Sean Hannity running charity scam

From Conservative blogger DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/bio/

For the last several years, Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance “charity” have conducted “Freedom Concerts” across America. They’ve told you that they are raising money to pay for the college tuition of the children of fallen soldiers and to pay severely wounded war vets. And on Friday Night, Hannity will be honored with an award for this “Outstanding Community Service by a Radio Talk Show Host” at Talkers Magazine’s convention.

But it’s all a huge scam.


In fact, less than 20%–and in two recent years, less than 7% and 4%, respectively–of the money raised by Freedom Alliance went to these causes, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and apparently to ferry the Hannity posse of family and friends in high style. And, despite Hannity’s statements to the contrary on his nationally syndicated radio show, few of the children of fallen soldiers got more than $1,000-$2,000, with apparently none getting more than $6,000, while Freedom Alliance appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars for private planes. Moreover, despite written assurances to donors that all money raised would go directly to scholarships for kids of the fallen heroes and not to expenses, has begun charging expenses of nearly $500,000 to give out just over $800,000 in scholarships.

In February 2009, a well-known conservative writer sent me this, about a friend at FOX News:

The guy went on to tell me about Hannity’s “Freedom Concerts,” which are staged across the country with the proceeds going to children of slain soldiers. Of course, as the guy tells it, there’d be a lot more money every concert to go to the cause if Hannity didn’t demand–and get–use of a Gulfstream 5 plane to fly him and his family/entourage to the concerts; a “fleet” (that’s the word the guy used) of either Cadillac or Lincoln SUVs for him and his family/entourage; and several suites at really expensive hotels for him and his family/entourage. The promoter apparently values Hannity’s star demands at well over $200,000 per event. The source says he heard that Oliver North pulled Hannity aside at one of the concerts and told him that this had to stop. But that may mean that, from now on, Hannity has to fly on a G4 instead of a G5, gets only a few luxury SUVs, and two or three suites.

North is the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.

I began investigating these claims, and lo and behold, I discovered that Freedom Alliance gives very little money to the children of slain troops to pay for college and even less to wounded troops. The stories of injuries to troops and how much Freedom Alliance gives them–$200 for a soldier from a poor neighborhood who lost three limbs–is heartbreaking. Soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, severe wounds to the face from disfiguring burns and explosions, and multiple amputations got $1,000 or less, with only a handful of exceptions.

According to its 2006 tax returns, Freedom Alliance reported revenue of $10, 822, 785, but only $397,900–or a beyond-measly 3.68%–of that was given to the children of fallen troops as scholarships or as aid to severely injured soldiers.

On the other hand, 62% of the money went to “expenses,” including $979,485 for “consultants” and an “advisor.” Yes, consultant/advisors got more than double what injured troops and the kids of fallen troops got. The tax forms show that “New World Aviation” got paid $60,601 for “air travel.” Was that for Hannity’s G5? Like I said, neither the charity nor Hannity is talking. And finally, that year, Freedom Alliance spent $1,730,816 on postage and shipping and $1,414,215 on printing, for a total of $3,145,031, nearly half the revenue the charity spent that year and about eight times what the injured troops and the children of fallen ones received.


http://www.debbieschlussel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/freedomalliancetaxes2006.pdf

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/6938...ps-kids-of-fallen-troops-g5s-g6s-for-vannity/

 

Sean Hannity, man of the people. Have flag and bible, will travel. At your (considerable) expense, of course.

 

hannity is constantly saying we dont need government health care. private sector charities will handle it. sure they will. if they can find a way to get rich doing it.

 

hope he breaks his hip on the fall

 

Hannity’s Charity Replies to Scam Charge

Freedom Alliance, the charity that hosts Freedom Concerts in conjunction with Sean Hannity, has issued a response to conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel’s charge that the operation is “all a huge scam.” Schlussel wrote that tax returns show the group spending less than 20 percent of its funds on charitable causes, but Freedom Alliance says it has spent at least 75 percent of its money on “program activities” for each of the past three years. It also says that it has never provided planes, hotels, cars, limos, or anything else to Hannity.


The founder of Freedom Alliance (Oliver North) responded. Even though he was convicted of lying to Congress, this response seems plausible. But the original conservative blogger has this to say:

In fact, the Freedom Alliance “response” doesn’t answer any of the questions I raised and goes on to lie more. They don’t address why they gave a triple amputee only $200—and in fact there are many of these examples provided in their tax return addendum, but I only cited a few for brevity’s sake. They also lie and claim that they gave a lot more money to charity b/c they categorize it as “program expenses.” But I’m sorry—calling over $3 million in consulting fees, printing, and postage “program expenses” doesn’t change the fact that it still went to their cronies, not to a fund and not the soldiers who only got on average less than $900 apiece. It also doesn’t change the fact that out of the money spent (I didn’t count the money they claim they raised for their scholarship fund in my percentages or the figures would have been even more outrageous against Freedom Alliance), the vast majority of spending goes to those kinds of expenses.

Also, the “scholarship fund” is really a war chest for something else, since it isn’t being used to fund scholarships for kids of soldiers now. If it has $15 million dollars, as they claim, then the interest alone should fund a free ride for all of the soldiers’ children currently in college. What are they waiting for? Likely, to convert the fund to something else, not what the donors intended. Do you really think people who held bake sales and bought tickets to the concerts thought they were funding a Merrill Lynch account for a nebulous promise that some kids of fallen troops might go to college from it in 20 years? No. They thought they were funding kids to go to college on a full ride now. But it was all a lie.

As I noted, Hannity said on his nationally-syndicated radio show that a $30,000 donation from Boca Java will fund a full year for one of these kids in college. Sadly, it never did. I don’t think anyone listening to his show thought that he meant 20 years from now. That’s not what Boca Java thought, according to a company spokeswoman.

We’ve been at war since 2001, when we went into Afghanistan, and we’re winding down in Iraq. Unless Freedom Alliance wants you to believe that the soldiers who died there had no kids born before 1992–and clearly that’s not the case because Freedom Alliance has been giving a couple hundred kids a pittance for college since at least its tax filing in 2005, they are ripping these kids off in order to build a massive war chest and self-perpetuate. Again, with a giant multi-million dollar fund, why aren’t they giving the kids a free, complete ride to college? And how many kids of deceased troops will there be in the future? Enough to exhaust a multi-million dollar fund? Doubtful.

Moreover, because they hoarded millions of dollars, their returns show the fund shrunk by several million dollars with bad investments and market losses. That money could have put these kids through college for the entire time. What’s their excuse for the soldiers with no limbs and with severe burns? Are they waiting for two decades from now when technology is better? $165 for a soldier who is blind and his face blew up? No excuse for that. Their “response” is simply a non-response and an attempt to cover up the fraud.



http://www.debbieschlussel.com/1945...ak-empty-response-more-to-come-on-this-fraud/

 

that chick is one tough cookie.

 

Ollie gets shredded.

 

Good old conservative values:

<img src=http://unreasonablysafe.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/dennis_hannity_afa2.jpg>



<img src=http://blatherwatch.blogs.com/talk_radio/images/2008/07/21/hannity_bunnies.jpg>

 

ROTFLMAO, it figures you would have a problem with fairly attractive women.

 

A Conservative Victory indeed