Faulkner was fired for having a campaign website with the office number on it. But at that point, the website was not yet public. She had changed that information prior to taking the site public. Investigators had accessed her site before it was operational.
On November 2nd she appealed to the Department of Human Resources. On the 5th she filed a complaint with the Maryland Department of Budget Management for whistleblower retaliation and a complaint with the EEOC.
No Maryland legislator would help.
On November 9th, Faulkner sent another letter to O’Malley, this time to express her disgust. It read, in part:
This termination was blatant retaliation for me contacting your office… How can you as Governor continue to condone this type of behavior…? Nepotism, racism, and manipulation of power are so prevalent in this agency… This is wrong, and I should not have been fired. I’m asking you to step in to correct this wrong…
O’Malley did nothing. On November 18th she was denied unemployment benefits. On December 7th she went to the DHR hearing with union representation. Still no.
Faulkner was unemployed for a year, during which time she had to declare bankruptcy. She is back at work now as a supervisor for a private health insurance applications processor.45
All of these documents can be examined in full on the Citizen’s District blog of U.S. Senate candidate William Capps. Capps was inspired to run by Faulkner’s story, which he broke in January of 2010.
As a fitting conclusion, the 2010 audit of the FIA reported many of the same problems identified in 2006, including 28,700 fraudulent or non-existent Social Security numbers.46 Are these the illegals being allowed to slip through the cracks that Faulkner identified? Not surprisingly, it has just been reported that Maryland ranks second in the Nation in food stamp fraud.47
Financials
In 2010 CASA received $12.3 million in grants and donations, about $5 million of which came from government contracts (see chart below). The rest came from corporate and non-profit foundations. Figures are incomplete. Unsurprisingly, CASA was of little help.
Still, much can be learned from the information that is available.
United Way spent a significant amount supporting illegal immigrant advocacy, including CASA. They also funded ACORN, as their 2008 IRS form 990 reveals. Venezuela’s state-owned CITGO is the vehicle Hugo Chavez uses to fund friends around the world. CASA received $1.5 million, spread over three years. The Ford Foundation almost gave as much as Chavez, providing $1.2 million over three years.
More than 40 percent of CASA’s revenue comes directly from government. More comes indirectly through non-profits. CASA donors like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development also receive much of their funding from government. Official tallies therefore underestimate the actual level of CASA’s taxpayer support.
Finally, the Combined Federal Campaign collects hundreds of millions from federal employees every year for charitable donations. 2010’s take was $281.5 million.48 Catholic Charities is on this list, as is United Way, MALDEF, NCLR and yes, CASA.49 Since taxes pay for government salaries, those are your tax dollars at work too.
Also see: CASA Donors as listed in 2010 Annual Report (PDF)
Conclusion
CASA de Maryland is a case study in the corrosive effects of political corruption and a reflection of our degenerating political class. This type of corruption threatens our nation’s entire political infrastructure. If law has no meaning, then our Nation will and must degenerate into the law of the fist. As Obama’s most frequent White House visitor, former SEIU President Andy Stern, has famously threatened, “We’re trying to use the power of persuasion, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll use the persuasion of power…” It appears some among the political class believe this is a legitimate method of exerting influence. As enablers of such abuse, CASA de Maryland and its ilk must be stopped, and America must seek and elect the kinds of leaders who will not trade their souls for votes.
James Simpson is an economist, businessman and freelance writer. Best known for his exposé on the Cloward Piven Strategy of manufactured crisis, his writings have been published in American Thinker, Big Government, Washington Times, FrontPage Magazine, Soldier of Fortune and others. Email James.
SOURCE NOTES
[1] J.P. Green, Leveraging the Latino Vote in 2012, The Democratic Strategist, February 21, 2011, (
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.o...no_vote_in.php).
[2] Brian Witte, Census Shows Growth in Maryland Hispanic Population, MyFoxDC.com, February 9, 2011, (
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/mary...ulation-020911).
[3] David Sherfinski, Report: Md., Va. among tops in illegal immigrant population, Washington Examiner, February 1, 2011, (
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/...ant-population).
[4] Jack Martin & Eric A. Ruark, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers, Federation for American Immigration Reform, July 2010. Estimates were derived from figures supplied by the state. (
http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer...pdf?docID=4921).
5 Annie Linskey, Immigrant advocates file suit to toss tuition referendum, Baltimore Sun, August 1, 2011, (
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/201...petition-drive).
6 Founded by Farid Handal, Salvadoran Communist Party leader.
7 Phone interview, June 14, 2011.
8 FMLN was formed of five in-fighting Salvadoran communist factions brought together by Fidel Castro. Fused into one force, they launched the bloody civil war.
