Ex-Minutemen want harder look at group's finances (Simcox-Minuteman)

Houston Chronicle ^ | 11.23.2006 | Susan Carroll

[Anti-Bubba182]

HOUSTON — For the first time, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp. has revealed a smattering of intriguing details on its finances, but some former members want to know more about how the group has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributors' money.

Chris Simcox, the founder of nonprofit border watch group, posted IRS forms and an audit on his Internet site Nov. 15 in response to media reports raising concerns about how the group was handling its contributions. The new documents offer a glimpse into the organization's finances, former Minuteman loyalists say, but leave several unanswered questions.

"Just too many irregularities"

Among them: How are the Minutemen spending thousands of dollars in membership fees they've collected over the past 19 months? And what companies or other nonprofits received $277,000 — amounting to more than half the group's contributions in 2005 — for unspecified "personnel services?"

Already, questions about the group's finances and other concerns have prompted some leaders to quit. Bill Parmley, the former head of the Texas chapter of the MCDC, was one of the first leaders to leave in July 2005. "There were just too many irregularities," Parmley said in an interview this week. "I just didn't want to be involved in something like that."

Simcox and his spokeswoman, Connie Hair, did not respond to repeated phone calls or messages.

In barnstorming stops across the country last year, Simcox told crowds of new recruits that the organization charged a mandatory $50 membership fee for background checks.

He made exceptions for anyone who already had a concealed-weapons permit, which requires an extensive background check, and for former law-enforcement officers.

Questions surface over $50 fee

But the group's recently posted IRS Form 990 — a public record required for all nonprofits — shows the group spent only $1,074 on background checks for volunteers in 2005 while charging new recruits $50 each and collecting more than $54,000 in registration fees.

Kenneth Buelter and his wife, Daphne, former Minuteman loyalists, recalled meetings where MCDC leaders explained the $50 fee.

"They told us it was for background checks," said Daphne Buelter..............."

[bd476]

Thanks for the ping, Anti-Bubba182. It's interesting reading the claims, the counter-claims, the accounting and the explanations.

[Ben Ficklin]

The correct answer is James Sensenbrenner.

It was the felony language in the House bill that shifted public opinion againt the hardliners. That is why Hastert and Frist went on national tv and apologized, saying the felony language would be removed.

[SwinneySwitch]

"....the group spent only $1,074 on background checks for volunteers in 2005 while charging new recruits $50 each and collecting more than $54,000 in registration fees."

Only $1 per head for a background check?

[Anti-Bubba182]

".. Kenneth Buelter and his wife, Daphne, former Minuteman loyalists, recalled meetings where MCDC leaders explained the $50 fee.

"They told us it was for background checks," said Daphne Buelter...............".."