Virginia warns wife of Justice Clarence Thomas her group is violating law

[kpete]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Virginia warns wife of Justice Clarence Thomas her group is violating law

State officials tell Virginia Thomas that her conservative advocacy group, Liberty Central Inc., must comply with a law that requires registration before seeking donations.
Reporting from Washington

Virginia consumer-protection officials have warned the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that her advocacy group is improperly soliciting contributions in the state.

In a letter to Virginia Thomas on Thursday, the state Office of Consumer Affairs directed Liberty Central Inc. to the Virginia law that requires groups to register with the office or request an exemption before seeking donations for a charitable purpose.

Liberty Central is a Virginia-based group soliciting contributions online and is not registered or exempt, said Michael Wright, the manager of regulatory programs at the Office of Consumer Affairs, a branch of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Under state law, political advocacy is considered a charitable purpose.

"They should be filed with us," he said.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-thomas-wife-warning19-2010mar19,0,7929904.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+latimes/mostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29

[yorgatron]

1. she's above the law,no need to register.

:eyes:

[avaistheone1]

11. +1

[Solomon]

22. Wait now. Let's be fair. (even though I don't want to be either)

The government agency that sent the letter out is doing it's job, and probably sends out tons of letters like that everyday because a lot of people start things up not knowing all of the badges, stickers, and licenses and whatnots they need to get so no problem with an agency notifying you. They will get registered and then resume operations. There's nothing nefarious about it.

[ooglymoogly]

40. Yeah, at least tons...and every day you say. Have you even got a brain?

you must be living in Crooksvill, Felonyburg, planet unknown; And how propagandish of you to make such a ludicrous statement. Seeking "charitable" contributions, without the legal status to do so is fraud and a very serious offense and folks have gone behind bars for doing so.

[Solomon]

50. Excuse me but I work for a government agency that

sends out letters every day telling people they are in violation of a law. Most of them don't know that they are until they get our letter. Then they come in, register and pay up.

You don't know what the hell you're talking about. I do.

You're letting your emotional hatred for a right-wing idiot cloud your judgment.

Let's see what happens. Let's see if they register, pay-up and allowed to continue.

By the way, I live in Washington, D.C. So eat that one too. Utter fail.

Why don't you come back and apologize when I turn out to be right. Okay?

[ooglymoogly]

53. Of course they will file the neccessary papers and will

be accepted no matter the Merits of their petition; They have been gingerly and politely warned. On the other side of the coin are those, not so well connected and not usually warned, in which a sting operation eventually takes place or a battering ram and search and seizure takes place, when an illegal enterprise is discovered. Does the "government agency" you work for, have that kind of authority to enforce the law. Does the outcome of your warnings, in the case of non compliance, end up in the D.A.s office on its way to a court of law and result in criminal penalties and possible jail time. Or are you sending out building code violations or city hall warnings of city or state government ordinance violations or infractions, late payments or the like, where civil penalties and fines may ensue; Depending of course on the D.A.; These are different things from being on the wrong side of criminal law where warrants can and do issue; Where an arrest will take place if folks have in fact accepted illegal "contributions" in the guise of a charitable organization. Soliciting donations before becoming 501(C)3 corporation can only be done in the form of a verifiable loan; Such as: In the case of fiends wanting to help out, to start up the Corp,....those funds must be paid back once the corp takes effect and as soon as funds are available.

[ooglymoogly]

56. P.S. Left out the words "are suspected of" nt

[HDPaulG]

59. You got owned....

Solomon,

You are utter fail...You work for a government agency and that makes your actions/opinions correct and true? And you have a boss that has a boss that has a boss?

[Old Vet]

61. Your insults show a great detail of UN-professionallisim........

And you work for the govt? How many Supreme court justices wifes are not a little more educated then this. I also lived in DC, Didn't find myself any brighter then most common folk.

[SpiralHawk]

75. Ahhh, not every 'charity' grifter is married to a Supreme Court Clown

There is an, um, expectation that the Spousal Unit of a Supremeo would have half a frikkin clue, Senor Solipist. So your excuse making is, to put it kindly, totally frikkin lame.

