August 13, 2020

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

New York Attorney General Letitia James has launched what many may perceive as a proverbial David v. Goliath battle, filing a suit that seeks to dissolve the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA).

In a news conference held on Thursday, August 6, Attorney General James announced the charges levied against the organization.

The filing alleges illegal conduct and corruption, stating: "…their diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership, awarding contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family, and appearing to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees to buy their silence and continued loyalty."

The State of New York alleges that the organization, its vice-president Wayne LaPierre, former CFO Wilson Phillips, former Chief of Staff and Executive Director of General Operations Joshua Powell, and Corporate Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer failed to manage the NRA's funds and failed to follow numerous state and federal laws, contributing to the loss of more than $64 million in just three years for the NRA.

"The NRA's influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets," said James.

"The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law."

James cites numerous examples where the four defendants listed in the complaint "failed to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the NRA."

She alleges that the accused used millions of dollars from NRA reserves funds for personal use, including trips for them and their families to the Bahamas, private jets, expensive meals and other private travel."

In addition to shuttering the NRA's doors, Attorney General James said she's seeking to recoup the millions in lost assets and stop the four defendants from serving on the board of any not-for-profit charitable organization in the state of New York again.

According to the Attorney General's filing, the four individuals "instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive, and fraudulent."

"They overrode and evaded internal controls to allow themselves, their families, favored board members, employees, and vendors to benefit through reimbursed expenses, related party transactions, excess compensation, side deals, and waste of charitable assets without regard to the NRA's best interests," James noted.

When board members challenged LaPierre and others over their financial governance and leadership of the NRA, it's alleged that LaPierre retaliated and turned the board against those who attempted to challenge the illegal behavior.

According to the lawsuit, LaPierre, Phillips, Powell, Frazer and other executives and board members at the NRA allegedly abused their power and illegally diverted or facilitated the diversion of tens of millions of dollars from the NRA.

"These funds were in addition to millions of dollars that the four individual defendants were already receiving in grossly excessive salaries and bonuses that were not in line with the best practices and prudent standards for evaluating and determining compensation."

Leadership at the NRA also failed to assure standard fiscal controls, failed to respond adequately to whistleblowers, affirmatively took steps to conceal the nature and scope of whistleblower concerns from external auditors, and failed to review potential conflicts of interest for employees, according to the complaint.

According to James, the NRA violated various laws, including the laws governing the NRA's charitable status, false reporting on annual filings with the IRS, and the OAG's Charities Bureau.

She further alleged improper expense documentation, improper wage reporting, improper income tax withholding, failure to make required excise tax reporting and payments, payments above reasonable compensation to disqualified persons, and waste of NRA assets in direct violation of New York's Estates, Powers & Trusts Laws; New York's Not-for-Profit Corporation Law; the New York Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act; and New York's Executive Law. 

"The illegal nature of the four individual defendants' action also violated multiple rules of the NRA's bylaws, the NRA's employee handbook, and the NRA's policy manual," James stated.

The NRA's failure to comply with multiple fiduciary responsibilities and state and federal laws resulted in the NRA's seeing substantial losses on its balance sheet, the complaint stated.

The organization went from enjoying a surplus of more than $27.8 million in 2015 to a net deficit of more than $36.2 million in 2018 — contributing to a total loss of more than $64 million in just three years.

James said that her office began looking into the NRA in February 2019 and now seeks to dissolve the organization. 

She's asking a federal court judge to order LaPierre, Phillips, Powell, and Frazer to make full restitution of funds they unlawfully profited from along with the salaries earned as employees along with additional penalties. The State of New York is also seeking to recover illegal and unauthorized payments to the four individuals, remove LaPierre and Frazer from the NRA's leadership (the NRA no longer employs Phillips and Powell), and ensure that none of the four defendants can ever again serve on the board of a charity in New York State.

