would be
delivered to the Internal Revenue Service by Nov. 15. It
also said MCDC financial operations are overseen by
professional banking institutions, accountants, auditors
and lawyers, none of whom was identified.
He told The Times that the audit was costing MCDC
$50,000, but declined to say who was getting the money or
identify other fees paid by the Minuteman organization to
other "professional" entities.
'Seriously wrong'
Mike Gaddy, a retired Army veteran of Vietnam, Grenada
and Beirut who helped organize the Minuteman's April 2005
border watch as a field coordinator, said he and other
volunteers challenged Mr. Simcox on numerous occasions to
come up with a financial accounting and are suspicious of
the need for hiring outside consultants.
"When we heard he was hooking up with outside
consultants, I pleaded with Simcox that he had to keep this
thing squeaky clean because the Minuteman movement was
essential to this nation's sovereignty," Mr. Gaddy said.
He said Mr. Simcox rejected his offer last year to
personally pay for an audit to answer growing concern among
the ranks about the group's finances.
"He told me what he did was his business.
"Something is seriously wrong," he said. "I saw
firsthand the dedication of the men and women who
volunteered to stand these border watches, sometimes under
very difficult circumstances, and proudly came to the
conclusion that this is what America was all about. But a
number of people I thought I could trust have since
disappointed me."
Mr. Gaddy said he did not know how much money the
organization had collected, but said, "It would be a
substantial sum."
Keyes questions
Several other Minuteman members question why Mr. Keyes'
organization is involved in collecting MCDC donations,
saying donations to the movement should be handled by the
Minuteman leadership, who could be directly responsible for
it.
Mr. Keyes has financially endorsed and supported the
Minuteman organization as programs of Declaration Alliance
and the Declaration Foundation, another Virginia-based
charitable organization that he heads. He accused internal
MCDC critics of being "decidedly racist and anti-Semitic,"
saying they had been removed as members of the Minuteman
organization.
"I personally applaud Chris Simcox for his diligent
adherence to a rigorous standard that weeds out bigots from
the upstanding, patriotic mainstream Americans who
participate in the Minuteman citizens' border watch effort
that I am proud to support," he said.
Mr. Keyes said that MCDC is in the process of applying
to the IRS for nonprofit status and that those responsible
are "adhering to all relevant federal regulations." He
called concerns over finances and accountability
"groundless," saying they were being "bandied about by
members of anti-immigrant and racialist groups, and other
unsavory fringe elements attempting to hijack the border
security debate to further their individual agendas."
He also said Declaration Alliance's involvement with
the Minuteman organization is based on his belief that
border security is a fundamental issue affecting national
security, sovereignty and public safety.
"I have wished to do all in my power to assist the
Minutemen's growth into a national civic movement as
quickly as possible -- as the public exposure of the
lawless state of our southern border is a matter of utmost
urgency," he said, adding that his "organizational team has
an established history of effective issues advocacy,
grass-roots activism, political campaigning, financial
accountability, regulatory compliance and fundraising."
'No acceptable answers'
Earlier this year, Vern Kilburn resigned as director of
operations for the Minuteman's northern Texas sector
because of what he called "professional differences with
the management and business practices" of the MCDC national
headquarters.
In a letter of resignation, he said Mr. Simcox and
other Minuteman leaders offered "no acceptable answers" to
concerns that he had about the management, accountability,
ownership and the distribution of money for the Texas
operation, adding that they were unable to verify Texas'
share of the Minuteman donations.
Mr. Kilburn said that only two checks for $1,000 came
from MCDC headquarters in October for the Texas operation
and that other Minuteman leaders across the country "are
having similar problems concerning money or the lack of."
Although he resigned as director of operations, he said
he sought to remain with MCDC to continuing his work with
"like-minded patriots" but was fired by Mr. Simcox. He
declined to expand on his letter, saying only he "pretty
much had my fill of the Minuteman as far as Chris Simcox
goes."