[Sherman A1]

60. Agreed

You are right, this is probably a screw up rather than a huge conspiracy.

[No Elephants]

62. Um, I think her husband might be a lawyer.

[stlsaxman]

77. hey- you're right! and didn't he just help decide on some little case about corporate... uh-

free speech through money? yeah- i think something like that. :eyes:

[fasttense]

73. Yeah, let's be fair. Because we know the Dancing Supremes are just sooooo fair

We know there's no conflict of interest for a Supreme's wife to be taking money from corporations after that very same Supreme ruled corporations can spend all the money they want. That's just a simple coincident. And of course Clarance baby isn't getting any of that money from his wife's undisclosed salary. No his wife keeps that money separate and the money she gets in no way influences her husband. Let's all be fair.

You would think that a Supreme would have at least asked someone in Virginia about the law. But I guess being a Supreme doesn't mean you have to actually know the law or know how to find out about things like laws.

[zbdent]

41. "Don't you realize who I am married to?"

:eyes:

[Zambero]

42. The guy who cast the deciding vote to steal the '00 election for Bush?

Oh yeah, that guy. So what's the fuss about a paltry "no-registration" issue? After all her donors are probably the same group of extremist thugs who disrupted the Florida recount, while the clock was running toward an arbitrary recount deadline set by Katherine Harris.

[wordpix]

48. grrrrrr - you had to bring that up on top of all the repuke action lately

:puke:

[Zambero]

58. That's all a part of "Know thy enemy"

Wish I could think of some nice, warm & fuzzy things to say about those folks, but as always I'm drawing a blank!

[zbdent]

85. nah, it wasn't him. We knew he'd vote for his massa party.

Now, Sandra Day O'Conner? She is the one who said she wanted to retire under a Republican ... everybody just assumed she meant leaving the SCOTUS ...

[PSzymeczek]

57. Three little words for her:

I don't care.

[davidpdx]

43. +2

You read my mind, even before I knew what I was going to say. Damn you are good!

[Richard Steele]

47. Exactly right. +1 nm

[rfranklin]

2. SCOTUS Felonious Five cite First Amendment

Fat Tony gives the finger to Virginia. Clarence stays mum. Roberts forms Supreme Court, LLC.

[No Elephants]

63. LOL

[stlsaxman]

78. excellent!

[county worker]

3. Maybe the Governor will issue an executive order exempting all right wing groups from

registration.

[DJ13]

4. Its a shame she didnt know a good lawyer to advise her

:rofl:

[aquart]

5. +1

[goclark]

20. + 1000

It's pretty clear that she doesn't have a clue what a good lawyer acts like -- does her elevator go up to at least the second floor?

[Hubert Flottz]

72. She must have asked Yoo or Addington...

She might want to waterboard Virginia until she gets the answer she wants.

[bondwooley]

6. HAHAHA! That is a good one!

... although, if she digs around, she might be able to dig up a phone number for Ginsberg.

[activa8tr]

14. I don't think there are any good ones within 10 miles of her house!

[howmad1]

25. Maybe she should have checked with......

....Anita Hill.

[duhneece]

32. You're so bad! nt

[disndat]

34. Terrific!

Hahaha.

[Turbineguy]

82. Too

shay!

[cilla4progress]

7. Imagine the conversations in that home

Unbelievable. I guess she just didn't know.

[No Elephants]

64. Too bad she didn't know anyone with some basic knowledge of the law.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. Some stupid troll was all "Oh you are not respecting her First Amendment rights!" in another thread.

Can't find it now. I think it got TSd.

[Orsino]

37. Well, since they redefined money as speech...

...this was their next logical refuge.

edit: for a given value of "logical." :eyes:

[Dr.Phool]

9. Same thing in other states.

We had to register our non-profit and get permission to solicit and accept donations. But, we knew that going in.

[monmouth]

10. She must be a very stupid woman to have married that a$$ in the first place...n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

29. ..to say the least. He is a real SOB.

