Carla,

Assets aren't income.

If you own a house, that's an asset, but not income.

I'm way rusty about all this stuff, but in general, fixed assets are things that are expected to be kept around for awhile.

For example, for a retail store, both inventory and store fixtures are assets, but only the fixtures are fixed assets.

Without delving into the forms more than I have time for at the moment, it's hard to know why a charitable group would have so many assets that aren't fixed assets, but it seems fishy.

You could understand if they had a lot of fixed assets--owning their building, for example. But it's hard to imagine that they have $600k of ATRF mugs and T-shirts. Again, that may be explained further down in the forms. Most likely it's just money in a bank account somewhere.

It's interesting that just over half of expenses are from compensation of officers (which is probably just to the Sizemores), and another big chunk of expenses is for "Conferences, conventions, and meetings".

So, they seem to spend a lot of money, but most of it is on compensation to the Sizemores and get-togethers with their cronies.

Okay, I dug a little deeper.

Most of the assets are real estate. I don't know why those aren't considered fixed assets. Interestingly, it looks like the real-estate investment was doubled during the year.

The fixed assets are for a vehicle.

That information is on page 28, in Statement 6 and Statement 7.

According to the Court's decision to jail Sizemore :-D he had used (going from memory here) $12,000 of the foundation's money to buy a $200,000 lot. He also borrowed that $165,000 or whatever it was (it says on the loan form that it was repaid as agreed) and other money and couldn't pay it back, so he deeded "his" $200,000 lot back to the Foundation in "repayment" of his loan. That's probably why the assets grew by that amount during the year. Yes, he also bought his wife a car and he bought the gold coins. I think if you read the decision you'll have a better time sorting out what you're seeing on the tax filing.

Without delving into the forms more than I have time for at the moment, it's hard to know why a charitable group would have so many assets that aren't fixed assets, but it seems fishy.

Sizemore is indeed a creep, but all fiscally responsible charities should have three to six months of reserves in the cash or cash equivalents in order to cushion times when donations are low, like right now. Of course, Sizemore's orgs were set up for his own purposes, but in my view, charities should be helping people, not purchasing fixed assets. (unless they are a land preservation group or something.

I am an "expert" in this stuff and will take a look at the forms in a bit.

It seems the ball is now in John Kroger's court to see if he's really going to be an aggressive AG (vs the caretaker who's been there for years). The AG is supposed to protect voters, consumers, and ensure that charitable activities are legit. He could raise a stink with the IRS and his counterpart in Nevada. And who knows, as Oregon's top cop attorney maybe he could start prosecuting Sizemore so it doesn't just rest with the unions.

It just goes to show Sizemore's contempt for the tax system. This is not a man motivated by rational thought.

Sizemore is probably on the phone to Johnny Cochrane right now.

per The Oregonian, I was almost ready to forgive them all their lapses after seeing the headline on their Sizemore story today. Then I remembered their banner headline about Neil Goldschmidt having an "affair" with a 14 year old and decided they needed to do a bit more penance.

Carla

I haven't looked at this specifically, just a comment on your statement. The fund balance of a charitable org would be all cash, short/long term investments that the org holds.The fixed assets would be items like computers, office furniture, auto, etc. You could run a significant charitable venture with 10K in fixed assets.

Joel,

Johnnie Cochran has been dead since 2005. If Sizemore is on the phone to Johnnie, he's truly lost his marbles.

I'm sure there is some other enterprising criminal defense attorney with a specialization in tax law that won't blink at defending this white collar criminal. Any local suggestions?

You could run a significant charitable venture with 10K in fixed assets.

Really? Cuz that seems like a pretty small amount to me. You can barely send one comprehensive statewide mailer for that amount.

The understanding and deciphering of tax records/forms is absolutely NOT in my wheelhouse, so my analysis of any of this should be taken with heaps of salt. But

But, I assume, you give to not-for-profits, right? Point is that people very rarely if ever look at the tax returns of the not-for-profits they donate to. I'd feel a lot better that those expenditures are in the public interest, in general, if the public knew about and was cool with it. I just think it's healthy for a person that sets a level of personal sacrifice to contribute to see what the paid staff members consider the appropriate level of sacrifice, that they are in sync.

