Sunday, December 7, 2014

Wyndham Championship 2013 Federal Form 990: Part 4

When I began this series Wyndham Championship 2013 Federal Form 990: Part 1, back in May it was in the hopes of myself and others that Councilman Mike Barber would make publicly available the 2013 Federal Form 990 for Golf Fore Fun Inc, dba, First Tee of the Triad so that we might determine if Mr Barber has in-fact included in-kind contributions from the City of Greensboro and other cities in his filings. You see, while in-kind contributions are required to be reported by the IRS, Mr Barber, who is a practicing attorney, has admitted to doing the taxes for the non profit he runs as president and CEO.

But in previous years as shown on Guidestar, Mike Barber has failed to note in-kind contributions every year.

Previously Mr Barber took a fierce stance against transparency in non profits that are helped by the city of Greensboro. He publicly spoke in City Council meetings that he had many e-mails from people who were against the resolution but when I submitted a public information request asking to be forwarded those e-mails Mr Barber failed to comply with State law and send me the e-mails.

Or he never got any e-mails opposing the resolution in the first place. Either way I never got the e-mails all these months later. Barber lied one way or the other.

There was also no mention in the First Tee Federal 990s of the support the Wyndham Foundation claims to give First Tee. 

At the time our detractors said Mr Barber wasn't required to disclose because the deadline had not passed. That deadline was months ago.

The Guidestar report also fails to show the latest filings for First Tee of the Triad. One of the arguments Mr Barber made for refusing the transparency resolution was that the information was easily available online. Mike lied again.

Repeatedly myself and others asked but got no answers. Our investigations of Mr Barber uncovered over $80,000 in donations that were unaccounted for in First Tee Federal Form 990s for 2012 alone and no reference to in-kind donations whatsoever even though it is common knowledge that First Tee gets free use of numerous golf courses public and private across the Triad. Is the missing $80 thousand why Mr Barber stands in the way of transparency?

What Mike, you thought you could ignore this and it would just go away? Like Hell you will. All of this, every single word I've ever written about you, every question you've refused to ask and every lie you've told will be freely available for your challengers to look up come the next election cycle.

And Mike, just because you destroy e-mails doesn't mean I do the same.

Update: Monday morning, 8 December, 2014: I e-mailed Councilman Barber, Mayor Vaughan, the entire Greensboro City Council and others concerning the missing donations and asking for a reply from Mr Barber. Should he choose to reply I will post his reply in  Wyndham Championship 2013 Federal Form 990: Part 5.
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