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Agency Accountability - Introduction
Journalists, especially investigative reporters, must hold people who administer taxpayer funds to account. This particularly applies when oversight authorities like City of Seattle and US Department of Housing and Urban Development neglect to obey municipal and federal mandates and attack reporters with impunity.
Those authorities employ politically-motivated people who make decisions based on self-interest instead of the public good. Deplorably, they then use public relations flaks to deny access to public records in attempts to cover up their unlawful actions. [Public Records Access]
More perniciously, public authorities use their political connections to support non-profit organizations trying to prevent exposure of abuse and violations of civil and human rights, misappropriation of federal funds, and homicide. They implement policies designed to kill the messenger.
When one accepts taxpayer money one gives up the freedom of exclusion and accepts promulgated regulation related to the disbursement. Technically non-profit organizations carry a surplus instead of a profit margin. Extra money must roll back into the organization and corporate executives must not make disbursements to “shareholders” or directors. The loophole arises from difficulty in determining the surplus margin although dividing surplus by revenues gives a rough figure.
Some non-profit organizations exclude restricted funds like grants or donations for a specific purpose, however, that results in restricting funds for other uses and deprives beneficiaries of their benefits. The clear guide to non-profit corporation disclosure relates to the salaries of the highest paid employees and a published list of board members and their compensation or financial dealings.
Many directors receive perquisites that do not appear on the books especially when they take interest-free loans of large sums of money. For example, in some non-profit corporations board members have company-owned cars or borrow interest-free money to capitalize their own businesses but list their compensation as zero .
Contrary to law, Council house directors have consistently withheld information about their financial dealings. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Forms 990 form part of the public record on non-profit corporations. Council House runs two non-profit organizations - Council House Inc. and Council House Foundation Inc.
In response to a request to Council House attorneys for documents they suppled an edited set. A complaint to the IRS resulted in release of the remaining documents and an investigation into why the directors withheld them.
This federal violation matches similar violations that require prompt and adequate filing of information about directors with Washington state. The directors have consistently refused to disclose their names as required by state law and obtained a court order that restrains this reporter from publishing them. [Directors' Names]
Secrecy about donations and financial affairs denies oversight of the charities that they administer and controverts normal accountability standards. The public has the right to receive good information on the finances of all charitable organizations.
Council House continues to ignore that requirement. They refuse to employ mechanisms for accountability. In fact, they run negligent bookkeeping and auditing procedures - a sure sign of malfeasance. Reporting income and expenditure of individual donations does not exist despite several requests for disclosure.
Essentially, both donors and the public have a right to know about use and misuse of donations and administrators must remain accountable. All charities need to disclose their missions, geography, size, history, and income. They must also report expenditures on fund-raising activities. Council House does not comply with any of these requirements and individual donations and miscellaneous income disappears into a black hole.
A modest allotment for resident activities supports outings for a favored elite, significantly members of a particular race. Contrary to HUD regulations, the administrator and his principle thug (who doubled as van driver) charged for in-house services and van trips for shopping. No record of that income and other moneys derived from sale of deceased residents’ possessions apparently exists. [Noblesse Oblige]
Full disclosure becomes particularly important when one considers the alleged racial and religious discrimination also misappropriation of government funds over an extended period. Council House must disclose its accumulation of assets and explain the movement of funds in and out of foundation accounts.
Large sums of money disappear and reappear at intervals. If directors borrow from non-profit trusts then they must record those loans and explain why interest does not accrue to the account. They must also explain why they do not put accrued funds and interest to work when the need arises.
The directors involve themselves in “charitable work” knowing that only personal equity appreciation in their “non-profit” ventures counts for them. That appreciation derives from the pensions of senior citizens who pay them rent. They have apparently invested absolutely nothing themselves (apart from occasional donations by a director) yet stand to gain vast amounts.
They do nothing to improve the lives of tenants by using foundation funds and income to improve their lot. Their charitable interest relates only to self-aggrandizement and what they can gain from their involvement - a culturally ingrained hypocrisy founded in “the holocaust industry”. [Neo-Fascism, Violence, and Indifference - Shoah]
US General Accounting Office (GAO) needs to delve into Council House finances and management to determine and document the misappropriation that has gone on for several years. Recognized standards for nonprofit groups and grant makers allow investigators to honor donors’ wishes and measure program successes and failures.
No such accountability exists at Council House where all financial affairs remain secret. Council House exists as a government sponsored ghetto run by neo-fascist administrators for the financial gain of bigoted and corrupt directors. They reap financial rewards from religious and racial discrimination.
Government authorities must wake up to this egregious manipulation of the system and assault upon the rights of senior citizens. They must launch a full and independent investigation. Misappropriation of government funds allowed Stephen Mitchell and Katrina Ramsburg, both out-of-work actors, to receive government-financed salaries. They then ran theatrical companies and recording enterprises on Council House premises while using government-sponsored computers. [Service Coordinators, Mental Health Counselors, and Social Workers]
Many of the problems extant at Council House would not exist if the directors employed a qualified administrator and counselor as required by HUD regulations. Congress allotted funds for a qualified service coordinator (social worker/geriatric counselor). That position calls for a person holding particular academic credentials, also professional qualifications and experience, to meet resident needs.
