Boldly Committed to Truth Telling in the False Face of Fakery
Money Monday, Not Moral Monday
Publisher's note: This post, by Francis De Luca, was originally published in the Budget & Taxes, Elections & Voting, Legislative Activity section(s) of Civitas's online edition.
Liberal protesters at the General Assembly have been claiming they are acting in the name of morality, but a new Civitas study shows the role played by money – more than $100 million in state funds.
William Barber, NC NAACP President, has acknowledged that “Moral Mondays” are not a “spontaneous action.” He said that the seeds of the recent protests were first sowed when he and others formed a coalition of liberal groups called Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ). In 2013, HKonJ became the coordinating umbrella organization for the groups protesting at Moral Mondays. But as I have noted, it might be more appropriate to call “Moral Mondays” – “Money Mondays.” Here’s why.
A Civitas study shows that HKonJ affiliated groups have received more than $100 million in direct state grants in recent years. These include $33 million for the Community Development Initiative, $20 million for the Minority Support Center, and $17.5 million for the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development.
Direct State Grants to HKonJ Organizations
Download the Entire PDF.
The money trail doesn’t stop there. Civitas found an additional $10 million from pass-through grant money given to HKonJ organizations by state-funded nonprofits from 2009 to 2012. The Golden Leaf Foundation, the Rural Economic Development Center (now under review for possible misuse of state funds), the Triangle Community Foundation, and the Foundation for the Carolinas all funneled taxpayer money to these liberal organizers.
Pass-through Grants to HKonJ Organizations
Download the Entire PDF.
A casual observer might say these organizations seem to be upstanding social institutions. The Community Development initiative, for example, promises on its web site to “[drive] innovation, investment and action to create prosperous, sustainable communities.” Who could argue with that? The liberal-left has a talent for innocuous names and benevolent mission statements that mislead the public as to an organization’s true mission.
Here’s what the money tells us about these organizations: They’re not all about compassion and social work. Let’s take the Community Development Initiative. Its CEO, Abdul Rasheed, made $222,629 in base compensation in 2011, along with $42,819 in deferred compensation and benefits. That’s $265,448 for one year of work at a nonprofit!
At the Minority Support Center, CEO Lenwood Long made $106,080 in 2011. In the same year, the organization shuffled $845,000 to the Latino Community Credit Union and $847,290 to the First Legacy Community Credit Union. Both organizations share a board member with the Minority Support Center. The center also gave $676,000 to Generations Community Credit Union, which shares a CEO with the Minority Support Center.
The Opportunities Industrialization Center paid four officers more than $110,000 each. The organization’s motto proclaims that it is “helping people help themselves,” but that would seem to be true only in the sense that the OIC’s employees are helping themselves to taxpayer money. More than half of the center’s expenditures (over $2 million) in 2012 were allocated for compensation and benefits, compared with $1.9 million in “other expenses.”
Top 10 Earners from State Funded HKonJ Organizations
Download the Entire PDF.
Who knew social work could be so lucrative?
When you follow the money, you see that this isn’t about morality at all. It isn’t about the high-minded virtues of justice, or equality. It’s about politics: liberal organizers have depended for years on the largess of an insolvent and bloated state bureaucracy. And as state legislators move to address rampant waste and debt in state government – something the people of North Carolina elected them to do – liberal groups fear that they are about to lose their spot at the public trough.
It’s all about the money.
State Data for this study was obtained at NC OpenBook.
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Liberal protesters at the General Assembly have been claiming they are acting in the name of morality, but a new Civitas study shows the role played by money – more than $100 million in state funds.
William Barber, NC NAACP President, has acknowledged that “Moral Mondays” are not a “spontaneous action.” He said that the seeds of the recent protests were first sowed when he and others formed a coalition of liberal groups called Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ). In 2013, HKonJ became the coordinating umbrella organization for the groups protesting at Moral Mondays. But as I have noted, it might be more appropriate to call “Moral Mondays” – “Money Mondays.” Here’s why.
A Civitas study shows that HKonJ affiliated groups have received more than $100 million in direct state grants in recent years. These include $33 million for the Community Development Initiative, $20 million for the Minority Support Center, and $17.5 million for the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development.
Direct State Grants to HKonJ Organizations
Download the Entire PDF.
The money trail doesn’t stop there. Civitas found an additional $10 million from pass-through grant money given to HKonJ organizations by state-funded nonprofits from 2009 to 2012. The Golden Leaf Foundation, the Rural Economic Development Center (now under review for possible misuse of state funds), the Triangle Community Foundation, and the Foundation for the Carolinas all funneled taxpayer money to these liberal organizers.
Pass-through Grants to HKonJ Organizations
Download the Entire PDF.
A casual observer might say these organizations seem to be upstanding social institutions. The Community Development initiative, for example, promises on its web site to “[drive] innovation, investment and action to create prosperous, sustainable communities.” Who could argue with that? The liberal-left has a talent for innocuous names and benevolent mission statements that mislead the public as to an organization’s true mission.
Here’s what the money tells us about these organizations: They’re not all about compassion and social work. Let’s take the Community Development Initiative. Its CEO, Abdul Rasheed, made $222,629 in base compensation in 2011, along with $42,819 in deferred compensation and benefits. That’s $265,448 for one year of work at a nonprofit!
At the Minority Support Center, CEO Lenwood Long made $106,080 in 2011. In the same year, the organization shuffled $845,000 to the Latino Community Credit Union and $847,290 to the First Legacy Community Credit Union. Both organizations share a board member with the Minority Support Center. The center also gave $676,000 to Generations Community Credit Union, which shares a CEO with the Minority Support Center.
The Opportunities Industrialization Center paid four officers more than $110,000 each. The organization’s motto proclaims that it is “helping people help themselves,” but that would seem to be true only in the sense that the OIC’s employees are helping themselves to taxpayer money. More than half of the center’s expenditures (over $2 million) in 2012 were allocated for compensation and benefits, compared with $1.9 million in “other expenses.”
Top 10 Earners from State Funded HKonJ Organizations
Download the Entire PDF.
Who knew social work could be so lucrative?
When you follow the money, you see that this isn’t about morality at all. It isn’t about the high-minded virtues of justice, or equality. It’s about politics: liberal organizers have depended for years on the largess of an insolvent and bloated state bureaucracy. And as state legislators move to address rampant waste and debt in state government – something the people of North Carolina elected them to do – liberal groups fear that they are about to lose their spot at the public trough.
It’s all about the money.
State Data for this study was obtained at NC OpenBook.
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