Follow The Money

In my previous post, I quoted Media Matters saying that while there is

no evidence that Evans or the Red Cross was working with the White House to project a uniform message, Evans's rhetorical shift is consistent with the Bush administration's efforts to to blame and impute the motives of Blanco and other state and local officials.

While there may not be concrete evidence, Media Matters and The Raw Story both give us good reason to ask more questions about Red Cross president and CEO Marsha J. "Marty" Evans' relationship to Bush and the GOP. In The Raw Story account:

Marsha J. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Red Cross, is a Rear Admiral in the Navy and the Director of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., a global investment bank serving the financial needs of corporations, institutions, governments and high-net-worth investors worldwide, according to the corporation's web site. Evans also sits on the boards of the May Department Stores Company and Weight Watchers International and was recently elected to the board of the Huntsman Corporation, a large chemical and plastics manufacturer. She is also a presidential appointee to the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy.

Evans donated $500 to the Republican National Committee in 2004.

These affiliations and the RNC donation are not damming by themselves. However, it is crucial to note that while the Red Cross operates independently of government, Bush appointed six people to its Board. The Raw Story also reports on the Chair of the Board, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter.

McElveen-Hunter was appointed by Bush in June 2004. Her Red Cross bio says she is the "former U.S. Ambassador to Finland (2001-2003) and the CEO and owner of Pace Communications, Inc., the largest private custom publishing company in the United States. The company's clients include such Fortune 500 companies as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, AT&T, Carlson Hotels, and Toyota."

McElveen-Hunter donated more than $130,000 to the Republican Party since 2000, RAW STORY has found. Her largest donations were $25,000 to the Republican National Committee in April 2004 and $100,000 in July 2000. In May 2000, she gave $1000 to "Bush for President, Inc."

These revelations should not surprise anyone at this point. Much more distressing is the Red Cross' abysmal track record in delivering funds raised to the people they say they are raising it for:

As of Sept. 11, 2005, the American Red Cross estimated that it had received $578 million in gifts and pledges for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

During previous disaster relief efforts, however, the Red Cross has withheld funds intended for victims and placed them into a reserve fund for future use, including for what one Red Cross president described as a “war fund."

The Red Cross has repeatedly been cited for poor handling of donations for disaster victims. Some have even referred accused them of "bait-and-switch fund raising."

An investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight panel after 9/11 revealed that while pledging that 9/11 donations (minus overhead) would all go to victims, the Red Cross held back more than half of the $543 million it had raised.

The Red Cross says they funneled these monies to prepare for terrorist attacks.

"We had planned for a weapon of mass destruction attack," former Red Cross President Dr. Bernadine Healy said, saying funds were diverted to a "Liberty Fund."

"The Liberty Fund is a war fund," Healy added.

During the oversight panel's hearings, Representative Bill Tauzin (R-LA), declared: "What's at issue here is that a special fund was established for these families. It was specially funded for this event, September 11. And it is being closed now because we are told enough money's been raised in it, but we're also told, by the way, we're going to give two-thirds of it away to other Red Cross needs.". . .

Red Cross holdbacks were also evident after the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, where it was alleged that the Red Cross turned over to victims only $10 million of the $50 million raised, keeping the difference for future disasters and organizational expansion. According to one researcher, critics also protested holdbacks following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Red River flooding in 1997 and a San Diego fire in 2001.

There are many other organizations whose work for Katrina survivors we can support. Maybe a rush of stop payments on credit card charges and checks to the Red Cross will get it rushing to provide more relief with the money it already has in its coffers.