If my memory is correct, this is the first time a newspaper has openly called out and detailed the right wing religious grift machine:
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has chosen to prolong her moment in the limelight by defying a federal judge’s order to issue marriage licenses to legally qualifed people who apply for them.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning kindly but firmly told Davis Wednesday that in our system her religious beliefs don’t trump the rights of the taxpayers who pay her almost $80,000 annual salary.
Sharing Davis’ glow is Liberty Counsel, which describes itself as a nonprofit that provides pro bono legal representation related to “religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family,” funded by tax-deductible donations and grants. In 2012 those gifts reached just over $3.5 million and in 2013 topped $4.1 million, according to IRS filings.
The husband and wife team who founded and run Liberty Counsel, Anita and Matthew Staver, were paid $137,758 and $153,591, respectively, in 2013. The staff of five ran up $184,479 in travel expenses that year and spent $429,584 on conferences, conventions and meetings. Liberty Counsel paid one independent contractor over $600,000 for “email alert services,” and another almost $500,000 for printing and mail services. “Case costs,” were reported at $105,487.
Liberty’s attorneys know they can’t win the case in Rowan County. Same-sex marriage is legal since the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision and it’s Davis’ job to issue marriage licenses.
So, why is Liberty Counsel marching alongside Davis in this losing cause? It takes a lot to keep that marketing machine humming and those executives paid, and the only way to keep those donations coming is to stay in the news. For that purpose a losing cause is just as good as, perhaps better than, a winning one.
It ain’t about religion and it ain’t about liberty, it’s all about the Franklins.
Baud
Time for a contempt hearing.
Schlemazel
I pine or a day when this obvious fact is made very public by reputable news organizations. At some point thre is going to have to be an “Army/McCarthy” moment “At long last,sir, have you no shame?”
Betty Cracker
I’m not sure what the answer is for these grift organizations. Maybe a limit on salaries and a requirement to extensively document the purchase of contract services. Perhaps a requirement to conduct a competitive bidding process so these so-called nonprofits can’t shotgun the dollars of the gullible directly to their pals in a kickback scheme. Maybe it should be a lot harder in general to qualify for tax exempt status to weed the straight-up grifters out. Of course, this would require funding the dreaded IRS….
Stillwater
God’s work is accomplished in mysterious ways.
Doug R
@Betty Cracker: How about requiring ALL donors over $100 reveal their names?
Baud
@Doug R:
That would sweep in legitimate nonprofits.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Yep.
Ann Marie
@Betty Cracker:
It would also require letting the IRS do its job. After all, Congress is still raking the IRS over the coals because some employees had the outrageous notion that an organization with the words “Tea Party” in its name might possibly be political.
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: It’s a tough one, because making more hoops to jump through would also ding the genuine people.
I like the Charity Navigator-type metrics where they give out percentages on administrative costs and how much actually gets spent on the non-profits’ reason for being.
And by all means, let the IRS do their job.
shell
Does she have a GoFundMe page yet?
Davis X. Machina
@shell:
How about a GoFundieMe page?
Ron Beasley
@shell: She tried but it was against GoFundMe policy. I see an atheist in has now said he will refuse marriage licenses to Christians. The irony!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: @Baud: I’m thinking the response to the show cause order might be amusing. Visions of Rule 11 sanctions dance in my head, also too.
The Court is not gonna fuck around on this. I’ve mentioned that as an AUSA, he was reasonable and sensible but of course as no nonsense as those folks tend to be. He’s simply not gonna show much (legal) patience with this sort of bullshit.
sharl
@shell:
Haha, that actually came up in comments at that site. It’s normally the smartest move to not read the comments, but I dove in anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised to find most of the comments coming out against her, as well as effectively rebutting the occasional christianist who showed up to defend her. That good trend may change, since the comment section is still pretty active, and the christianist crowd may begin to organize a freeping* campaign. [*The term originates from a social media tactic popularized by the wingnut crowd at Free Republic, if memory serves.]
