Ranking Member on the House Vets' Committee doesn't comment on foundation that shares his offices and was headed by his daughter.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), Ranking Member on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, finds himself in the middle of an interesting controversy.

Buyer is considered by Republicans to be a party stalwart and by Democrats to be an obstructionist.  Nothing new there.

But, he has had a colorful history during his stay in Congress  ... most notably for ousting Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) from the House Vets' Committee Chair in 2005.  Article on that is here ...
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage/2117

Use our search engine for more about Buyer ... here ...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=buyer&op=and

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Rep. Buyer-linked foundation draws attention

By DAVID SMITH

http://www.jconline.com/article/20091011/NEWS/91
0110357&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

A nonprofit foundation associated with Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Monticello, has been quietly collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for the primary purpose of helping students pay for college.

But the foundation, which enjoys tax-exempt status, has yet to award its first scholarship after six years in existence.

Until this year, the operations of the Frontier Foundation operated under the public radar. People in Monticello's Twin Lakes High School, which keeps a file of scholarship resources from 55 local organizations, had not heard of it.

Information about Frontier Foundation emerged in the limelight earlier this year, triggered by a 2007 federal law that required companies to report, for the first time, contributions made in honor of members of Congress.

USA Today went through the documents and compiled a list of who received the most in honorary donations in 2008.

Buyer was 13th on the list with $192,225. Two of those donations, totaling $35,000, went to the Frontier Foundation.

Frontier Foundation's donations over the years have come primarily from organizations with stakes in legislation moving through committees on which Buyer sits.

Those include the pharmaceutical, health insurance and tobacco industries -- which have a stake in bills that go through the House Subcommittee on Health -- and the telecommunications industry. Bills affecting the latter go through the House Subcommittee on Communications, Telecommunications and the Internet.

Attempts to reach Buyer for comment were unsuccessful. His press secretary referred questions to Frontier Foundation and said there was no connection between Buyer and the foundation.

"It's not Congressman Buyer's foundation," press secretary Anjulen Anderson said.

Buyer has several indirect connections, however. The foundation shares an office with his district office in Monticello, or at least did as of June 8, 2009, when it filed its most recent IRS Form 990 tax report. The Form 990 is an annual report certain federally tax-exempt organizations must file.

That report listed Buyer's daughter, Colleen Buyer, as president, and his finance director, Stephanie Mattix, as secretary-treasurer.

In the USA Today article, Buyer and Mattix said Colleen Buyer had left the foundation.

Lobbying mechanism

Federal laws prohibit companies from making direct gifts or campaign contributions to elected officials or officials running for office.

But there are no limits to the amount of money a corporation can give to an organization or a cause in an official's name or which he supports.

In July 2004, Frontier Foundation Inc. sent out a letter, from Buyer's office, soliciting donations of $25,000 for each foursome at an Aug. 31, 2004, outing at Fenway Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. Buyer's name was listed at the top as "honorary chairman." His daughter, Colleen, was listed as a board member.

Before the year was out, $105,000 in contributions had arrived from eight corporate donors representing the pharmaceutical, tobacco and telecommunication industries, according to a Journal & Courier review of the foundation's tax filings and supporting documents.

In its very first tax filing in 2003, a statement of program service was provided. It referred to the foundation's twofold purpose: to provide scholarships to Indiana students, and to provide emergency relief to individuals who suffer losses due to fire, disaster or other catastrophe.

The statement said, "We would like to raise at least $100,000 before we start providing scholarships or emergency relief. ... We hope to be providing monies for scholarships and emergency relief in two to five years."

The $100,000 goal was reached in 2004 and was surpassed each year thereafter. There have been $10,500 in gifts in that time, although no scholarships. They include $2,000 that went to a fire victim and $1,700 to the American Red Cross.

But most of the foundation's contributions have nothing to do with scholarships or emergency relief. Those include $4,500 that went to the Virginia Selden Jerome Foundation and $1,450 to the NRA Foundation.

Mattix and Anderson referred questions about Frontier Foundation to Sandra Danford.

Danford, via e-mail, said the Virginia Selden Jerome Foundation is involved in cancer research.

The NRA Foundation "is the country's leading charitable organization in support of the shooting sports," according to its Web site.

Danford affirmed the group's primary purpose, that of "providing annual support to Indiana's students."

She added that "the goal of the foundation is to raise $1 million so the interest income can provide scholarships in perpetuity." She did not say when that might occur.

Danford said contributions to organizations such as NRA Foundation and others are not unusual.

"In the community of foundations, our goals of goodwill are not mutually exclusive."

According to tax reports, the foundation has collected $830,148 in contributions, but the fair market value of its net assets was just $482,761 by the end of 2008.

During six years of operation, the organization has had $258,136 in operating expenses. Those included $83,150 in fundraising expenses, $48,264 for travel, and $4,499 for meals.

Gifts and awards accounted for 3.9 percent of the foundation's expense total. Mattix was paid more each year to run the foundation -- $12,000 in 2004, rising to $17,275 in 2007 and 2008 -- than the foundation gave out in six years of operation.

Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of BBB Wise Giving Alliance, said Frontier Foundation, as a private foundation, is required by law to spend 5 percent of its assets, to "ensure that the foundation is addressing its mission on some level."

But what that 5 percent goes for is up to the foundation.

"Why are they spending so much on fundraising if they're a private foundation would be my question," Weiner said when asked about Frontier Foundation's operating budget.

Danford responded, but not in detail.

"In the world of business it costs money to raise contributions," she said. "The foundation is under the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service and is in compliance with the department's regulatory agencies."

Reaching the $1 million mark could be difficult.

In 2008, the Frontier Foundation received $100,148 in donations, less than half the amount it got in 2007. Among donors that dropped out last year was Eli Lilly & Co., a pharmaceutical company based in Indianapolis with production and development facilities in Tippecanoe County.

The company contributed $100,000 to Frontier Foundation from 2005 to 2007, according to tax reports.

Ed Sagebiel, Lilly spokesman, explained what happened.

"We have provided funding to Congressman Buyer's foundation. We believed it to be a worthy cause," he said.

"We have a new grants process that reviews all of our charitable contributions and that process is very competitive, and we have fewer resources, dollar resources, at this time. I just don't think it's made it through that process the last couple of years."

Not all contributors, however, are holding back.

So far this year, according to lobbying reports, PhRMA, a trade group representing pharmaceutical companies, has given $25,000 to Frontier Foundation in Buyer's honor, and the National Association of Broadcasters has given $20,000.

Additional Facts
About the scholarship

The Frontier Foundation Inc. does not yet offer scholarships. However, each year it sends a copy of its scholarship application to the IRS as part of its 990 tax form.


The scholarship application lists the following criteria:
# For Indiana high school seniors intending to pursue higher education through a college, university or school of training.
# Two scholarships available each year, one for a male student and one for a female student. Amounts are $10,000 if the student pledges to remain in Indiana a year after graduation and $20,000 for a two-year pledge.
# Applicants must have a 2.75 or better grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
# Applicant must be a well-rounded student active in school, community or church.
# Also required: Personal essay, copy of official grade transcript, recommendation of a faculty member, and copy of letter of acceptance by college or school of training.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Steve Buyer, foundation