Written by Biloxi
December 15, 2008
As we hear so much in the news last week of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's arrest from trying to auction President-elect Obama' Senate seat to the high bidder in exchange for political favors and financial gain, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention scandal with OJJDP administrator J. Robert Flores is not too far fetch to say that this was a scandal that was quid pro quo.
Quid pro quo or "something for something" "this for that," "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours" has now become the word to use in many of the brooding scandals of political corruption. In the case of J. Robert Flores' probe, we know that Flores ignored his staff's decisions in the grant process and awarded grants to certain individuals of organization with political and religious connections to the Bush Administration. But, what about J. Robert Flores, himself? Has anyone wonder if Flores, himself, got mutual benefits for awarding these individuals? A quid pro quo? Let's examine.
There were five groups that were not recommended for grant funding but which received funding from Flores:
(1) the Best Friends Foundation, an abstinence-only organization, which
ranked 53 out of 104.
.
(2) the World Golf Foundation, which ranked 47 out of 104.
(3) Urban Strategies, a consulting firm, and Victory Outreach, a faith-based organization, which ranked 42 out of 104.
(4) Enough Is Enough, an anti-Internet pornography organization, which ranked 33 out of 104.
(5) the Latino Coalition for Faith and Community Initiatives, another faith-based organization, which ranked 26 out of 104.
Best Friends Foundation
Elayne Bennett, president and founder of Best Friends, happens to be close friends with Flores. Bennett is the wife of Bill Bennett. According to Waxman's website, documents and interviews show that while the grant was being developed and competed, Flores had multiple contacts with Ms. Bennett, including free attendance to a $500 per-plate Best Friends Foundation fundraiser for himself and his wife. In an email from former OJJDP employee and whistleblower Scott Peterson yesterday, he didn't attend the Best Friends Foundation fundraiser but Flores "brought his wife and special assistant and her husband" to the event. By the way,prior to attending the fundraising event,Flores requested an opinion from the Office of General Counsel, which approved his attendance. According to Waxman, Best Friends submitted an application on June 11,2007. On July 17,2007, Flores awarded Best Friends the grant for $1,124,000. A week later, on July 24,2007, Flores participated in a summit held by the Best Friends Foundation at a Washington hotel.
And what did Flores do for Best Friends Foundation in return for awarding them funding? From an email exchange from Holly C. Bauer of Best Friends Foundation to Flores, Ms. Bauer sent him an article covering the National Youth Summit in which Flores was on the panel for discussion. I find this nugget in the email of the article:
"According to Bennett, the Youth Leadership Summit is a good way to ernpower teens. lt is also a good use of the panelists' time, many of whom fìnancially support Best Friends. One of the panelists, Judge Robert Flores of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, urged participants to strive to be men and women of honor and character. He said that the definition of honor is doing the right thing even if no one would know othervise."
Financially support Best Friends? Did Flores personally support Best Friends financially. If so, when? It is evident J. Robert Flores loved Best Friends so much he's even highlighted on their "endorsements" page!
World Golf Foundation
According to Waxman's website, Flores told the Oversight Committee that he traveled to Florida in February 2006 to visit individuals associated with the World Golf Foundation and play golf after Flores and his then chief of staff, Michelle DeKonty, met with a World Golf Foundation official in June 2007. Both Flores and DeKonty directed DOJ officials to assist the group in submitting its grant application. Regina Schofield, former assistant Attorney General and Flores' boss, told the Committee staff that Flores had a prior relationship with the World Golf Foundation:
"I gathered that he had been invited to speak at a number of their meetings, conferences. I don't know what their forums were, but I think he had been invited to speak a number of times and felt a familiarity with them."
Interesting that she didn't know much information on Flores' speaking engagements with the organization. Flores did play round of golf in February 12, 2006, according to document of Flores' receipt. But, the committee found that Flores paid$159.00 for the round of golf on June 18, 2008, one day before he testified to the Oversight Committee. He waits two years to pay for a round of golf? Was this quid pro quo? Makes you wonder.
