logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | Right Meets Left—Either Way Watch Out for the Taxman

Rick Cohen
August 20, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

 

August 19, 2010; Source: Chico News Service | It was sort of inevitable that far right wing and far left wing elements of the political spectrum would come full circle and meld into a gelatinous ideological union at their intersection. A good example is the Melbourne, Florida-based nonprofit called “The Patriots,” headed by a retired USAF lieutenant colonel, Robert Bowman.

His pitch is that the problem we all face is that government serves as Bowman says, “the greeds of the wealthy elite” rather than “the needs of the people.” Bowman observes, “the very far-right conservatives in this country agree with most of us far-left socialist liberals on about 95 percent of the same issues . . . both of us love our country and fear our government, with good reason.” He declares the government “a fascist dictatorship” because of the “marriage of corporation and government.”

Who is Bowman? He says he flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam and directed the “Star Wars” under presidents Carter and Ford prior to its official unveiling under President Reagan. (He says he received an award from Veterans for Peace for his succeeding in keeping Star Wars weapons out of space).

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

His talk sponsored by Chico State’s Peace Institute and the Chico Peace and Justice Center feels like a distaff version of a Tea Party manifesto, calling for an end to corporate personhood, insurance companies’ profits in health care, and all nuclear testing. The Patriots website contains a list of Bowman’s personal positions on 90 issues, ranging from abortion and beach renourishment, to X-rated videos, Yugoslavia (which doesn’t exist) and zombie seeds. Like some on the left and right, Bowman is also something of a 9/11 truther.

His nonprofit provenance may, however, be a little dubious: The Patriots raised $61,635 in 2008 but spent $121,911, including $72,933 in interest payments. The Patriots ended the year with net assets of a negative $1,230,877. According to the organization’s Form 990 for 2008, Chiliad III (a firm owned by Col. Bowman and his wife) made a “working capital” loan of $17,000 to the Patriots in 1986, which had grown to $589,504 as of the beginning of 2008. The Patriots paid down $92,255 but added $192,745 in principal, ending the year with a loan balance of $685,994.

In addition, the Patriots paid Millennium III (another Bowman-owned corporation) $12,000 for office space, $6,000 for computer hardware/software/services, $7,488 for copying and printing services, and $35,677 in interest on apparently another working capital loan. Better watch out that the fascist IRS doesn’t take a closer peek at the Patriots’ nonprofit finances.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
What Nigeria Can Teach the US About Food Insecurity
Chidinma Iwu
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
Forerunners of Food Justice: Black Farmer Movement Spans Generations
Demetrius Hunter
What Would a Social Justice Investment Ecosystem Look Like?
Steve Dubb
Measuring Healthcare Equity in North Carolina
Sonia Sarkar
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.