[No Elephants]

65. He does say the least. The only Justice in history who asks no questions during oral argument.

If Scalia doesn't need to know it, Thomas doesn't need to know it, I guess.

Very few instances in which Thomas did not vote with Scalia. Still fewer in which Thomas had a question for the attorneys arguing a case.

Can you imagine sitting on that bench, hearing the best lawyers in the country arguing the most interesting cases in the country and almost never having a single question?

Just as Dummya was the quintessential incurious President, Thomas is the incurious SCOTUS Justice.

[BrklynLiberal]

93. Very few instances in which Thomas did not vote with Scalia...? You mean there was even one?

[elehhhhna]

51. please. when he uses the pubes on the coke can line,

every woman melts. A known truefact.

[valerief]

12. What law? Her kinds has no laws. They HATE Americans. nt

[Subdivisions]

13. She's not a crook! n/t

[JoePhilly]

15. She should declare herself a corporation ... and continue on!!

[Shining Jack]

17. Or an organized Religion...

I frankly don't see much difference.

[No Elephants]

66. +1 Conservatism has become an international cult.

[Bitwit1234]

16. How can the gov do that isn't this federal....He might think he is

equal politically to the president but he AIN'T not by a longshot.

[LiberalFighter]

26. Organizations must be registered in the state they operate.

If they want to be recognized as a charitable organization that is done with the IRS.

[No Elephants]

67. When you solicit donations from the public, you have to comply with state law, which is

geared (supposedkly) at protecting people from getting scammed in the name of charity.

The way it operates in reality, these days, anyway, it's mostly about the state getting filing fees.

[Jefferson23]

18. Exposed, I love it.

[beac]

19. And she'll appeal it all the way to the Supreme Court!

:puke:

The Thomases are simply vile. Grade A jackasses, the both of them.

[Gin]

23. oops...so much for the personal slush fund...

that takes all the fun out of it.

[Gin]

24. oops...so much for the personal slush fund...

that takes all the fun out of it.

[brewens]

21. I can just imagine how freaky it would be to get Uncle Thomas

to truthfully explain his thinking/philosophy, whatever you want to call it. Imagine what it must take for him to be on the side of people that would whip or hang him in a heartbeat, just for whistling at a white woman.

[No Elephants]

68. For being ACCUSED of whistling at a white woman. Actual whistling not required.

[Joe Bacon]

27. Like something's going to happen to a Republican!

We know better. Republicans are accountable to no laws. They can get away with anything. Republicans are above the law.

[BrklynLiberal]

28. tsk tsk tsk. Like she gives a damn

[DeSwiss]

30. Apparently she doesn't have access......

...to a good lawyer.

- Her husband probably doesn't know any either.......

K&R

[fascisthunter]

31. I Don't think she gives a shit

she is merely thumbing her nose like an elitist wannabe... remember to these head cases, laws are only for us, and not for them.

[baldguy]

33. Republicans violating the law

From the Redundant Department of Redundancy Department.

[CanonRay]

35. Registration? We don't need no stinking registration.

[mwb970]

36. "Law"? What on earth does the law have to do with republicans?

Everyone knows that the laws, like taxes, are for the "little people", i.e. us. Not republicans!

[Doctor_J]

38. Why does she get a warning? Throw her in jail

:wtf:

[SoapBox]

39. Skeezy!

...Creepella...trying to take the dirty work of the GOPeers/Rushpublican'ts/TeaScumBaggers to the next level.

[troubledamerican]

44. DE-regulate! Let criminals, er, Republicans be free from meddlesome liberals!

[Faygo Kid]

45. Does anyone remember who is AG in Virginia? Ken Cucinelli??

You think that a-wipe is ever going to prosecute a right-winger, ever? Let alone the wife of a right-wing Supreme Court justice? Gimme a break. He will kill this investigation in a Richmond minute.

[mnhtnbb]

46. God probably told her to do it. How could God be wrong?

:sarcasm:

[wordpix]

49. registration=regulations to the small gov crowd. Why didn't hubby give her some legal advice?

