Posted on 02/27/2007 11:38:03 AM PST by Anti-Bubba182
A behind-the-scenes power struggle over control of the Minuteman Project spilled into an Orange County courtroom Monday with ousted co-founder Jim Gilchrist asking a judge to give him back control of the citizen border patrol group.
Superior Court Judge Randell L. Wilkinson said he would issue a ruling within a few days.
Gilchrist, 58, a national figure in the fight against illegal immigration, was removed as president of the Minuteman Project this month by its board of directors, which accused him of abusing his power and leaving more than $400,000 of the organization's money unaccounted for.
Gilchrist, a retired accountant from Aliso Viejo, denied the allegations but said the controversy "could very well bring an end to the entire Minuteman Project. There are groups around the country with the name, but we are the most well known and the most powerful."
Gilchrist said in an interview that his opponents were motivated by "a greed for power and a false perception of an endless stream of money."
Gilchrist said all money raised by his organization was accounted for and that his critics had leveled false allegations to gain control of the organization. In court papers, he accused his opponents of hacking into the Minuteman website, stealing money from Minuteman bank accounts, diverting other money to funds they control and stealing 20,000 pieces of letterhead and envelopes.
And Guy Mailly, Gilchrist's attorney, argued in court[snip]..... [snip]they voted him out without a required quorum.
Deborah Courtney, the group's recently appointed treasurer, said in an interview that a direct mail company helped raise $750,000 for the group in 2006, but that she believes the Minuteman campaign received only $311,000. Courtney said she and others had been unable to trace the rest of the money........"
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
ping.
update ping
I think he needs to drop it.
If the CEO of a company can't account for ~50% of the money his company takes in he SHOULD lose his job.
Maybe the direct mail company charged that much and Gilchrist does not want to admit it, or the lady is wrong about the amount raised.
$750K raised but only $311K received?
Uhm, who cares?
I am thinking of how Charities often have huge fund raising expenses. MMP may be no exception.
That's not a particularly unusual take for a direct mail fundraising outfit, and of course they have to pay all their expenses out of it. It's when the fundraising company is taking in the 90% range that there's clear evidence of a problem. Keep in mind that direct mail fundraising appeals do a lot more for the organization for which donations are being sought than just raise cash donations. These mailings include a great deal of flattering publicity about the organization and "education" about the direness of the issues its activities are addressing, and cement the organization's name in the minds of many people as a "major" or "legitimate" non-profit group. Buying that amount of publicity just as a straight advertising buy would cost a bundle.
Thanks for Ping, Anti-Bubba182!
I bet the MMP mailing and donor lists are worth a lot. I wonder how many MMP donors start receiving other right wing solicitations.
Minuteman Project Changes Leadership
[Jim Gilchrist is OUT, Marvin Stewart is IN]
Posted by RonDog
On News/Activism 02/26/2007 11:27:40 AM PST · 115 replies · 1,873+ views
I saw it, Thanks.
Or at least the board. Politics at all levels suck.
Anyone who believes the borders should be secured should care.
Gilchrist doesn't get TRO instead, new hearing planned March 21by James Lacy - Political Law
2-27-2007 11:19 am
An Orange County Superior Court Judge today decided to not rule on Jim Gilchrist's request for an ex parte emergency order to take back control of the Minuteman Project, Inc. website, bank account, and other assets. Instead, the Judge scheduled a new hearing on March 21.
The scheduling of the new hearing gives dissident Minuteman Project, Inc. Directors Barbara Coe, Marvin L. Stewart, and Deborah Peterson, the opporunity to prepare more extensive responsive papers and potentially some time to schedule a deposition of Gilchrist. Gilchrist claims that Coe, Stewart and Peterson are not directors of Minuteman Project, Inc., and that he is the sole director. But Coe, Stewart and Peterson claim they are the directors of Minuteman Project, Inc., and that Gilchrist has poorly managed the organization by bouncing checks, signing checks without authority, failing to obtain IRS tax-exempt status, abusing postal rate regulations, and using the nonprofit organization to receive personal royality payments from a private book deal.
Gilchrist is represented by Irvine attorney and former Congressional candidate Guy Maille. I am representing Coe, Stewart and Peterson.
Amen.
If he did those things, is that legal?
Wonder what the Tancredo worshippers, and the people that whored for Gilchrist in the special election, around here will say about this.
Raising funds is actually very expensive, and the lesser amounts ($750K) cost more per dollar to raise than larger amounts.
Some professional fundraisers charge up to 60% for the first $X, then the percentage goes down as more funds are raised.
As in any business, there are certain fixed costs and a breaking point before profit is reached. So if you're paying a staff $100K, office rent $20K, utilities $10K, taxes and licensing $5K, etc., which costs of doing business are not flexible, you have to bring in (in this instance), $135K before making the first dime of profit.
Holey Cow!
I think Jim Gilchrist is an honest man who is dedicated to the MM cause, and somehow his opponents in the OBL are trying to oust him. I don't think he is guilty of what he has been accused of.
