CNN is reporting a ballyhooed US/Mexico border barrier envisioned by Minuteman founder Chris Simcox is, two years on, little more than a "cow fence," charge former Minuteman members.Former MMs Bob Wright and David Jones charge Simcox is defrauding MM Members (see CNN video).
Simcox´tax records show the largest portion of the donations ($277K) was titled payment for "Professional Services." No further details noted.
Letter from Minutemen members to Simcox requesting information about donations. Simcox letter in response terminating their Minuteman memberships.
The militia-style border patrol group's website had hyped a $55 million, 14-foot high, razor wire-topped barrier complete with security cameras and sensors. But donations which poured in for the ambitious plan have resulted in "little more than an invisible fence to nowhere," reports Abbie Boudreau for CNN.
Group leaders and members have questioned how donations were actually being spent by Simcox, Boudreau reports. "To this day, we still don't know how much the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has raised," said one former Minuteman member. "We don't have a clue, not a clue."
For his part, Simcox says the allegations and CNN's investigation are "part of a smear campaign."
Donation Scam websites:
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42 comments:
Of course, there should be an accounting for these funds just as there should be for the government support of La Raza. In the multi-billion dollar fence project envisioned by some in Congress, this piddling $250K is inadequate to do much of anything even if it could be done without government sanction.
There have been hundreds of thousands possibly millions of dollars raised by the minutemen.
Simcox has accounted for none of it and when asked, kicked out the minutemen from their ranks.
This is outright fraud. What happened to Rule of Law, Ulty?
Remember a couple of years back, Simcox and Gilchrist had the same disagreement.
They are CROOKS Ulty, and who knows what they are capable of. I see links where Simcox has had discussions with Al Qaeda and this was before the fires. Lots going on Ulty.
Any honest people should disassociate yourselves from these crooks before this all becomes public knowledge. The fBI is on to them!!
Wow, I wonder how they were able to raise that much money from the anti's when people like dee claim that there are only a few of us. She claims that the majority of Americans are on her side, lol!
Pat,
Didn´t you see the video? One poor family mortgaged their home and gave them a check for over $100K!!
Poor people!!
One incident hardly acccounts for the hundreds of thousands and the possible millions that you are claiming.
Dear fellow border security patriots:
Throughout my tenure as President of MCDC, we have been on the receiving end of personal attacks, attempted character assassinations and numerous bumps and bruises. We’ve won them during our rugged border operations in the field along side thousands of dedicated MCDC volunteers, facing student protesters on college campuses, and sparring with the occasional reporter who thinks the path to glory and a promotion is by defaming our efforts.
Last night we experienced the latter in a segment that aired on CNN’s 360 with Anderson Cooper. Their new correspondent Abbie Boudreau has an unfortunate and unprofessional track record in Arizona that only includes distorted and negative stories regarding MCDC, harkening back from her previous employment at a Phoenix-based television station. When she and her latest producer contacted us during the last few weeks, they made some big promises to keep the story balanced, but past experience taught us that she was incapable of acting with any level of integrity. So we declined to do a taped interview, which is rare occurrence for us—we insisted we would only appear and comment in what was clearly another “hit piece” if our interview was aired live and NOT selectively edited by CNN. They refused. Our communications department told CNN that we were available to interview with any correspondent other than Ms. Boudreau or on live television. They refused.
MCDC is an organization filled with human beings who sometimes agree and sometimes disagree. We are all patriots who seek to secure the borders of our country and have the government enforce our immigration laws. Over the last few years, MCDC has become a well-run and accountable volunteer organization like the American Red Cross, Federation for American Immigration Reform and others, each of which has had their fair share of infighting—and then kept flourishing because a core group of citizens who continue with the original mission that is larger than any one personality, or any one personal agenda.
The size and management responsibilities of this organization have grown far beyond my expectations. Therefore, it requires a professional management team of support staff, consultants, lawyers and accountants who ensure we fully comply with all state and federal laws. These are paid professionals whose work is provided and paid for as “professional services,” as was noted on CNN last night. In fact, the information aired last night regarding our finances is proof that we have made our financial statements publicly available on the homepage of our website. We have nothing to hide. Our financials are independently audited every year so that you, our supporters, can be 100% comfortable about how we use your valuable contributions. We at MCDC want you to know that we are forever grateful for the trust you place in us.