Inmate Sizemore is providing all kinds of entertainment for the masses these days. Those tax forms are his ticket to Federal Court!

Bill - if you're watching (and I know you like to watch) please keep it coming until January 20th. Then we'll all have to tune into the Obama show. You know the one where competent people take over in Washington DC and start enforcing laws against vermin like you and your co-conspirators!

If the 501(c)3 don't fit....

....you can't acquit

Bill Sizemore really has fallen. He isn't contributing anything to the political debate anymore. The ballot measures he puts up are just tired. He also seems intent on giving his enemies as much ammunition as possible. What a waste.

I wonder if Bill Sizemore would be interested in making money for me. That is a lot of nonprofit money you quoted him as having on that tax form. Makes my eyes google to see those numbers. I think about everything as in "How many cats would that money fix?" I am a cat trapper and I get cats fixed. But, sadly, I'm short on cat fixing dough currently.

I need money and lots of it the sooner the better for fixing cats. Oh, you say, you dumb little nobody, trying to save the feline world by fixing cats, and you can't figure out how to raise a dime. You'd be right. I'm no good at raising money.

I see the massive money in Bill Sizemore's nonprofit political pocket and I feel even more inadequate, when my only big idea to raise a few nonprofit bucks is to sell hand knitted and not by me, catnip stuffed cat toys, although they're very cute!

Even the Goodwill exec guy makes a half million a year. And they don't train disabled people at Goodwill to do anything. You people know that, right? It's a sweatshop. I worked there for awhile.

I don't want to make half a million bucks, I just want to save the feline world from overpopulation and to do that, I need to raise money and it looks like Bill Sizemore knows how to do that, one way or the other. I've been arrested. So we're like soulmates in one way, but not in many others. I'm going to ask him about making a donation. I heard Obama has a lot left over from his big campaign too. Think maybe I'll apply for that windfall too.

I know you people posting comments are lot smarter and worldly wiser than I. I don't even know what you're talking about on this blog half the time or more. So when you think my post is dumbshit, just know it is coming to you from a world apart.

You know, microbrews are really expensive, but this cheap shit I'm sipping, puts a good buzz on.

you progressives (fascists) make me sick

Leave bill alone and find somethign else to do with your useless lives

you progressives (fascists) make me sick

Leave bill alone and find somethign else to do with your useless lives

I think I want to start a not-for-profit that brews good beer and ale and provides it cheaply to employees and owners of other not-for-profits!

You how you know when you're looking at a charity that's using the 501(c) to avoid taxes? They find a way to attach religion. If you read the code, you are struck over and over how good religions have it. I shouldn't say all, as I would provide an exception for my own case. I really didn't have a clue about the tax law, but it treats sport and religion as the same thing. Ironically, it would have been easier for Sizemore to base his 501 organization on "Beavers football is my religion" than what he tried. Of course, as the proprietor of a not-for-profit dedicated to the proposition that "cricket is religion", I can tell you that in two years we have received not one cent in donations. And see Bill, that's a valid reason for not filing tax forms!

Ultimately Cat Trapper has it spot on. Legit charities are recognizable by the suffering for a cause of their operatives. Anyone you see with a nice job at a not-for-profit is not-like-us!

And what about a serious, for profit business, combining maid service with home brewing. Like someone that comes in to do the cooking. Best IPA costs me $.20/bottle to make, OK maybe $.30 with the hops shortage. Sounds like major room for profit there if you don't go into all the fixed store/OLCC reg overhead!

I wonder how many ballot-initiative sponsors besides Sizemore have been criticized in court by judges for seemingly engaging in racketing and perjury; or been described on the front page of The Oregonian as a liar.

I don't expect Sizemore's ultimate day in court--criminal court--to happen very soon, but I do expect it to happen. And when it does, there will be the usual parade of "character" witnesses testifying on Sizemore's behalf, trying to get his sentence reduced, telling us how he's a good Christian, a dutiful father, a friend to the needy.

There's a sucker born every minute, Sizemore knows it, and he's been making a nice living accordingly.

For all the evil that Sizemore does, at least I've never heard him call for people to be raped in prison.

