Over the weekend Florida Attorney General and candidate for governor, Bill McCollum, campaigned on his “Real Solutions New Jobs Bus Tour.” On the third day of the tour Saturday, he sent out a message on Twitter about a concert he was attending. It was a “Sean Hannity Freedom Concert.”
Freedom Alliance, founded by Lt. Col. Oliver North, is the organization that gets all of the net proceeds from ticket sales and merchandise from the Sean Hannity Freedom Concerts, which in turn “aids greatly” in Freedom Alliance’s effort to assist hundreds of families who have lost their loved ones while they were protecting and defending our nation and our freedoms.”
Note the words: “aids greatly.” Back in March, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Sean Hannity, his Freedom Concerts, Freedom Alliance and Lt. Col. Oliver North which alleged that:
Hannity and Freedom Concerts have engaged in illegal and deceptive marketing practices by suggesting that all money generated by ticket sales for the Freedom Concerts he sponsors each summer goes to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members. In fact, the concerts are staged by Premiere Marketing, which is headed by Duane Ward – also the head of Premiere Speakers Bureau, which exclusively represents Mr. Hannity and Lt. Col. North. After staging the concerts, Premiere donates an unknown portion of the concert proceeds to the Freedom Alliance.
According to CREW, Hannity promoted the concerts on his show and claimed:
“Every penny, 100 percent of the donations are applied to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund.” Similarly, promoting the concert on Hannity’s program, Lt. Col. North has said, “There’s no overhead. There’s no expenses taken out. Every penny that’s donated or that’s raised through things like the Freedom Concerts” goes to the scholarship fund.” In addition, Hannity has pledged that all the proceeds of his new book, “Conservative Victory,” will go to Freedom Alliance.
CREW states that copies of the complaints were also sent to the attorney generals of the states in which concerts are scheduled to be held this summer.
States like Florida, which hosted the concert in Orlando. The Freedom Concert that Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum attended, and wrote about in those Tweets above, and in a “blog entry” about the concert and Freedom Alliance on his campaign website.
From McCollum’s website:
Later in the day, the RV made its way to Orlando for the Sean Hannity Freedom Concert. Backstage, Bill met with Lt. Col. Ollie North. On the stage, Bill fired up the crowd and expressed his appreciation for those who have and continue to serve our nation. As a veteran and a father to a soldier, Bill was proud to participate in the Freedom Concert, which has raised over $10 million for the Freedom Alliance and the families of permanently disabled soldiers since 2003.
From the Freedom Alliance website:
Since 2003, over $10 million has been raised for the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund through the Freedom Concerts and generous donations from the Sean Hannity Show and its listeners. The Scholarship Fund is designated for the education of children of U.S. service members who have been killed or 100% permanently disabled in an operational mission or training accident. Freedom Alliance receives all net proceeds from ticket sales and merchandise, aiding greatly in Freedom Alliance’s effort to assist hundreds of families who have lost their loved ones while they were protecting and defending our nation and our freedoms.
Also according to CREW, when Freedom Alliance first formed, the IRS conditioned its charitable tax status on the organization removing politically partisan materials from its website and warned it not to intervene in political campaigns.
So, if the Florida Attorney General knows about this, since he would have received notice from CREW, wouldn’t you think that the Attorney General, now also candidate for Governor, might want to steer his campaign clear of such an organization, whether it boasts giving 100% of its proceeds to families of the troops, or whether it just “aids them greatly” in their efforts? As a “veteran and father of a soldier” is he proud to participate with an organization whose actual support for the troops is being looked at by the Federal Trade Commission? As of June 2, the complaint had made its way to the Florida Division of Consumer Services, and the organization, as this letter shows. Wouldn’t the organization also want to stay away from political campaigns and candidates, since they have been aware of a conflict of sorts since 1993 when they formed? No?
And not just Bill McCollum and those affiliated with the organizations. Bill McCollum wasn’t the only one there:
First Gubernatorial candidates Rick Scott and Bill McCollum said a few words, then Sean introduced Marco Rubio as the next U.S. Senator from Florida;) Rubio was then followed by the GOP candidates for Attorney General, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, Holly Benson and Pam Bondi.
Attorney General, Governor, U.S. Senate. Looks like Florida’s GOP candidates have this one covered.
Is this “supporting the troops” or exploiting the troops?
