Kerry's wife funds critics of Bush ads (WorldNetDaily)

[karnac]

Posted: March 6, 2004
11:47 a.m. Eastern
By Joseph Farah
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – The non-profit, tax-exempt organization representing the families of September 11 victims who are critical of campaign ads by President Bush is a project of the Tides Center, which has received millions of dollars in charitable contributions from foundations chaired by Teresa Heinz Kerry, WorldNetDaily has learned.

"September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" is a pacifist organization that has opposed not only the war in Iraq but the war in Afghanistan as well. It is a project of the Tides Center, one of the pet causes of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira Heinz Endowment, both directed by Mrs. Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry.

The group delivered up to the New York Daily News Thursday seasoned spokesmen Monica Gabrielle, Mindy Kleinberg and others to attack President Bush's re-election campaign ads. None of the critics of the ads in that original story were identified as members of Peaceful Tomorrows.

The Peaceful Tomorrows activists charged the campaign ads exploited the September 11 terrorist attacks for political advantage.
....
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37466

I know, I know, it comes from a suspect source. Read the article at your own peril. But it is true where it counts.

In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if Rove funded the 9/11 victims in support of Chimpy.

I bring this up because about a vulnerability you may not know exists. To activist orgs connected to Tides.

My sister runs an org that USED to get their funding/accounting through Tides. She was just barely able to break off with just a few thousand dollars in losses. She now gets her funding directly from donors. The problem is the hidden internal corruption and incompetence within Tides is immense. It would not be surprising if they have a lossage of 50 percent or more that is actually owed to orgs like my sister's.

The reason my sister was able to break off(like a few other orgs that are suffering in silence) is multiple. But the most important is that she threatened to make Tide's problem public. They couldn't survive that. The other is that an angel(whistleblower) within Tides took pity on her and helped her navigate through the lies and intimidation of Tides to help her keep most of her org's money intact.

The activist orgs that follow will NOT be so lucky. There is only SO much money left. Now the that Repugs and Rove have their eyes set on Tides, watch out. They don't know YET. This might get nasty.

If any of you are in orgs who have ties with Tides, it would behoove you to check it out. Couldn't hurt your org in the least. And it it might just save your org if it is surviving day to day.

Karnac

[Divernan]

1. Wow! Can you spin!

1. Nameless sister
2. Nameless "sister's organization"
3. Totally unspecified and undocumented charges of
a. "internal corruption"
b. "incompetence"
c. "lies and intimidation"
4. "It would not be surprising" - how indefinite can you get while
still managing to libel what appears to be a non-profit,
charitable institution?
5. And what orifice did you pull the "lossage of 50% or more"
from? If anyone had documented that, you certainly would have quoted them, wouldn't you?

The Heinz endowments are eminently respected and respectable. The description of Teresa Heinz Kerry as the
director of them is quite misleading, unless she is actually the full time, paid executive director of them, which I have not yet researched, but strongly doubt. Rather, she probably sits on their large Board of Directors.

[karnac]

4. I know NOTHING about the Heinz foundation.

But plenty about Tides.

For your information, my sister was forced to sign a non-disclaimer form. so she is legally vulnerable. Even if I am not.

In any case, my claims regarding Tides is true. My sister has no reason to lie to me.

the 50% lossage number came from the internal whistleblower. I suppose he lied to my sister too.

All I ask, is if you have ties to a Tides org, to have them check it out. It couldn't hurt.

Karnac

[Divernan]

8. I forgot to mention the whistle blower is also nameless.

You are NOT just asking people to check out ties to the Tides organization. What you are really doing is attacking the wife of the apparent Democratic presidential candidate, on the basis of a really small (under $5 million over five years) connection to Tides.

[KC21304]

2. Your post is very misleading.

The only tie Heinz Kerry has to Tides Center is she had them distribute $4million in 5 years to certain charities. She has nothing to do with what ever other charities they do business with or how they conduct their affairs. I do not see the point of your post, except to try and smear Theresa Heinz. I don't think it is working.

[Divernan]

7. Good Point!

The Heinz endowments (the Howard Heinz Endowment founded in 1941, and the Vira Heinz endowment founded in 1986) have donated vast amounts of money in support of their mission, which is to help the Pittsburgh region thrive. Their grants have gone to five categories: Arts & Culture; Children, Youth & Families; Economic Opportunity; Education and the Environment. They recently gave a grant of $12 million to the University of Pittsburgh. The $4-5 million which the Heinz endowments are alleged to have donated through the Tides Center over a period of five years is small potatoes.

What is significant is that Teresa Heinz Kerry has devoted a lot of effort to do good through her work with these charitable funds.
Compare Teresa's charitable work and efforts with the lives led by Barbara and Laura Bush. Enough said!

[KC21304]

3. LOL Now I get it ! Karnac. Johnny Carson.

Not nearly as funny though.

[karnac]

5. Took you long enough

you are the first to notice. :D

Karnac

[Career Prole]

6. Gee...this story's all the rage at freeperville, too.

Just out of curiosity, what organization was your sister running? I just hate anecdotal stuff...I'm just suspicious by nature. The world's gotten to where a guy doesn't know who to trust anymore. I like to see some facts before I believe anything the right has to say anymore.

[karnac]

9. Don't trust me

In my own way, I've been wanting to say something about Tides for months now. Has NOTHING to do with the political campaign. This was just a nasty reminder and I HAD to say something finally.

The organization my sister helped run had to do with at-risk youths and OTHEr stuff. I hope you can understand I don't want to get into too much detail.

But like I said, don't bother trusting me with this. Just that if you ARE involved with an organization that has it's accounting, check /collecting/writing done by TIDES, you damn better have your org check it out.

Tides is definitely going to be targeted by Rove and company now. It would be a shame if worthy orgs/causes wind up falling because of it.

Karnac