August 06, 2020

By Amy Taxin

Associated Press

A technical problem has caused a lag in California’s tally of coronavirus test results, casting doubt on the accuracy of recent data showing improvements in the infection rate and number of positive cases, and hindering efforts to track the spread, the state’s top health official said Tuesday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in recent days that California has not been receiving a full count of tests conducted, or positive results, through electronic lab reports because of the unresolved issue, which he did not describe in detail. The state’s data page now carries a disclaimer saying the numbers “represent an underreporting of actual positive cases” per day.

The latest daily tally posted Tuesday showed 4,526 new confirmed positives, the lowest total in more than six weeks and a precipitous drop from the record nearly 13,000 reported two weeks ago. County health officials have posted notices on their sites advising of the lag and that a drop in cases might not paint a full picture.

Wendy Hetherington, Riverside County’s chief of epidemiology and program evaluation, said she believes hundreds of cases a day haven’t been reported in her county since late last week. The undercount impedes the ability to find newly infected individuals and quickly contact those who have been in close contact with them so they can quarantine to avoid spreading the disease.

“We’re delaying case investigations. We’re delaying follow up,” she said, adding: “We can’t tell how well we’re doing until this issue is resolved.”

Even with the under-reporting of cases, California has recorded more positive tests than any other state, about 520,000.

On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom gave his most optimistic report on the state’s virus efforts since a second surge of cases in early June. He noted daily cases had dropped by an average of 2,200 in the last week and the infection rate of 6.1% was significantly lower than the nearly 8% recorded last month.

Ghaly acknowledged the rate Newsom highlighted was based on incomplete data and that missing data is being inputted manually. He stressed that looking at one- and two-week trends can help account for missing data from individual days.

Ghaly said hospitalization data — which doesn’t run through the same troubled system — has seen signs of improvement. The latest count Tuesday showed 6,302 people were hospitalized, a 12% drop from the high recorded in July. Deaths have now topped 9,500.

In California, laboratories send virus testing data and results to a state database that is accessible to county health officials. Counties including Orange and Sacramento have noted the delays, and Placer County posted on its website that its virus cases are likely underestimated as a result.

Los Angeles County health officials said the state convened an emergency call Monday night to discuss the issue. Now, a team from the county is reaching out to more than 80 labs to obtain test results for the past nine days to determine an accurate case count, and set up a system to receive data directly in the future so contact tracing efforts aren’t delayed, the county’s health department said in a statement.

Ghaly said the state was trying to fix the issue and relaying information manually to county health officials so they could follow up on cases and conduct interviews to identify people who had contact with an infected person, a process hampered by the data delays.

“We’re not sure when we will have a definitive fix to the problem,” he said.

Aside from the delays, the number of infections is generally thought to be higher than the reported cases because many people haven’t been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

In Riverside County, Hether­ington said doctors are still getting notified of positive tests so they can inform their patients. She urged people to stay home if they are sick or test positive to avoid infecting others.

“It really impacts our ability to investigate cases and follow up with contacts and businesses where there’s been exposures,” she said. “Until this lab issue is fixed, we can’t really say what the true picture is.”

August 06, 2020

By Kathleen Ronayne

Associated Press

California’s leaders were deadlocked and on the verge of financial catastrophe in 2008. Five negotiators, including Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, couldn’t agree on a budget that would guide the nation’s most populous state through the Great Recession.

Enter Karen Bass, who became Assembly speaker that May, the first Black woman to hold the role. She shifted the tone of the talks, helping the group find common ground.

“When Karen came into the Big 5, everything changed,” said Mike Villines, then the Republican Assembly leader. “We started to make little progress on little things, and it led to bigger progress.”

A dozen years later, the bridge-building, unassuming style that colleagues say made Bass an effective leader in Sacramento is among the reasons the current California congresswoman has emerged as a leading contender to become Joe Biden’s running mate. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee appeared with Bass for the first time at a fundraiser on Thursday. He plans to make a pick next week.

A former physician assistant and community organizer, Bass said she brings experience to tackle the nation’s economic, racial and health care crises.

