IS MICHELE BACHMANN’S $10,000 DONOR IN MINNESOTA LAYING LOW FROM THE LAW AND THE IRS?

The Minnesota chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association was dissolved in 2009 after its founder and Michele Bachmann donor Bobby Thompson came under a nationwide investigation

By Karl Bremer

The Minnesota Chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association took in a total of $1.54 million in contributions from 2005-2009 and claims to have distributed $1.06 million of that to needy veterans and other charitable causes in those same years. Yet the organization, whose founder, Bobby Thompson, donated $10,000 to Michele Bachmann’s campaign committee last April, dissolved in 2009 without explanation just as a nationwide investigation of the group by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times was getting started.

As a result of the paper’s investigation, Thompson, who is listed as the Minnesota chapter’s CFO, has disappeared from his Tampa residence, leaving no forwarding address. Thompson’s last known whereabouts was at Bachmann’s high-roller fundraiser with Sarah Palin in Minneapolis April 7 where he made his $10,000 donation to Bachmann, leading some to believe that he may be on the lam in Minnesota.

The U.S. Navy Veterans Association has been shut down by states attorneys general in Hawaii, New Mexico and Ohio. Investigations into the group are underway in Florida, Missouri and Virginia. And U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) has asked the IRS to begin an investigation into the organization.

However, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson’s office has not responded to repeated inquiries about the organization’s Minnesota activities or the reason for its dissolution.

The address for the Minnesota chapter of the Navy Vets group that’s registered with the Attorney General’s Office and the IRS leads to a UPS Store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul (see photo below), an apparent violation of the state’s requirement to file a physical address for the organization in addition to its mailing address. The Minnesota phone number listed for the group still carries a recorded message as if they are still operating in Minnesota.

The address listed for the Minnesota chapter’s Commander John Clinton and Lt. Commander Reint Reinders on the group’s 2008 IRS filing is the same Grand Avenue UPS store. The address listed for CFO Bobby Thompson leads to another UPS mailbox in Washington, D.C.

The Navy Vets group innocently describes its mission in its Minnesota Attorney General filing as “to assist disabled and needy war veterans and members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their dependents, and the widows, widowers and orphans of deceased veterans.” However, the investigations of the St. Petersburg Times and states attorneys general have found numerous instances of alleged fraud, fictitious names and other misrepresentations of its charitable activities in the group’s chapters across the country.

Bobby Thompson appears to have a keen interest in Minnesota Republican politicians. In addition to his $10,000 donation to Bachmann, Thompson has made the following donations:

• $21,500 to Norm Coleman’s Senate re-election campaign between 2006 and 2008
• $5,000 to the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee in 2008
• $10,400 to the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2008-2010

Thompson’s organization also hired Edwin Cain, a Stillwater lobbyist with close ties to Bachmann, to lobby for the Navy Vets group.

Also read:

Complaints about U.S. Navy Vets Assn. phone calls.

Ohio AG page about U.S. Navy Vets Assn.