May 2007
Noah's Wish founder Terri Crisp resigns; state probes use of Katrina
funds
SACRAMENTO--"As of today, [founder] Terri Crisp is no longer
associated with Noah's Wish, Inc. in any capacity," the Noah's
Wish web site announced on March 28, 2007. "We wish her well
in her future endeavors."
Signed by the "Noah's Wish Board of Directors," the message
disclosing Crisp's departure followed two days after a similarly
signed March 26 acknowledgement that "Noah's Wish is in the
midst of an ongoing civil investigation by the California Attorney
General's office concerning funds received by Noah's Wish during
Hurricane Katrina."
Noah's Wish told the Chronicle of Philanthropy in November 2005
that it had received $6.5 million in donations after Katrina.
"Tax documents for Noah's Wish obtained by the Sacramento
Business Journal reported revenue of $8.4 million, almost all of
it from contributions, between July 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2005,"
reported Business Journal staff writer Kelly Johnson on March 30,
2007.
"Some $4.8 million was in unrestricted assets," Johnson
said, while $1.5 million was declared as "temporarily restricted
assets."
Charitable donations are deemed legally "restricted"
when the donors in some manner expressly communicate, at the time
of giving, that the donations are meant exclusively to serve one
particular purpose. A vague statement such as "to help animals"
does not restrict a donation, but a statement stipulating "to
help the New Orleans animals" or "to help the Katrina
animals" might be construed as a binding restriction.
Elaborated the "Noah's Wish Board" in their March 26
statement, "The California Attorney General has taken the position
that certain funds donated to Noah's Wish during this period, and
its immediate aftermath, are restricted, and may only be used for
the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina, rather than the animal
victims of other disasters or for general disaster preparedness.
"Noah's Wish disagrees with the Attorney General's position
with respect to those funds," the board said, "but is
working cooperatively with the Attorney General toward a timely
resolution of the dispute."
Added the March 26 board statement, "In response to the California
Attorney General, Noah's Wish has set aside the disputed funds,
and agreed not to use those funds pending final resolution of the
investigation.
"Noah's Wish is unable to predict when the matter will be
resolved," the March 26 board statement continued. "Because
Noah's Wish does not presently have access to the disputed funds,
it is unable at this time to continue to provide disaster preparedness
services and volunteer training."
Johnson reported that Noah's Wish "was preparing to close
its El Dorado Hills headquarters. About a dozen workers have resigned
or been laid off since late last year. Staff members are being paid
through April 11," but as of the end of March, "only the
office manager remained at the El Dorado Hills headquarters to close
things down."
Wrote Johnson, "The California Attorney General's Office has
been investigating the organization since last summer. According
to documents obtained by the Business Journal from a former employee,
an accounting firm hired by Noah's Wish to examine its books concluded
that it would be impossible to conduct a reliable audit.
Stated a letter from John Waddell & Co., Certified Public Accountants,
"A significant portion of corroborating evidence such as vendor
invoices, receipts, deposit slips, and other supporting data were
not maintained during the period that the organization was responding
to the needs of animals during Hurricane Katrina. The records that
remain are not sufficient to permit the application of auditing
procedures that would be adequate for us to express an opinion on
the accompanying financial statements."
Lori Polk, chair of the Noah's Wish board during Katrina, "left
the board the month after the hurricane," Johnson disclosed.
Polk told Johnson she resigned because she felt she was "fighting
a losing battle trying to maintain my fiduciary responsibility to
the organization," as Noah's Wish "did not make decisions
based upon board approval," and made "expenditures without
approval."
The Hurricane Katrina relief effort started in first days of September
2005. Noah's Wish volunteers who lived within driving distance of
the disaster area were on the scene almost immediately. Establishing
rescue bases in Slidell Parish, Louisiana, and Pearlington, Mississippi,
Noah's Wish helped with animal rescue and care in the disaster area
for 11 weeks. Individual Noah's Wish volunteers and employees were
still reuniting animals rescued from New Orleans with humans who
were evacuated as late as August 2006, according to news accounts.
Warnings
But complaints and warnings about Terri Crisp's activity in connection
with the Katrina relief effort reached ANIMAL PEOPLE as early as
September 20, 2005, beginning with a widely distributed e-mail from
Wildlife Rescue of Dade County (Florida) founder Lloyd Brown.
Involved in animal disaster relief since Hurricane Andrew in 1992,
Brown alleged that Crisp had been escorted from the vicinity of
three subsequent Florida disasters by sheriff's deputies, for failing
to get proper authorization to be there.
"I have no knowledge of the people who volunteer for Noah's
Wish being involved in any illegal or unethical activities,"
Brown clarified. "I will even go as far as to say that if they
would operate within the established system and agree to play by
the rules, then we could probably work with them just fine. It is
their director, Terri Crisp, whom I have a problem with."
