Saturday, September 27, 2008

FWCANDO - 'Non-Profit' a Figment of Don Young's Imagination

Cowtown's Don Young is a man on a mission. The east-side anti-gas activist, who once led a protest of a church's Sunday morning services, is engaged in his own holy war to drive gas development from our city.

Mr. Young, saves his sharpest barbs for Mayor Mike Moncrief who he has all but charged with criminal behavior. However, when it comes to honesty and ethics, Mr. Young's own record of deception rivals that of our energy-enriched mayor.

Mr. Young's website intentionally misleads visitors to believe that he is head of a grass-roots, non-profit organization. After all, he openly solicits "donations"; his "Just say NO to Urban Gas Drilling" signs are not sold. Oh no, that's far too commercial for Mr. Young. No, his signs are offered for a "$3.00 donation". Mr. Young speaks in the plural, posting stuff like, "We believe... We are concerned..." We demand..." He even has the ".org" suffix in his web address that is commonly used by non-profits.

Yes a visitor would certainly believe that FWCANDO is non-profit organization dedicated to protecting our fair city from the evils of urban gas drilling.

There's just one problem. FWCANDO doesn't exist.

That's right, a check of state and federal records find that no such group has ever registered as a non-profit organization. So just how much money is Mr. Young raking in "donations" for those yard signs? Where does the money go that is "donated" to FWCANDO? So far as I can tell those donations are going into Mr. Young's pocket. However, since no real non-profit organization exists; an organization that would have to keep records and submit financial statements to the proper authorities; we'll never know.

Anti-gas activists have frequently criticized Mayor Moncrief for pocketing gas royalty checks while serving as mayor. Fair enough. But shouldn't the same standard apply to an activist that pockets money "donated" to fight gas drilling?

Note: I emailed Mr. Young some time ago asking him if his organization was a non-profit organization. Rather than answer my question he asked me why I wanted to know. When I explained why and spelled out the issues I've mentioned here he never responded.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your argument seems a little thin. I can't see anywhere on the FWCANDO website where they claim to be a non-profit or have 501(c)(3) status. Asking for "donations" as evidence of pretending to be a non-profit is kind of thin, too. By that logic, all of the blogs I visit where the authors request "donations" are also pretending to be non-profits.

Signs are expensive to print. The last time I got a quote for yard signs, the price was actually more than $3/per. The insinuation that Don is getting rich selling $3 signs is amusing. I think, at best it is cost neutral. More realistically, he gives away more signs than he charges for.

I did find one comment on the S-T blog where Don Young called FWCANDO a non-profit. Should he have used those words? Maybe not. Is that evidence of deception? I wouldn't build an entire argument on that.

You may not like Don or what his organization stands for. Comparing Don's signs to the Mayor's financial disclosure that had him making at least $622,000 from energy companies doing business in the city of Fort Worth is not in the same ballpark.

But to present Don Young as a lone nut or a huckster fleecing people through an elaborate yard-sign scheme is just not true. He is not the only one who feels this way. Driving the neighborhoods of Fort Worth seeing these signs all over is proof enough.

11:54 AM  
Blogger JohnPeterSmith said...

Steve:

I appreciate you thoughts on the issue.

You are correct, the term "501(c)(3)" does not appear on Mr. Young's website. But that term doesn't appear on the website of Historic Fort Worth either, though I strongly suspect they in fact are a legitimate non-profit. Just because a site doesn't use that exact legal term doesn't alleviate them from the moral responsibility not to mislead people.

The argument that he may not violate the exact letter of the law sounds an awful lot like Mayor Moncrief's argument for participating in decisions on gas issues.

Not getting rich off of yard signs? Time Magazine reported that "Don Young went from being a full-time glass artist to spending 50% of his working hours battling the energy companies..." How does he afford to do that?

You are right, Don Young's yard sign sales are not in the same ballpark as the mayor's gas royalties. Mr. Young is worse. Why? The mayor disclosed how much money he is making from gas drilling. I doubt Don Young is clearing as much as the mayor from sign sales but how much money is Don Young making in "donations" to fight gas drilling? We have no way to know.

I have two points:
First, Don Young has routinely questioned the mayor's honesty and integrity. Fair enough. But if he is going to do that he needs to make sure he meets those same standards of honesty and integrity, if not higher. Mr. Young fails to do so.

Second, Don Young needs to realize that when he pockets money supposedly "donated" to his "organization" it calls into question everything he says. When Mr. Young calls for a massive march on city hall is that from a heartfelt desire or a need to spur yard sign sales? Cheasapeake spokesperson Julie Wilson gets paid to advocate for gas drilling. Don Young apparently gets paid to advocate against it. How are they different?

9:48 AM  
Blogger TXsharon said...

Man! Could you get more petty? Don openly admits that he has never sought non profit status because he doesn't take donations.

This is pathetic.

9:09 AM  
Blogger TXsharon said...

Not getting rich off of yard signs? Time Magazine reported that "Don Young went from being a full-time glass artist to spending 50% of his working hours battling the energy companies..." How does he afford to do that

This is the favorite argument used by the industry apologists against those of us who just want to protect our air, water, soil and quality of life. The reason you guys have such a hard time understanding why we would pour our passion into something with no expectation of personal gain is because you value money over everything else. Truly pathetic.

9:12 AM  

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