By Karl Bremer © Copyright 2010
The United States Navy Veterans Association Minnesota Chapter was dissolved on May 4, 2010, because the embattled organization is facing potential legal liabilities that could sink it.
The group has operated in Minnesota since 2005 and raised more than $1.5 million using nothing more than a UPS drop box on Grand Avenue in St. Paul as its “physical address” filed with the state Attorney General. Following a year-long investigation by the St. Petersburg Times, the group has come under investigation for allegedly fraudulent activities in several states, cease-and-desist orders have been filed against it in others, and an Ohio judge has frozen the assets of the group’s Ohio chapter due to a widening attorney general’s probe there.
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is aware of the serious allegations against the Navy Vets group. However, its spokespersons refuse to say whether an investigation into the group’s Minnesota Chapter is underway.
The USNVA’s founder and commander, Bobby Thompson, disappeared from his Florida address after the Times’ reporters started asking questions about the Navy Vets group. Thompson was listed as the CFO of the group’s Minnesota Chapter from 2005-2008.
He was last seen at a Minneapolis fundraiser for Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on April 7, where he donated $10,000 to have his picture taken with Bachmann and former halftime Gov. Sarah Palin.
The Bachmann campaign has not responded to multiple inquiries about Bobby Thompson. It’s not known whether investigators have contacted the Bachmann campaign or the congresswoman herself regarding Thompson’s whereabouts.
Curiously, Thompson, who has lived the past decade in Florida, is a heavy contributor to Minnesota Republicans Bachmann and former Sen. Norm Coleman, as well as the state Republican Party and other GOP candidates. Besides his $10,000 donation to Bachmann, he’s given:
• $21,500 to Republican Norm Coleman’s Senate re-election campaign from 2006-2008
• $7,000 to the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee in 2008-2009
• $10,400 to the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2008-2010
• $500 to Republican Marty Seifert’s Seifert for Governor committee in 2009
• $500 to Republican David J. Carlson’s Citizens for David Carlson committee in House District 67B in 2008
Given his recent appearance with Michele Bachmann, Thompson is thought by some to be on the lam somewhere in Minnesota.
Nate Brennaman, manager of the charities and civil enforcement division at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, said he is aware of the multiple state investigations and cease-and-desist orders involving the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, as well as the frozen bank accounts of the USNVA in Ohio. However, he was not aware that his office had nothing more than a UPS drop box address on file for the group’s physical address in five years of operation. UPS drop boxes in St. Paul, Washington, DC, and Tampa, FL, appear in state and IRS filings as the group’s mailing address or location of financial information.
The USNVA Minnesota Chapter sent the Attorney General’s Office a copy of a resolution of dissolution adopted by its board of directors on May 4. It states that its assets and liabilities are zero and no further income is expected. Its last tax filing for 2009 shows remaining assets of $19,521 at the end of the year. It’s not clear where that balance went between then and May 4.
The resolution goes on to state that the organization “at no time possessed a reserve fund for potential legal liabilities” and that “the Chapter is confronting potential claims for dollar legal liabilities which, if actionalized in whole, would cause the chapter to be insolvent.” The resolution bears what appears to be the signature of the Minnesota Chapter’s most recent CFO, John Markman, except he’s listed as the “Acting Secretary of the Chapter” here.
The USNVA operated in Minnesota for five years without any apparent confirmation of its lack of a physical address in the state—a clear violation of the information requirements (PDF) stated on initial and annual reporting forms for charitable organizations operating in the state.
Charitable organizations that take in more than $350,000 a year by law must provide the state with an “audited financial statement … that has been examined by an independent certified public accountant.” The USNVA’s highest reported revenues in Minnesota were $349,205 on its 2008 taxes and thus, they were never required to file an audited financial statement.
The organization still lists the Minnesota Chapter on its website, although it’s now called the Minnesota Division. The St. Paul-area phone number listed on the website—651.649.4570—and also with the Attorney General’s Charities Division still carries a message that says “we’re away from our desk” and suggests the group is still operating here. One source says the voice on the answering machine at that number is Thompson’s.
Edwin Cain, a Stillwater lobbyist who has worked for the USNVA, says he hasn’t talked to Bobby Thompson for over a year.
“I did a little work for them (USNVA) in Washington,” says Cain, who is also good friends with Bachmann. He says he met Thompson several years ago at a political reception around Christmas time, but he doesn’t recall the politician for whom the reception was being held.
