Hindsight

In retrospect, I’ve learned so much from my semester with the Minutemen that it boggles my mind. Here are the lessons I learned, put most simply in terms Grandma taught us all years ago:

1. “Don’t believe everything you read”- Very true! I found that just because it’s in print, doesn’t always make it correct. If I’d believed everything I read without meeting MCDC volunteers down at the border, I might have guessed they were uneducated, racist, back-woodsy types. But by trying to stay neutral, I was able to see that not all pre-judgments were correct.

2. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar”- I knew that finding Minutemen to interview for my article would be difficult– just may be not as hard as it was. The Minutemen have been hounded by media who all want a piece of their time in the past, so when I finally broke through, I found that being sincerely nice made a huge difference. It’s amazing how people are willing to give you more of their time when you treat them like people.

3. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”- No matter how nice I was, persistence was still key in getting anywhere. Like I said before, the leaders and volunteers are busy people, and getting back to me on time wasn’t always of the essence. It could have been a tactic to frustrate me or get rid of me, but by the time I finished by project, I had certainly shook any shyness I’d had about calling or e-mailing.

Coming into this project I was one type of journalist, but developing new skills and techniques has changed and challenged me to make this an incredible learning experience!

Money Always Makes Things Complicated

It appears that the control over money may have played a bigger role in the split between Gilchrist and Simcox than I realized before.

Back before the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, (Simcox’s), and the Minutemen Project (Gilchrist’s), organizations were two separate entities, a partnership with Diener Consultants in late 2005 was begun. Although Gilchrist has recently made it clear he is no longer associated with the firm, it is still listed as the entity that totally controls MCDC’s donations, expenditures, P.R., advertising, press releases, databases, websites, etc.

The relationship MCDC has with Diener has been a controversial one. Because donation money is funneled through Diener instead of going directly to the Minuteman Foundation fund, many have started to wonder what percentage, if any, are being used to pay for the firm’s services and how much to the actual organization.
In order to find more answers to my questions, I contacted Mary Lewis Parker– someone listed on MCDC’s 2006 IRS 990 filing as Treasurer. Parker is, or was supposedly, affiliated with Diener Consultants, and was also former Chief of Staff to Dr. Alan Keyes who ran for president in 1996 and 2000.

However, when I called Parker, she seemed to be completely confused by my questions linking her with Diener Consultants–saying she had never worked with MCDC or Diener!
I don’t know why she would say that, but I’m wondering why articles and the IRS 990 form, link her to Diener and names her as a key player in MCDC’s financial controversies?