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Why is it that right-wing advocacy groups become corrupt.
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2020/01/confederate-tax-political-violations
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2020/01/confederate-tax-political-violations
The cavalry fees are paid in either cash or check, multiple members said. Members are told not to make such checks out to the organization itself, but instead to Bill Starnes, the cavalry’s former captain and SCV’s legislative officer. In an email last April, Starnes responded to concerns over his use of cavalry funds, saying the cavalry has never held a bank account. “We tend to have the cigar box in the gun safe approach,” Starnes wrote. “So the checks are made out to the Captain, ie, Bill Starnes, so they can be cashed.”
The membership collections, and other funds raised by the cavalry, have not been tracked for years, multiple members said. That could raise problems for the SCV, the cavalry or Starnes himself, according to Felicia Branch, attorney at Branch Tax Law Firm. “If they are writing checks to him as an individual, I don’t see how that’s not income to him,” Branch said. “A 501(c)(3) can charge membership dues, that’s tax-exempt. But he’s no
Multiple legal experts told the DTH that a tactic of this nature is blatantly illegal, regardless of the group's nonprofit status, known as “contributing in the name of another” under state law. Wallace said PAC solicitation should never occur at a 501(c)(3) organization meeting. He added that Flinchum’s participation and acknowledgement of the scheme is “in the nature of perjury,” given his role as PAC treasurer officially reporting contributions to the state.
“Contributions in the name of another constitute class II misdemeanors,” Wallace said in an email. “However, a statement made under oath, such as that made by a treasurer ‘knowing the information to be untrue,’ is guilty of a class I felony.”
The membership collections, and other funds raised by the cavalry, have not been tracked for years, multiple members said. That could raise problems for the SCV, the cavalry or Starnes himself, according to Felicia Branch, attorney at Branch Tax Law Firm. “If they are writing checks to him as an individual, I don’t see how that’s not income to him,” Branch said. “A 501(c)(3) can charge membership dues, that’s tax-exempt. But he’s no
Multiple legal experts told the DTH that a tactic of this nature is blatantly illegal, regardless of the group's nonprofit status, known as “contributing in the name of another” under state law. Wallace said PAC solicitation should never occur at a 501(c)(3) organization meeting. He added that Flinchum’s participation and acknowledgement of the scheme is “in the nature of perjury,” given his role as PAC treasurer officially reporting contributions to the state.
“Contributions in the name of another constitute class II misdemeanors,” Wallace said in an email. “However, a statement made under oath, such as that made by a treasurer ‘knowing the information to be untrue,’ is guilty of a class I felony.”