Victory Outreach
Certainly this grant funding is quid pro quo. The funding was to the President of Urban Strategies is Lisa Cummins, who formerly worked in the White House Office for Faith Based Initiatives. According to DOJ documents, there were electronic meeting requests circulated
inviting Flores to meetings with Ms. Cummins and the directors of Victory Outreach. After the award of the grant, on September 24, 2007, Ms. Cummins met Flores at a White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, after which he asked his staff to meet with Ms. Cummins to work on a revised budget proposal. Cummins wrote:
"As we discussed, a portion of this program is being funded through OJJDP, both via past earmark funding as well as future competitive grants. Given direct and indirect dollars of OJJDP support, is this a project Bob could participate in as an expert regarding protecting children online, law enforcementefforts, programs etc?"
Enough is Enough
Flores approved a grant for the organization on July 17,2007.
The Enough is Enough group appeared to had several contacts with . Flores. According to document, on March 2,2007, Ms. Donna Rice Hughes invited Flores and his wife to Enough Is Enough's annual "Heart-to-Heart" fundraising dinner. The documents didn't indicate whether Flores attended the event. And who is Donna Rice Hughes? Hughes was appointed in 1999 by then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to a congressional panel that studied child pornography. She later received recognition from the National Law Center for Children and Families, a conservative group that supports anti-pornography laws. That was where Flores was employed prior Bush appointed him as OJJDP Administrator. And Hughes was known for the 1987 sex scandal that ended the second presidential campaign of Gary Hart.
Latino Coalition for Faith and Community Initiatives
According to Waxman's documents, there may be connections between the Latino Coalition and Urban Strategies and Victory Outreach.
Flores awarded the Latino Coalition $1.2 million grant. The Latino Coalition application stated that the Coalition would use the funds
to support the work of twelve local faith-based organizations, including three affiliates from Victory Outreach. Lisa Cummins was instrumental in helping the Latino Coalition secure federal grants, according to a report issued by the Baylor University Institute of Religion. According to Latino Coalition website, "Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center working closely with the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to evaluate Juvenile Justice programs in the U.S." Currently, The Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center (JJEC) is no longer available.
Click here.
There still hasn't been any word from the Office of Inspector General on the probe into Flores' hiring of an ex-Honduran General Hector Rene Fonseca as a contractor. I wrote an article a couple of months on Flores' connection to.Fonseca's wife Deborah Demoss Fonseca, a GOP contributor and former aide to former Senator Jesse Helms. Here is more of a deeper connection:
Before his OJJDP Administrator appointment, Flores was Vice President and Senior Counsel at the National Law Center for Children and Families, a rightwing pressure group founded by the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families (formerly the National Coalition
Against Pornography). The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, one of the key foundations backing the religious far right, heavily funded the coalition. National Coalition for the Protection of Families and Children is mentioned on the DeMoss Foundation website that they serve. Click here.
We can only hope that the Oversight Committee and Senate committee continue the probe into the OJJDP scandal as President George Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009. Although Flores will no longer hold the position as OJJDP Administrator after President-elected Obama takes office, it is my hope that Flores' quid pro quo and abuse of power is held accountable. And if Inspector General Glenn Fine report finds that Flores did indeed illegally hired Fonseca and Flores' business expenses were inappropriate, I do hope that the State Bar Association is notified to suspend his license to practice law and charged with violation of the code of ethics.
Here is the Standard of Conduct for DOJ employees from the DOJ website:
Conflicts of Interest. Employees may not engage in outside activities that create or appear to create a conflict of interest with their official duties. Such a conflict exists when the outside activity would: (1) require the recusal of the employee from significant aspects of his or her official duties (5 C.F.R. § 2635.802(b)); (2) create an appearance that the employee's official duties were performed in a biased or less than impartial manner (5 C.F.R. § 2635.502); or (3) create an appearance of official sanction or endorsement (5 C.F.R. § 2635.702(b)).
And I guess Flores missed that part in the DOJ manual.