Brown was employed by the Humane Society of the U.S. to help after
six disasters in 13 months during 2004-2005, including the immediate
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but acknowledged that "I was
told to take a break in the middle of our rescue work in Mississippi,"
because of stress symptoms.
Crisp herself acknowledged in an August 29, 2004 web posting that
Noah's Wish did not have authorization to participate in the Hurricane
Charley disaster relief effort, but said she and her volunteers
had tried to obtain the necessary permissions for more than two
weeks. Noah's Wish volunteers eventually participated under auspices
of Sarasota In Defense of Animals, Crisp said.
Allegations that Noah's Wish was not fulfilling financial obligations
in connection with Hurricane Katrina surfaced on January 9, 2006,
when Arizona equine rescue volunteer Shawna McHargue posted an appeal
for funds "on behalf of my friend and fellow rescuer Stephanie
Wolfe of Animal Rescue Cooperation," a rescue network listed
on Petfinder.com and identified as being active in California and
Oregon.
McHargue claimed Wolfe and her husband were at risk of losing their
home due to debt incurred from taking in "12 pit bulls from
the Katrina disaster with the help of Noah's Wish." McHargue
said Noah's Wish had failed to make timely reimbursements for renting
a vehicle, veterinary care, and putting up fencing needed to hold
the pit bulls.
Noah's Wish also "committed $1 million to the city of Slidell,
Louisiana, for construction of a new animal control center,"
Johnson of the Business Journal reported, as the old shelter was
so severely damaged by Katrina as to require replacement. Slidell
city attorney Tim Mathison told Johnson that none of the money had
been received.
But Mathison praised Noah's Wish for their care of 1,900 marooned
animals. "They did a wonderful job," Mathison told Johnson.
"We didn't have the resources to do what they did."
Crisp got $140,900
Noah's Wish was spending money.
"Expenses shot upward from about $212,000 in 2004-2005 to
more than $2 million in the last six months of 2005," Johnson
wrote. Nearly $400,000 was spent, Johnson said, "to purchase
vehicles."
"In early 2006," related Johnson, "the group bought
a storage building in East Alton, Illinois, for $65,125, and leased
office space in New York City, according to documents provided by
a former [Noah's Wish] employee."
The New York City office was closed in January 2007, Johnson said.
IRS Form 990 filings accessible at www.Guidestar.org show that
Crisp was paid $6,200 in 2004-2005.
"For the second half of 2005," Johnson wrote, "Noah's
Wish paid $405,948 in salaries and compensation, according to a
Form 990 supplied by the former employee. Of that, Crisp received
$140,900. The second-highest compensation went to Sheri Thompson
at $118,125."
Reported Deb Kollars of the Sacramento Bee, "Crisp said she
didn't know where the $140,900 figure came from. Her pay rose to
$132,000 in 2005 to make up for her past tiny paychecks, she said,
and was to have shifted to $80,000 this year."
The Form 990 filing shown to Johnson has not yet been been posted
by Guidestar, the subcontractor hired by the IRS to make Form 990
filings accessible.
National salary norms published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy
show that the average compensation paid to the head of a charity
with revenue of $5 million to $10 million per year was $120,531
in 2005.
In northern California, reported Johnson, "The annual median
base salary for the executive director of a nonprofit of this size
is $130,000, according to the 2006 Compensation and Benefits Survey
of Northern California Nonprofit Organizations, produced by the
Center for Nonprofit Management in Los Angeles."
The California Attorney General's mandate, Johnson noted, includes
"investigating the loss of substantial funds during one year,
illegal use of funds, diversion of funds from their intended purpose,
and excessive amounts paid for salaries, benefits, travel, entertainment,
legal and other professional fees."
California attorney general Bill Lockyer's office has not issued
a public statement about the Noah's Wish investigation.
"A spokesman for the state's top lawyer would not confirm
or deny an investigation," Johnson said.
Johnson reported that "Ralph Nevis of Downey Brand Attorneys
LLP in Sacramento, who represents Noah's Wish, would not discuss
the nature of the inquiry."
Noah's Wish board chair Amy Maher did not return calls, Johnson
said.
"We are in a holding pattern until we resolve this issue,"
Maher told Kollars of the Bee. Maher told Kollars that she could
not comment on the investigation, or Crisp's removal. A prosecutor
for the Illinois state attorney's office, Maher joined the Noah's
Wish board following former president Lori Polk's resignation. Maher's
husband Roger Smith is also on the board, Kollars wrote.
"Board members Lyn Kendrick, Gail Monick, and David Lesser
declined to comment," added Johnson. "Another, Heather
Hathaway, did not respond to a request for an interview."
