Cautions about a rush to judgment on allegations against the SPLC

A Washington Post piece by By Jim Tharpe, a former managing editor at the Montgomery Advertiser paper, calls for the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) to be investigated for the IRS or the Justice Department. (Something strange is going on at this civil rights institution. It must be investigated. 04/05/2019)

I hope we get a good contemporary journalistic account of what's going on at SPLC in the wake of the firing of their founder Morris Dees and allegations that have appeared like this in the press around that.

There are lots of reasons people working for good causes can be jerks in some ways. Not least of which is that "do-gooder" groups tend to have people scrambling for limited and uncertain resources and chances for personal recognition and prestige. But being a jerk isn't the same as being a criminal.

Tharpe doesn't allege any direct lawbreaking or financial fraud. But he pooh-poohs the idea of an independent audit and argues, "The Internal Revenue Service, which grants the SPLC tax-exempt status, and the civil rights division of the Justice Department would be the best bets to really figure out what’s up at the center." It may be that their fundraising practices are questionable, or that they pay some people too much. But he doesn't directly claim financial crimes, yet he want to sic Trump's and Bob Barr's Justice Department on them. I'm sure they would be happy to oblige, although I have serious doubts about whether Trumps or Barr has any actual concern for the integrrity of civil rights organizations because, you know, of their blatant contempt for the rule of law.

SPLC is set up as a nonprofit, although I remember reading years ago that it was set us as a for-profit organization. I don't know if there's a part that is not a non-profit, or if that's changed, or if I'm just remembering wrong. Charity Navigator has a rating from August 2018 that gives it high scores on accountability and transparency. (http://bit.ly/2IhppD7) BBB Wise Giving showed for March 2018 that SPLC did not respond to their requests for information. Charity Watch as of March 2019 rates them "F", apparently because of their measure of SPLC's reserve assets at 6.6 years worth. ( http://bit.ly/2Ip9vqz ) Consumer Reports says, "To become accredited by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, the watchdog requires charities to spend at least 65 percent of their total expenses on their charitable missions and no more than 35 percent of their contributions on fundraising." (http://bit.ly/2YT5ArC) Charity Navigator shows SPLC's program expenses at 66% and fundraising expenses at 21% (Aug 2018). Charity Watch's more current report shows the program percentage at 64%.

Given the intense hatred that conservatives and the far right have had for the SPLC for decades, I'm not ready to start cheering for criminal investigations when even someone like Jim Tharpe isn't ready to allege actual criminal conduct. I would also make a guess that various Republican slime factories and oppo research operations have made efforts over the years to dig up anything they could that looked remotely embarassing.

Here I'll mention (but not link) a blog called "Watching the Watchdogs" that seems to be mainly devoted to trashing the SPLC. Although it also included a post last August mocking Heather Heyer, the woman murdered at the Charlottesville neo-Nazi get-togther in Charlottesville in 2017,  including sneering at "adherents of the new Social Justice Warrior religion." With enemies like these against them, I'm going to be cautious about piling on the SPCL without knowing more.

Actually, an independent non-governmental audit seems like it would be a good response to this on the SPLC's part. The Post also reports, "The nonprofit has promised that change is underway. It has hired Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff, to review its 'workplace culture and its past practices and policies.' And on Tuesday, board member Karen Baynes-Dunning, a black woman and former juvenile court judge, was named interim president to succeed Cohen." (Neena Satija et al, Years of turmoil and complaints led the Southern Poverty Law Center to fire its founder Morris Dees 04/05/2019)