art credit: noethics.net
Rent-A-Mob Alert! And the July GOP Convention in Cleveland is on the target list. From Kevin Mooney at The Daily Signal:
Calling community activists: If
you’re a committed, left-leaning activist who’d like to take part in
“grassroots campaigns to protect the health, economy, environment, and
livelihood of Ohio communities,” then Ohio Citizen Action has got a job for
you.
And it’s one that pays
reasonably well, with benefits on top. This could be an especially nice deal
for recent college graduates looking to help create a little drama in Cleveland
when the Republican National Convention convenes
in July.
Just google Craigslist and Ohio Citizen Action,
and you get an advertisement that declares: “Change the World and GET PAID …
$80/day (Downtown Cleveland).”
You’ll learn the nonprofit
group seeks candidates who “possess strong communication skills and a genuine
commitment to the environment, progressive politics, and the empowerment of our
fellow OH residents.”
The ad, specifying Cleveland,
says positions are full time and pay $80 a day, with bonuses available at 20
days.
Applicants should expect to
work from 2 to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. And yes, they should be
committed to community organizing with an eye toward “environmental justice”
and “sustainable energy.”
“Getting paid to participate in
a supposedly ‘grassroots’ campaign is a contradiction in terms,” quipped Hans
von Spakovsky, a senior
legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, in an email to The Daily
Signal.
The Craigslist ad explains
some of what makes the 37-year-old Ohio
Citizen Action tick:
Community organizing is the
backbone of OCA and each year it allows us the opportunity to continue building
the strength in numbers that has won so many of our campaigns. We are looking
to add highly motivated individuals with good communication skills to our
already effective and professional campaign staff. Also, if you are truly
looking for nonprofit grassroots organizing experience, we do it all year, and
not just when it gets nice out in the spring and summer!
Perks and benefits apparently
are available for those willing to stick with it.
“Health insurance, paid
vacations and personal days to employees that show longevity and proficiency
with the organization,” the group’s ad promises. “Travel opportunities within
our nationwide network of nonprofits for environmental and social justice causes.”
What the ad says is revealing,
but what it doesn’t say is perhaps more so.
Donors to the nonprofit get tax
deductions, skeptics note. Is Ohio Citizen Action really the employer? Is it
legitimate for a tax-exempt charity to use donations to protest and engage in
political activism?
Ohio Citizens Action has
received $30,000 since 2006 from Tides Foundation and $20,000 since 2013 from
the William B. Wiener Jr. Foundation, according to data compiled by the Capital
Research Center, a Washington-based nonprofit that tracks charity and philanthropy.
In addition, the affiliated
Ohio Citizens Action Education Fund has received almost $3.9 million from
left-wing philanthropies since 2003. Major funders include the Joyce Foundation
($1.4 million since 2003), Rockefeller Family Fund ($595,000 since 2010),
Energy Foundation ($422,000 since 2008), Winslow Foundation ($425,000 since
2007), and George Gund Foundation ($525,320
since 2003).
Read
the rest, including reference to an earlier incarnation of the community activist outfit,
ACORN, here.
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