Most importantly, since 2005, MCDC has conducted nearly 400 life-saving rescues and helped U.S. Border Patrol to apprehend nearly 14,000 illegal entrants during our national border musters. Regular updates have been on the website, but still more information on the success of last month’s border muster will be made available later this week.
Furthermore, MCDC has always provided equipment to volunteers as promised, and there is widespread confirmation by the volunteers of how our musters are supported on our state website reports. Unfortunately, we do not have the budget of the Pentagon or even the Department of Homeland Security—wild and false accusations to the contrary!
We are still building our fence as those limited private funds become available—and its impressive and influential construction has already been captured in the pages of National Geographic magazine by objective photo journalists who truly shot images that will make any MCDC supporter proud and inspired. These images from “fair and balanced” reporting can be found on our website at http://www.minutemanborderfence.com/ . Too bad the CNN “investigative journalism” team couldn’t find this same span of barrier fence that an internationally recognized and respected photo magazine managed to feature!
CNN neglected to mention these aforementioned facts last night. They also neglected to mention that November is considered a “sweeps” month where news stations around the country air shameless “exposes” and staged stunts—false and sensationalized stories in an effort to boost their ratings so they can increase their viewership and therefore their marketing prices to advertisers. All of the biased images and interviews aired during last night’s segment served Ms. Boudreau’s personal agenda, CNN’s agenda to increase its ratings as well as help the left-wing open-borders lobby. It did and will not cause injury to MCDC and our mission. We still will be happy to conduct a live and unedited interview with Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs or any other CNN anchor or correspondent down at the border as their schedules permit, in hopes that the truth may be told on television about our patriot volunteers and the good work of MCDC conducts on behalf of our nation.
In the meantime, we shall continue to serve on the borders and in the halls of Congress as the eyes and ears for the secure borders movement until the U.S. government starts protecting its citizens from this foreign invasion that imperils America’s national security, sovereignty, safety and prosperity. The report issued on Monday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is proof positive that MCDC will still have plenty of work to do for years to come, on behalf of our people, in the stead of a government which refuses to protect America, and keep our borders and ports of entry secured.
Yours in freedom,
Chris Simcox, President
Carmen Mercer, Vice President
Al Garza, National Executive Director
Wait a minute Pat, the website says it is a National Geographic video. Yet, when you go to the video, it is very NON Professional and over the top of the video it says "Minuteman Border Fence - Under Construction
Carmen Mercer interviews Bisbee rancher Richard Hodges".
Then, this letter from Simcox is also signed by Carmen Mercer from the Minutemen.
Are you guys saying Carmen Mercer works for National Geographic?
Come on now!!
Whose leg is Simcox pulling now.
Plus, this is the same very small stretch of fence CNN showed.
More Scams by these dolts!!
Simcox should check himself into the next Mental Hospital!!
Plus Return all the money to the contributors, especially to poor guy who mortgaged his house for 100K!!
Those flags on are fence cost 50 cents at Wal-Mart yet he is touting them as how the millions are being spent?
Wow!!
Ok, I have the scoop now.
This inflated letter is Simcox response to the CNN news article about his former MM leaders saying he was scamming the members.
National Geographic did an article in May about "Borders everywhere attract violence." In the very 1st paragraph it tells the story of a drunk American named "Patrick Murphy" hired by people in Naco, MX to airbomb their enemies. The drunk airbombed Naco, AZ instead and destroyed 2 old buildings.