Crisp told Johnson that she left the Noah's Wish board in February
2007, only days after signing the organization's most recent and
perhaps last appeal to donors, "partly because it's a conflict
of interest," and because the California Attorney General's
office "had asked for me not to remain on the board."
Wrote Johnson, "Crisp said she did not have the latest information
on the investigation or details about what it covers," and
said she had not been questioned by the investigators.
"I don't know of any misuse of funds," Crisp told Johnson.
"It's almost over with," Crisp told Kollars in mid-April,
blaming the investigation on a disgruntled employee.
"I'm confident the outcome is going to be positive,"
Crisp said.
"SUV rescuers"
Crisp, then a consultant for United Animal Nations, and Doll Stanley,
an employee of In Defense of Animals, were among the most prominent
animal rescuers in the aftermath of the Berkeley/Oakland Hills fire
of October 1991. The fire destroyed or damaged nearly 3,500 homes,
killing 25 people and displacing more than 10,000 people plus about
5,000 pets.
Stanley went on to found Project Hope, an IDA-sponsored sanctuary
and humane outreach program in Mississippi.
Crisp, as disaster relief director for UAN, developed systems for
coordinating large numbers of volunteers and tracking rescued animals
that began to prove themselves after Hurricane Andrew hit Florida
in September 1992.
Before Hurricane Andrew, humane disaster relief efforts were relatively
small and sporadic. Typically just a few trained respondents ventured
into disaster areas, while Spontaneous Unsolicited Volunteers, called
"SUV rescuers" for short, were discouraged. Crisp devised
ways of bringing the "SUV rescuers" into the disaster
relief system, beginning by hosting seminars all over the U.S. between
disasters, to teach her methods to hundreds of others.
Either directly or indirectly, the Crisp approach soon became the
predominant modus operandi for animal relief agencies. Incorporating
most of the "SUV rescuers" into the relief operation was
a big part of why the animal relief effort after Hurricane Katrina
was noticeably less chaotic than much of the human relief work--at
least until the leading agencies withdrew, between two and four
months later.
ANIMAL PEOPLE heard few complaints from the field about Crisp's
work until September 1999, when after Hurricane Floyd hit North
Carolina her teams conflicted with local agencies and rescuers coordinated
by the Humane Society of the U.S.
That appeared to be an isolated case for several years, but ANIMAL
PEOPLE received similar complaints after the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001. Crisp left United Animal Nations in November
2001, founding Noah's Wish in March 2002. Complaints followed about
Crisp's work after the southern California wildfires of 2003, the
Florida hurricanes of 2004, and flooding that hit much of Romania
in 2005.
However, Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust founder Robert Blumberg
had only high praise for Crisp's aid in Sri Lanka after the Indian
Ocean tsunami of December 2004.
--Merritt Clifton
Mitt Romney becomes first 2008 Presidential candidate to pander
to
hunters
KEENE, N.H.-- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt
Romney on April 3, 2007 became the first 2008 Presidential contender
to identify himself as a hunter, and the first to be embarrassed
when his claims about hunting could not be verified.
Questioned at a campaign event in Keene, New Hampshire, about his
position on gun control, Romney responded, "I support the Second
Amendment. I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a
hunter pretty much all my life. I've never really shot anything
terribly big," Romney confessed. "I used to hunt rabbits.
"Shooting a rabbit with a single-shot .22 is pretty hard,"
Romney added, so--according to his statements--he switched to using
a semiautomatic rifle.
Associated Press political reporter Glen Johnson investigated Romney's
story.
"In boasting about his lifelong experience as a hunter, Romney
may have shot himself in the foot," Johnson concluded. "The
Republican contender has told audiences on several occasions, most
recently this week in gun-savvy and early voting New Hampshire,
that he has been a longtime hunter. But it turns out he has been
on only two hunting trips, at the bookends of his 60 years: as a
15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch
in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve
in Georgia.
"The 2006 trip was an outing with major donors to the Republican
Governors Association," Johnson noted, "which Romney headed
at the time."
Said Romney, after shooting the captive-reared quail, "I knocked
quite a few birds and enjoyed myself a great deal."
Reported Dave Wedge of the Boston Herald soon after that expedition,
"The governor and 15 others piled into four buggies at The
Lodge at Cabin Bluff in Georgia and killed several quail, according
to preserve manager Patty Daniels."
Affirmed Daniels, "They did kill quite a few quail. But I
don't know how many Romney personally killed."
"The report that I only hunted twice is incorrect," Romney
responded at an appearance in Indianapolis, three days after Johnson's
article appeared. "I've hunted small game numerous times, as
a young man and as an adult," Romney insisted, while admitting,
"I'm by no means a big game hunter. I've always been a rodent
and rabbit hunter, small varmints, if you will. I began when I was
15 or so, and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then.
