This is a time to get together and eat and talk , just time for our friends. There is no format, dues, agenda etc., We can meet anytime or place we decide, picnic pot luck, local food, anything we want to, even invite speakers. But for now please show up, eat and talk to like minded friends. No need to RSVP just stop by and eat. email Trana if you like.
The Franklin Center -- a government supported, government-hating not-for-profit corporation based in Bismarck -- raised nearly $4 million in 2010 from the usual anonymous oil industry billionaires and spent much of it sponsoring right-wing bloggers and conferences like the recent CPAC convention in Washington D.C.
Introduction
We've written about the "Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity" a time or two before. (Click here). The Franklin Center purports to be a North Dakota non-profit established for the purpose of "promoting investigative journalism."
Though this first part -- the Background -- will be familiar for some of you, I feel compelled to write a quick background of the Franklin Center for readers new to the site, or for people who've forgotten. If you want to know a lot more about the Franklin Center's history, click on our earlier story and the links therein. Skip the background if you think you know all there is to know about the Franklin Center.
Background
The Franklin Center is a North Dakota-based not-for-profit corporation, originally housed in a taffy shop in the tiny, seasonal tourist town of Medora (population 783), near the Montana border. Its executive director is former ND Republican Party executive director, Jason Stverak. Stverak is listed as the registered agent for the Franklin Center, though he hasn't lived in North Dakota in several years.
In its first year of operation, the Franklin Center raised nearly $3 million. Most or all of that $3 million came from the "Sam Adams Alliance," a Chicago-based non-profit which -- according to the Illinois' Secretary of State's website -- at the time of this writing is in "not good standing" status. (Translation: Franklin Center is likely getting its money secretly laundered through some other organization now.) The Sam Adams Alliance, according to a subsequently-disappeared story, is (or was) funded by the Koch Brothers' crime family.
North Dakota non-profit organizations are required (with one inapplicable exception) to provide a physical, in-state address for the home office here, according to the North Dakota Century Code. Since moving from the taffy shop in Medora, the home office address given by the Franklin Center has consistently been 547 S. 7th St, #176, Bismarck, ND 58504-5859. They have consistently used a "701-" area code phone number as their home office telephone number. The Franklin Center has a satellite office in a D.C. suburb in Northern Virginia, but their business registration there lists them as a "foreign corporation" headquartered in North Dakota. I'll save you the time of driving to the Bismarck -- 7th Street -- address and just tell you that the picture, above, shows what's at the address. (It's a UPS Store.)
UPS Store Interlude
I'm gonna tell you a little story here about how much "integrity" the "Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity" has. I was getting impatient waiting for the Franklin Center's 2010 IRS form 990 tax return to become available online. Here's something I knew:
In general, any organization that files a Form 990 (including Form 990-EZ, Form 990-PF, etc.) must make its three most recent Form 990's and its Form 1023 available for public inspection without charge at its principal place of business. All parts of the return, schedules and attachments must be made available during regular business hours at the organization's principal office... [ ]
The organization may have a staff member present in the room during the public inspection. However, the organization must [ ] generally provide the copies on the same day as the request was made. If the visitor brings his/her own copying equipment to the place of inspection, the organization must allow the visitor to make copies on site free of charge.
Now, although the above-linked information comes from a New Jersey-based website, the requirements talked about in that article are based upon federal laws and regulations. (See 26 CFR § 301.6104(d)-1(d)(1) at p. 85). And I should also point out that there are some exceptions to the general rule about having the 990s publicly available, but none of them apply to the Franklin Center. (For example, if they post the 990 on their own website [which the Franklin Center does not do], they do not have to make the 990 available to the public in their home office.)
On January 9, 2012, I sent an email to the Franklin Center telling them I planned to stop in at their home-office headquarters office on South 7th Street in Bismarck, North Dakota, to inspect their Form 990 for 2010. I knew they had likely completed the form in late October for filing with the IRS. I sent my email at about 11:00 on the morning of January 9th letting them know I planned to stop in in the afternoon that day. I sent the email primarily to ask if there would be any cost, but also to ask if they would waive the cost and just send me a .pdf file of their 2010 Form 990.
