To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgeralds comment about the rich Even when (politicians) enter deep into our world or sink below us they still think they are better than we are." Sad to say that may be true.
Consider that at least five Philadelphia ((PA) Democratic elected officials recorded accepting cash and gifts in a sting operation remain unindicted and in office because Pennsylvania Democratic Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane refused to bring charges. Imagine the common man in similar straits.
So habituated have ordinary citizens become to government sleaze that outrages like this barely raise an eyebrow.
There are countless ways (each outrageous in its own way) for the politically connected to tap into other peoples money" (hat tip to Philadelphias infamous politico game-player extraordinaire and ex-con former State Senator Vincent Fumo).
A December Huffington Post report that a charity run by Pennsylvania Democratic congressional candidate Marjorie Margolies has spent an unusually large proportion of its revenue on her own salary and benefits much of it paid for with taxpayer dollars" is an all-too-typical example of the government in cahoots with its own.
Margolies is campaigning to regain the Congressional seat she held from 1992 to 1994. She is Chelsea Clintons mother-in-law. She has friends in high places.
Margolies founded Womens Campaign International in 1998 and has served as its president and as a board member since. Its mission is to empower women in emerging democracies around the world.
In its April 5 follow-up to the Huffington Post piece the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Womens Campaign brings in about $1.4 million a year mainly through government grants."
But the story behind the story are these government grants" (i.e. taxpayer dollars) as WCI funding sources and the percentage of revenue going to Margolis rather than putative beneficiaries.
According to the Huffington Post two of the projects early grants came from the Department of Defense arranged" by then-Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa) and $600000 from the Clinton administrations U. S. Agency for International Development. In 2011 a $558528 grant from USAID (the largest grant we had ever gotten") coupled with $127076 from the State Department comprised 67 of WCIs $1.033 million revenue from contributions and grants. Its nice to have friends in high places.
Margolis pay and benefits fluctuated between 2009 and 2011 from a low of $116000 in 2010 and $164000 in 2011(see largest grant..." above) on top of the between $78000 and $100000 paid to full-time executive director Kerri Kennedy. Sandra Miniutti vice-president of the charity evaluation group Charity Navigator told HuffPost that its unusual for a charity WCIs size to have both an executive director and president.
In 2009 for every dollar WCI took in nearly 30 cents went to pay for either Margolies or Kennedys compensation and another 40 cents on the dollar went to other salaries and benefits leaving less than 30 cents on every dollar given going toward empowering women." Non-profit watchdogs recommend that donors contribute to organizations that put about 75 percent of total spending into programs.
Someone got the memo. Between 2010 and 2011 the charity went from putting 58 of its total spending on programs to 96 aided according to IRS filings by listing all the top earners salaries as program expenses rather than saying part of that funding went to their management and fundraising work as was done in 2009 and 2010."
This paper entry ensured that Margolies and Kennedys pay checks kept coming while ensuring that the groups financials looked good to donors and prying eyes.
Margolies announced for Congress in May 2013.
Margolies told the Inquirer that she does not vote on her compensation. True but her friends on the board do.
She says she has done nothing wrong. Perhaps shes right.
Perhaps whats wrong is that she has done nothing wrong.
