Military donations scam is an outrage

Leopold A Potsiadlo, Las Vegas

Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 | 2 a.m.

I believe the Las Vegas Sun’s Thursday editorial “Following the donations” and Jay Bookman’s commentary “First ones in line for charity buffet,” also appearing in the Sun, were much, much too mild in their scolding of Roger Chapin’s charities and retired Gen. Tommy Franks’ and retired Brig. Gen. Arthur Diehl III’s roles in those charities, as revealed by The Washington Post and the Army Times.

In my mind, those shocking financial revelations about the charities Help Hospitalized Veterans and the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes point to behaviors that are highly unethical, to say the least, and should be properly publicized to the unwary American public.

Begging to be re-publicized are the following:

Exorbitant salaries; questionable personal expenses, including entertainment and country club memberships; loans to board members totaling more than $1.25 million, one for a divorce settlement and the other for which no reason was given, with no repayment information for the loans indicated, all paid with money donated for veterans.

I was not surprised, then, to learn that Chapin, the founder of the charities, once described himself to Forbes as a “nonprofit entrepreneur.”

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told the Post HHV raised more than $168 million from 2004 to 2006, with only a quarter of that spent on veterans.

This brazen misuse of the public’s donations to charities requires action by Congress to ensure that a proper share of the donations is used for the purposes intended. Has the IRS been taking notes?