Loaded Orygun has a little poll about Sizemore that tries to use prison rape as humor:

What Should Bill Sizemore Receive in Jail? More jail time Repeated tasings A very large, new intimate friend Permit exemptions for cell renovations Bread and water Just water Just desserts

Not cool.

Perhaps we could revisit the beginnings of this most effective SLAPP suit against Sizemore. The unions argue that they were FORCED to spend millions defeating a measure that Sizemore illegally put on the ballot. Right. So the judge has to believe that unions can affect, with 100% certainty, outcomes of elections. Please. Even tho Bill seems to be a dumbass on how he handles his finances, I hope you all get a chance to find out what it is like when someone wants to "get you" because of your political views, and you cant do crap about it. There is a huge concerted effort to screw this guy by the unions and you bluecoats just ignore it because you hate the guy. Wake up and deal with the real issues. Are your 401k assets making a guaranteed 8% regardless of the recent market? Let's legislate that for EVERYONE in the OBAMA nation!!! woohoo!!!! Checkout those brand new SUV's next door (PERS retirees...)

Posted by: dddave | Dec 10, 2008 5:46:30 PM

You make it sound like no one has any grudge against Sizemore unless they personally hold a union card.

There couldn't be anyone out there infuriated that he acted like a monarch when he was riding high in the 1990s. Perhaps dddave is supporting Tiernan for Republican State Chair because he wants to bring back those days of acerbic comments being more highly prized than ideas and proposed solutions to problems.

No parents upset by school funding cuts really cared about what happened at their kid's school----either they were anti-union or "dupes of the teachers union" to use Sizemore's words?

No one who had to be polite to everyone and answer questions in their job was angry at Sizemore making a living off ballot measures instead of getting a real job like the rest of us, and was rude to those who questioned any aspect of him or his ballot measures?

No one would have noticed that no Sizemore measure survived intact due to either court action or legislative changes unless the unions pointed it out?

No one gets angry about rerun ballot measures or the support Sizemore has from out of state funders (Norquist to Parks)?

Perhaps you didn't notice, but PERS has been changed. And there are people who say the changes in the legislation (2003, as I recall) are the explanation of certain primary results.

Given stock market losses, can you really prove that every PERS retiree had enough money to buy a new vehicle and no PERS retiree is working part time to supplement their income? If that many new vehicles have been bought recently in Oregon, why are car dealerships closing?

You want "real issues"? How about the unemployment level in places like Deschutes County (double digits, according to what I have heard). There may be fights over whether education, state police, corrections, human services, transportation can all fit into the 2009 budget. There may even be a need to re-adjust the budget for the current biennium if the economy gets worse.

But that wouldn't be happening if people ignored Sizemore, let him go his merry way, and only bashed unions?

Gimme a break!

There ARE real issues out there, and I was talking to some legislators and staffers today about them. One is the issue of public administrator accountability. Why aren't all public management salaries (state agency heads, administrators in large school districts like HR directors, Curriculum Supervisors, etc., COO, etc.) easy to find online?

Of course, while those positions are publicly funded, they are management--not unions.

Could it be there are those of a certain political persuasion who believe management deserves to earn whatever the market will bear, but unionized and other front line workers should only make a fraction of that amount and don't deserve benefits?

you progressives (fascists) make me sick

Leave bill alone and find somethign else to do with your useless lives

I don't know why conservatives use fascist as an insult. Who has much of a personal sense of what it means? We all can cite examples, but that's not a definition.

For my money, I rely on someone that knows about it to define it, namely Benito Mussolini. He defined fascism as the melding of State interests and corporate interests. Silvio Berlusconi follows the model today. That all sounds like stuff Republicans could really love! And what is it exactly that is distasteful about the label "progressive". Are you proud to be reactive and regressive, or is it that we demonstrate false progress?

One wonders after 8 years of being able to yell anything and get a salute if conservatives can even have a coherent conversation anymore.

dddave -

You write as if you believe what has befallen Bill has been unfair. Someone would have to be blind not to see that the unions went after Sizemore because he was hurting their political efforts and undermining their power and not because of any lovely thoughts about civic responsibility for cleaning up the political system. Your problem is you (and the rest of the Sizemore apologists) stop your analysis of the situation there, sit back and relish your imagined martyrdom.

