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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Ohio Democrats Attack Sean Hannity & John Kasich for Helping Soldiers’ Children

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 10th, 2010 at 10:59 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“Ohio Democrats are attacking an organization doling out $15 million to the children of fallen or wounded soldiers just to score cheap political points.”

In a political season where every Democrat is bitterly clinging by fingernails to the electoral cliff, we may have reached a new low from Ohio.

Months ago a lady on the internet both Democrats and Republicans recognize is not quite playing in the same reality the rest of us are leveled a series of unsubstantiated attacks at Sean Hannity and his connection with the Freedom Alliance.

The attacks were based on a gross misreading of the Freedom Alliance’s Form 990s on file with the IRS.

Through Sean Hannity’s work with the Freedom Alliance, $3.4 million in scholarship money has been distributed and the total scholarship fund now contains $15 million – $10 million of which has been raised through Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concerts. The scholarships go “to those whose parents have been killed or severely injured in their service to our Country.”

There is no “there” there. The allegations were B.S.

The Freedom Alliance supports soldiers and their children. Sean Hannity’s work for the Freedom Alliance has been invaluable — raising more than $10 million.

Recently, in Ohio, former congressman John Kasich, now running for Governor of Ohio, appeared with Sean Hannity at one of the Freedom Concerts held to benefit the Alliance.

The Democrat response? Attack and try to discredit the Freedom Alliance. The Democrats are trying to make toxic the act of associating with a charity that supports the children of fallen soldiers.

From their press release:

Earlier this year, the non-partisan Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Federal Trade Commission and Internal Revenue Service to look into Freedom Alliance for claiming that all concert proceeds would be used for scholarships for children of veterans killed or wounded in war, as well as engaging in political activities that are prohibited under its tax-exempt status.

What exactly did CREW base its complaint on? The crazy lady’s misreading of the 990′s. And who is CREW? A left-wing advocacy group that tries to portray itself as nonpartisan. CREW has, over the last few years, repeatedly drummed up ethics accusations and investigations into a host of people and organizations on the right to smear them while throwing in a few disreputable Democrats to keep up the veneer of nonpartisanship.

Note also that the Democrats are reporting that the Freedom Concerts and Freedom Alliance are being investigated. The basis of the allegation? The supposedly nonpartisan CREW filed a complaint.

But they are anything but nonpartisan. CREW is filled with typical leftwing hackery designed to gin up media stories attacking the right.

Ohio Democrats are attacking an organization doling out $15 million to the children of fallen or wounded soldiers just to score cheap political points. Pathetic.

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COMMENTS

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  • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

    urinate on the graves of American soldiers killed in combat.

  • msctex

    The next two months are going to be full of these sort of smokescreens and diversions. Anything to avert our eyes, and honestly their own.

  • rdelbov

    baseless charges.

    A complete total lie. Shame on these folks.

    Most of these kids-who lost a parent in combat-are almost certainly very young. While some are college age now most kids who could benefit from this are years away from college. The concept of actually preparing for that day by setting money aside for that purpose is completely lost on them.

    Its really sad to see good work slammed like this.

  • Finrod

    .

  • bobojake
  • KeepOhioRed

    kicked out of Congress this year.

    John Boccieri
    Mary Jo Kilroy
    Steve Driehaus
    Charlie Wilson
    Betty Sutton

    They are running scared. I’d like to believe my Dem rep (Kaptur) is going to lose, too, but she’s been there for 30 years. :-(

  • jonreagan

    it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Aside from the good work of Sean, Colonel North, and the performers at the concert, was the commitment of thousands of citizens spending roughly $75/head to come out and help this cause: providing an education for the children of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

    Liberals probably would have three problems with the concerts:
    a) people were having a good time and enjoying themselves,
    b) the idea of citizens voluntarily helping each other—instead of some govt. entitlement program providing—-is heresy to their ideal of a nanny state, and
    c) the concerts are unabashedly patriotic and celebrate America

    Liberals’ periodic efforts (this has happened before) to smear Sean Hannity’s efforts on the Freedom Concerts sicken me. These creatures really are beneath contempt.

