• Allow, in 2004 – 2005, the same 14 men as well as six out of seven hospital officers to serve on both the charitable and fraternal boards of directors.
• Belong to groups that discriminate against blacks and women.
• Belong to groups like the Masons, Knights Templar, the Scottish Rite and Jesters, yet fail to report these affiliations on their tax returns.
• Record Resolutions in a nearby county, yet fail to report these changes to their governing documents on their tax returns.
• Use charitable donations for multiple executive and employee mortgages, yet fail to report them on their tax returns.
• Hire, in 2005, a former government executive to lobby against the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, yet fail to report this on their tax returns. (The Act was passed into law after the executives of companies Enron and Worldcom became convicted white collar criminals. The act also provides for things like Whistleblower protection and forbids the destruction of documents.)
This would not be so bad except that in 1987, the Orlando Sentinel investigated allegations of a Shriner Circus ticket re-sale scam, sweetheart contracts and the possible theft of between $8,000 to $30,000. The matter had been reported three years earlier to government attorneys, convention center managers and police officers who did nothing.
They were also Shriners.
If these groups claim to be tax exempt, they need to start acting like it. The Shriners should immediately begin complying with the highest standards of non profit disclosure and transparency before a Congressional committee or three letter investigative agency knocks on their doors again.
Or worse.
Now is time for the Shriners to change course, else they crash onto the rocky points of their own Perfect Storm.
Investigative reporter, author and researcher into that which would rather remain hidden. U.S. Navy vet, original shareholder of Ahtna, Inc, an Alaska Native corporation, Board of directors, Western Washington Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, Native American Journalists Association and Mohican Veterans. Three time Society of Professional Journalists award winner. Peer nominated and presented with Newsvine.com's top honor, "Random Act of Vineness." Publisher/Editor/Reporter of the first exclusively online investigation to be featured in Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. "Extra, Extra" section.