Having received no response to my email, at a little after 3:00 p.m., on January 9th, I walked into the business located at 547 S. 7th Street in Bismarck, North Dakota; the address used by the Franklin Center as it's "home office" address on its non-profit corporate formation documents, on its disclosures to other states, and on its 2009 Form 990 (filed in late 2010). I had my cell phone camera in my hand, at my side, video camera rolling (mostly just to catch the audio). I asked the nice gentleman behind the counter if I could get a copy of the Franklin Center's IRS form 990. He -- quite reasonably -- looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. I asked again and he grabbed a map under the counter to show me where the other local UPS Store is; a store on the north end of Bismarck that is, coincidentally, on Franklin Street. I explained that, no, I wasn't looking for their "Franklin Street" store. At some point the gentleman figured out what I was talking about and said that, yes, the Franklin Center has a post office box in their store but, no, they don't have any tax forms or other records for "the Franklin Center." "We just receive his mail, and that's it," is what the UPS Store guy told me. As I had expected, it was a dead end.
To this day, the Franklin Center has never responded to my email. Nothing.
Having come up against what appeared to me to be a clear violation of both state and federal law, I contacted the IRS. They told me to fill out a complaint form and email it to them. I have done that. They have sent me a letter to tell me they received my complaint, are (presumably) looking into the matter, and that -- sorry -- they are not able to tell me anything more about the status of their investigation (if any). So as of last week Friday, I had never gotten a response to my request to get a copy of the IRS form 990 from the Franklin Center, and the IRS had told me they might be looking into it, but that I wouldn't hear from them again because they don't notify citizens regarding the status of their investigations.
That's a pretty crappy position to be in, you know. The Franklin Center appeared to be in clear violation of a law requiring them to have a home office in North Dakota, they were in what appeared to be a clear violation of law requiring them to have copies of their tax returns at that office, they hadn't complied with the law, they hadn't responded to my request, I did not have a copy of the form 990 the Franklin Center was required to provide, and the IRS was not going to tell me whether they were doing anything to help make the Franklin Center stop breaking the law.
It's frustrating.
Disclosure
Late on Friday, or early Saturday, the Franklin Center's non-profit organization IRS form 990 tax return became available to the public online at the Guidestar.org website. Guidestar -- if you're unfamiliar with it -- is a free online service that affirmatively collects IRS Form 990s from the IRS, scans them and publishes them online. It's a good service.
I've had a little time to look through the Franklin Center's 2010 form 990 now, and there are a few things I'm going to point out to you about it before giving you the whole thing to peruse on your own time. First, the Koch Brothers' crime family apparently had a little more money for the Franklin Center in 2010 than they had in 2009. You'll recall the Franklin Center got nearly $3 million in 2009 (actually $2,918,431), most or all of it laundered through the Sam Adams Alliance. In 2010, the Koch Brothers' crime family coughed up an additional $900,000 or so, for a total of $3,776,997 in 2010. Add the income amounts disclosed for the two-year period, and you get almost $6.7 million ($6,695,428). That's a pretty sweet two year budget -- average of $3.3 million -- for a start-up non-profit organization founded and based (for its first year or so) in an indiscrete, seasonal taffy shop in Medora, North Dakota, don't you think?
Second, the Franklin Center has apparently notified the IRS that they've now had an address change. While their 2009 Form 990 listed their address at the Bismarck UPS Store, in 2010 they are saying they're based in Alexandria, Virginia. I think that's interesting primarily because they haven't bothered to tell the North Dakota Secretary of State that they have had a change of address, nor have they told the Virginia State Corporation Commission that they are no longer a "foreign corporation."
But once again the most interesting thing about the tax return is the information disclosed (or not) about WHERE they are spending their money.
Where is the Franklin Center spending its $3.3 million in average annual government-sponsored money?
Good question. I figured that they must be spending it all on grant money to in-place news entities, but that's not the case. According to their 2010 form 990, it appears they only gave about $315,600 in grants to fake news outlets. Their single largest category of expenses for 2010 is the "Fees for services: other" category, to which they paid $1,734,369. There's really no way to know, but my guess is that's money spent on the state-based fake news websites they finance all around the country. The next biggest expense is legal fees, at $503,166. Again, no way to know for sure, but I'm guessing that's mostly to pay lawyers to defend those fake news reporters when they get sued for defamation. That probably happens a lot. Then they paid out $387,202 for "conferences, conventions, and meetings." I'll get to that in a minute. The next biggest expense is for "Development" for $347,703. I'd guess that's to send all their reporters and staff to adult remedial reading, writing and math classes. This is probably a sound investment; these people obviously need that. Then another $189,000 for their annual "travel" budget. That's a pretty impressive travel budget for a little not-for-profit organization based in Bismarck. Those things make up the bulk of the Franklin Center's expenditures in 2010. (Look at the 990 report, below, to see where they spend the rest.)
