Free Republic

Prostitution Raid links Communist Tax Lawyer, leftist voter project, and 9/11 Truther Movement You just can't make this stuff up. Louis Posner, a National Lawyers Guild affiliated Tax Attorney, is arrested for running a Strip Club, which was a front for prostitution. What makes this case unique is that the funds were laundered through Voter March, a leftist election reform organization. ABOUT VOTER MARCHBackground: Voter March began on November 14, 2000, as four founding members organizing people who wanted to express their opposition to the irregularities and egregious conduct of Election 2000 and the direction in which an illegitimate administration...

Add another quote to the litany of idiocy issued by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., over the years. "To suggest somehow that (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are in trouble is simply not accurate," Sen. Dodd said during CNN's "Late Edition" Sunday. "The facts are that Fannie and Freddie are in sound situations. They have more that adequate capital, in fact more than the law requires." Recall the scene in the film "Animal House," in which the character played by Kevin Bacon attempts to block a stampede of panicked citizens by crying, "All is well!" Sen. Dodd performs a credible...

(Porn star Alexia Moore performs on stage ... ... and hurries out of court Friday night.) (Louis Posner) Teams of vice cops swooped down and busted a posh midtown strip club that catered to stockbrokers and bankers - and featured porn stars who charged $5,000 for private trysts. Prominent tax lawyer Louis Posner; his wife, Betty; and 19 others were arrested on a variety of prostitution and money-laundering charges at The Hot Lap Dance Club, which the couple ran out of a velvet-heavy loft, police said. Cops said Posner raked in $1 million over the last 10 months from the...

Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, says he plans to file an ethics complaint — against himself. The move comes after a Washington Post reporter wrote a story raising questions about the New York Democrat’s efforts to raise money for an academic facility in Harlem that will bear his name. The story suggested that Rangel violated House rules by sending out letters bearing an official congressional letterhead seeking funds for the Rangel Center, to be located at the City College of New York, from Donald Trump and other wealthy individuals. At a press conference...

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, called on the House ethics committee to investigate his role in raising funds for the "Rangel Center" at City College in New York. In a combative press conference this morning, Rangel went after the Washington Post for reporting that he was sending out letters on official congressional letterhead soliciting funds for the center from corporations and wealthy individuals with business before his panel. "The review should be done as soon as possible so as to clear up any misunderstandings regarding my efforts to cnnvene meeting to discuss partnerships between...

ALBANY — Two payments to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington were included in former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s campaign filings, which were released on Tuesday afternoon. The two payments, $411.06 apiece, were recorded on Jan. 14, 2008, although it is unclear what nights were covered, or whether Mr. Spitzer stayed at the hotel. A person with knowledge of the evidence developed in the federal investigation of Mr. Spitzer said the former governor had two encounters with prostitutes in Washington in early 2008. Whether Mr. Spitzer might have misused campaign money to finance dealings with prostitutes has been one of the significant...

HARRISBURG - The tentacles of the Bonusgate scandal have spread to past presidential politics. Buried deep in the grand jury report, released last week, that led to the indictment of 12 people are details of what is described as a "massive" effort by House Democrats to oust the independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader from the ballot in 2004. * * * In light of the grand jury revelations of political work conducted with taxpayers' money, the candidates and reform advocates want a federal investigation into the ballot challenges, which they now think were the result of the criminal conspiracy that...

LAFAYETTE — An Amelia businessman who is the husband of a former state representative has pleaded guilty in federal court to harboring illegal aliens. Lenny J. Dartez of Morgan City now faces a sentence of up to five years in jail and a possible maximum $250,000 fine for harboring aliens, according to court records. He will be sentenced in federal court Oct. 22. As part of his plea agreement, Dartez agreed Monday to pay $45,000 in civil penalties to the Department of Homeland Security, $5,000 of which will be paid on or before sentencing with the remainder to be paid...

****It looks like Rep. Charlie Rangel is one of those "do as I say, not as I do" politicians. NAMES REDACTED Manhattan ****It is no wonder that all these politicos try so hard to get into office. Just see how it has benefited Rangel in rent and Chris Dodd in mortgages. It's sickening. Tequesta, Fla. **** If Rangel can't see anything wrong with a wealthy, high-ranking, pretend-friend-to-the-poor representative having four rent-stabilized apartments all to himself, then he is a clueless, phony and out-of-touch knucklehead who is unfit to govern and should resign his Ways and Means Committee Chair immediately. Manhattan

Rep. Charles Rangel said he will give up one of four rent-stabilized apartments that are supposed to be used as primary residences and for which Rangel paid about half of market rate for more than a decade. A moving truck may not be enough to protect Rangel from the legal repercussions of his longtime discount, according to Ken Boehm of the National Legal and Policy Center, which filed an FEC complaint. Rangel's years of low rent constituted an illegal corporate campaign contribution from building owner, the Olnick Organization. Rangel could face investigation by the House Ethics Committee. Rangel is worth...

