25% of donations to these charities for vets - make it to the vets!


Charity starts at home - I guess.


Charity entrepreneur Roger Chapin

A congressional investigation has uncovered new allegations of questionable spending practices at two veterans charities, including one that paid retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks $100,000 to appear in its solicitation letters using money the nonprofit raised to help soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

At a raucous, three-hour hearing, House members questioned California entrepreneur Roger Chapin about his management of two charities. One charity, Help Hospitalized Veterans, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations that were to help wounded soldiers on personal expenses for Chapin, executive director Mike Lynch and Richard A. Viguerie, to whom the charity has awarded millions of dollars in fundraising-consulting contracts, the hearing found.

The expenses included at least $340,000 in meals, hotels and entertainment; a $135,000 loan to Lynch for a divorce settlement with his former wife; a $17,000 country club membership; three airplane tickets to Hawaii; and a $1 million loan to Viguerie for a start-up initiative at his firm, several members of the committee said.

The second charity, the Coalition to Support America’s Heroes, used Franks in its solicitation letters, the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform found…

“Most of the millions they receive never reach veterans or their families,” representative Henry Waxman said. “Instead, the groups waste those contributions on bloated overhead costs and self-enrichment.”

You have to love Chapin’s response to questions about the salaries for himself and his wife: “Throughout my life I have endeavored to do well for my family while I try to do good for the world,” said Chapin.

Posted: Sun - January 20, 2008 at 09:18 AM