So what is the Franklin Center spending its "conferences, conventions, and meetings' money on? It's hard to say. No. That's not true. To some extent it is easy to say. The Franklin Center is one of the primary sponsors of the annual "RightOnline" Republican bloggers' conference, generally scheduled to take place at the same time as the progressive "Netroots Nation" conference, and (historically) in the same city. (They try to follow Netroots Nation around, but are likely having trouble booking hotels and conference centers for 2012. Heh.) The Franklin Center is also a major sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference ("CPAC") where right-wing nutbags show up every year to out-crazy one another. They sponsor official Republican Party presidential debates. They sponsor the right-wing fascist American Legislative Exchange Council's Annual Conference. They sponsor the right-wing "Watchdog.org" state-based Fox News-like, partisan propaganda services stinking up over 20 states. And after sponsoring all of this right-wing nutbag and Republican events and propoganda, the Franklin Center very ironically claims to foster "unbiased and accurate" investigative journalism.
Anyway... here's the North Dakota-based Franklin Center's IRS form 990 for the year 2010. Enjoy.
I'll keep you posted if the North Dakota Secretary of State ever finds a box of integrity and does something about the Franklin Center's violations of law or if the IRS ever does the same.
(To read my first post about the Franklin Center, and to see their first-year, 2009 IRS Form 990 you should click here.)
Jack Dalrymple's office released a report outlining what his office discovered after conducting a series of "fact-finding" meetings around North Dakota over the last month, in a campaign-year desperate attempt to make it look like he cares about the destruction of Western North Dakota.
Before giving you a copy of the report to read, I'm just gonna say this about it: The last page lists the state agencies Dalrymple welcomed to the table. The list includes
(1) the Department of Commerce,
(2) the Housing Finance Agency,
(3) the Department of Transportation,
(4) the Department of Trust Lands,
(5) the Water Commission,
(6) the Health Department,
(7) the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute,
(8) the Highway Patrol, and
(9) the Bank of North Dakota.
Notice anybody missing from that list? I'm not a big fan of the Industrial Commission or its Oil & Gas Division, but wouldn't you think they'd have a seat at the table? Yeah, sure, Dalrymple is one of three people on the Commission, but what about the other two? (None of the commissioners ever really attend its meetings, anyway.) What about the staff at O&G? Wouldn't you think they'd have useful information about where the oil boom is headed?
And what about Game & Fish? Shouldn't Game & Fish be at the table, too? Or doesn't the oil boom have an impact on wildlife, rivers, streams, habitat, etc.?
And this is gonna sound insane, but why wouldn't you have the Indian Affairs Commission on this panel? Or a tribal representative? I know, I know. There's no oil development on the reservations.
Anyway... here's the report, if you're interested:
Yesterday, a district court judge rejected the request by Measure 2 (abolishing property taxes and eliminating local control of government) advocates that public officials -- except for Measure 2 advocates who are public officials -- be prohibited from talking about Measure 2. From the AP story in the Bismarck Teabune:
A judge says he won't order opponents of a property tax measure to stop making statements that the measure's supporters say are misleading.
The measure is on the June primary ballot. It is a constitutional amendment that would abolish property taxes.
The amendment's backers are suing Tax Commissioner Cory Fong and several other public officials and groups.
One of the things about this lawsuit and its proponents that blows me away is that while they complain that others are "lying" about the impacts of Measure 2, THEY are lying about Measure 2. One of their big talking points is that Measure 2 will not -- in any way -- cause other taxes to go up. What they don't tell you is that what they mean is that IF Measure 2 is adopted AND massive, unpopular cuts to county and other local government offices and programs are made, THEN other taxes won't have to go up. So they are lying. And some of them -- like Charlene Nelson -- are government officials.
It's just gotta make you wonder whether they put any thought into Measure 2, at all.
The judge made the right call by rejecting their request for a temporary restraining order.
There are so many things about this case that are interesting. I think that down the stretch, the most interesting fight could (or should) be about whether the plaintiffs should have to pay the defendants' legal fees and other possible sanctions.
