Elaine Donnelly (pictured at left) - who I mentioned in the previous post - is one who will hopefully be seeking a new line of work with the demise of DADT. A new piece on Huffington Post looks at the fraudulent nature of Donnelly's "Center for Military Readiness" which operates out of her home and provides both her and her husband a steady income from peddling hate and bigotry. Given the true nature of Donnelly's operation one can only wonder why the main stream media - not to mention members of Congress - ever gave this woman a shred of credibility. She's no better than a crazy aunt that one would like to keep hidden from the public eye. Worse yet, her supposed non-profit entity doesn't meet general standards for non-profits. Why on earth hasn't the IRS gone after the organization? It's all about enriching the Donnellys and disseminating lies and false information. It's a pattern seen over and over again with so-called "ministries" and "educational" groups run by Christianists. Here are some story highlights:*
WASHINGTON -- The leading opponent of repealing the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and a decades-long critic of expanded opportunities for military women runs a nonprofit organization that watchdog groups say has filed inaccurate and misleading reports to the IRS, lacks a credibly independent board and is operating uncomfortably close to the line that separates education from lobbying.
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The Center for Military Readiness (CMR), the tax-exempt nonprofit founded by Elaine Donnelly nearly 20 years ago, bills itself as "an independent non-partisan public policy organization that specializes in military personnel issues." But the "small think tank" headquartered out of Donnelly's suburban Detroit home and run day-to-day by her husband Terry is the single most influential conservative voice pushing back against social progress in the military.
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An examination of a decade's worth of CMR's 990 tax forms and interviews with several nonprofit experts reveal a mom-and-pop operation that has repeatedly failed to comply with standard rules required of 501(c)3 groups like CMR.
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CMR does not have a written conflict of interest policy, a whistle blower policy or an independent process to review compensation for the Donnellys and their executive director Tommy Sears, a former defense industry lobbyist based in Washington. The group also did not fill out a tax form required of nonprofit organizations that pay a family member in excess of $10,000. Donnelly's husband Terry earns more than that as CMR's administrator. Borochoff said the documents are routinely found in well-run nonprofits.
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n 2010, Donnelly earned $48,476 as CMR's president, a pay cut from the $55,674 and $54,035 she was paid in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Her husband Terry was paid $11,718 last year, better than 2009 when he made $9,812 but nearly three times less than the $31,248 he was paid in 2008. Last year, the couple claimed more than $28,000 for travel and home office expenses.
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CMR'S ability to influence far-reaching social debates is all the more remarkable considering the limits of its funding. It annually brings in around $250,000 in revenues from a network of like-minded conservative foundations. Though its website includes a page where supporters can contribute $25 to become a "member," the group has little or no revenue from membership dues in recent years. Terry Donnelly said CMR is "not a membership organization in the truest sense," though he claimed it has "well over 10,000" people on its email list.
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CMR, like similar organizations, is not required to publicly release its list of donors. A partial accounting by the liberal watchdog Media Matters reveals, unsurprisingly, that CMR's patrons include conservative and Christian groups such as Focus on the Family.
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Donnelly admits she may be out of step with the times. . . . She is already focused on "educating" lawmakers like Foxx to assure the Pentagon doesn't sidestep DOMA -- which the president this week vowed to help repeal -- and give married gay troops the same benefits as straight couples.
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It's time that the media and Congress recognize that Donnelly is pretty much a nutcase with no legitimate credentials who is funded by anti-gay organizations with one goal: denigrating and stigmatizing LGBT citizens. She deserves about the same credibility as a member of the Klu Klux Klan.
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