One Door for Education Foundation – Corrine Brown and Fraud

Politicians have never been so emboldened, it would seem, to take advantage of the good-hearted people they are elected to serve. In an AP wire story (July 8, 2016) we are introduced to U.S. Representative Corrine Brown of Florida and her chief of staff, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons who decided to create and perpetuate, a charity called the “One Door for Education Foundation.”

The foundation presumably was set up to provide scholarships to disadvantaged children. This was a noble undertaking, to be sure, but Rep. Brown and her cohorts turned it into a champagne-laden party of self-indulgence and excess. In fact, the fund gave out only one scholarship amounting to $1,000 while collecting $800,000. The article stated:

“’Congresswoman Brown and her chief of staff are alleged to have used the congresswoman’s official position to solicit over $800,000 in donations to a supposed charitable organization, only to use that organization as a personal slush fund,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.

‘Corruption erodes the public’s trust in our entire system of representative government,’ Caldwell added.”

Among other things the “One Door” funds were used to pay for golf tournaments, NFL football games and lavish parties. The rest of the funds went into personal bank accounts. Of interest was that potential donors to the tournament (the “Corrine Brown Invitational”) were solicited by letters bearing the official “House seal,” to make them seem even more important.

According to the AP piece:

“The invitation said the donations would benefit a scholarship fund for the Jacksonville chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, or COMTO, and other charities. Authorities say none of the charities received any of the money raised.”

17 Years in the Making

Representative Brown supposedly served the Jacksonville constituency for 17 years. I say supposedly, because she obviously was serving herself. The charity’s mission was noble. She was not. Over the course of 17 years she, and her chief of staff were able to be accountable only in the spirit, but not in the letter of the law.

They undoubtedly saw how little they had to answer to anyone, and indeed only to their own self-interest. I am quite certain this erosion did not happen overnight. I would assume that for many years of Ms. Brown’s service, she was an effective leaders but something happened along the way.

Part of what we should focus on is the relationship between Brown and her chief of staff. At some point they might have looked at each other and thought, “What the heck, who is going to know?” Somewhere along the way they might have noted that absolutely no one was “watching the store.”

17 years is a lot of trust, and perhaps it is a lot of influence. We cannot – and should not – believe that all of those $800,000 in “donations” were done in a completely naïve fashion. There may have been (winky-wink) donations that were gifts in exchange for favors past, present or future. If that is determined, if those agreements were in place as well, then this scandal may be far from over. To the “little people,” to folks like you and me who gave donations out of the goodness of their hearts, I am truly sorry – but they had it coming.

Donations and Responsibility

We should remind ourselves to never be misled by “charities.” Charities should have a track record and they have a certain sense of responsibility and performance. That is our responsibility however, there needs to be a whole level of ethical oversight above blind trust.

It would appear that no one in government within the Jacksonville community looked at Ms. Brown with a critical eye, especially when invitations to golf tournaments started rolling in that had official seals on them. Who connected the dots between a “charity” and someone using official looking letterheads to promote the charity?

Yes, I know that 20/20 hindsight is also a dangerous thing, which is why I am a huge advocate for ethical oversight.

Our politicians must be accountable, regardless of political party. Ethics should always be above politics and above reproach no matter what the charity is called.

YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!