Exxon sockpuppet sends the IRS after Greenpeace

by Plutonium Page

When I see the corporate logo, I think of lots of things.  I think of environmental catastrophes and corporate irresponsibility.  I see ""  and I think of obscene profits, and corporate greed.  I think of over $8 million in donations to conservative thinktanks, media outlets, etc. who in turn do their best to discredit climate change science.  I think of Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), one of many Republicans to receive tens of thousands of dollars in donations from .  Yep, that's Rep. Joe Barton, "anti-climate change fundamentalist", who tried to intimidate climate scientists into turning over their data and financial records.  Obviously, if there's one thing hates, it's the truth.

That's why I like Greenpeace's label for :  "the world's number one climate criminal".  But, predictably, doesn't like that.  At all.  So what did they do?

I'll bet you can guess.

The Wall Street Journal tells the story:

Two and a half years ago, Public Interest Watch, a self-described watchdog of nonprofit groups, wrote to the Internal Revenue Service urging the agency to audit Greenpeace and accusing the environmental group of money laundering and other crimes.

Last September, the IRS began a months-long audit of the U.S. arm of Greenpeace, known for steering its boats in the way of whaling ships and oil tankers. This month, Greenpeace says, it received notice from the IRS that the group "continues to qualify for exemption from federal income tax" as a nonprofit entity.

[snip]

What is clear is where PIW has gotten a lot of its funding: Exxon Mobil Corp., the giant oil company that has long been a target of Greenpeace protests.

"I believe organizations should be scrutinized and audited, but I just don't believe you should get targeted because ... you're a critic of Exxon Mobil," said John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA, the U.S. affiliate of Amsterdam-based Greenpeace International.

[emphasis mine]

Well, what a surprise!  Exxon Mobil is so predictable in its intimidation of its enemies, via second parties sockpuppets, that it's almost getting boring.  Here's a scan of PIW's federal tax records, showing a $120,000 donation from Exxon Mobil Corp. (image via the Wall Street Journal, click to enlarge):

The Wall Street Journal article gives a brief background description of PIW:

According to its Web site, PIW was founded in 2002 "in response to the growing misuse of charitable funds by nonprofit organizations and the lack of effort by government agencies to deal with the problem." Its motto: "Keeping an Eye on the Self-Appointed Guardians of the Public Interest."

It was founded by Michael J. Hardiman, a Washington-based lobbyist and public-relations consultant who previously worked for a Republican congressman. As a lobbyist, he has represented the American Conservative Union and the American Trucking Association, among other groups.

The PIW Web site says the group's initial funding came from "business organizations." In an interview, Mr. Hardiman declined to name any of those sources. He said he left PIW in February 2004 to work in Iraq as a civilian employee of the Defense Department. His successor at PIW, Lewis Fein, who serves as interim executive director, also declined to name any of the group's funders.

I did a little internet research on Hardiman, and found out that he'd worked for seven years for none other than Rep. Richard "Sell The National Parks" Pombo (R-CA), chair of the House Committee on Resources, and, like his GOP buddies, recipient of thousands of dollars in donations from Exxon Mobil.

PIW has been targetting Greenpeace since 2003 (as well as other environmental groups);  according to the Wall Street Journal article, PIW says that Greenpeace "laundered" donations by "diverting them" to other Greenpeace branches that held peaceful demonstrations against Exxon.  Here's more from the article:

Greenpeace officials said an IRS auditor showed up at their Washington office Sept. 12, 2005. Mr. Passacantando said that when the auditor, Charles Walker, arrived, he pointed to a picture of an activist chained to an Exxon Mobil gas pump and said, "You guys are engaged in illegal activity and this stuff has got to stop." Mr. Walker later said the audit had been triggered by the PIW complaint, according to Mr. Passacantando.

Auditing civil disobedience?  That's a new one!

Let's go to the Greenpeace press release for a few more details:

We have been a major target of PIW's scrutinization for years. In fact, on its IRS application for 2003, it admitted Greenpeace was the only non-profit it was focusing on that year.

Gee, I wonder if that big Exxon donation had anything to do with that?

Finally, I thought it would be important to show you exactly why feels that Greenpeace is a threat.  Sure, the WSJ talks about Greenpeace protesters blocking ships and chaining themselves to gas pumps, but it's so much more than that.  For years, Greenpeace has been raising awareness of 's threat to the environment, as you can see from this timeline.  I think that one of the most powerful tools that Greenpeace has put at our fingertips is exxonsecrets.org, a huge, very well-researched database that shows "how funds the climate change skeptics".  The flash version of the site allows you to map your way from to all of its anti-climate change sockpuppets.

No wonder is intimidated.

Comments

[Mimikatz]

Great job!

At least in the Nixon Administration they didn't subcontract the choosing of enemies for IRS audit to the private sector.

[TCinLA]

Not to say you're a bit late (all news is good news with stuff like this), but TPMuckraker did this last week, and pointed out that - just like in the case of the "complaint" against Texans for Public Justice - this IRS complaint was supposed to go through a "committee" of senior IRS managers to insure the complaint was not "political." According to GreenPeace, when they got all the files on this case through a FOIA request, there was no record of such a meeting - just like there was no record in the TPJ case.

Please continue to believe "The IRS is a non-partisan organization, and all the bad old things they used to do were straightened out 30 years ago." And if you do believe that, please come out to the Santa Monica pier at dawn tomorrow, stare out to the west and watch the sun rise over the Pacific.

These scum have been used to roust dissidents for as long as the organization has existed. I myself was one of their targets in 1971-73 for the "crime" of being against the war in Vietnam and the last Major Crook to occupy the White House.

[Jane]

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