Hope Commons Property Taxes in Arrears

Last week, Karl Bremer broke the news on Dump Bachmann about Michele Bachmann not paying her property taxes (the Bachmanns are all paid up). Now, it seems the property once owned by a top donor who Bachmann wrote a letter recommending a pardon is also in arrears.

Hope Commons is in receivership allegedly because it was purchased with money obtained illegally through the Petters Ponzi fraud. Frank Vennes Jr. has not been indicted for his role in the Tom Petters fraud. For background on the sorry saga of Hope Commons read this DB post and this update with a video about Hope Commons.

According to the Hennepin County property records, the Hope Commons property at 2300 Chicago Avenue was purchasedfor $3,000,000 in 2006, the owner listed is Hope Commons LLC, a company that was registered in Florida by Frank Vennes Jr., with a mailing address in Plymouth, Minnesota.

The overdue 2010 2009 taxes for the Hope Commons property are $6,733.84 with a penalty of $269.35:



Another former Vennes property, 3515 2nd Avenue South in Minneapolis is in receivership is listed as "forfeited" with no tax due.



DB will have updates on this story as it develops.

UPDATE:: The Receiver, has this correction:

This property has not been part of the Receivership. Hope Commons LLC transferred ownership to Fidelis in, I believe, 2007, before the Receivership was formed. I have not taken any action to challenge that transaction.

Interesting.

The Feds say Vennes knew something about the scheme right about the time that Bachmann wrote the pardon letter (December 2007). Vennes was the registered agent list in this PDF from the Florida SOS. In this 2008 doc, (PDF), the manager of Fidelis is Joseph L. Smith.

Michele Bachmann lauded the Fidelis Foundation in her pardon request for Frank Vennes Jr.:

Bachmann wrote:

“As a U.S. Representative, I am confident of Mr. Vennes’ successful rehabilitation and that a pardon will be good for the neediest of society. Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others. As I know from personal experience, Mr. Vennes has used his business position and success to fund hundreds of nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping the neediest in our society. The Fidelis Foundation, backed by Mr. Vennes, has directed over $10.7 million in total gifts in the last three years, and the Fidelis Foundation has ranked #6, #9 and #7 as the largest grant-making foundation in Minnesota over the past three years.”

The Fidelis Foundation is a Plymouth, Minn.-based nonprofit organization “organized to assist Christians in discerning, clarifying and implementing God’s call and direction in their life,” according to the group’s tax filings. Its chairman is G. Craig Howse, Vennes’ lawyer, and the organization leases office space from Howse for $1,300 a month.

Howse has donated $5,000 to Bachmann’s campaign committee since 2007.

The Petters-Fraud website has the superseding indictment of Tom Petters (PDF).

A list of wire communications are presented as evidence. Among them this mention of a wire transfer of $4,060,000 from the Fidelis Foundation to "PCI's account". PCI is Petters Company Incorporated.

Anti-Masturbation Crusader John Piper Apologizes, Taking Leave of Absence

Christianity Today:

Surprise and admiration have characterized the response so far to news that Bethlehem Baptist Church pastor John Piper will take an eight-month leave of absence from public ministry between May 1 and December 31, 2010. Explaining the move to his Minneapolis congregation, Piper said his soul, marriage, family, and ministry pattern "need a reality check from the Holy Spirit." Piper, widely known for his prodigious book output and intense speaking schedule, will abstain from all such activity during this unexpected sabbatical.

"I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with [my wife] Noël and others who are dear to me," Piper wrote. "How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody? I'll say it now, and no doubt will say it again, I'm sorry. Since I don't have just one deed to point to, I simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness; and I give you as much assurance as I can that I am not making peace, but war, with my own sins."

DB readers may remember another John Piper "announcement" in this October 30, 2008 DB post about Piper's connections to Hope Commons and his opposition to masturbation:

The new place of ministry means moving the classes and library and offices to Hope Commons at 2300 Chicago Avenue South. This former hospital building will house Hope Academy (K-12), Minnesota Teen Challenge, TBI, and Desiring God and Children’s Desiring God. The building is free from a visionary donor. But the ministries must pay to build out the space. That is what we are praying toward now.

Why hide the identity of the "visionary donor"?

I would like to be a part of this vision for the remainder of my life. I believe the church and the world need leaders shaped by this vision of God. I pray that you will find it compelling. If you would like to know more or to share in it, please contact Craig Howse, Director of Institutional Advance, Tim Tomlinson, Executive Director of TBI, or Tom Steller, Dean of TBI.

Hope Commons was seized by the government.

Pastor John Piper is in this You Tube video about Hope Commons also featuring Bachmann campaign $$$ donor Craig Howse, who is also the lawyer and lobbyist for Petters associate, Bachmann campaign donor Frank Vennes Jr.