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?