  • fotophun

    to all the money the dems having been doling out their buddies on the left…and where the stimulus money has gone..
    planned parenthood and unions, stimulus to get yourself reelected
    stimulus to study who knows what
    like monkeys on heroin
    oh and to add to that
    backroom deals and bribles

  • fotophun

    if Michelle can go to Spain to and spend the TAXPAYERS money to comfort ONE friend
    what is wrong with PRIVATE citizens donating money and comforting families and more than ONE person
    people that gave their lives for freedom

  • Deskpilot

    is the ONE thing I have saved for during my 3 1/2 months of unemployment. I mowed yards, did handyman work, you name it, + $15 of each weeks gov’t handout to go and participate. I had purchased the 3 tickets BEFORE unemployment, but saved the rest to spend it @ Great Adventure and a local county run campground.
    I barely been to the movies, out to big dinners, etc. This was the 3rd concert for my 16y old daughter and I and worth EVERY penny of it.
    I will find a way to go again next year, even if unemployed because of this miserable economy.

  • reno_dave

    The Ohio Democrats failed to notice that a few weeks after CREW filed its initial complaint with the FTC about Freedom Alliance, they filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the FTC, in an effort to find out how many complaints about an organization had to be filed before the FTC would investigate:

    http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/44732

    Apparently, the two complaints from CREW and VoteVets (another lefty group) were insufficient to trigger an investigation.

    On another point, the press release from the Ohio Democrats includes a quote from the CREW report. In that quote, CREW tries to make the case that the amount of scholarships paid is trivial in comparison to the amounts paid for salaries, fundraising and shipping.

    The problem with CREW analysis (as with the “crazy lady”, Debbie S) is that it ignores that Freedom Alliance has several “missions” as a charity/educational organization, only one of which is the scholarship program..

    Their “analysis” ignored the fact that: 1) the scholarship funds are held separately from the rest of the organization; 2) the proceeds from the concerts only go into the scholarship fund; and 3) the scholarships themselves are distributed from the fund, but the costs for running the scholarship program are paid out of the general operating funds

    In a series of posts on the “crazy lady’s” blog, I tried to point out the errors in her articles, but my posts were deleted.

  • merryj1

    I’m inclined to accept that most leftists simply do not understand the personal charitable impulse. While unions, big business (with their payback assured) and Soros-types shell out big bucks for the Dem Party and candidates, rank and file leftists are not generous with their own money for political contributions, and they’re downright tight-fisted when it comes to charitable giving. In short, they have the semi-excuse of ignorance, which could easily translate to an erroneous assumption that the Freedom Concerts are for political fund-raising.

    However, if explanatory posts to the “Crazy Lady’s” blog are deleted, that suggests it isn’t rank ignorance, it’s just rankness.

  • mikerazar
  • candi

    It’d help the economy long term if we did fall into the 0 tax credits.

    However, the size of the government, the free spending and making of more war, foreign “free give-away money”, entitlements fit for a king’s God and all the other waste should be eliminated before tax payers pick up more.

    We’d probably find we’d be making out a lot better.
    D AH

  • reno_dave

    It’s just that she is just a little nuts and for some reason, feels she was wronged by Sean Hannity, so he’s now permanently on her “enemies list”.

    Therefore, no attack on “Vanity” (her name for him) is too low, and no dissent to her opinion will be tolerated on her blog.

  • clariancall

    People like these Ohio Democrats are on the extreme left fringe of our culture and cannot in any way speak for the vast majority of Americans. However, they can be a distraction in diverting the time and energy needed to solve the real problems facing this nation. Our focus is on removing this kind of thinking from our government by voting them out starting in November, Even the 30 year congresswoman in Ohio. She has been there long enough and has done enough damage to our country certainly in the last two years. Do you maen that Ohio cannot find a replacement for her? I don’t think so! We need you Ohio to defeat the greatest threat to our freedom since the revolutuion; vote in November and let the fringe democracts know how insignificant they truly are and what real democracts are all about!!

  • cpmw

    In my opinion the ones against this charity origanization are so full of crap they are brain dead. Those worthless pieces of crap shoud realize that the fallen soldiers are the ones that died protecting their worthless asses so they have the freedom to speak. These complainers have to be the raven idiots that voted to help get the muslim communist in the oval office!!