This is the fourth post in a series of weekly guest posts from the Imagine 2050 blog.
Imagine 2050 includes activists, immigrants, artists and students who are invested in a future nation that embraces multiculturalism and tolerance.
By Stephen Piggott, originally posted at Imagine 2050.
NumbersUSA, the grassroots mobilizing arm of the John Tanton Network, has had a long history of lies and deceit. Executive director Roy Beck has long denied his connections to white nationalists. Beck spoke at the 1997 Council of Conservative Citizens National Conference, a fact he denied on numerous occasions until recently. At a recent event in Glenarden, Maryland, Beck told the crowd that he hadn’t been invited back since, in reference to the 1997 Conference.
NumbersUSA’s financial information is as murky and misleading as its leader. The group itself is split into three arms: NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation, NumbersUSA Action, Inc., and Americans for Better Immigration. According to financial documents, all three share offices and personnel with one other. NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization which means its lobby for legislation powers are limited. NumbersUSA Action, Inc. and Americans for Better Immigration are 501(c)(4) organizations meaning they have unlimited lobbying ability.
First let’s compare the income of NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation and NumbersUSA Action, Inc. According to its 2008 financial documents, NumbersUSA Action, Inc. received over $1.5 million in direct public support, NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation received over 8 million.
According to Open Secrets, NumbersUSA.com spent a whopping $630,000 on lobbying in 2008. NumbersUSA.com is the website listed on both NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation and NumbersUSA Action, Inc.’s 2008 financial documents.
Recently, Roy Beck wrote to NumbersUSA supporters asking them to donate money to help them pay the $90,000 a month they spend on “faxing, internet activism and grassroots mobilization programs.” Beck went on to say that NumbersUSA “doesn’t get a penny from any foundation or the government.”
This is yet another example of Beck possibly stretching the truth. According to its 2008 financial documents, the Sarah Scaife Foundation paid NumbersUSA Research and Education $50,000, but because it shares office space, personnel and a website with NumbersUSA Action, Beck’s statements are suspicious.
According to the Colcom Foundation’s 2007 financial documents, they gave NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation over $2 million. According to its 2008 financial documents, the Weeden Foundation gave NumbersUSA $25,000.
Roy Beck and NumbersUSA have a history of distorting the facts. There is a clear lack of transparency in this organization.
Though NumbersUSA’s financial information is very murky, its connections to the John Tanton Network are as clear as day.
Categories: Fighting Hate, Uncategorized