The MM fence is not even mentioned until the 4th paragraph in which it states "The 800 or so residents of Naco, Arizona, where Patrick Murphy is part of the local lore, have been living in the shadow of a 14-foot-high (four meters) steel wall for the past decade. National Guard units are helping to extend the 4.6-mile (7.4 kilometers) barrier 25 miles (40 kilometers) deeper into the desert. The Border Patrol station is the biggest building in the tiny town; the copper roof glistens under the blistering sun. In 2005, a pioneering bit of guerrilla theater took place here when the Minutemen, a citizen group devoted to securing the border, staked out 20 miles (32 kilometers) of the line and patrolled it. Today about 8,000 people live in Naco, Sonora, on the Mexican side of the metal wall that slashes the two communities. "
About 4 paragraphs another mention of the wall built by the BORDER PATROL (NOT MMs)
Leonel Urcadez, 54, a handsome man who has owned the bar for decades, has mixed feelings about the wall. "You get used to it," he says. "When they first built it, it was not a bad idea—cars were crossing illegally from Mexico and the Border Patrol would chase them. But it's so ugly."
more from the article which Simcox references and links to from his MM site for his members to reference (now it is very obvious he has several screws loose):
A BORDER WALL SEEMS TO VIOLATE a deep sense of identity most Americans cherish. We see ourselves as a nation of immigrants with our own goddess, the Statue of Liberty, a symbol so potent that dissident Chinese students fabricated a version of it in 1989 in Tiananmen Square as the visual representation of their yearning for freedom.
keep in mind, I did not put any CAPS in their paragraph above
more from the article Simcox posted. (I guess he didn´t read it):
RODOLFO SANTOS ESQUER PUTS OUT EL MIRADOR, a weekly newspaper in Naco, Sonora, and he finds the wall hateful. He stands in his cramped office—a space he shares with a small shop peddling underwear—and says, "It looks like the Berlin Wall. It is horrible. It is ugly. You feel more racism now. It is a racist wall. If people get close to the wall, the Border Patrol calls the Mexican police, and they go and question people."
more
And then he lightens up because he is a sunny man, and he says it actually hasn't changed his life or the lives of most people in town. Except that the coyotes now drive to the end of the wall before crossing. And as the wall grows in length, the coyotes raise their rates. Santos figures half the town is living off migrants going north—either feeding them and housing them or guiding them into the U.S. Passage to Phoenix, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) away, is now $1,500 and rising. He notes that after the wall went up in 1996, the migration mushroomed. He wonders if there is a connection, if the wall magically beckons migrants. Besides, he says, people just climb over it with ropes.
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There is a small-town languor about Naco, Sonora, and the wall becomes unnoticeable in this calm. The Minutemen and National Guard terrify people. At the Hospedaje Santa María, four people wait for a chance to go over the wall and illegally enter the wealth of the United States.
I know what this tirade against the MM all boils down to dee. You and yours have lost every single battle in regards to illegal immigration. You are striking out every where you can to aleviate you frustrations. So go ahead, knock yourself out dee. The anti's as you call them don't care what your opinions are really because we are going to take our country back from the illegal aliens and their supporters. It is those of us who are the majority in this country and the ones you have to fear rather than the MM. You can't demonize us as you do the MM because we are merely for the rule of law, legal immigration and secure borders. In short we are the loyal and law abiding Americans and we won't be defeated by your nasty words and desperate tactics. Have a nice day!
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There is an iron law on this border: The closer one gets to the line, the more rational the talk becomes because everyone has personal ties to people on the other side. Everyone realizes the wall is a police solution to an economic problem. The Mexicans will go over it, under it, or try to tear holes in it. Or, as is often the case, enter legally with temporary visiting papers and then melt into American communities. Of the millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States, few would have come if there wasn't a job waiting for them.
Ok, in this 15,000 word National Geographic article that Simcox references as "" to this MM followers, it mentions the Minutemen twice.
1. This is a FEDERAL FENCE and "In 2005, a pioneering bit of guerrilla theater took place here when the Minutemen, a citizen group devoted to securing the border, staked out 20 miles (32 kilometers) of the line and patrolled it."
2. The Minutemen and National Guard terrify people.
Then SIMCOX LIES to his MM members!!! (shock)
when he says
"its impressive and influential construction has already been captured in the pages of National Geographic magazine by objective photo journalists who truly shot images that will make any MCDC supporter proud and inspired."