There is a lot of local information in those comments too. From what several commenters said, the Rowan County KY Clerk position is a “family heirloom” that exists in its current form thanks to Kim Davis’ mother, who held the position previously. Several of Davis’ children also work for the county, and one of her sons is assumed to be in position to take over the job when Ms. Davis leaves the job. And at $80,000 a year, that is a really well paying job, a rarity in Kentucky in general, and particularly rare in that Appalachian part of the state.
Baud
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Yes, this is worse than Cliven Bundy. Real people are being denied their right to marry.
feebog
If you are so stupid that you send money to right wing grifters like this, you probably would just be blowing it on beer and cigarettes otherwise.
Tim C?
I can’t remember how long ago it was, but wasn’t there an article in one of the “respectable” right wing fanzines where someone was showing an ounce of awareness of their grifting problems? A lot of Tea Party orgs don’t seem to do much, Glen Beck’s love of gold coins and all that? Can’t see them being able to do much at this point about it though.
Spike
My favourite underrated aspect of this story is the name of the town that serves as the county seat of Rowan County, where Ms. Davis refuses to issue same-sex marriages: Morehead.
lgerard
This is certainly not the first time something like this has been called out, it is just that the IRS standards are somewhat vague, and never, ever enforced.
Jay Sekulow’s actions with his ACLJ (associated with Pat Robertson) are even more shameful.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-09-05/Tenn-lawyers-family-firm-collect-millions-from-charities/50259614/1
A couple of years ago when anti mosque fever was high in Tenn, the Tennessean called out fraudster Steve Emerson for the same type of behavior.
http://archive.tennessean.com/article/20101024/NEWS01/10240374/Anti-Muslim-crusaders-make-millions-spreading-fear
As someone who works for a legitimate nonprofit, this type of scamming and self dealing make me really angry
marindenver
The grifting attorney representing the owner’s of Masterpiece Bakery (bakers who refused to make a cake for a gay couple) is boo-hooing salty tears of butthurt today after her clients lost their appeal. The court ruled they had discriminated against the couple.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28635302/appeals-court-lakewood-baker-discriminated-against-same-sex
My favorite quote “I think the ruling means that some Colorado citizens have a First Amendment right to believe what they want and to act on those beliefs — such as Lé Bakery Sensual of Denver or Azucar Bakery. As long as you hold the right view on same-sex marriage, you can act on your conscience,” Martin said. “But for people like Jack Phillips, you are not entitled to those beliefs.”
Or you can bake the damn cake and stop trying to foist your religious beliefs on everyone else.
HumboldtBlue
@feebog: Best endorsement for atheism I have read. Although giving up the smokes has saved me a few thousand dollars over the past 18 months which means more money for beer and rafting trips.
sukabi
@marindenver: yeah, mitt couldn’t possibly boil down to a business that is doing their chosen job vs a business choosing to not do their job because they don’t like xyz, but will do it for every one who isn’t xyz.
lgerard
@WereBear:
This, sadly, can be totally misleading. Many of these scam outfits hide fundraising and administration costs under the rubric of “education”
If you see that some organization spent 60% of their funds on education you might think that is a good thing. If you knew that the “education” effort consisted of mass mailings of a letter with one paragraph about a “serious problem facing us” and three paragraphs telling you what the solution is (send us money) you might think differently.
BBA
@Baud: Given the shenanigans that go on at “legitimate” nonprofits I’d be all for it. Especially at churches, which are exempted from many of the already-weak existing rules around nonprofits, freedom of religion don’tcha know.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
There isn’t going to be any movement to stop non-profit grifters as long as they’re a key part of the Republican machine.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Probably not as a practical matter. Counties in Kentucky are small enough that people who are desperate to marry can probably hop to the next county over to get their papers, even if they’re desperately poor. This is really a matter of principle. It’s about proving that government officials can’t refuse to do their secular jobs because of their religious convictions. Of course, that’s also important for practical reasons, because if one clerk could get away with it, who knows how many others would follow along.
delk
Kim Davis is a horrible person. And so is her daughter.
http://pageonekentucky.com/2013/12/19/on-shaming-a-politician-an-alleged-dog-thief/
Hal
@delk: Wow. Did the guy get his dog back?
sharl
@delk: Aww geez, that’s awful. Must be a manifestation of those Small Town Values™ we’re always hearing about.
