NYT Neediest Cases Site Now Links to IRS 990s

(What the site said at the start of last week.)

My request a few days ago to the New York Times to provide transparency on its Neediest Cases Fund site has produced a step forward and I'm pleased, even though it's not the fullest voluntary transparency possible.

I wanted the Times to provide at least three years' of IRS 990 filings and annual financial reports on the fund's homepage and here's what the paper's spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said about their transparency:

Thank you for your email. Our Forms 990 are available online on the website www.guidestar.org., a website which gathers and displays Forms 990 for most not-for-profit organizations. Registration on Guidestar is free and so anyone can see our Forms 990 online if they wish. As you note, we now provide a link directly to that site. We are satisfied with this level of transparency.

(At the end of the week, a link was added.)

Sure wish I knew what the reasons are for not simply posting the tax filings, instead of making folks register at GuideStar to view them, and requiring a written request for copies of the annuals financial reports.

So, polite applause for the link to GuideStar but no standing ovation since the filings and reports are still omitted from the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's site.

Fire Chief & Wiener Got How Many $600 Comp Tix?

(Click to enlarge.)

San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White is the City's second highest paid public employee according to public records, taking home a robust pay and benefits package totaling $422,353 last year for her services and expertise. She's not hurting for money with that kind of compensation.

District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, like all members of the Board of Supervisors, received a compensation package of $154,719 in 2013. He's hardly scrapping by to pay the rent, as far as I know.

(Click to enlarge.)

Why are these public officials receiving free tickets to the three-days of Outside Lands concerts through Recreation and Parks Department, when they clearly can afford to purchase them with their own funds?

Wiener received three $595 tickets totaling $1,785 and Hayes-White two tickets costing $1,190. The concerts were held in Golden Gate Park from August 8 through August 10.

For Wiener, who holds sway over the Recreation and Parks Department's annual budget, I believe it's not ethical to accept any freebies from the department.

In Hayes-White's case, she has no power over the department with a yearly paycheck well over $400,000, she should buy her own tickets.

The alleged public purpose of the comps is explained as "increasing public exposure to, and awareness of. the recreation, cultural and educational facilities available to the public in the City" and "gathering public input on City facilities and spaces".

Translation? Our public leaders like to enjoy their entitlement and privilege on the taxpayer's dime and both Hayes-White and Wiener took advantage of the perks available to them, feeding themselves at the trough.



Last night, Thursday, November 13, I attended the San Francisco fire commission's meeting to again demand the $86 million fire department immediately begin meeting at City Hall and airing their meetings on SF GovTV.

The July 10 commission minutes reveal lame excuses from Hayes-White about the expense of installing television equipment in the auditorium at the department's headquarters on Second Street and that's it's easier for her commanders to meet there instead of City Hall, taxpayers be damned. I used the minutes to argue for respecting taxpayers and putting the meeting on City media platforms.

The fire chief and her department needs lot more watchdogging and it may take action from the Board of Supervisors to bring this commission into the modern tech age and taking full advantage of TV and web streaming and video-on-demand, to better serve the general public.

NYT's Neediest Cases Site Omits IRS 990s & Fiscal Reports

Over the course of the past five or six years, I've noticed the growing number of nonprofits that voluntarily post at least three years' worth of IRS 990 filings and annual reports on their sites even though there is no Treasury Department regulation requiring such transparency.

As a longtime watchdog over Gay Inc and AIDS Inc organizations, I give much credit to any and all 501(c)3 tax-exempt groups that share their 990s and don't place any burden on donors or members of the public to make requests to a given nonprofit for their tax filings.

It's time to call upon the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund to join the extensive list of charities providing voluntary transparency and for the paper's nonprofit to immediately post several years of IRS 990s and annual financial reports on their site.

This is the limited info the site provides about fiscal information and accountability:

The Fund is a New York not-for-profit organization that has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. [...] A copy of The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund’s latest annual financial report may be obtained, upon request, from the Fund or from the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 120 Broadway, New York, New York 10271.

They don't even link to their IRS 990 filings at GuideStar and there is no email address given for whom to contact at the fund for annual report or the 990s. How quaint of the New York Times to let folks know they can snail mail a paper letter to the Empire State's attorney general.

The fund's principal officer is Michael Golden, pictured, vice chairman of the New York Times Company and a cousin to the publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr, and today I'm requesting that he bring the fund into the tech age and make a minimum of three years' 990s and annual reports a click away on the charity's web site.

