Michelle Nunn's Lucrative Years Running a Nonprofit Organization

Today on NRO

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: If you're loudly green, you can have a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla's. Egalitarian Grandees.

ELIANA JOHNSON: Conservatives say Christie hasn't fought hard enough against liberal judges. Christie's Lawyer Problem.

JILLIAN KAY MELCHIOR: Veterans Affairs generates overpayments, at taxpayer expense, because of scheduling errors. Another Kind of Incompetence.

THE EDITORS: The watershed EU-parliament elections. Europe's Electoral Earthquake.

SLIDESHOW: Remembering the Fallen.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty

May 27, 2014

Happy Primary Runoff Day, Texans! Let's see if the Democrats accidentally nominate a Senate nominee who's a Lyndon LaRouche fan and who wants to impeach President Obama.

Michelle Nunn's Lucrative Years Running a Nonprofit Organization

Georgia Democrats are quite excited about their candidate for Senate, Michelle Nunn.

Here's how her campaign describes her work in the nonprofit sector:

Seeing a need in Atlanta for a vehicle by which young people could engage in service to solve problems in their own communities, Michelle and a group of friends got together to create Hands On Atlanta, with Michelle as its first Executive Director. Over the next decade, Michelle grew volunteerism across Georgia, and eventually throughout the country, through Hands On Network, a national outreach of volunteer-service organizations. Michelle was selected for a three year Kellogg Foundation Fellowship that gave her an opportunity to travel the globe and work with civic and religious leaders to help them translate the common ground of their faith and ideals into building better, more productive communities and services.

In 2007, Hands On Network merged with the Points of Light Foundation, President George H.W. Bush's organization and legacy. After leading a successful merger, Michelle became the CEO and President of Points of Light, now the largest organization in the country devoted to volunteer service.

Sounds good, right? When Nunn was running Hands on Network, she was making $120,000 -- a lot of money to most folks, but not that much more than the average of a CEO or executive director of a nonprofit in the Southeast. (In 2012, the average was $111,693.)

Except that when Hands On Network and Points of Light Foundation merged, they eliminated a lot of jobs. A lot. From 2007 to 2010, the staff dropped from 175 to 80 employees. By itself, that would hardly be a scandal; when two nonprofits merge, there are often a lot of duplicative positions and inevitably, some people get let go. The economy took a severe tumble during those years, of course, and so it's reasonable to conclude the hard times hit the nonprofit as well.

It's just that after the merger . . . Nunn's salary went up. A lot.

In 2008, Nunn received $250,000 as CEO of the Points of Light Foundation, according to the organization's Form 990.

In 2009, Nunn received $197,506 as CEO of the Points of Light Foundation, according to the organization's Form 990, and the same in 2010. (Form 990)

In 2011, Nunn received $322,056 in total compensation, with a base compensation of $285,533 as CEO of Points Of Light Foundation, according to the Form 990.

Her personal financial disclosure lists her 2012 salary as CEO Of Points Of Light Foundation as $270,770 and her 2013 salary as $214,231.

Who knew there was so much money to be made in encouraging other people to do volunteer work?

The explanation from Nunn to Politico was that she made less than her predecessor.

The public usually yawns at executives making enormous sums while running non-profit institutions . . .

In its analysis of 3,929 charities, the charity research group found that 11 nonprofits paid their CEOs more than $1 million in annual salary and bonuses in 2011. CEOs at 78 of the charities were paid between $500,000 and $1 million.

But they may not be quite so forgiving of a nonprofit executive who's laying off staff and enjoying a higher salary simultaneously.

The Daily Sales Pitch, With an Ominous Twist

I've got to stick this sales pitch in here somewhere. $13 cover price, $10.09 on Amazon – don't ask me why it shifted up a few cents in the past few days -- $10.09 on Nook, and as of late Sunday night, $7.99 on Kindle. For you Canadians, it's $9.99 on Kobo.