“I have historically, for the last four or five decades, focused on building coalitions and building bridges between ethnic groups, between political ideologies,” she told The Associated Press this week. “I’m a very goal-driven person; I am focused on getting stuff done. And I am willing to work with whoever, whenever, however.”

Her low-key approach was evident as early as 1990, when she launched a nonprofit in Los Angeles. One of the organization’s tenets was “no celebrity-style leadership.” Unlike some of her competitors for vice president, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, Bass hasn’t sought national office and has no stated presidential aspirations.

But that means she is lesser known to voters, lacks a major donor base and hasn’t faced the scrutiny of a national campaign. A past comment about former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro could be troublesome to Hispanic voters in the key swing state of Florida.

Still, she brings plenty of political cachet. She left Sacramento for Congress in 2010 and now chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. After George Floyd’s killing by police, she led Democratic efforts on legislation to overhaul law enforcement, a push that prompted Biden’s team to take her more seriously as a potential running mate.

“She got high marks for managing that deal, but she’s managed similar bills in the past,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a former CBC chair and Biden ally. “She has a resume that I think is good to be considered.”

Bass, 66, wouldn’t discuss her vetting. But Fabian Nunez, a former state Assembly speaker and close friend of Bass’, said she’s been “properly vetted.” He supported Bass as his successor in the Legislature because the difficult budget talks required a “less ideological” leader who could bring people together, qualities the country needs today.

“The country needs healers,” he said.

Both Biden and Bass learned to heal through personal tragedy. Biden lost his wife and young daughter in a car accident in 1972. In 2006, Bass’ 23-year-old daughter and son-in-law died in a car accident.

Before entering politics, Bass worked in a Los Angeles emergency room, where she saw the havoc brought by the crack cocaine epidemic and police crackdown that fueled the arrests of young men of color. She created the Community Coalition, a nonprofit aimed at treating gang violence and the drug trade as public health issues.

After surveying 30,000 residents, the organizers learned that liquor stores were a surprising source of the problem, providing a haven for drug deals and other illicit behavior. They helped shut down 150 stores.

When Los Angeles City Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson started working at the coalition in 1995 at age 25, he didn’t know Bass. But he knew the liquor stores he’d been told to avoid his whole life were closed.

“It was very meaningful for me because you hear a lot of political talk, particularly post-1992,” he said, referring to the year of the Los Angeles riots that followed the beating of Rodney King by white police officers. “Those things never get done. Here was Karen, quietly setting up goals (and) knocking them down.”

Meanwhile, Biden was passing the 1994 bill that furthered the era’s tough-on-crime policies. He’d also supported stricter sentences for crack cocaine compared to powder, which disproportionately hurt minorities. Bass said she was opposed to the 1994 bill but did not criticize Biden.

“People in the community were demanding legislation like that. They wanted to see three strikes, they wanted to see the crime bill,” she said. “People like me were fighting to get the community to see things differently.”

In the state Legislature, she prioritized child welfare and foster care legislation before winning the speakership. As the only woman in leadership, she changed the male-dominated culture.

Schwarzenegger often invited lawmakers to negotiate in a cigar tent, but Bass told the men there would be no smoking with her inside. Among the Republicans she was close with in Sacramento: Kevin McCarthy, who is now the top Republican in the U.S. House.

Dolores Huerta, the California civil rights leader and farm worker activist, said Bass is someone who can repair the nation’s damaged institutions. She’d be a vice president who can adeptly handle the work at home as Biden works on repairing international relationships, Huerta said.

“He’s going to need somebody at his side that can really help him with things here at the domestic level,” said Huerta, who endorsed Harris in the Democratic presidential primary.

Bass’ allies say she has no baggage, but she will face fresh scrutiny if Biden chooses her.

Fernand Amandi, a Democratic consultant and Florida pollster who specializes in the Hispanic vote, said Bass could alienate Cuban voters because of a 2016 statement she made when Castro died. She said, “The passing of Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba.”