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel is soliciting donations from corporations with business interests before his panel, hoping to raise $30 million for a new academic center that will house his papers when he retires. ... ...a project that caused controversy last year when he won a $1.9 million congressional earmark to help start it. Republican critics dubbed the project Rangel's "Monument to Me." ... The congressman has corralled more federal money as well, securing two Department of Housing and Urban Development grants totaling $690,500 to help renovate the college-owned Harlem brownstone that will house the center.

SPITZ WILL TALK DIRTY TO PANELLast updated: 3:51 am July 14, 2008 Fredric Dicker DISGRACED former Gov. Eliot Spitzer will be subpoenaed within weeks to give his first public testimony in the Dirty Tricks Scandal if, as expected, a state commission charges his former aide Darren Dopp with violating state law. Dopp lawyer Michael Koenig, a former federal prosecutor, has concluded Spitzer's testimony would be crucial to back up his client's claim that the former governor gave the go-ahead for every step in the plot that used the State Police to gather purportedly damaging information on now-former Senate Majority Leader...

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has remained largely unhurt by the controversy over his “sweetheart” deal with mortgage lender Countrywide. But CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla finally bucked the media trend of ignoring the scandal and brought the loan up in an interview with the former Democratic presidential hopeful July 14. Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in the wake of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s July 13 announcement that the federal government would take actions to prevent the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) from failing. “Squawk Box” co-host Quintanilla asked Dodd...

Todd Stuart McGuire, a longtime Jefferson County Democratic Party supporter, was charged July 2 with voter fraud. He's accused of either repeating a vote or impersonating his wife, Rebekah, by casting her ballot in a Feb. 6, 2007, special election. Both charges are Class C felonies and carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine, according to charging documents. Neither the McGuires nor Todd McGuire's attorney Ben Critchlow could be reached for comment last week or Monday. Todd McGuire is scheduled to appear in Jefferson County Superior Court at 8:30 a.m. Friday, July 18. The...

......far-left radical activist group ACORN is embroiled in financial corruption and cover-up.... The NY Times reports that Dale Rathke - whose brother started the group back in 1970 to help low-income people - embezzled nearly $1M back in 1999 and 2000. ACORN disguised it on the books as a loan and let Rathke's family make restitution at $30,000 a year. (An anonymous donor reportedly has agreed to pick up the remaining $800,000 tab.) ACORN also kept Rathke on the payroll at $38,000-a-year.....the Times reports most of the people who covered-up the embezzlement are still working for ACORN. Michelle Malkin wrote...

Those ever-vigilant, ever-principled, non-partisan politicos known as Democrats were caught with their hands in the cookie jar in Pennsylvania. Twelve of them, to be exact. Philly Daily News: A SORDID TANGLE of corruption, cash and sex rocked the Statehouse yesterday in a political scandal that left one current and one former legislator and 10 current and former staff members facing criminal charges. Among the accusations leveled by two state grand juries: Former top legislative staffer Mike Manzo got his lover, a twenty-something former rural beauty queen, a $29,000 job and $7,000 bonus mostly for doing her schoolwork. State Attorney General...

It's the top story in Pennsylvania. Twelve Democrat state leaders facing corruption charges in a massive scandal dubbed "Bonusgate." If it were twelve Republican state leaders, I guarantee you would have heard all about it by now. Via the Philly Daily News: A SORDID TANGLE of corruption, cash and sex rocked the Statehouse yesterday in a political scandal that left one current and one former legislator and 10 current and former staff members facing criminal charges. Among the accusations leveled by two state grand juries: Former top legislative staffer Mike Manzo got his lover, a twenty-something former rural beauty queen,...

Rep. Charles Rangel defiantly defended having four rent-stabilized apartments Friday as Republicans, critics and constituents railed against what they called a sweetheart deal. "I don't see anything unfair about it, and I didn't even know it was a deal," said Rangel, 78, who chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is the dean of the New York congressional delegation. "I did not negotiate or ask for a lower price, and I'm paying the legal rent." [Snip] Nellie Bailey, director of the Harlem Tenants Council, accused Rangel of "the height of hypocrisy." She said he has failed to help...