More than two times.''
Said Associated Press, "His staff refused to provide details
about his hunting history, including whose gun he used, with whom
he hunted and whether he hunted in Utah as a college student or
as an adult. Romney does not own a firearm, despite claiming to
earlier this year."
Recalled Johnson, "During a 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, Romney
said he supported the Brady gun control law and a ban on assault-style
rifles."
In the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign, Johnson continued,
"Romney pledged to do nothing to change the state's firearms
statutes."
Said Romney then, "We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts.
I support them. I won't chip away at them. I believe they protect
us and provide for our safety."
Wrote Johnson, "True to his word, Romney went on to sign one
of the toughest assault weapons laws in the country."
However, Johnson added, "The ban on assault-style weapons
included provisions extending the term of a firearms identification
card and a license to carry weapons from four years to six years.
It also created a Firearm License Review Board to provide an appeals
process for people whose license applications had been denied.
"In 2006," Johnson continued, "Romney signed National
Rifle Association-backed legislation creating exemptions for makers
of customized target pistols who had found it too expensive to sell
their guns in Massachusetts because of a state regulation requiring
them to test at least five examples of new products 'until destruction.'"
Added Johnson, "In January, Romney was touting such measures
as he and his wife Ann toured the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor
Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, with Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive
vice president." Romney admitted seeking NRA endorsement of
his candidacy.
Rodeo, dissection
Even before coming out as a self-proclaimed hunter, Romney offended
animal advocates on multiple occasions, beginning as president of
the organizing committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt
Lake City. The accompanying "Cultural Olympiad" included
a "Command Performance Rodeo."
As a global campaign pressuring sponsors to cancel the rodeo gained
momentum, Romney convened a December 2001 meeting in Salt Lake City
with protest leaders including SHARK founder Steve Hindi, Vermont
veterinarian/attorney Peggy Larson, Eric Mills of Action for Animals,
Deb Probert of the Vancouver Humane Society, German activist Mathilde
Mench, local activist Colleen Gardner, and Tony Moore, president
of the Foundation Against Animal Cruelty in Europe. All except Gardner,
who lives in Salt Lake City, flew to the meeting at their own expense.
All agreed that Romney at least came very close to promising to
exclude calf roping from the rodeo.
Both Salt Lake City mayoral spokes-person Joshua Ewing and Romney's
own spokesperson, Caroline Shaw, affirmed the activists' impression
in media statements. Yet calf-roping went ahead as scheduled.
Two and a half years later, as Massachusetts governor, Romney in
July 2004 vetoed a bill that would have guaranteed students at all
levels of education the right to opt out of dissection for moral,
ethical, or religious reasons.
The bill cleared the state senate 35-3, and was passed unanimously
by the house.
"Biomedical research is an important component of the Commonwealth's
economy and job creation," said Romney. "This bill would
send the unintended message that animal research is frowned upon."
Took habitat funding
But Romney had already offended hunters, with a July 2003 appropriation
bill that absorbed into the Massachusetts general fund about $10
million which had been kept in a dedicated fund created through
sales of hunting and fishing licenses.
Romney moved to restore the dedicated fund three weeks later, after
encountering intense protest from the hunting and fishing lobby--and
after being warned by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that
liquidating the dedicated fund would cost Massachusetts matching
grants provided by the Pittman-Robertson federal excise tax on fishing
and hunting equipment. The federal grants accounted for about 60%
of the Massachusetts wildlife department budget.
A similar controversy erupted in early 2005, after Romney staged
a pre-Super Bowl rally in support of the New England Patriots, prominently
featuring himself, with about $45,000 from the Massachusetts Department
of Conservation & Recreation parks budget.
Four days after the rally, Romney fired DRC commissioner Katherine
Abbott for opposing the budget raid. Three days after that, Romney
forced second-ranking DCR official Pam DiBona to resign as well.
ENPA gets 1st female chief since 19th century
ROME--The Italian charity ENPA, whose name translates
literally as "Entity for the Protection of Animals," on
March 30, 2007 announced the election of a new president, Carla
Rocchi, to succeed Paul Manzi, president since 1999.
"Manzi assumes the role of national prime minister of ENPA,"
ENPA said.
Rocchi, who had headed the Rome chapter of ENPA, becomes only the
second woman president. The first was Anna Winter, a British-born
close associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the unifier of modern Italy.
Winter, Garibaldi, and Timoteo Riboli jointly founded ENPA, then
called the Animal Protection Society, in 1871.
About two dozen other Italian animal charities formed during the
next 66 years. Legislation pushed by the dictator Benito Mussolini
forcibly merged them into the Animal Protection Society, and conferred
the name ENPA, in 1938.
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