Minuteman Founder Under Attack by Internal Terrorists
Press Release - The Minuteman Project - February 27, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 February 2007
CONTACT: Tim Bueler
Office: (310) 855-3460
Cell: (530) 401-3285
media@timbueler.com
www.MinutemanProject.com
MINUTEMAN FOUNDER UNDER ATTACK BY INTERNAL TERRORISTS
For years, Jim Gilchrist had been concerned about the illegal alien
invasion of America, which is so evident in southern California. On
September 11, 2001, as he watched the terrorist attack on the Twin
Towers, he was outraged that these terrorist-murderers were mostly
illegal aliens, here on expired visas.
Three years later, the government had done nothing to secure the
borders, and Jim Gilchrist decided that letters and phone calls to
politicians clearly weren't enough. On October 1, 2004 he founded The
Minuteman Project and launched a recruiting program that called together
patriotic Americans to stand watch on the borders, report to the Border
Patrol, and try to stem the tide of illegal aliens and terrorists who
daily, in the thousands, infiltrate America. With about 1,200 volunteers
from every state in the union Gilchrist and his hand-picked
co-organizers successfully conducted the largest Minuteman assembly
since 1776.
For his efforts, Gilchrist, a wounded combat Marine veteran and retired
CPA, has been routinely attacked by the usual suspects: special
interests, pro-unrestricted immigration groups, amnesty supporters, drug
lords, and others, in and out of government.
Now Jim Gilchrist is under attack from a different sort of terrorist:
covert subversives who managed to gain Gilchrist's trust, only to breach
that trust by attempting to kidnap the organization he founded.
Gilchrist has effectively led The Minuteman Project since its inception,
but according to the propaganda voiced by these brazen corporate
raiders, Gilchrist is a bad guy. These hostile corporate raiders claim
they are taking over The Minuteman Project to "save" it.
Save it? Hijack and take it over, is a more apt description, says Steve
Eichler, the Minuteman Project's Executive Director. He supports
Gilchrist and is outraged at the high-handed manner in which a gang of
isolated insiders have moved to oust Gilchrist.
Deborah Courtney, Marvin Stewart, and Barbara Coe have all been trusted
confidantes, said Eichler, and it is devastating to Jim and me,
personally, to realize that they have been covertly manipulating to take
over the Minuteman Project.
Courtney, Stewart and Coe claim that they are the Minuteman Project, by
virtue of them having voted Gilchrist off the Project's so-called board
of directors, a board that never existed.
That's pretty funny, says Eichler. The Minuteman Project is incorporated
under Delaware law, and Jim is the only corporate officer. There is no
board, so just how is it that three supposed board members meet secretly
and vote off the founder and president, then vote to give themselves
access to the bank accounts and withdraw money? What will they claim
next, that Marvin L. Stewart is the president of the United States in an
attempt to oust the president from the White House?
These people were simply confidantes and a board of advisors, explained
Gilchrist. They were not a decision-making corporate board. Even if the
seven-person board they claim to have been a part of existed, how could
three people, who couldn't even constitute a quorum, meet secretly
without notifying the others, and take any sort of legal action?
There is also the question of bank fraud, adds Eichler. Deborah
Courtney, Marvin Stewart, and another person went to the bank with bogus
paperwork, seized the Project's bank account and withdrew Minuteman
Project funds, causing the Project's outstanding checks to bounce. We're
not talking about a simple policy disagreement, here. This is white
collar crime, and we intend to pursue it as such.
An Orange County Times article (Ousted Minuteman Leader Seeks Court
Remedy, by Jennifer Dilson, Feb 27, 2007) refers to the non-existent
board of directors having ousted Gilchrist, and refers to Gilchist's
claim that the renegade board had stolen 20,000 letterhead stationery
and envelopes bearing Gilchrist's personal signature, had hacked into
the Minuteman Project's website, and had stolen money from the Project s
bank accounts (about $4,000, according to Gilchrist, who filed a
criminal report of theft with the Orange County Sheriff), and had
diverted money from other sources. Gilchrist plans to meet with
investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation next week to
discuss any federal criminal violations that may have been perpetrated
by the takeover collaborators.
Gilchrist is concerned that Courtney, Stewart and Coe will use the
stolen Minuteman Project materials, including access to the Project s
mailing list, to send out bogus appeals for funds. Our supporters are
dedicated patriots. They don't deserve to be deceived by bogus
fund-raising appeals, says a concerned Gilchrist.
Attorneys for both sides presented their case Feb 26 to Orange County
Judge Randell L. Wilkinson. This morning the court ruled in Gilchrist's
favor by expediting the matter and setting a court date for a formal
hearing on March 21 at 1:30 PM in Santa Ana Superior Court.
###
SOURCE: MinutemanProject.com
The Minuteman Project
P.O. Box 3944
Laguna Hills, California 92654
Thanks, BCR, I hadn't seen that article. It appears that Gilchrist's trusted associates surrendered to the lure of the buck. Disgusting. I hope the court rules in Gilchrist's favor.
I think the borders should be secure.
I dont care what happens to these nitwits.
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