Congress did not intend those funds to support theatrical enterprises by actors posing as mental health counselors. This misappropriation of federal funds on theatrical (and other interests that include pornography and a cover-up of the activities of an Islamic terrorist sympathizer) now runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars. [Tyrant by Day: Saint by Night]
Secretary of State, State of Washington, requires nonprofit corporations to file an annual report containing names and addresses of all officers and directors. For more than a year, this web site listed the names and addresses of the Directors and Administrators, Council House, Seattle. Judge James A. Doerty, Superior Court of Washington ordered the publisher to remove that information from the web site and later jailed him for not doing so.
That order awaits Washington Supreme Court review. Doerty denied use of information contained in public records normally disclosable by law. Council House directors and administrators have plenty to hide. Doerty helped them to hide it. [Impunity]
Council House Inc. classifies as a domestic nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Washington. Secretary of State requires nonprofit corporations to file an annual report that contains the names and addresses of all officers and directors. The directors neglected to file a report during 1993 and the Secretary dissolved the corporation. The board of directors applied for reinstatement and the Secretary granted a certificate to that effect October 8, 1993, on payment of a reinstatement filing fee.
However, the board of directors choreographing this theater of the absurd apparently does not learn from its negative curtain calls. Successive registered agents had responsibly for filing the annual report but have consistently not filed all the directors' names and addresses according to law. They refuse access to this information for which the law requires public disclosure. By this, they deny media and their tenants contact with the directors.
Much more serious neglect has occurred at the federal level. For six years, Mark Mullen and the board of directors have filed neither borrower's certificates nor management entity profiles required by HUD regulations. By association, this neglect has denied tenants the right properly to organize and to present complaints about adverse living conditions to the directors and to HUD. It allowed Mullen to evade issues by denying access to mandated complaint procedures.
Pressure applied to HUD under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) made them obtain and furnish copies of documents that they should have had on file. Following that pressure, the co-presidents retroactively signed and filed those documents on April 22, 2000.
The directors asked a court to suppress a list of names and addresses gathered from a variety of other public sources. Tenants needed that list to bypass blocking tactics and to approach the board directly. At the directors’ request, Judge Doerty also censored that list.
Federal regulations require administrators to resolve valid complaints that apply to conditions or quality of life. HUD directives published in 1994 required publication of complaint procedures and provision of written copies of complaints to tenants with responses. Council House started to comply with that law under pressure but has recently reverted to procrastination and threats. They now violate law in other ways.
Previously, due to a policy rigorously enforced by Mullen, HUD received only one complaint from a Council House resident in six years. It has received many more complaints since residents learned about their right to complain. However, Stephen A. Mitchell now coerces residents into dropping those complaints with threats of eviction. A typical comment by him: “If you do not like it here go somewhere else to live”. [HUD-Seattle and Bremerton Contract Administrator] [City of Seattle]
However, Council House directors have negated those procedures by appointing tyrants as administrators, condoning neo-fascist policies enforced by thugs, and manipulating the court system. Evil, anonymity, and social terrorism come in all stripes and colors and know no bounds at Council House. [Neo-Fascism, Violence, and Indifference]
[Nmesis]
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Judge James A. Doerty, Superior Court, State of Washington, issued two anti-harassment orders and contempt citations to censor this forum by prior restraint at the behest of Council House directors and their administrator. Mary Kay Becker, Washington Court of Appeals affirmed them. Washington Supreme Court reversed most of those decisions (30 Mar 06).
[Washington Supreme Court - Decision] [Background Information]
Using their financial power, the directors obtained SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) court orders and contempt citations using perjured testimony against the author of valid exposé. They then had him jailed in solitary confinement.
In this case, SLAPP consists of frivolous charges designed to bankrupt an opponent and create a prior restraint. The landlords have used this tactic on several occasions to try to cover up issues that affect all their tenants.
Doerty thwarted an appeal of his findings for more than five years by withholding court documents and other manipulation. The author/publisher claims judicial bias and arbitrary censorship that deny him his rights under the First Amendment to the US Constitution and Washington State Constitution. Doerty has challenged a principle journalism ethic - seek truth and report it - by denying a reporter’s First Amendment rights. Doerty then wrote biased decisions all without due process of law.
His findings enabled Council House directors to cover up crimes that they and their administrators allegedly committed. A Washington Supreme Court review has allowed the public to know the names of people involved in elder abuse. It will also give an ethical prosecutor an opportunity to consider felony charges of homicide by abuse against Council House directors and their staff. [Homicide by Abuse]
Homicide ranks as a class A felony punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in a state correctional institution or by a fine of fifty thousand dollars or both. Both the victim’s family and a Council House administrator benefitted financially by allegedly defrauding federal and state agencies prior to death of a resident. [Who Killed Jackie Nations?]
Doerty’s order precluded naming the people involved which forced redaction of copy pending review. Washington Supreme Court reversed the trial court decision which relieves restrictions on publishing details regarding resident deaths and other abuse.
Washington Supreme Court
Council House, Seattle - Summary
Supreme Court Decision #1
Supreme Court Decision #2
Civil Issues
Appellant [Trummel]
Respondents [Mitchell and Council House Inc.]
Appellant Reply [Trummel]
Contempt Issues
Appellant [Trummel]
Respondents [Mitchell and Council House Inc.]
Appellant Reply [Trummel]
Amicus Curiae
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
National Union of Journalists/London Freelance Branch (NUJ)
Seattle Weekly
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