Mr. Gaddy, Mr. Cole and Mr. Kilburn are among only a
few Minuteman leaders and volunteers who have come forward
publicly over questions about accountability. The vast
majority declined to be identified for fear of hurting the
movement.
"I have no interest in going on the record in this
matter," said one top MCDC leader who heads one of the
organization's most active groups. "I have a lot of the
same questions and have never received answers that are
satisfactory. I have been contemplating resigning for a
number of reasons, and lack of public accountability is one
of those reasons."
Money for supplies?
Several Minuteman volunteers said questions concerning
the group's finances intensified during October when money
promised by Mr. Simcox and others for food and supplies
never reached the volunteers on the line.
Some of the MCDC leaders gathered at the time to
discuss replacing Mr. Simcox but reached no consensus. At
that meeting, attended by The Times, they said money
promised for field operations was never delivered and
questioned the role of "outsiders" with the Minuteman
organization.
Mr. Simcox angrily denied the accusations, telling The
Times that MCDC "spent probably about what we collected" on
the border vigils to pay for and send supplies to the
volunteers on both the Mexican and Canadian borders.
In the statement, he said volunteers were provided
satellite phones, radios, repeaters, antennae, batteries,
flashlights, maps, porta-potties, thermal imaging cameras,
video cameras, third-generation night-vision cameras and
computer systems. It also said MCDC money was used to buy
water, Gatorade, snacks, tents, canopies and the cost of
printing letters, postage, brochures and banners used at
gun shows, parades and recruiting events.
"These people were willing to volunteer their time to
come to the border, some at great expense, and they
deserved to have the proper equipment in the field," he
told The Times. "That is exactly what we did."
But Mr. Gaddy, who left the Minuteman organization last
year after serving as director of operations for New
Mexico, said that if Mr. Simcox spent "probably about what
we collected" to purchase necessary field equipment and
supplies for the volunteers on the border, he didn't see
any of it.
"An awful lot of the equipment I saw was donated," he
said.
Some Minuteman volunteers also said food was sent by
the organization to some border sites, but it was not free.
Others also have sought an accounting of the income MCDC
has received through the sale off its Web page of hats,
caps, T-shirts, wristbands, decals, bumper stickers, dog
tags, license-plate holders and figurines.
Fenced out
Even Mr. Simcox's much-ballyhooed fence project on the
Arizona-Mexico border has come under fire, from both within
and outside the MCDC organization. Critics said vast sums
of money are being collected to build what has been
described as an Israeli-style fence to keep out illegal
aliens, but all that has been constructed is three miles of
a five-strand barb-wired range fence on 2-inch metal poles.
One former Minuteman volunteer said the fence "wouldn't
stop a tricycle."
Mr. Simcox also dismissed the fence criticism, calling
it "unfounded" and a product of "those who want to destroy
us and the movement." In the statement, he said he hopes to
raise $55 million for the fence and build a double-layered,
14-foot-high barrier "as funds become available."
"We are staying on task, and they can take their
intentions of destroying the greatest citizen movement to
save the Republic this country has seen in recent history
and hike it," it said.
Mr. Simcox also said he does not receive a salary from
MCDC, but "otherwise, it is no one's business" how he earns
a living. In the statement, he said the "hours of toil and
sacrifice necessary to run this national organization" had
taken a toll on his personal life and led to his sale of
the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper in Arizona, where he was
owner and publisher.
"My present source of income has been the honorariums
and fees received from organizations who request me for
speaking engagements," it said. "I have also received money
from selling my life story for a movie that will soon go
into production. Even with those combined sources of
income, I have made just enough to keep my head above
water."
A former kindergarten teacher, Mr. Simcox said in the
statement that he will request "a modest salary to maintain
my role as president of MCDC," and if the Minuteman board
and national directors do not agree, "it will be necessary
for me to leave the organization and return to teaching --
or I may need to go get a job at Wal-Mart or Home Depot."
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perfect homeland security my ass |