Pelosi Water Act S.F. Earmark to Benefit Her & Mr. Pelosi?

This past December, I raised concerns in a letter to the SF Chronicle about an HIV/AIDS earmark made by my Representative in Congress, Mrs. Nancy Pelosi. Even with my letter appearing in the paper, and numerous phone calls and emails to her SF and DC offices, she and her staff chose to ignore my request for full transparency about her earmarks.

Now, a GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, on his blog today, reports that Pelosi has apparently inserted an earmark into a water resources bill, and if the bill passes, there will potentially be some tremendous fiscal benefits to Pelosi and her husband.

From Hensarling's blog:

This week, the Senate will take up the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, which the House passed last month. Should it pass, it will be the most expensive water projects bill that Congress has ever approved.

On Speaker Pelosi's website, it says the following about WRDA: The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 will provide critical funding to small communities that have gone too long without assistance ...

The Speaker has her own earmark in the bill (Sec 5054) that provides for the re-development of part of the San Francisco Waterfront ...

According to disclosure forms, these properties resulted in rental income as high as $3 million in 2005 for the Pelosi's and could stand to benefit from improvement to the local neighborhood that the earmark supposedly provides.

The Pelosi properties, all located within 5,400 feet and 9,000 feet of the WRDA earmark are:

1301 Sansome LLC
Pelosi Real Estate Partnership
Rent Income: $1 million (2005)

945 Battery LLC
Pelosi Real Estate Partnership
Rental Income: $1 million (2005)

901 Battery LLC
Pelosi Real Estate Partnership
Rental Income: $15,000 (2005)

45 Beiden Place
Pelosi Real Estate Asset
Rental Income: $1 million (2005)

These properties are listed on Pelosi's disclosure forms and are available here.

This is the language, that if it's included in the final version of the bill, might be of great benefit to the Speaker and her husband:

SEC. 5054. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, WATERFRONT AREA.

(a) Area to Be Declared Nonnavigable; Public Interest- Unless the Secretary finds, after consultation with local and regional public officials (including local and regional public planning organizations), that the proposed projects to be undertaken within the boundaries of the portion of the San Francisco, California, waterfront area described in subsection (b) are not in the public interest, such portion is declared to be nonnavigable waters of the United States.

(b) Northern Embarcadero South of Bryant Street- The portion of the San Francisco, California, waterfront area referred to in subsection (a) is as follows: Beginning at the intersection of the northeasterly prolongation of that portion of the northwesterly line of Bryant Street lying between Beale Street and Main Street with the southwesterly line of Spear Street, which intersection lies on the line of jurisdiction of the San Francisco Port Commission; following thence southerly along said line of jurisdiction as described in the State of California Harbor and Navigation Code Section 1770, as amended in 1961, to its intersection with the easterly line of Townsend Street along a line that is parallel and distant 10 feet southerly from the existing southern boundary of Pier 40 produced to its point of intersection with the United States Government pier-head line; thence northerly along said pier-head line to its intersection with a line parallel with, and distant 10 feet easterly from, the existing easterly boundary line of Pier 30-32; thence northerly along said parallel line and its northerly prolongation, to a point of intersection with a line parallel with, and distant 10 feet northerly from, the existing northerly boundary of Pier 30-32, thence westerly along last said parallel line to its intersection with the United States Government pier-head line; to the northwesterly line of Bryant Street produced northwesterly; thence southwesterly along said northwesterly line of Bryant Street produced to the point of beginning.

(c) Requirement That Area Be Improved- The declaration of nonnavigability under subsection (a) applies only to those parts of the area described in subsection (b) that are or will be bulkheaded, filled, or otherwise occupied by permanent structures and does not affect the applicability of any Federal statute or regulation applicable to such parts the day before the date of enactment of this Act, including sections 9 and 10 of the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 401 and 403; 30 Stat. 1151), commonly known as the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344), and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

(d) Expiration Date- If, 20 years from the date of enactment of this Act, any area or part thereof described in subsection (b) is not bulkheaded or filled or occupied by permanent structures, including marina facilities, in accordance with the requirements set out in subsection (c), or if work in connection with any activity permitted in subsection (c) is not commenced within 5 years after issuance of such permits, then the declaration of nonnavigability for such area or part thereof shall expire.

Agenda: April 19 NIH AIDS Advisory Council

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there are other people with AIDS and/or non-AIDS Inc types at this important meeting tomorrow. This advisory council is in desperate need of hearing directly from people living with HIV and advocates not part of the AIDS establishment.