{Actually I’ve heard both great praise and…stories like this, about small town living. I wonder if sociology or anthropology types have tried tackling the subject of how economically viable small town cultures evolve in different ways to become wonderful or horrible, and everything in between those extremes. With a relatively small population, I’m guessing that the character and belief systems of early community leaders may play a much bigger role in those small communities than it does in the big city. I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, though.}
delk
@Hal: Nope!
Roger Moore
@sharl:
There’s a strong tendency for small towns to have a handful of leading citizens who wind up running the place, and their hold can easily pass from generation to generation. That can be great if the leading families are honest and public spirited or terrible if they’re dishonest and selfish.
JDM
600 grand for email alerts? I’ll set you up with a bunch of Google alerts for the bargain price of a half a million.
Kropadope
Exactly, people are paying her a rather generous salary and she is flat out refusing to do her job.
JDM
@delk: small town America. The real America, not like those big cities.
jonas
What I really want to see is a public official refuse to issue open carry permits or something gun-related and say it’s because of their pacifist religious beliefs. Bet this Liberty Cousel outfit will just be *running* to defend that one.
Space Oddity
The Liberty Counsel has an ad airing on my region’s local Weather Channel where they call on people to support them fighting against the Supreme Court, asking whether viewers thinks it right that five unelected judges can “change the definition of marriage”, so, yeah, their grasp of these things is… pretty shaky.
A guy
She obvious disagrees with the judge. I admire her
Kathleen
@sharl: Sound like welfare to me.
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
Does being in jail count as a disability?
sharl
@Kathleen: I went back and checked on where that $80,000 salary number came from. I found no evidence that salaries of county officials are public in Kentucky, at least not Rowan County. But from another post at the same site, it looks like that number is probably legit:
Some of the commenters at the site linked by JGC suggest that there is considerable autonomy for Kentucky counties to set up rules for government ethics and (maybe?) establishment and funding of certain positions, whether or not the position/salary is needs-based. Here is (part of) one comment there:
Gotta be real careful in judging the veracity of statements like this. Did the commenter pass along hearsay or rumor? I can’t say – and neither could the commenter he was in dialog with. Despite that, I love local commentary like this, even when it might be questionable. Taking all those comments together, there is strong indication that Rowan County has a governance problem, maybe not as bad as what Bell, California had, but local tyranny and nepotism appear to have resulted in a toxic stew in that place.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@burnspbesq: You hate me. I had just taken a sip. Fortunately of water.
She’d best not fuck around in this court. As I mentioned, Bunning is smart and sane and is not gonna be inclined to waste time on this. I’ll no doubt find the show cause response amusing.
Another Holocene Human
She’s paid $80K for this? In Kenfucky? I can refuse to push paper in the middle of nowhere, too. Sign me the fuck up!!!
(I know, it’s wrong to rage at other workers but I bust my ass harder than this b*tch every day AND I’ll bet the farm I have more education than her, BY FAR. What do you bet she is related to somebody to get that job. $80K????? I know PUBLIC WORKS CDL DRIVERS making all but minimum wage–PUBLIC SECTOR and had to pass a background check, okay? I know fucking cleaning ladies who work harder than this overfed wanker working for the state making less than $10 a fucking hour. FUCK HER AND FUCK HER UNCLE.)
@sharl: Shoulda scrolled before posting. You have explained all, sharl.
RaflW
Holy crap am I in the wrong line of work. Not that I’m in the email biz, but my small nonprofit used one of the major brands. Full suite was $110/mo for 10,000 contacts (we had far fewer). $600K is just clearly a grift. A big one.
Myiq2xu
Your selective outrage is revealing. There is a left-wing grift machine as well. One prominent wing of the LWGM is run by the Clintons.