December 15, 2008
As we hear so much in the news last week of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's arrest from trying to auction President-elect Obama' Senate seat to the high bidder in exchange for political favors and financial gain, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention scandal with OJJDP administrator J. Robert Flores is not too far fetch to say that this was a scandal that was quid pro quo.
Quid pro quo or "something for something" "this for that," "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours" has now become the word to use in many of the brooding scandals of political corruption. In the case of J. Robert Flores' probe, we know that Flores ignored his staff's decisions in the grant process and awarded grants to certain individuals of organization with political and religious connections to the Bush Administration. But, what about J. Robert Flores, himself? Has anyone wonder if Flores, himself, got mutual benefits for awarding these individuals? A quid pro quo? Let's examine.
There were five groups that were not recommended for grant funding but which received funding from Flores:
(1) the Best Friends Foundation, an abstinence-only organization, which
ranked 53 out of 104.
.
(2) the World Golf Foundation, which ranked 47 out of 104.
(3) Urban Strategies, a consulting firm, and Victory Outreach, a faith-based organization, which ranked 42 out of 104.
(4) Enough Is Enough, an anti-Internet pornography organization, which ranked 33 out of 104.
(5) the Latino Coalition for Faith and Community Initiatives, another faith-based organization, which ranked 26 out of 104.
Best Friends Foundation
Elayne Bennett, president and founder of Best Friends, happens to be close friends with Flores. Bennett is the wife of Bill Bennett. According to Waxman's website, documents and interviews show that while the grant was being developed and competed, Flores had multiple contacts with Ms. Bennett, including free attendance to a $500 per-plate Best Friends Foundation fundraiser for himself and his wife. In an email from former OJJDP employee and whistleblower Scott Peterson yesterday, he didn't attend the Best Friends Foundation fundraiser but Flores "brought his wife and special assistant and her husband" to the event. By the way,prior to attending the fundraising event,Flores requested an opinion from the Office of General Counsel, which approved his attendance. According to Waxman, Best Friends submitted an application on June 11,2007. On July 17,2007, Flores awarded Best Friends the grant for $1,124,000. A week later, on July 24,2007, Flores participated in a summit held by the Best Friends Foundation at a Washington hotel.
And what did Flores do for Best Friends Foundation in return for awarding them funding? From an email exchange from Holly C. Bauer of Best Friends Foundation to Flores, Ms. Bauer sent him an article covering the National Youth Summit in which Flores was on the panel for discussion. I find this nugget in the email of the article:
"According to Bennett, the Youth Leadership Summit is a good way to ernpower teens. lt is also a good use of the panelists' time, many of whom fìnancially support Best Friends. One of the panelists, Judge Robert Flores of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, urged participants to strive to be men and women of honor and character. He said that the definition of honor is doing the right thing even if no one would know othervise."
Financially support Best Friends? Did Flores personally support Best Friends financially. If so, when? It is evident J. Robert Flores loved Best Friends so much he's even highlighted on their "endorsements" page!
World Golf Foundation
According to Waxman's website, Flores told the Oversight Committee that he traveled to Florida in February 2006 to visit individuals associated with the World Golf Foundation and play golf after Flores and his then chief of staff, Michelle DeKonty, met with a World Golf Foundation official in June 2007. Both Flores and DeKonty directed DOJ officials to assist the group in submitting its grant application. Regina Schofield, former assistant Attorney General and Flores' boss, told the Committee staff that Flores had a prior relationship with the World Golf Foundation:
"I gathered that he had been invited to speak at a number of their meetings, conferences. I don't know what their forums were, but I think he had been invited to speak a number of times and felt a familiarity with them."
Interesting that she didn't know much information on Flores' speaking engagements with the organization. Flores did play round of golf in February 12, 2006, according to document of Flores' receipt. But, the committee found that Flores paid$159.00 for the round of golf on June 18, 2008, one day before he testified to the Oversight Committee. He waits two years to pay for a round of golf? Was this quid pro quo? Makes you wonder.
