Scanlon, Like DeLay, Loved the Children

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Kids and corruption. I guess they just go together.

We’ve written before about the DeLay Foundation for Kids, Tom DeLay’s charity for foster children that was lavished with corporate generosity while DeLay was in power. The charity served his lavish lifestyle, its fundraisers providing him an excuse to tour the country’s finer golf courses, teeing off with lobbyists and eager executives (here‘s a picture of DeLay with Jack Abramoff at a DeLay Foundation event).

Well, it appears that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. DeLay’s operation must have seemed like a mighty good idea to Michael Scanlon, DeLay’s former press secretary who pled guilty last year to bribery and fraud charges, because Scanlon formed his own version: the Scanlon Foundation for Kids. The foundation, incorporated in Delaware on December 16, 2002, was registered to the same address as Scanlon’s $4 million home on Rehoboth Beach.

Scanlon was no slouch at creating shell companies. His American International Center, formed in early 2001 and also run out of his home, served to launder millions of dollars from Abramoff clients. And Scanlon, of course, worked closely with Abramoff, from whom he could have learned the fine art of the fake charity.

Perhaps his foundation was meant as a tribute to his former boss. It’s not clear if he ever used it, however – either to help children or launder money. He doesn’t seem to have registered for 501(c)3 status with the IRS, which would have been required for donations to be tax deductible. And the existence of the foundation has so far gone unreported, making it unlikely that Scanlon used it in the course of his various frauds.

So perhaps this was just his way of quietly acknowledging his roots, of tipping his hat to the grand master.

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