IN THE ARTICLE, IT CLEARLY STATES THE FENCE IS THE FENCE the GOVERNMENT BUILT and that the MMs merely STAKED OUT several miles.
Simcox is a LIAR!! and he keeps LYING or Grossly Exaggerating to his troops.
Read the National Geographic Article!!
Pat,
You are in severe DENIAL.
Simcox LIED!!
He lied about the donations.
He lied about the fence.
He lies about everything.
You provided this information yourself.
PLEASE READ IT!!
The Facts are, the ANTIs are misguided and allow themselves to be misled by their unscrupulous leaders.
1. Simcox
2. Gilchrist
3. SDMM Schwilk
There are, of course others but these three are Criminal!!
Sorry to have to repeat things to you over and over again dee but you do not listen. Most anti's are capable of thinking for themselves and do. We don't need or follow any leaders telling us how to think. We have made up our own minds about illegal immigration because it is against the law and because we know the negative impacts of it. But you go ahead and keep harping about the MM, the KKK in your desperate tactics to keep all anti's aligned with them. The reason you keep harping about those groups rather than just plain old loyal, law abiding Americans like myself, Utima, Liquid, etc. is because you have no viable arguments against those of us who are merely for the rule of law with no other agenda. As I said before, knock yourself out Dee. We don't give a damn.
Pat,
Hardly desperate Pat. Just reporting facts. It is obvious you were desperate when you pasted and copied Simcox lying post on his own website which attempted to minimize his felonious scamming of his own members.
Your side talks about "rule of law." Your side loses a tremendous amount of credibility when you refuse to indict Simcox and his felonious cohorts.
Shame, shame, shame on you for supporting these Law Breakers!! Obviously, by your own volition, you do not give a damn about Truth, Justice or the American Way!
I have nothing to do with Simcox nor the MM, dee. I am just sick of you demonizing an ENTIRE organization. All are innocent until proven guilty. I just found this letter by him from the website as everyone is entitled to their own defense. I don't accuse him nor stick up for him without knowing all the facts. No, you are the desperate one, dee. You convict people without knowing or caring about the other side of the story, (as in actual facts), all the while completely denying and ignoring the video's and actual quotes of the reconquistas on your side of the illegal immigration issue that I posted for you. You defended Professor Gutierrez for his heinous remarks about White people and yet you have the nerve to jump on me about Simcox? Your hypocricy gets more loony every day. I asked you three times about the "Nation of Atzlan" video I posted and not a word out of you! Don't tell me about supporting law breakers of which I don't, while you stay silent on one of yours talking about taking over parts of the U.S. and ridding this country of White people! HYPOCRITE!
The problem, dear Pat, is if you post a reference, you are expected to read it. It is very clear the criminal Simcox has betrayed his followers, and as they have said, he is a felonious scammer who bilked them out of millions of dollars in donations. In addition, his own letter referencing National Geographic proves his guilt.
You attempt to skirt the issues by going off topic, but the facts are, Simcox is a felon and his own people have turned him in! In addition, it is CNN that has outed him, and Gilchrist and Schwilk!
Shame, shame shame!!
And you skirt the issue by ignoring and denying the leaders and reconquista, racist followers who are on your side of the issue even when their statements have been provided to you including a video, hypocrite!
Pot, kettle, black!
Just admit Simcox is a felonious criminal who is scamming your fellow minutemen!
Christie posted another blog today Pat. Remember she is on your side. She is the one outing the felonious criminals:
Christie said, "The fact that they continue to harass and attack me DAILY after over 9 months proves that point!
Who would have thought that so many would go around running scared about little old me?"
Here is what she said about Schwilk:
Christie said, "Could it be the multitude of emails sent around by a bitter ex lover who likes to beat women, lie, steal, cheat AND condones violence and covert attacks against people he deems anti American?"
More from Christie:
"Some friends I have that will remain silent also have evidence that shows his direct ties to the FBI. This allegation is not so far fetched if you know anything about cointelpro. I also have seen him attack many people on video, including police whilst even threatening and ordering them around, yet no reports are ever filed, nor is he even talked to."