Cain added that he was aware of “some trouble the (Minnesota) attorney general was trying to cause for Thompson over there” but he couldn’t be more specific.
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office made a single inquiry into the activities of the USNVA during its five years of operation here. On March 23, 2007, Cyndi Nelson, registration administrator for the Attorney General, wrote to Thompson at the group’s Tampa, FL, address on file with the state—also a UPS drop box—and also to Jack Nimitz, an officer with the group who lists a Washington, DC, UPS box as his address.
“It has been brought to the attention of this Office that you may be soliciting or receiving contributions from the public in the State of Minnesota,” Nelson wrote, and informed the group that they were not properly registered to do so.
However, by that time, the USNVA Minnesota Chapter had filed two years’ worth of IRS Form 990s with the state that showed $668,735 in revenues. Its 2006 annual report filed with the AG’s Office listed $74,963 in fundraising fees paid to Associated Community Services of Southfield, MI.
A St. Petersburg, FL, law firm initially responded to the state on behalf of Thompson and the USNVA. However, the Minneapolis law firm of Gray Plant Mooty responded three weeks later on behalf of the USNVA Minnesota Chapter, which it described as “our client,” and promised compliance with the law in future fundraising efforts.
The Navy Vets’ Ohio counsel recently withdrew from its representation of the group because all its directors have quit or disappeared, the St. Petersburg Times reported last week. The Navy Vets’ chief telemarketing firm, Associated Community Services, which the Minnesota Chapter used, also has deserted the group, the Times reports.
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UPDATE: The PiPress has an article about Bobby Thompson and USNVA:
A fundraiser and political donor whose charity collected more than $1 million in Minnesota, supposedly to help military veterans, lavished thousands of dollars on Minnesota politicians. Now, Bobby Thompson has disappeared, and attorneys general across the country are investigating whether his group was ever legitimate.
Thompson, the mysterious head of a nationwide veterans group called the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, is a Florida resident. But 35 percent of Thompson's more than $100,000 in federal donations over the past four years have gone to Minnesota candidates — primarily Republicans — and causes. That includes a $10,000 donation for a high-profile fundraiser in April featuring Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.
"We will be freezing the money pending the results of the investigations," said Gina Countryman, Bachmann's campaign manager, who added that Bachmann does not know Thompson.
"Congresswoman Bachmann believes people are innocent until proven guilty. However, she wants to ensure her campaign is above reproach and maintains the highest of ethical standards."
Thompson's donation was made April 7, suggesting he attended the Minneapolis fundraiser. It is not clear if he was photographed with Palin at that evening's fundraiser, which included opportunities for photos with the former Alaska governor — at $10,000 a pop.
At the time of the fundraiser, Thompson was the subject of a yearlong investigation by his local paper,
--snip--
The state suits frequently involve violations of laws requiring charities to provide actual addresses rather than mailboxes. As first reported on the local blog DumpBachmann, the address listed for Navy Vets' Minnesota chapter traces to a UPS Store on Grand Avenue, which is illegal under Minnesota law. An employee there said the company could not give out the name of the person who rented the mailbox.
A spokesman for Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson would neither confirm nor deny any investigation.
On May 4, the group filed a dissolution notice with the AG's office, which oversees groups that accept charitable donations. The signature on the notice is illegible, but it does cite "potential claims for dollar legal liabilities."
Efforts to locate Thompson were unsuccessful. A message left at the Minnesota chapter's office was not returned, and phone numbers listed on various public documents for Thompson appear to have been disconnected.
The Florida attorney general's office, which first took action against Navy Vets in April, now says it cannot locate Thompson. And last week, the Navy Vets' Ohio lawyer asked a judge for the right to withdraw from the case, since the lawyer had been unable to reach anyone affiliated with the group since June 20.
Thompson's connection to Minnesota is unclear, but he is active in Minnesota politics. His donations include $10,000 to the Palin fundraiser, an event supported through a joint fundraising committee between Bachmann and the Republican Party of Minnesota. He also donated nearly $20,000 to former Sen. Norm Coleman's 2008 re-election bid and more than $10,000 to the Republican Party of Minnesota, including one on May 6 — two days after the Minnesota chapter of Navy Vets was dissolved.
Another connection appears to be through a Stillwater lobbyist named Edwin Cain, who is pictured on Bachmann's U.S. House website with his arm around the second-term Republican.
It's a good article read the whole thing.
Picture of Edwin Cain and Bachmann as it appears on Bachmann's congressional website (Click on screenshot to make it bigger):
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