This weekend, my in-laws' computer indicated that Amazon was running out of copies . . . but that seems really hard to believe just based upon pre-orders. The same warning didn't show up on my computer.

I understand Amazon is having some dispute with some publishers -- I don't think Crown Forum/Random House is among those in the fight, but then again, nobody ever tells me anything. Anyway, I hope you are able to get your copy in a timely fashion, and please let me know if you have any issues. (Not that I have that much any leverage over this. Perhaps I'll just call you up and read you my copy out loud.)

Anyway, considering the storm clouds on the horizon on with this Amazon--publisher thing . . . perhaps it's best if you order while you can.

Congress Wants a Criminal Investigation of the VA. Why Not Obama?

Say, why isn't the FBI or Department of Justice investigating anyone for falsifying federal records at the VA?

It's very interesting that we're seeing this call from Congressional Democrats, and not, say, the President of the United States who keeps telling us he's madder than anyone about what happened:

The Justice Department should enter the investigation of whether Veterans Affairs employees have falsified records to cover up long waits at VA medical facilities, Democratic and Republican lawmakers said Sunday.

"Only the Department of Justice and the FBI have the resources, the expertise and the authority to do a prompt and effective criminal investigation of the secret waiting lists, potential destruction of documents, falsification of records, in effect, the cooking of books and covering up that may have occurred," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said on CBS' Face the Nation.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, agreed. The "Department of Justice needs to get involved," he said on the same program.

The VA's inspector general is investigating 26 sites to determine whether employees covered up long waits for medical appointments, and the Justice Department is already involved to some extent.

Meanwhile, on Memorial Day, President Obama "made only an oblique reference to the scandals at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and spoke in general about the country's solemn obligations to veterans, as well as to families of the lost." Of course.

Back to the question of a criminal investigation -- what is Eric Holder doing these days? Oh, that's right, he's giving the commencement address at Morgan State University, calling stricter voter ID laws a "moral failing". . .

Until the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, African Americans' right to the franchise was aggressively restricted based solely on race. Today, such overt measures cannot survive. Yet in too many jurisdictions, new types of restrictions are justified as attempts to curb an epidemic of voter fraud that -- in reality -- has never been shown to exist. Rather than addressing a supposedly widespread problem, these policies disproportionately disenfranchise African Americans, Hispanics, other communities of color, and vulnerable populations such as the elderly. But interfering with or depriving a person of the right to vote should never be a political aim. It is a moral failing.

Ah, I see.

When Does the 'Smart, Tough' Foreign Policy Begin?

This administration is full of idiots. Talk about living up to the "dude, that was, like, two years ago" image. I don't want to hear any of them sneering or snickering at the amateurs and incompetence of any other administration, ever:

The CIA's top officer in Kabul was exposed Saturday by the White House when his name was inadvertently included on a list provided to news organizations of senior U.S. officials participating in President Obama's surprise visit with U.S. troops.

The White House recognized the mistake and quickly issued a revised list that did not include the individual, who had been identified on the initial release as the "Chief of Station" in Kabul, a designation used by the CIA for its highest-ranking spy in a country.

Their names were included on a list of participants in the briefing provided by U.S. military officials to the White House press office.

The list was circulated by e-mail to reporters who traveled to Afghanistan with Obama, and disseminated further when it was included in a "pool report," or summary of the event meant to be shared with other news organizations, including foreign media, not taking part in the trip.

In this case, the pool report was filed by Washington Post White House bureau chief Scott Wilson. Wilson said he had copied the list from the e-mail provided by White House press officials. He sent his pool report to the press officials, who then distributed it to a list of more than 6,000 recipients.

ADDENDA: From Morning Jolt reader Matt J:

"Next time someone asks you about Stand Your Ground Laws, this is my simple explanation.

Stand Your Ground = Han Shoots First.
No Stand Your Ground = Greedo Shoots First."

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