Rep. Charles Rangel defiantly defended having four rent-stabilized apartments Friday as Republicans, critics and constituents railed against what they called a sweetheart deal. "I don't see anything unfair about it, and I didn't even know it was a deal," said Rangel, 78, who chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is the dean of the New York congressional delegation. "I did not negotiate or ask for a lower price, and I'm paying the legal rent." That didn't satisfy Connie Kennedy, 52, who has been living in a rent-stabilized apartment in Rangel's luxury doorman building, Lenox Terrace, for more...

Getting an apartment in New York City can be an expensive affair — unless the renter is a Congressman apparently. Charles Rangel (D-NY) has four rent-controlled apartments in one building in Harlem, even though rent control should only apply to a primary residence. Rangel uses one of the rent-controlled apartments as a campaign office, which calls into question whether he has broken gift-acceptance and electoral regulations: While aggressive evictions are reducing the number of rent-stabilized apartments in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent units on the 16th floor overlooking Upper Manhattan in...

Updated, 5 p.m. | Representative Charles B. Rangel held a 20-minute news conference on Friday afternoon after The New York Times reported that he had four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem at a time when the city is experiencing an affordable housing crisis. At one point angry residents accosted the congressman, the dean of Harlem politics, in an unusual sidewalk confrontation, as Mr. Rangel faced questions from reporters. Mr. Rangel, who is the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said his living arrangements were fair and legal and that he was paying the maximum rent allowed on all...

A SORDID TANGLE of corruption, cash and sex rocked the Statehouse yesterday in a political scandal that left one current and one former legislator and 10 current and former staff members facing criminal charges. Among the accusations leveled by two state grand juries: Former top legislative staffer Mike Manzo got his lover, a twenty-something former rural beauty queen, a $29,000 job and $7,000 bonus mostly for doing her schoolwork. State Attorney General Tom Corbett announced the charges against the 12, all Democrats, in a news conference in Harrisburg. "It's a very sad day in Pennsylvania," Corbett said. The long-running investigation...

Chris Dodd is trying desperately to change the subject, but it isn't working. After a year on the presidential campaign trail, he returned to his Senate duties this year only to find his approval rating had fallen to 51 percent. So he did something uncharacteristic: He made several appearance in the state so the soiled masses might get close, but not too close, to him again. Confident he was back in their good graces, he returned to the Capitol to close the sale of his office to subprime lenders. After ignoring the mortgage meltdown for months, he filed legislation to...

How much you want to bet if this story involved Republicans the story would be all over the national nightly news? Scandal in the statehouse: 12 Democrats face corruption charges A SORDID TANGLE of corruption, cash and sex rocked the Statehouse yesterday in a political scandal that left one current and one former legislator and 10 current and former staff members facing criminal charges. Among the accusations leveled by two state grand juries: Former top legislative staffer Mike Manzo got his lover, a twenty-something former rural beauty queen, a $29,000 job and $7,000 bonus mostly for doing her schoolwork. State...

While aggressive evictions are making rent-stabilized apartments increasingly scarce in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent apartments in a sprawling penthouse overlooking Upper Manhattan, courtesy of one of New York’s premier real estate developers. Mr. Rangel, the powerful Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, uses his fourth apartment, six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence. Mr. Rangel, who has a net worth of $566,000 to $1.2 million, according to Congressional disclosure...

HARRISBURG -- Grand jurors here and in Pittsburgh cataloged what they described as a culture of corruption that allowed former state Rep. Michael Veon, current Rep. Sean Ramaley and 10 current and former Democratic staffers to divert millions of dollars in state resources, including more than $1 million in illegal pay bonuses. The jurors said Mr. Veon and the staff members conspired to arrange hefty year-end pay bonuses to House employees who worked on political campaigns over a three-year period, while Mr. Ramaley is accused of working full-time on his 2004 House campaign in Beaver County while drawing a taxpayer...

A watchdog group filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Senate Ethics Committee Wednesday against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) over a discounted mortgage he received from Northern Trust. Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, filed the report after The Washington Post reported that Obama received a discount on a mortgage for a Chicago home valued at $1.65 million. The complaints said the Illinois senator received a loan at the interest rate of 5.625 percent, which Judicial Watch says is lower than the standard rate of between 5.93 and 6 percent indicated by surveys....

The California Democratic Party has donated $250,000 to help Don Perata pay off his legal bills, as the Senate Democratic leader continues to rack up expenses fending off an ongoing FBI corruption investigation. The party made the quarter-million dollar donation on July 1, according to campaign filings. The money comes just in time for Perata, who, according to a May disclosure, had only $273 cash on hand in his legal defense fund and $250,000 in unpaid bills. Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Perata on legal issues, said the donation -- and the continuing expenses -- are "no indication of anything."...

