Given that John Eastman & the Claremont Institute has been in the news lately, I took a look at the institute's 990s. Timely since Governor Ron DeSantis is the honoree at the annual gala tomorrow night in Huntington Beach CA...
claremontgala.com
...The Claremont Institute's influence is outsized, given its relatively small budget. Contributions did pick up in the year ended June 30 2020 & may have increased this year since Claremont opened a center in DC in Feb 2021...
dc.claremont.org
...I highlighted non-cash contributions of publicly traded securities since the institute appears to have made a change to its stated policy beginning in 2018 of selling donated securities "as soon as prudent"...
...The most significant change in the Claremont Institute's financial reporting is how it accounts for consulting fees which are now buried in "Other", possibly in violation of IRS rules regarding disclosure of the five highest paid independent contractors....
...Compare how the Claremont Institute reported consulting fees of $433k paid to William J. Bennett & Charles Kesler in 2015 to how it reported consulting fees of $905k in 2020...
...Possible the dramatic decrease in compensation of current officers et al in 2020 may be an error. Total number of employees did increase from 29 in 2019 to 36 but total reported compensation paid to officers et al on Schedule VII in 2020 was $1.2M....
...The most glaring deficiency in the Claremont Institute's financial reporting, imo, is the backdoor financing of the Clarence Thomas documentary starring Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill & Joe Biden released in 2020 & produced by Michael Pack...
imdb.com/title/tt102562…
...Michael Pack's tenure as "president" of the Claremont Institute began March 1 2015 & ended Sept 1 2017. His compensation by fiscal year ended June 30:
2015 - $0
2016 - $229k
2017 - $281k
2018 - $280k (July & Aug 2017)
Total - $790K
...Michael Pack first came to the public's attention in late 2020 after Trump appointed him as head of the US Global Media Agency (VOA etc) in July 2020 & he promptly fired anyone perceived as disloyal. @davidfolkenflik at NPR on what happened next...
npr.org/2020/11/20/935…
...As part of a lengthy thread last January, I reported the names of three major sources of funding for the Clarence Thomas documentary: Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation & Charles Koch Foundation...
...Per Michael Pack's [archived] US Agency For Global Media bio, he made significant changes to the way the Claremont Institute operated during his tenure as president...
usagm.gov/who-we-are/man…
...Oops! Almost forgot to note Politico referred to Michael Pack as a Bannon ally. Don't have a link to the original article but I read it in a LegiStorm newsletter...
...The notion the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank founded more than 20 years ago, brought in a filmmaker & paid him more than a quarter of a million dollars to revamp its operations is ludicrous...
...I searched the Claremont Institute site for "Michael Pack" & learned he moderated three events during his tenure, one being a celebration of Justice Clarence Thomas' 25 year anniversary serving on the Supreme Court in Oct 2016...
claremont.org/event/the-juri…
...I initially thought the Claremont Institute brought Michael Pack on board to pay him to research re Clarence Thomas & provide him w conservative bona fides. Looking at revenue & expenses, I'm curious if other CT documentary related expenses were paid by the institute...
..Claremont Institute 2013-2020 balance sheets...
...Thomas Klingenstein, an investment banker, has been chairman/director of the Claremont Institute since 2005 or earlier. I scanned a few of the Thomas D. Klingenstein Fund 990s & he donates approximately $2.8M to the institute annually....
..Duh. In the 2016-17 Claremont Institute biennial report, Chairman Thomas Klingenstein disclosed that, although Michael Pack had resigned as president, he would remain as a fellow & CIaremont would support him in his future endeavors...
...Unless I missed something, there were no disclosures re payments to Michael Pack or his production company in the 990s for the years ended June 30, 2018, 2019 & 2020 other than he was paid $280k for two months of work in July & August 2017...
...In fiscal 2018, the Claremont Institute switched 990 preparers from a firm in California to one in McClean VA, Prager Metis CPAs, a decent sized outfit...
...That's all I have time for at the moment. I do think the folks at the Claremont Institute have some 'splainin' to do.
...Oh, one more thing. Ginni Thomas posted about the Clarence Thomas documentary on FB in May 2020. Michael Pack got the nod from Trump shortly thereafter....
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