9 Hilary Cunningham, God and Caesar at the Rio Grande: Sanctuary and the Politics of Religion, (University of Minnesota Press, 1995), p 64.
10 Ibid.
11 Renny Golden and Michael McConnell, Sanctuary: The New Underground Railroad, (Orbis Books, 1987), p. 53.
12 Steve Hendrix, Takoma Park Stays Immigrant ‘Sanctuary’, Washington Post, October 30, 2007, (
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...102902241.html).
13 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 64.
14 Phone conversation with TPPC Reverend Mark Greiner, July 11, 2011.
15 Charles Stastny, Miriam Davidson, Convictions of the Heart: Jim Corbett and the Sanctuary Movement, Book Review, original source unknown, York University Library Digital Journals, (
http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index...le/21564/20237).
16 Ibid.
17 William Droel, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Social Policy, Fall 2003, Vol. 34, No.1, (
http://organizersforum.org/oldweb/index.php?id=815).
18 Ibid.
19 James Simpson, Blatant in-your-face corruption and Nazi tactics in Maryland occurring now, Examiner.com, June 27, 2011, (
http://www.examiner.com/independent-...-occurring-now).
20 Ibid.
21 Eliseo Medina, Keywiki.org, (
http://keywiki.org/index.php/Eliseo_Medina).
22 Diana Hull, PhD., Introduction: How Many Foreign Nationals Actually Live in the U.S. Illegally? The Social Contract Press, Summer 2007 (
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/art...7_4_hull.shtml).
23 David Montgomery, Head of CASA is a man with a plan, Washington Post, July 14, 2011, (
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...HEI_story.html).
24 Eliza Leighton, et al., A Regional Citizenship Promotion Plan: The New Americans Initiative for Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC, CASA de Maryland, 2008, (
http://www.casademaryland.org/storag...nai_report.pdf).
25 Jim Kouri, La Raza offering taxpayer money for mortgages, Examiner.com, July 12, 2011, (
http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcem...-for-mortgages).
26 Ibid.
27 Montgomery, op. cit.
28 Phuong Ly, Gustavo Torres Strives to Tackle Tough Issues, Washington Post, December 13, 2001, (
http://www.casademaryland.org/news-a...voice-in-area-).
29 Phone interview, June 14, 2011.
30 Email correspondence, May 24, 2011.
31 Montgomery, op. cit.
32 Olympia Newton, Venezuela forum debates prospects for revolutionary change in the U.S., The Militant, December 3, 2007, (
http://themilitant.com/2007/7145/714503.html), Vol. 71, #45.
33 Ibid.
34 Cliff Kincaid, U.S.-Based Marxists Subvert Friendly Regimes and Support Foreign Terrorist Organizations, America’s Survival, (
http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/Marxism_islam_rpt.pdf).
35 Elizabeth Schulte, May Day rallies link struggles, Activist News, Socialist Worker.org, May 5, 2009, (
http://news–www.socialistworker.org/...link-struggles).
36 Sean Sands, Day labor battle brewing, Minutemen, CASA of Maryland set stage for showdown in Takoma Park, Gazette.net, February 22, 2006, (
http://ww2.gazette.net/stories/02220...54_31988.shtml).
37 Tens of thousands protest anti-immigration legislation in Congress, CISPES, March 8, 2006, (
http://www.cispes.org/index.php?opti...d=28&Itemid=28).
38 Montgomery, Op Cit
39 Ibid.
40 Audit Report, Department of Human Resources, Family Investment Administration, Office of Legislative Audits, Department of Legislative Services, Maryland General Assembly, November 2007, (
http://www.ola.state.md.us/reports/F...ance/FIA07.pdf).
41 Phone interview, June 12, 2011.
42 Inspections and Customs Enforcement
43 Letter to Governor O’Malley, September 12, 2009.
44 Interview.
45 Interview.
46 Audit Report, Department of Human Resources, Family Investment Administration, Office of Legislative Audits, Department of Legislative Services, Maryland General Assembly, February 2011, (
http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/s.../20110484e.pdf).
47 Leah Fable, Food stamp program doubles in region, abuse soars, Washington Examiner, June 18, 2011, (
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/...e-soars-region).
48 Combined Federal Campaign, Campaign Results, Trends and History, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, (
http://www.opm.gov/cfc/Results/index.asp).
49 2010 Catalog of Caring: Compassion of Individuals, Power of Community, Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area, (
http://www.cfcnca.org/files/cfcnca/c...NCA%202010.pdf), p. 75.
http://www.aim.org/special-report/ca...nts-acorn/?utm