Oh, yeah, he's a dumbass repug, that's why

[elehhhhna]

52. "Mrs. Thomas vows to take case to the Supreme Court"

lol

[No Elephants]

70. "Justice Thomas does not recuse self. "

When asked why, Justice Thomas asked, "What's a recuse'?"

[elehhhhna]

92. "Writes lead majority opinion upholding own spouses right to continue to...

legally accept bribes."

[Canuckistanian]

54. Look for a SC ruling against the State of Virginia

They're getting a little "uppity".

[JNelson6563]

76. lol Perfect!

:toast:

[Cha]

55. Stupid doesn't know the law..

Now there's a shocker.

[sabrina 1]

69. Good, although I doubt she will suffer any consequences.

They are becoming more blatant as time goes by. They don't even pretend we are a democracy anymore. I think the takeover has been completed, or almost. No need for them to worry about any repercussions, the American people are asleep. They accept each new violation of their civil rights with barely a whimper.

And they will accept this Heath Insurance Reform bill, which is really a transfer of public money to private industry, (subsidies, medicaid funds) and believe it when they are told how many 'good things are in the bill'. There are good things in our present system also, but I don't think the Corporatists worry too much what we think anymore. You see their apologists even on Democratic Boards, cheering for 'victory' when all it is is more theft of the people's money, just like the Wall St. Heist which they got away with. I don't blame them, I blame us.

[No Elephants]

71. The Thomas Crime Family.

[SpiralHawk]

74. Typical FAIL freak right-winger money grubber

sheesh, how pathetic (R)

[TheCowsCameHome]

79. Do they accept 5-cent deposit Coke cans? Clarence has a load of them.

[ooglymoogly]

89. +1 Memory serves.

[Scruffy1]

80. Law ? What law? My husband is the law?

The biggest failure of the US senate was to let her husband have the bench, or how the reich wing learned how to use the race card to get an incompetant buffoon to the supreme court. Reminds me of brother Malcolm's description of blacks who co-opted "Cigar on one end, fool on the other end."

[Turbineguy]

81. You mean even

right wing anti-democracy organizations have to follow the law?

What a country!:shrug:

[Nothing Without Hope]

83. Hey, he and his four neocon SCOTUS cronies can fix that for her... n/t

[olegramps]

84. Why should we hold her accountable to the law. We don't hold Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld...accountable.l

[robinblue]

88. well, for starters, the others

got a pass from our President.

[lonestarnot]

86. Creepy. Just like Hanitwee.

[1American]

87. Virginia warns wife..

Please make note of the FACT that members of the Republican Party, the Party of No To Americans, Yes to BIG CORPORATION LOBBYIST MONEY, feel as if they are somehow exempt from rules, regulations, protocol. They consider themselves elite and superior to all others. Just log on to some of the right-wing websites and see if you can stomach the racist vulgar attacks against Obama, his wife, and worst of all, his children..The Party of NO is no longer the Party of Family Values..It is just the Palin-style Party of scum.

[bnymellon sucks]

91. I have to up vote this

You are so on the point with your comment. Nothing could be closer to the truth. The Republican Party, the party of big corporations, racists, and the stupid (maybe the last two are mutually inclusive)!

[blondeatlast]

90. Can we file this under, "Well, DUH!" It seems that bloody obvuious to me that a group

like that would have to register for accounatbaility.

[underpants]

94. $325

I have registered charities in all 37 states that require it and Va costs $325 and the information required is rather benign


http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/forms-pdf/cp/oca/charitable/oca102registrationstatement.pdf

FEE CRITERIA*
$30 If your gross contributions for the preceding year do not exceed $25,000.
$50 If your gross contributions exceed $25,000 but do not exceed $50,000.
$100 If your gross contributions exceed $50,000 but do not exceed $100,000.
$200 If your gross contributions exceed $100,000 but do not exceed $500,000.
$250 If your gross contributions exceed $500,000 but do not exceed one million dollars.
$325 If your gross contributions exceed one million dollars.