Bill Sizemore is the most determined person I have ever met. I know for a fact that 7 years ago the unions thought they had him finished off and were shocked that he didn't melt into a puddle on the floor and go away. I told them that at the time he wouldn't ever quit, but I'm not sure they realized how right I was. Maybe now they're finally starting to get it. So with that in mind, let me ask you to just imagine something for a minute.

Imagine a world in which Sizemore had NOT engaged in racketeering. Imagine he had properly filed contribution and expenditure reports and taxes, disclosed the sources of his political contributions, been satisfied to live within his means, told the truth, and behaved in a manner that was above reproach. Still the same bulldog - still full of the same clever strategies for winning - still the same charismatic guy, but clean. The unions would still have done everything they could to bring him down, but they wouldn't have had anything of substance to sink their teeth into. Can you imagine how different things would be today?

You might feel better by blaming the unions for Sizemore's downfall, but the fact remains that he screwed up badly and took his movement down with him. He has no legitimate claim to martyrdom.

I was his biggest fan at one time. Even I, with all my ideological blinders on, finally saw the light about Sizemore. Open your eyes, dddave. Really, it's long past time for that. He's corrupt and he alone is responsible for what is happening to him today. It's high time for the Right to move on and leave him to his well-deserved fate.

Great comment, Becky, although I am not sure Sizemore's hubris allowed him to think about playing by the rules.

Remember when Measure 8 passed--the one to let voters decide on public employee pay packages?

I was in the capitol shortly after that. I encountered Sizemore in a hallway. I asked a very basic question, "You passed a measure where voters decide on public employee pay packages. Do the members of your organization vote on your pay package?" He said no, the board did so, or something like that.

A friend who overheard said she'd never heard such a nervous tone of voice.

I'd be careful about generalizations like "the unions". Republicans love stereotypes, but there are wonderful individuals who carry union cards (Tom McCall was very proud to be a governor carrying a union card--he belonged to the union for on-air news people). If you ever want the votes of those folks with union cards, don't stereotype them. Anyone who has ever been around Democratic politics knows that there are union bullies but also people who have excellent organizing skills which they put to good use. Some of the best-run meetings I have ever seen were run by union people.

There are front line workers in all sorts of occupations (incl. people like child care workers, retail sales clerks, substitute teachers and other on-call workers) who are more likely to sympathize with the hard working union plumber, truck driver, or unionized public employee than with someone living Sizemore's lavish lifestyle.

And there are folks who run their own businesses who don't like him. I recall in 2000 a friend who owns his own business called me up and said "I've decided Sizemore is just in it for himself--how do I figure out which measures are his so I can vote against them?". No union forced him to make that decision, he just got fed up.

People who stand on a sales floor (or answer questions in a call center) all day don't have to accept rude behavior from a guy who considers themselves the king of ballot measures. And just because you don't see any good motives in unions, don't think for a moment that everyone in that non-union frontline worker category agrees with you that unions acted "not because of any lovely thoughts about civic responsibility for cleaning up the political system".

I was a substitute working retail on weekends back then, and I can tell you there were co-workers who had a very high opinion of the union folks who used the resources they had to take down Sizemore. And it was a small town mayor debating McIntire in 2000 who inspired an audience of college students in a ballot measure debate on a college campus by deflecting McIntire's snide behavior with a "perfect squelch".

I suggest you get to know all the new legislators. Did all the Democrats have union endorsements? Actual union "boots on the ground" campaigners? Do the young ones feel beholden to unions?

Or is this a new century where the Oregon Bus Project and other organizations have power that old timers have only just begun to realize?

Believe it or not, there is a potent force out there in politics which politically successful people understand. It is hard working people who are also not union members, who never had any use for Sizemore et al making the voters pamphlet so thick with their ballot measures. "Let that turkey see if he could survive a day in my job" is the sentiment. The idea that the voting population has no middle ground between the Sizemore crowd and unions might be why Republicans lose elections.

Excellent points, TJ, and well taken.

<h2>Excuse me, LT!</h2>