Florida Moves against U. S. Navy Vets Group 0

Florida is trying to shut down U. S. Navy Veterans, which calls itself a charity. (U. S. Navy Veterans is a private organization in no way affiliated with the United States Navy, or, apparently, anyone other than Bobby Thompson, its founder, whose whereabouts seem to be currently unknown.)

The outfit is notable for officers who cannot be found, mailing addresses that turn out to be mail drops, few verifiable charitable donations, and large campaign contributions. It attracted attention in Virginia for receiving an exemption from normal state oversight after making large campaign contributions to Governor McDonnell’s and Attorney General Cuccinelli’s campaigns in 2009. Shortly afterwards, the St. Petersburg Times blew the whisle on them.

From the Roanoke Times:

Before questions were raised about his group by the St. Petersburg Times, Thompson gave $67,500 to the campaigns of six Virginia politicians. Most said they will give the money to charity after learning about the questions surrounding the group. The one exception is Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who received $55,500 from Thompson. That contribution was Cuccinelli’s second largest from an individual donor.

In reports to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Navy Vets national headquarters said it spent $2.6 million in 2008 in support of veterans and national defense causes. But only 10 specific recipients were listed, for a total of about $27,000.

Most of the organizations confirmed they received contributions from the U.S. Navy Vets group — with the exception of Paralyzed Veterans of America, which said it had no records of $3,000 in donations.

In Virginia, with its concentration of military bases and defense contractors; large communities of real veterans and their friends, families, and co-workers; and strongly martial tradition–memories of wars from before the Revolution onward and memorial battlefields throughout the state–invoking the word “veteran” can be almost like anointment with holy water.

The attention given the campaign contributions is, frankly, a side issue, though getting worked up about campaign contributions after some scandal breaks is always diverting–it implies impropriety and impropriety is titillating. (Sometimes the impropriety is real; the titillation is always real.)

More importantly, executives and legislators must exercise skepticism in considering requests special treatment.

If someone fears the plain light of day, it is likely because he’s trying to keep us in the dark.