Monday, January 13, 2014

If All Else Fails, Blame The Dead Guy

Surely, the gentle reader remembers the United Sportsmen scandal in which former Representative Scott Suder had put in special language which would have created a perpetual revenue stream which only United Sportsmen would have been eligible.  It was surely pure coincidence that the members of United Sportsmen were all Republican supporters and that the group used money to support Teapublicans like Scott Walker during the recalls.

Now the same group of reprobates are asking for an exemption from their penalties for their false tax filing status, blaming it on a now deceased member of the group:
In a letter last month to the federal Internal Revenue Service provided by Annette Olson, the secretary-treasurer for United Sportsmen, the group argued it shouldn't face penalties despite its mistakes and misrepresentations. Olson didn't respond to requests for comment.

"It would be against equity and good conscience to impose such a penalty on this small tax-exempt organization. This late filing was not an act of deliberate late filing but was an administrative oversight which will not happen again," the letter read.

The Department of Natural Resources awarded United Sportsmen the grant on Aug. 30, but Gov. Scott Walker rescinded it a week later after the newspaper reported the problems with its tax filings and its president's 2005 citation for shooting a black bear without the proper license.

At that time, United Sportsmen made a number of contradictory claims about its tax status.

Initially, the group presented itself as a nonprofit and then, when it was revealed it hadn't yet received federal nonprofit status, said it was a for-profit company. When the Journal Sentinel reported the group hadn't filed any state tax filing required for for-profit firms, United Sportsmen reversed itself again and said it was a nonprofit and had hired the law firm of Foley & Lardner to help get its state and federal filings in order.

In its unsigned letter, the group said the tax mistakes had largely been made by board member Scott Maves, who was in charge of its finances and who died in June.

"Prior to (September), the other board members of the United Sportsmen believed everything was being filed properly and had been taken care of," the letter reads.

As previously reported, the political group Citizens for a Strong America Inc. gave $235,000 to United Sportsmen in 2011. The newly released filings show that single donation made up United Sportsmen's entire revenue for that year. The group spent most, but not all, of that donation and finished the year with $39,044.

The bulk of the money spent, $118,400, went to Arena Communications of Salt Lake City, Utah, a firm that helps design and send out mailings to voters. Arena has high-profile GOP clients around the country, including Walker; U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, a Janesville Republican; the state GOP; and the committee representing Republican state senators.

United Sportsmen sent out a mailing in the 2011 state Senate recall elections.

The next year United Sportsmen took in $51,813 but spent $80,769. To cover the difference, the group spent from its reserves and finished 2012 with $10,088.
They're so committed to this course of action that they couldn't even sign the letter blaming the dead guy.  I wonder how this all makes Andy Pantzlaff feel, since he's already taken the fall for their incompetence.

This also shows that they've never heard of the adage that one shouldn't speak ill of the dead.  Then again, what do you expect from a bunch of zombies?

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