For the first time in recent years Cameron County's Democratic Party may not have a candidate on the ballot for a constable's race in the November general election. Precinct 1 Constable Saul P. Ochoa was to represent the party in the election, but after pleading guilty last month to a charge of distributing marijuana, it knocks him out of the race. The Democratic Party has until Aug. 26 to nominate another candidate in his place. However, with Ochoa's sentencing on the drug charge not scheduled until Sept. 22, this leaves the party without a candidate in this election. "I don't...

Greg Kolomitz, former campaign manager to Gov. Bill Ritter, has started a defense fund to pay his legal bills, and his wife has e-mailed friends alleging that Kolomitz has been "falsely accused" of mismanaging campaign and inaugural funds. The e-mail plea never mentions Ritter by name, but leaves no doubt about who the family thinks is responsible for the "false" accusations that led to an ongoing investigation of Kolomitz. "We have found ourselves in a legal battle with someone whom we believed to be our friend. In April, Ritter alleged that Kolomitz had wrongly used inaugural funds to pay off...

Our reporting partners at the Detroit News are reporting that the FBI has electronic surveillance that links Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers to the Synagro scandal. The evidence reportedly proves that Conyers received either a payment or payments in connection with the city-approved sludge contract.

San Francisco -- Saying enough is enough, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums fired embattled City Administrator Deborah Edgerly on Tuesday, four days after he put her on paid leave amid allegations that she may have interfered in a police investigation involving her nephew. Dellums sent out a letter informing the City Council of his decision and another letter via messenger to Edgerly's home. "Basically he just had enough of the situation," said one City Hall source close to the situation. "He felt that he has no other choice." The last straw was a letter Edgerly sent Monday to the mayor, informing...

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama received a discounted home loan in 2005, along similar lines to that received by a former adviser to his campaign who was forced to resign after it became public, The Washington Post revealed yesterday. Former Fannie Mae chief executive James Johnson resigned abruptly as head of Senator Obama's vice-presidential search committee last month after The Wall Street Journal reported he had received favourable terms for a jumbo home loan with help from the CEO of Countrywide Financial - a major actor in the sub-prime mortgage mess. Senator Obama had previously spoken out against Countrywide's...

As reported by WaPo the Obama campaign claimed that the discounted rate on his $1.3 million mortgage was due to a competitive offer made by another lending institution. A campaign spokesman went further by claiming that Obama had no prior ties to the Chicago based Northern Trust. Apparently the Obama campaign has once again forgotten those “pesky”...

Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois. This Story The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some...

Presidential nominee Barack Obama joins the list of several other high-profile Democratic Party members who received highly favorable home loans. Obama, D-Ill., reportedly purchased a $1.65 million mansion in Chicago through a “super, super jumbo” loan he received from Northern Trust Bank in Illinois, the Washington Post reports. The portion of the money financed through the lender ($1.32 million) was offered to the Obamas at an unusually low discount interest rate locked in at 5.625 percent over the life of the 30-year fixed-rate loan, which was below the average of what a typical Chicagoan pursuing a similar low loan rate...

Another Democratic official charged in satanist sex crimes By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun DURHAM -- Police say they've arrested and charged a third person in connection with an ongoing rape and kidnapping investigation. Diana Palmer, 44, is charged with being an accessory after the fact, Durham Police Department spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Wednesday afternoon. Palmer is first vice chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party. Her arrest came five days after police arrested the party's third vice chairwoman, Joy Johnson, 30, and Johnson's husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25. Craig faces three counts of second-degree kidnapping, one count of second-degree...

Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire friend of Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, has admitted soliciting prostitution from underage girls in South Florida. The 55-year-old financier has been sentenced to 18 months in jail followed by a year of house arrest. He will also be designated a sex offender. Epstein was arrested two years ago after he allegedly paid several girls under the age of 18 between $200 (£100) and $300 (£150) each in return for naked massages at his Palm Beach home that sometimes led to sex. He also faces multi-million pound lawsuits in state and federal courts filed by several...

Allegations that a local Democratic official and her husband were involved in Satanic rituals that included shackling people to beds, caging them and depriving them of food and water have horrified county party leaders.

He is incredibly compassionate.He is incredibly reticent when faced with making decisions. And as a result, his handling of the Deborah Edgerly affair was an incredible disaster.That's pretty much how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' aides, past aides, city department heads, politicos and longtime friends explained his apparent inability to deal with Edgerly after it came to light that the city administrator had possibly injected herself into a police investigation of her nephew."You have to understand, he's never fired anyone - that's not his style," said one friend who has worked with Dellums since his days as a congressman. "He always...