They gotta lot of Benjamins from doing public service.
sigaba
Two thoughts:
1) In Ye Olden Tymes there was an ancient prohibition against what the English called “Barratry and Maintenance.” Basically it was illegal for a third party (anyone or a lawyer) to pay someone’s legal bills for them, mainly because the courts would otherwise be jammed with nuisance lawsuits between magnates and barons that were actually being fought in proxy battles between people being paid to sue each other.
2) This lawsuit is doomed, but I don’t think the people giving money actually see it as grift. If you hold to tight deontological moral strictures like “gays marry=bad,” you’re probably the kind of person that cares more about being on the right side than actually winning or losing.
A guy
Going out of some sort of disability would be taking a page out of the liberal playbook
sigaba
@RaflW: The premium is probably for access to the big magazine mailing lists; the emails aren’t for “alerts” to people who are already contacts, they’re for “development,” drumming up donations. Even then of course the amounts involved are insane, but the Viguires and their ilk are able to charge it because they know that’s what the list is worth to people with the right message.
sigaba
Actually, I wonder if the big conservative mailing lists charge a percentage on revenue?
if *I* were running a wingnut welfare mailing list, I’d tell charities that they just had to write the email, I’d handle the distribution, and then I’d handle fulfillment for a percentage of the take. Father-in-law gets winger email, clicks “Donate Now” button, is taken to website with my domain name but the credit card is actually processed by the mailing list, so the charity never actually sees the names or addresses, just 80% of the money. Of course I send them the revenue reports so they an do their taxes for the full 100 and count my vigorish as expenses.
Hmm, there’s and App for that.
EconWatcher
There is something that could be done about this grifting organization: They went to court and wasted the judge’s time and resources with an obviously frivolous legal argument. He has the power under court rules and a federal statute to make them pay the other side’s legal costs and impose something akin to a fine on them. He should do that.
I was a litigator for several decades, and it really frustrated me that judges would not use these powers more often. They virtually never do.
We all have a right of access to the courts, but you don’t have a right to use them as a playground, if you don’t have a plausible legal basis for your arguments. The only counter is that judges don’t want to chill creative advocacy that might ultimately change or extend the law, but it’s
plain there’s no creativity here, just grandstanding. You and I shouldn’t have to pay for that through our taxes to support the courts.
sigaba
@EconWatcher: Access to the court is holy writ in America; people think their legislators are corrupt, the president is a babbie killer, but the courts vindicate all. The kids in Jesus Camp don’t cheer “Righteous senators, righteous senators!” they cheer “Righteous judges, righteous judges!”
I was always stuck by the end of Atlas Shrugged, where Galt describes his gulch as a land without a government, “except for a courthouse.” When your ideology is completely founded on rights, courts become indispensible.
Honus
I’ve practiced before david Bunning he’s jim bunning’s son. He’s no flaming liberal. This clerk has crossed the line to piss him off like this.
The Other Chuck
@sigaba:
I was always struck by the end where Dagny Taggart shoots a guy in cold blood, not because he threatened her or because she was ruthlessly intent on her mission, but because in a single second she surmised that her target was morally insufficient to be allowed to live.
sigaba
@The Other Chuck: I dunno it’s not much of a surprise if you’ve been paying attention :)
Sondra Fabe
Wow. $500,000 for marketing is a lot more than what they spend on the actual case I’ll bet.
I’ll also bet that they go out and recruit people like her: possibly at those meetings and conventions they attend.
The Griftters will land a fish like this county clerk, promise her fame and glory if she will behave in a way that furthers their mutual cause and the payoff will be very lucrative for them all.
These folks have created a nice little religious law niche for themselves. They pay themselves nicely, avoid paying taxes and never have to win a case to stay in business.
Sweet.
boatboy_srq
@Sondra Fabe: $500,000 for marketing, and $600,000 for email services, are probably broken down as 10% for the actual services and 90% grift for favored allies. Don’t think for a minute that all those funds donated to their cause are actually for the case work; most of it is for living high on the fleeced-rube hog, and what goes into the actual business of the firm is the minimum necessary to minimize audit risk and keep in the news.
Paul in KY
@Roger Moore: They are not close enough together that you can walk from 1 seat to another. If poor & no one to gift you a ride (and not very physically fit), you are stuck in that county.