Meanwhile... the Measure 2 proponents released an absurd YouTube fund-raising video yesterday. My favorite part is the part where the "patriots" shoot and kill the oppressive, big-government Red Coats. Stay classy, Measure 2 proponents.
Today I attended the funeral of a friend, Mark Greenwood, in Dickinson. I've probably known Mark for about 10 years or so, but Mark and I got to be friends doing committee work in the Democratic-NPL Party. Mark served as the Dem-NPL Rules Committee chairman for somewhere between two and three decades. He was knowledgable and generous with his time. He also had a great sense of humor. With Mark's passing, North Dakota has lost a humble, good, bright, hard-working man.
Like so many other people who attended the Denver Democratic National Convention in 2008, Mark was so happy -- and proud -- to be a part of that historic convention. I did a quick interview of him on the floor of the convention. Here's that interview.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Mark's family and friends, all of whom are missing Mark today.
You are pretty naive if you didn't recognize the Keystone XL Pipeline as a vehicle for big foreign corporations to exercise eminent domain over hard-working, innocent, American landowners. Now, slowly, even some of America's dumbest teabaggers are figuring this out.
TransCanada has sought to dissolve a restraining order granted a week ago, saying it is legally entitled to pursue eminent domain proceedings along the proposed pipeline route under existing state and federal laws—though it says it has no plans to begin any construction.
The issue has brought conservative tea party groups out rallying alongside environmentalists opposed to tar sands oil production, united behind Crawford’s attempt to keep the pipeline from crossing her 600-acre farm in the town of Direct, near Paris, where she fears it could contaminate the creek that irrigates her fields and damage Native American burial artifacts.
“Protect Texas landowners over foreign tar sands pipelines,” said many of the signs being marched around outside the Lamar County Courthouse. At least 75 citizens — conservative property rights advocates, gray-haired landowners, environmental activists and even some Occupy protesters — filled the small courtroom.
That's right, kids; people who advocate for the Keystone XL Pipeline are fighting to give foreign corporations the power to take away Americans' property rights.
You don't want a bunch of trucks driving over your crops and your yard, digging a big trench to put in a huge, leaky, toxic-sludge-pumping pipe you don't want?
Tough.
This is what "progress" looks like. Get out of the way. Even on your own land.
We were asking questions about this a month ago while North Dakota's mainstream media corporatist cheerleaders were all busy sitting around trying to figure out what the "CTRL" key on their computer keyboard is supposed to do. It'll take 'em six more months to figure out what "eminent domain" means, and then -- maybe then -- they'll start asking questions about it.
On the day of her funeral, we pay our last respects to Whitney Houston -- whose music never really did much for me, personally -- by giving you Chris Cornell, former frontman of Audioslave and current frontman to Soundgarden.
I've got a new favorite North Dakota blog. It's not a political blog. It's not a news blog. It's a ranch wife blog. And it's brilliant. It's called "Meanwhile, back at the ranch," and it's run by singer/songwriter Jesse Veeder. It's full of stunning photographs, well-written prose and interesting insights. It's worth a read.
Here's a snippet from Jesse's most recent blog post:
“Hello”
“Yes, hello,” said a man on the other line with a kind voice tucked into a thick southern drawl. “I’m looking for the girl who sings that song ‘Boomtown’”
“That’s me,” I replied. “I wrote that.”
“Well, alright then. My wife heard you singing on the T.V. the other day and she recorded it for me so I could watch it when I got home. She said I had to hear it. She said I think this girl wrote this song about you.”
“Really?” I laughed, unsure of where this was going.
“Yeah, so I listened to it. And well, my name’s Donny, I’ve got a truck, I just got married and I’m from Arkansas…”
“Really?” I had no other words, because, those words he spoke were my words…and they were in my song…
“We listened to it over and over and finally my wife thought I should give you a call…because, well, I’m wondering, did you write this song about me?”
I laughed again in surprise as this man who I had never met waited on the other line for my answer. A man who no doubt had a story to tell me, a story that I was going to learn a little bit more about about after I came up with my reply.
“Well, no Donny, I just made that man up. I figured he was out there, and well, oh my goodness, he is! “
He laughed too as we talked more about the similarities he found to his life in the song, about how his company transferred him from Arkansas to North Dakota in the last year because that’s where the work is. We talked about his wife and his daughters and the struggle to find a place to live in this booming place.