Barack Obama made one shrewd move this week, along with one risky one. In talking with reporters after the Supreme Court ruled that criminals who rape children may not be executed, Mr. Obama moved smartly to the political center. "I think that the rape of a small child, six or eight years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances, the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that does not violate our Constitution," he said, siding with conservative dissenters in the case. Mr. Obama was on shakier ground when...

'I would never take 'trust me' for an answer, not even in the best of times. Not even from a president on Mount Rushmore." So declared Sen. Christopher J. Dodd last week on the floor of the U.S. Senate during a debate on government surveillance. Dodd declared he will not trust our leaders unless he gets to see certain national security documents. Dodd insists, however, that we trust him when he says he didn't know he received special treatment when he borrowed nearly $800,000 from Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2003. Dodd continues to refuse to release the standard documents (commitment...

Spitzer "actually enjoyed destroying people," said a former NYSE managing director, Richard Riker. "Spitzer's legacy is tarnished and trashed because of [the prostitution scandal that led to his resignation] and the Richard Grasso lawsuit suit." "[The Court of Appeals decision upholding Grasso's pay package] becomes part of the realization that Spitzer was no more than a legal lightweight who bullied and slashed his way through Wall Street using the power of his office," Riker said. Spitzer's personal reputation was already in tatters. Revelations that Spitzer had a years-long addiction to high-priced prostitutes - and that he might be indicted himself...

Add "Porker of the Month" to the trophies on Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's mantle. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Dodd its June porker for his "blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers," and for his "monstrous mortgage bailout bill that will dump ($300 billion) worth of risky mortgages onto the backs of taxpayers while lending a helping hand to his corporate benefactor." He saved $75,000 under VIP mortgages he got from Countrywide Financial in 2003. Now his bailout package seeks to reward the most unscrupulous subprime lenders and the most irresponsible borrowers at the expense of homeowners...

NEW YORK TIMES: "About that Mortgage, Senator . . ." It turns out that the chieftain of Countrywide -- which is smack in the middle of the mortgage mess -- extended privileged borrowing status to two Senators, Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota. Both Senators deny any ethical violations.   The disclosure of the V.I.P. arrangments by the political website Politico.com left constituents angry and suspicious -- particularly because the revelations came just as Congress was rousing itself to do something about the mortgage foreclosure crisis.   It would be nice to think that...

Clout and corruption scandals that have plagued Chicago and Illinois politics in recent years have not laid a glove on Barack Obama, he told reporters here Wednesday. "You will recall that for my entire political career here, I was not the the endorsed candidate of any political organization here," the Democratic presidential hopeful said at the Westin Hotel downtown. "I didn't go around wielding a bunch of clout. My reputation in Springfield was as an independent. There is no doubt I had friends and continue to have friends who come out of the more traditional school of Chicago politics but...

Excerpt - Federal prosecutors charged Raffaello Follieri, an Italian entrepreneur and former business partner of California billionaire Ron Burkle, with funding a lavish lifestyle by using money from a real-estate venture that was supposed to capitalize on his alleged Vatican ties to redevelop surplus Catholic Church properties. ~ snip ~ A criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan Tuesday alleged that Mr. Follieri stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of investor money to pay for a $37,000-a-month New York apartment where he lived for a time with Ms. Hathaway; private jet travel; expensive restaurants and clothes; medical expenses,...

The latest on the triple-default, single-foreclosure Democratic congresswoman from Long Beach: "Rep. Laura Richardson initially failed to disclose economic interests -- including a loan from a strip club owner -- when she served on the Long Beach City Council, public records show," the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports.

NOW YOU KNOWWhen cornered, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd maintains an ambiguous relationship with the truth. His clumsy and contradictory explanations of the favorable mortgage deals he received from Countrywide Financial continue to shred his credibility. Dodd would spew righteous venom over anyone who offered the Senate testimony as convoluted as what Dodd has served us in the past 10 days. "Outrageous," he thundered in a press release on Friday the 13th. How dare anyone suggest he would derive a personal benefit from his public trust? With that, he skedaddled out of Washington, officially traveling and unavailable in the communications age....

The Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network has 36 chapters across the country but has mostly failed to register in states that require nonprofits to file public records, The Post has learned. Only two chapters, those in Washington state and Nevada, have registered with the appropriate agency. NAN chapters in Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Illinois solicit donations, according to their Web sites or representatives - but neither the chapters nor their New York-based parent are registered to do so in those states. [Snip] NAN's failure to file paperwork regarding its regional chapters comes as Sharpton and his nonprofit...