Critics say the remarks were too deferential to a brutal dictator, and Amandi said it will allow Republicans to paint Bass as a radical socialist.

She traveled to Cuba on three expense-paid trips in Congress, including trips to learn about the Cuban health care system and cultural exchanges, all approved by the House Ethics Committee. She first traveled to Cuba in the 1970s as a young activist.

“Let’s say you have a wavering Cuban American Trump supporter now who may be on the fence, who’s just looking for a reason to stick with Trump,” Amandi said. “With Karen Bass’ comments about Fidel Castro, it will be served up on a silver platter.”

Bass has since said she better understands the sensitivity of her comment after speaking with Florida colleagues, and she believes she can still reach out to Cuban voters in the state, where the coronavirus is a top issue.

“I absolutely feel that there is a pathway that I would not be a liability in whatever role I play on the campaign,” she said. “And, you know, Florida is also a very big state.”

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report from Columbia, S.C.

August 06, 2020

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent

The coronavirus pandemic has focused the nation’s attention on the essential role public schools play in families and communities’ lives.

The NAACP said it’s also exposed severe racial inequalities that continue to plague the country’s education system and disadvantaged students of color.

Rather than addressing those problems, NAACP President Derrick Johnson declared that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos “exploited the pandemic to promote her personal agenda of funneling taxpayer dollars to private schools and taking resources away from the schools and the students who need it most.”

“We simply can’t let this happen. So, we’re taking her to court,” Johnson announced.

The NAACP formally filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing DeVos of illegally changing the rules for allocating $13.2 billion in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) money to benefit wealthy private k-12 schools.

“Recently, Secretary DeVos issued regulations that would force public school districts to divert federal emergency relief funds from public schools and send them to private schools. By one estimate, over $1 billion would be lost to private schools under the rule,” Johnson declared.

“So, the NAACP filed a lawsuit along with public school families and school districts across the country, challenging this unfair, unequal, and unjust rule. We’ll fight this as hard as it takes – for as long as it takes – to protect our students, schools, and communities.”

The NAACP’s lawsuit suggests that the CARES Act, which was signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year, says explicitly that local school departments are to distribute the fund based on the number of Title I, or low-wealth students, in a particular school.

Congress allowed CARES funds to go to institutions that depend on tuition and donations because lawmakers said they recognized that some students from low-income families attend private schools.

The lawsuit claims the share going to private schools should have its basis on the number of Title I students attending those schools.

DeVos did not follow that rule, the NAACP contends, spelling out that hundreds of millions of dollars in CARES Act funds would immediately divert from public schools to affluent private schools.

The controversial education secretary reportedly holds a different interpretation of how local school districts should distribute the money.

Her interim final rule allows sharing the money equally with private schools based on the number of students in those schools, regardless of how many are Title I students.

“The Rule is as immoral as it is illegal,” NAACP lawyers argue.

The NAACP filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of parents and their children, who are enrolled in economically disadvantaged public schools. The Pasadena, California, Unified School District, and Stamford, Connecticut, School District, joined the NAACP in the lawsuit asking for an injunction to prevent DeVos from immediately instituting her change to the rule.

“In this moment of crushing need for America’s public schools, the Rule directs public school districts to divert desperately needed CARES Act 1 funds to affluent students in private schools or face unlawful limitations on the way that those funds can be spent – both in direct contravention of the Act,” the lawsuit reads. “The Rule harms American children and subverts the will of Congress; it cannot stand.”

If allowed to proceed, the DeVos’ rule would change public schools, including some in which “80, 90 and 99 percent” of the students are from low-income families.

“She’s trying to increase allocation disproportionately for private schools over public schools in the midst of the debate over whether or not schools should reopen. It’s horrific what she’s doing,” Johnson told ABC News. “What will happen is you further take money away from children who are financially in need to benefit high-wealth children.”