From: Jeff Schwilk [mailto:jeffschwilk@cox.net]
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 8:49 PM
To: Christie Czajkowski, Chula V
Subject: SUSPECT You are So Fucking Toast!!
Goon Brigade is DEAD! Find a new hobby! Your game is over, watch and see!
Still foaming at the mouth I see and demoralizing an entire organization for the possible sins of a few? As I keep repeating I am not a member of the MM anyway. I am just a plain old loyal, law abiding American and only have to account for what I do and until someone is convicted of a crime, I don't lay judgement on anyone by people's opinions or slanders.
Now how about those reconquista sites, comments and video I provided for you?
Pot, kettle, black.
Pat,
Finally you admit the truth about Simcox, Gilchrist and Schwilk. I have provided the facts from credible sources like CNN and brave former MM members. (unlike the info you provided)
Simcox, Gilchrist and Schwilk are felonious criminals. There is no fence and they have absconded with millions of dollars of donations and they never had any intentions of ever, ever building the fence.
I truly hope other Minutemen members finally admit the truth too about these heinous felonious criminals!!
The Facts are:
Simcox, Gilchrist and Schwilk are felonious criminals. There is no fence and they have absconded with millions of dollars of donations and they never had any intentions of ever, ever building the fence.
I truly hope other Minutemen members finally admit the truth too about these heinous felonious criminals!!
Where the hell did I admit any truth about any MM leaders? WHERE, DEE? Do you not understand what the word POSSIBLE means? I don't know any so-called truth or facts about them and neither do you because they haven't been convicted of anything. Everything else is just hearsay and slander. You really do have a reading comprehension problem, don't you?
Stop putting words in my mouth and claiming that opinions and hearsays are FACTS because they are not!!
Now what about those reconquista comments and video's, dee? Those are FACTS!
The Facts are:
Simcox, Gilchrist and Schwilk are felonious criminals. There is no fence and they have absconded with millions of dollars of donations and they never had any intentions of ever, ever building the fence.
I truly hope other Minutemen members finally admit the truth too about these heinous felonious criminals!!
Additionally, I responded to your comments about the 1 - 10 RQs that may reside here vs the millions of KKK and other such members you do not indict. None of these are on my blogs nor do I support them.
The FACTS are, these 3 are criminals!! That is clear!
You defended one of the reconquistas, Professor Gutierriez. Don't you remember? You did so even though you heard him admit he wants White people gone. I haven't defended the leaders of the MM, I merely posted a letter from one of them so he could tell his side of the story.
As far the MEMBERS of either the MM or the reconquistas ones, you have no idea how many there are in each group. As I already told you MECHA has chapters on every campus in this country. That's a lot of members, dee. What difference do numbers make anyway? If the whole MM organization and their leaders are racists, I would condemn them for it, if there was proof but there isn't any.
To this date no MM nor any of their leaders have been convicted of anything. It is all accusations, opinions and hearsay. You have no FACTS!
You still haven't commented on the video I provided, hypocrite!
Pot, kettle, black.
Why can't you at least stop your anger, hatred and foaming at the mouth for at least this American holiday of Thanksgiving?
Actually, Thanksgiving is celebrated all over the world. It should be a time of peace, thanking God for what we have and spending time with family. Get rid of the hatred in your heart, dee and enjoy the holiday.
I have seen the 990 for the fence account. The amount of donations reported isn't even enough to cove the $100,000.00 donation made by Jim Campbell.
Carmen Mercer is the president of the organization set up for the fence donations.
Carmen Mercer purchased thousands of dollars in gold the same year fence donations came up missing! Coincidence? I think not! There is discussion of this in numerous places all over the net. It appears the only place allowing open discussion without deleting or editing posts is the Patriot's Corner Forum. Every where else I've seen it does not allow for dissenting opinions.
It also appears there IS close to a million dollars gone missing and unaccounted for!
Simcox spent some of the money on homes for California minuteman leader Carl Braun.
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