That being said, no matter who is there from the general public, those individuals will be providing two very necessary components to HIV research at the NIH - transparency and accountability. Hope to see you at the meeting.

From the Federal Register announcement:

National Institutes of Health

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health; Notice of Meeting

Pursuant to section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), notice is hereby given of a meeting of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council.

The meeting will be open to the public, with attendance limited to space available. Individuals who plan to attend and need special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should notify the Contact Person listed below in advance of the meeting.

Name of Committee: Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council.
Date: April 19, 2007.
Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Agenda: The meeting will focus on HIV-related Complications including Malignancies, Cardiovascular Disease, and Metabolic Complications. An update will be provided on the OARAC Working Groups for Treatment and Prevention Guidelines.

Place: National Institutes of Health, 5635 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852.

Contact Person: Christina Brackna, Coordinator, Program Planning and Analysis, Office of Aids Research, Office of the Director, NIH, 5635 Fishers Lane MSC 9310, Suite 4000, Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 402-8655, cm53v@nih.gov.

Any member of the public interested in presenting oral comments to the committee may notify the Contact Person listed on this notice at least 10 days in advance of the meeting. Interested individuals and representatives of organizations may submit a letter of intent, a brief description of the organization represented, and a short
description of the oral presentation. Only one representative of an organization may be allowed to present oral comments and if accepted by the committee, presentations may be limited to five minutes. Both printed and electronic copies are requested for the record. In addition, any interested person may file written comments with the
committee by forwarding their statement to the Contact Person listed on this notice. The statement should include the name, address, telephone number and when applicable, the business or professional affiliation of the interested person.

Information is also available on the Institute's Center's home page: http://www.ni.gov/od/oar/index.htm, where an agenda and any additional information for the meeting will be posted when available.

Solmonese of HRC in SF on March 21; No Public Community Meeting Scheduled

Two little very reliable birdies have told me this nugget of news. HRC leader Joe Solmonese is coming to San Francisco on March 21, but he has no public community meetings on his schedule. He's coming to town to meet with big donors and board members.

The very fact that HRC's leader, and by extension one of the community's leading self-designation spokesperson, has not one public community event on his agenda for the one day he's in town smacks of elitism. Where is HRC's commitment and execution of open dialogue with the community, not just here, but everywhere they hold their dinner and in at their lavish headquarters?

For a organization that claims in an email to Andrew Sullivan that they are committed to transparency, it strikes me as odd Solmonese would travel to San Francisco and not hold a town hall meeting, say, at the gay community center. Just to tell the community what's happening with HRC and listen to our concerns, and provide transparency to the local gays.

Actually, today, March 9, marks two years since Solmonese took the helm at HRC, and frankly, not only can't I recall any significant thing he's accomplished in Washington, I know of no public meeting he's held in San Francisco during his tenure.

HRC has always enjoyed financial support from this city, and many local leaders have either served on the board or continue to do so today. The San Francisco HRC dinner is a highlight of the gay social season, and the group vacuums up much money to carpetbag back to Washington. But what does HRC do year round in San Francisco, to engage the local political activists?

It holds monthly cocktail parties. From HRC:

Throughout the year, HRC hosts and sponsors several events in your community to raise awareness in our community, attract a growing and diverse membership and help raise money to support HRC goals. Plus, we have a lot of fun! Check back often for upcoming events.

Oh, and what might some of the events be for 2007? Cocktail parties!

Please join us for the 3rd Thursday Event! HRC San Francisco cordially invites you and your friends to our Third Thursday Party at Lime, one of the Castro's coolest restaurant and lounge. Come and meet up with your friends or make new friends in this uber-chic space. HRC membership is not required to attend.

If you haven't looked lately at what HRC is doing in other local areas, click here and learn about upcoming activities, very many of which are centered around annual dinners, cocktail hours, and other socializing opportunities, like the May HRC bowling challenge in Boston.

Those Thursday night booze-fests, which don't sound to me like one can really get all that much serious political organizing done, are the only ways one can plug into HRC politically this year in San Francisco. Wait, there's also the "action center" where one can purchase the latest useless item with an HRC logo stamped on it. That's it.

Hey Joe. We've got a community center, you're facing plenty of criticism from the local print gay press and gay bloggers, you could afford to rent a room at the center, invite the community to a good old-fashioned New England-style town hall forum, and start to honesty address the problems facing HRC.

Joe, are you leader enough to recognize the need for you and HRC to organize a public community forum on March 21, while you're in San Francisco?