What did Kevin Mannix do for $200,000?
It seems that Kevin Mannix raked in over $200,000 for "fundraising consulting" in 2005 for the nonprofit arm of Freedomworks, the national anti-government organization that's been using Oregon as its personal petri dish.
Hart Williams discovered it when he was poking around the Form 990 filed by the Freedomworks Foundation. The IRS requires all 501c3 nonprofits to list their highest-paid staffers and contractors. The PDF at the Guidestar database is here.
Carla at Loaded Orygun takes note that Oregon appears to be the only state with such a highly-paid consultant.
And Becky Miller (the former Sizemore aide) blogs over at Preemptive Karma - with some important context:
He must have done a heck of a good job for them, too, because he was paid $200.000 in 2005 - 2/3 as much as the group's Chairman, Dick Armey – and about $80,000 in 2004, as well, to do "fundraising consulting." You've really got to be a great fundraiser to make that kind of dough. Typically, fundraisers earn $45,000 to $80,000 for a person with "significant experience" and top-end is about $150,000. And that's for full-time work. Mannix did his consulting work for Freedomworks while he had a job as Chair of the Oregon Republican Party.
And of course, in 2006, Kevin Mannix ran for Governor. Why would a national right-wing group give $200,000 to the chairman of the Oregon GOP and an all-but-announced candidate for governor?
Mannix, of course, has a history of pocketing campaign cash. But maybe Dick Armey just needed a referral to a good sexual hypnotist.
Discuss.
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March 12, 2007 |
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Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Mar 12, 2007 11:44:59 PM
I think it's a serious question. Even if it falls under the category of "political whoring" (whatever that means)... and they classified it under "fundraising consulting"...
So what did he do to earn that check? Especially since he was running the State GOP and preparing a run for governor at the time.
How much money would you have to raise to justify a $200,000 commission or fee? I mean, the entire Foundation budget that year was only $3.68 million.
I mean that would be 5.4% of the total budget...
Posted by: Evan Manvel | Mar 13, 2007 5:56:50 AM
Just to clarify, the IRS only requires listing highest paid folks over $50,000 on the 990.
Posted by: Ross Williams | Mar 13, 2007 8:20:18 AM
Isn't the real question is why did Freedomworks give him $200,000 and where did that money come from. Did Mannix and Armey really get paid that much for tangible work they did, or did that money end up in a variety of other pockets who couldn't take it directly. It seems like Freedomworks is one of many thinly disguised money laundering operations that are used to avoid financial disclosure and contribution limits.
Posted by: Former Salem Staffer | Mar 13, 2007 10:17:30 AM
Well, I guess he had to pay his campaign debts off somehow. And since he's no longer ORP chairman, he can't break into that piggy bank anymore...
Kari--
Do you have those figures available? I know Mannix had a ton of debt from the 02 race, and added even more in the 06 primary.
...What a scumbag.........
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Mar 13, 2007 10:44:50 AM
I'd Google it just like you would... so dig in.
Posted by: Jenni Simonis | Mar 13, 2007 11:14:55 AM
The SOS site shows he has $493,000.00 in outstanding loans and just over $12K in cash. That means a deficit of -$480,683.12.
His post-election report from 2002 shows $531,600.00 in outstanding loans, $25,405.95 in outstanding personal expenditures, and $133,620.34 in accounts payable. Once again there was just over $12K in cash. That left a deficit of -$671,895.29
For old C&E info, search here: http://egov.sos.state.or.us/division/elections/elec_images/c&e_search.html
For new C&E info, search here: https://secure.sos.state.or.us/eim/jsp/CEMainPage.jsp
The new system revolves around transactions, which means you can see everything a contributor has given. You can even download everything into Excel and sort by contributor, who the contribution went to, state the contribution came from, etc.
You do have to remember that some contributions still won't show up. If you give to a PAC that expects to be under the $2K limit, your contribution won't show up unless they go over that limit. And if you give small donations, you won't show up on a particular PAC until you hit a certain limit. But that was the same on the old system as well. Those small donations are lumped together as misc. contributions under $100.
Posted by: Steven Maurer | Mar 13, 2007 12:34:26 PM
The real question I have is, what lawyer are we getting to file the formal complaint against Guidestar?
Because this isn't merely Mannix being a scumbag. This is flat out illegal.
Guidestar is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation. Those organizations are prohibited from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.
Mannix clearly did not receive that money for what the form claimed. He received it as an under the table campaign contribution.
This needs to be investigated by people with badges. The sooner the better.
Posted by: confused | Mar 13, 2007 3:04:10 PM
What does Guidestar have to do with it? They're just the provider of information with their database of IRS tax documents.
Posted by: Chris Bouneff | Mar 13, 2007 4:20:15 PM
I love Kevin Mannix! Whenever I need a smile, there always seems to be something new on Mannix to prompt a laugh....