Victory Outreach
Certainly this grant funding is quid pro quo. The funding was to the President of Urban Strategies is Lisa Cummins, who formerly worked in the White House Office for Faith Based Initiatives. According to DOJ documents, there were electronic meeting requests circulated
inviting Flores to meetings with Ms. Cummins and the directors of Victory Outreach. After the award of the grant, on September 24, 2007, Ms. Cummins met Flores at a White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, after which he asked his staff to meet with Ms. Cummins to work on a revised budget proposal. Cummins wrote:
"As we discussed, a portion of this program is being funded through OJJDP, both via past earmark funding as well as future competitive grants. Given direct and indirect dollars of OJJDP support, is this a project Bob could participate in as an expert regarding protecting children online, law enforcementefforts, programs etc?"
Enough is Enough
Flores approved a grant for the organization on July 17,2007.
The Enough is Enough group appeared to had several contacts with . Flores. According to document, on March 2,2007, Ms. Donna Rice Hughes invited Flores and his wife to Enough Is Enough's annual "Heart-to-Heart" fundraising dinner. The documents didn't indicate whether Flores attended the event. And who is Donna Rice Hughes? Hughes was appointed in 1999 by then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to a congressional panel that studied child pornography. She later received recognition from the National Law Center for Children and Families, a conservative group that supports anti-pornography laws. That was where Flores was employed prior Bush appointed him as OJJDP Administrator. And Hughes was known for the 1987 sex scandal that ended the second presidential campaign of Gary Hart.
Latino Coalition for Faith and Community Initiatives
According to Waxman's documents, there may be connections between the Latino Coalition and Urban Strategies and Victory Outreach.
Flores awarded the Latino Coalition $1.2 million grant. The Latino Coalition application stated that the Coalition would use the funds
to support the work of twelve local faith-based organizations, including three affiliates from Victory Outreach. Lisa Cummins was instrumental in helping the Latino Coalition secure federal grants, according to a report issued by the Baylor University Institute of Religion. According to Latino Coalition website, "Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center working closely with the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to evaluate Juvenile Justice programs in the U.S." Currently, The Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center (JJEC) is no longer available.
Click here.
There still hasn't been any word from the Office of Inspector General on the probe into Flores' hiring of an ex-Honduran General Hector Rene Fonseca as a contractor. I wrote an article a couple of months on Flores' connection to.Fonseca's wife Deborah Demoss Fonseca, a GOP contributor and former aide to former Senator Jesse Helms. Here is more of a deeper connection:
Before his OJJDP Administrator appointment, Flores was Vice President and Senior Counsel at the National Law Center for Children and Families, a rightwing pressure group founded by the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families (formerly the National Coalition
Against Pornography). The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, one of the key foundations backing the religious far right, heavily funded the coalition. National Coalition for the Protection of Families and Children is mentioned on the DeMoss Foundation website that they serve. Click here.
We can only hope that the Oversight Committee and Senate committee continue the probe into the OJJDP scandal as President George Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009. Although Flores will no longer hold the position as OJJDP Administrator after President-elected Obama takes office, it is my hope that Flores' quid pro quo and abuse of power is held accountable. And if Inspector General Glenn Fine report finds that Flores did indeed illegally hired Fonseca and Flores' business expenses were inappropriate, I do hope that the State Bar Association is notified to suspend his license to practice law and charged with violation of the code of ethics.
Here is the Standard of Conduct for DOJ employees from the DOJ website:
Conflicts of Interest. Employees may not engage in outside activities that create or appear to create a conflict of interest with their official duties. Such a conflict exists when the outside activity would: (1) require the recusal of the employee from significant aspects of his or her official duties (5 C.F.R. § 2635.802(b)); (2) create an appearance that the employee's official duties were performed in a biased or less than impartial manner (5 C.F.R. § 2635.502); or (3) create an appearance of official sanction or endorsement (5 C.F.R. § 2635.702(b)).
And I guess Flores missed that part in the DOJ manual.
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