National vets group founded by top Michele Bachmann donor is under investigation nationwide

[Minnesota Raindog]

A tax-exempt Navy veterans group founded by one of Michele Bachmann’s top campaign contributors may be under investigation by the IRS at the request of U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). The group is under investigation in at least six states and has been banned from operating in at least three.

Webb has asked the IRS to investigate the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a national charitable veterans organization founded by Bobby Thompson of Tampa, FL, after reading “alarming reports” that the charity’s directors cannot be located and its multimillion-dollar expenditures cannot be accounted for.The U.S. Navy Veterans Association was founded by Thompson, who donated $10,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign at her Minneapolis event with former halftime governor Sarah Palin April 7. Thompson was only one of six individuals who ponied up the 10 large to have his picture taken with the Tea Party darlings.

"Commander" Bobby Thompson donated
$10,000 to Michele Bachmann's campaign
to have his picture taken with Bachmann
and Sarah Palin April 7.

Thompson’s organization was the subject of a major investigation by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times last spring.

According to the Times:


“The group bills itself as “nationally recognized U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Service Organization,” with 41 state chapters, more than 66,000 members and $22.4 million a year in income that it says it uses for gifts to military personnel, veterans and their families.

But the Times found little evidence of the nationwide charity. Its officers, directors and auditors were nowhere to be found, its offices a network of rented mailboxes, its records kept secret.

Of 85 officers listed on tax papers, the Times could find just one, founder Bobby Thompson, who lived in a $600-a-month Ybor City, FL, duplex. He said he is a retired Navy lieutenant commander and “trust fund baby” who poured more than $180,000 of his own money into political campaigns.”

Read plenty more at DumpBachmann:

http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2010/07/charitable-veterans-group-founded-by.html

[Avidor]

1. UPDATE: Bobby Thompson's Last Known Whereabouts at Bachmann Fundraiser

Also, photo of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association Minnesota office - a UPS Store in St. Paul:

http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com

Ohio AG page about U.S. Navy Vets Assn:

http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/USNavyVetsMaterials

[Minnesota Raindog]

2. Have you seen Bobby Thompson?

[Avidor]

3. Photo of Bobby & Bush

Video of WCPO I-Team report and more at Dump Bachmann:

http://tinyurl.com/wcpo-USNVA

[Avidor]

4. PiPress article on phony U.S. Navy Vets charity & ties to Bachmann, MN GOP .

Here:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_15554206?nclick_check=1

A fundraiser and political donor whose charity collected more than $1 million in Minnesota, supposedly to help military veterans, lavished thousands of dollars on Minnesota politicians. Now, Bobby Thompson has disappeared, and attorneys general across the country are investigating whether his group was ever legitimate.

Thompson, the mysterious head of a nationwide veterans group called the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, is a Florida resident. But 35 percent of Thompson's more than $100,000 in federal donations over the past four years have gone to Minnesota candidates — primarily Republicans — and causes. That includes a $10,000 donation for a high-profile fundraiser in April featuring Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.

"We will be freezing the money pending the results of the investigations," said Gina Countryman, Bachmann's campaign manager, who added that Bachmann does not know Thompson.

"Congresswoman Bachmann believes people are innocent until proven guilty. However, she wants to ensure her campaign is above reproach and maintains the highest of ethical standards."

Thompson's donation was made April 7, suggesting he attended the Minneapolis fundraiser. It is not clear if he was photographed with Palin at that evening's fundraiser, which included opportunities for photos with the former Alaska governor — at $10,000 a pop.

More at Dump Bachmann:

http://bit.ly/asZrrG

[Avidor]

5. Michele Bachmann & tainted campaign $$$ - Frank Vennes Jr. & Bobby Thompson.

http://bit.ly/djSDCQ

[Minnesota Raindog]

10. Bachmann, Minnesota GOP give away their dirty money from Bobby Thompson

http://tinyurl.com/bachmann-dumps-dirty-money

[Minnesota Raindog]

6. Where is the outrage from the right over ripping off veterans and their widows and orphans???

Nothing but crickets coming from the likes of Michael Brodkorb, Mitch Berg, Luke Hellier, Drew Emmer and the rest of the slimy little chickenhawks who love to use veterans to promote their own agenda--but would never think of serving themselves. Where is the outrage at a phony veterans group that raises money to give to Republican candidates? Or is it different when you defraud vets to give to teabaggers like Bachmann?

[mascarax]

7. Does Uncle Drew get to talk any more though?

Did they lock him in a basement until after the election?

Oh, and YES, it is sooooo different when Bachmann is involved.

[Minnesota Raindog]

8. Navy Vets broke state laws for five years--where's the AG investigation?

The U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA) Minnesota Chapter appears to have violated state reporting requirements for charitable organizations in at least three ways over the five years it operated here. From 2005-2009, the Chapter’s officers:
Failed to ever provide the state with a legitimate physical Minnesota address as required on its initial filing and annual reports.

Deliberately misrepresented two UPS drop box addresses as “street address” in a 2007 filing with the Attorney General’s Office.

Claimed on its 2009 annual report, filed May 17, 2010, that it was under no actions or investigations in any state, when in fact, it was under a cease-and-desist order in New Mexico and under investigation in Virginia and possibly other states at the time.
Read more here on this exclusive story:

http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2010/07/us-navy-vets-group-appears-to-have.html

[Avidor]

9. DFL calls on MN GOP to give the dirty $$$ to REAL veterans

http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2010/07/dfl-veterans-to-republicans-do-right.html

St. Paul (July 23, 2010) — Today, veterans called on candidates and political organizations who received money from the United States Navy Veterans Association (USNVA) to donate it to an organization that actually helps those who have served the country.

“People around the country are grateful for the sacrifice that so many men and women have made to serve our nation, and want to donate to organizations that help our veterans,” said Trista Matascastillo, Chair of DFL Veterans Caucus. “The fact that these candidates refuse to give up the money intended to help our nation’s veterans is disgraceful.”

Yesterday, Tom Emmer refused to disclose whether or not he accepted money from the USNVA, a fraudulent charity that collected money for veterans and gave it to Republican candidates instead.

Emmer joins his fellow right-wing Republicans benefitting from these funds intended to help veterans: Michele Bachmann refuses to give up the money she received from the USNVA. And the Republican Party of Minnesota is still funneling the $10,000 they received from the fraudulent charity to its candidates around the state.

“It’s time to send these donations to the place they were intended,” said Matascastillo. “It’s time for the Republican Party of Minnesota and any other candidate who received USNVA funds to donate that money to an organization that actually helps those who have served our country. I suggest they give it to Minnesotans’ Military Appreciation Fund.”