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Mar 13, 2007 5:03:01 PM
Steven, you mean "Freedomworks" not "Guidestar". Guidestar just aggregates the data.
Posted by: Steven Maurer | Mar 13, 2007 5:33:03 PM
Yes - thank you Kari. Somehow my brain fritzed and I put Guidestar in where I meant Freedomworks. Damn this early daylight savings time. I'm half asleep during the day.
Good catch. My bad.
Posted by: oldschoolblue | Mar 13, 2007 6:11:06 PM
I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but I was intrigued by this article, did some research, and actually got to the bottom of it.
Mannix has been given permission by Freedom Works to explain. Why would he need 'permission' I asked? Because the vast majority of his work for them actually consisted of legal services.
Apparently, the form 990 entry for 2005 reflects payments made in 2005 that actually covered two years of legal services. He apparently did fundraising consulting as well, which explains the listing on Guidestar.
I must also say that I am disappointed by our personal attacks at Kevin Mannix. Sure, we disagree on a lot, but our words and actions should engender some amount of respect and civility toward each other. Especially with whom we disagree.
The fact that we were ready to tear Mannix to shreds over this trivia makes us look pretty foolish.
We're better than this aren't we? I hope so... for our sake.
oldschoolblue
Posted by: Steven Maurer | Mar 13, 2007 7:09:24 PM
OoooKaaaaay. I've been recently scolded on this board for being too negative, so lets just assume that Mr. Mannix, Esq. is being completely truthful on all this. An East Coast political nonprofit needed $200,000 worth of legal services in Oregon, even though they're not involved in any recorded dispute around here, and the guy they got just happened to be a likely Candidate for Governor. Happens every day.
So sorry, Mr. Mannix. I'll try to be better than that next time. If not, given your record, less suspicious.
Posted by: j_luthergoober | Mar 14, 2007 10:33:14 AM
Perhaps Oregon's esteemed Federal prosecutor should look a bit more closely at Kevin's alleged "law firm" rather than an innocent lawyer's fingerprints...
Posted by: Dan | Mar 14, 2007 2:48:01 PM
Kevin,
shame on you for earning a paycheck. Don't you know that this enrages the Gov't/welfare minded liberals in your state that think that anyone who earns more than an esteemed college professor must be crooked.
How dare you!
I propose that we put a law on the books that says that anyone earning more than $125K per year must explain exactly what they did to earn this suspicious amount of compensation. The only exception to this would be someone like Rudy G. or Pres. Clinton earning speaking or consulting fees. Or, for that matter, maybe a book like Hillary had published that nobody read. That definitely wasn't a payoff.
Good job liberals, time for more hard hitting investigative blogging!
Posted by: Ross Williams | Mar 14, 2007 7:26:15 PM
Mannix has been given permission by Freedom Works to explain. Why would he need 'permission' I asked? Because the vast majority of his work for them actually consisted of legal services.
So why would he need permission? There is nothing confidential about who his clients are is there?
Kevin,
shame on you for earning a paycheck. Don't you know that this enrages the Gov't/welfare minded liberals in your state
Well, since Kevin ran for Attorney General touting his credentials as a "McGovern Democrat" less than 10 years ago, he can certainly claim he knows what "enrages" liberals from personal experience. But like all of his claims ...
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Mar 14, 2007 9:18:24 PM
OldSchoolBlue wrote... Mannix has been given permission by Freedom Works to explain. Why would he need 'permission' I asked? Because the vast majority of his work for them actually consisted of legal services.
Apparently, the form 990 entry for 2005 reflects payments made in 2005 that actually covered two years of legal services. He apparently did fundraising consulting as well, which explains the listing on Guidestar.
Wait just a minute there, OSB. Are you a representative of Mr. Mannix? Do you otherwise have a source for your statement? Because if you don't, and you aren't, then you're making shit up.
Disclose your source, or don't speak quite so authoritatively.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Mar 14, 2007 9:20:25 PM
OSB wrote... The fact that we were ready to tear Mannix to shreds over this trivia makes us look pretty foolish.
Dan wrote ...Kevin, shame on you for earning a paycheck.
Guys, he had already announced he was running for Governor. Seriously, people, if Ted Kulongoski had drawn a $200,000 payday from - say, the AFL-CIO - without any apparent work having been done, you'd be screaming to high heaven.
Posted by: Bill | Mar 14, 2007 10:09:45 PM
Hey, maybe he just gives really good head. You know how the Republikons are always secretive about their perverted sex lives and all.
Posted by: peter | Apr 29, 2007 1:58:29 PM
Kevin Mannix is sort of a Tanya Harding character. He just pops up every once in a while, surrounded by some sort of bizarre and semi-shady, semi-fiasco.
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Posted by: carla | Mar 12, 2007 11:07:44 PM
What did Mannix do? I'm guess it has something to do with political whoring.
But them I'm a cynic.