According to her "about" page, Veeder lives on a 3,000 acre cattle ranch homesteaded by her great grandfather. She's inspired by her surroundings in Western North Dakota. She's written interesting thoughts about the changes she's seeing in her surroundings in the Bakken oil boom.
And she's performing tomorrow (Saturday, February 18th) night at the "Celebration of Women and their Music" show at the Fargo Theater, in (duh) Fargo.
And here's a song she'll be performing. It should be familiar to you (if you've read the above exerpt)...
It's a little "country" for my taste. But that doesn't take anything away from the blog.
Rick Santorum came to North Dakota to let us know the massive Bakken Oil Field that takes up roughly the entire western third of the state is a prime target for terrorists.
Rick Santorum warned a crowd in North Dakota that terrorists could target the state's oil industry.
"Folks, you've got energy here. They're going to bother you. They'll bother you, because you are a very key and strategic resource for this country," the former Pennsylvania senator said, according to CNN. "No one is safe. No one is safe from asymmetric threats of terrorism."
That's right, kids. We'd better hurry up and suck all that oil out of the ground and ship it to China before the Iranians develop nukes, develop a delivery mechanism and drop those bombs on New Town.
Because that's gonna happen.
"No one is safe. No one is safe..."
And then dragged his big floppy red shoes into his clown car and left North Dakota.
Grant Shaft, President, State Board of Higher Education
During a special meeting of the State Board of Higher Education held on February 13, 2012, the Board asked North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to seek a declaratory opinion from the state Supreme Court as to the constitutionality of the law passed by the state legislature last April requiring that the University of North Dakota’s official name and logo be the Fighting Sioux. Critics of the Board and the University System have suggested that the Board’s action is a power grab intended to infringe upon the referral process and the voting rights of the people inherent in that process.
The State Board of Higher Education was constitutionally established in 1938 to remove the oversight of the state’s universities and colleges from the political process and place them under the control of an appointed Board of Higher Education. The process of appropriating funds to operate the institutions remained with the legislature. Although this constitutionally established governance of higher education has resulted in periodic friction between the Board and the legislative and executive branches, it has produced a state university system that is recognized as one of the finest in the United States when compared to national metrics including efficient use of taxpayer dollars, affordability, access, student satisfaction, graduate satisfaction, workforce training, employers satisfaction, graduation/retention rates or student’s performance on national exams.
The Board of Higher Education is appointed by the Governor to set governance and academic policy for North Dakota’s 11 institutions. Once appointed, Board members take an oath to uphold the state constitution. Just as a governor, legislator or other state official swears to follow the constitution in exercising their office, Board members are sworn to act in the best interest of our universities and colleges. Regarding the Fighting Sioux issue, our oath requires us to act in the best interest of UND, its athletic program and its student athletes. This means it is our duty as the Board of Higher Education to challenge the constitutionality of a law that damages UND, even if the result of such a challenge may negate a statewide vote.
Those who have carefully examined the arguments presented by both sides of the issue and specifically the NCAA sanctions and what effect they have and will have on UND’s student athletes have concluded that the name and logo must be retired. This group now includes the Governor, a significant majority of the legislature, the attorney general, the Board of Higher Education, UND administration, the UND athletic department and all UND coaches, the UND alumni association, faculty, staff and students. In the coming months, you will hear these groups outline the reasons they believe it is necessary to retire the name and logo. Those who truly support UND, both its academics and its athletics, will listen carefully to these voices and measure them against those who have may have placed their affection for a beloved nickname and logo ahead of the institution itself and its student athletes.
If ever there was a reason to think North Dakota's Measure 2 is a horrible idea, it is the fact that the people behind it want to prohibit people from talking about it. They've brought a lawsuit against a variety of legislators, public officials and organizations, seeking a court order prohibiting them from talking about what a hair-brained idea Measure 2 really is. Here's their complaint.
Gotta be honest with you, I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing and completely digest it (though I've skimmed parts). Here's what I'll say about this for now: It appears almost half as much thought went into this lawsuit as went into Measure 2 itself. I'll come back and supplement this analysis once I've had a little time to chew on this and formulate a full opinion. I'll either post updates here in the main post, or supplement in the comments.
I'd obviously like to hear what you folks think about this thing, too.
The Lede
You are pretty naive if you didn't recognize the Keystone XL Pipeline as a vehicle for big foreign corporations to exercise eminent domain over hard-working, innocent, American landowners. Now, slowly, even some of America's dumbest teabaggers are figuring this out. 
Rick