ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D.
June 4, 2007
Southern Halliburton University
Moving the Bush Bubble to the Big D
In her final column before her untimely death, Molly Ivins wrote:
“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders.”
Dr. Benjamin Johnson, a history professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, where President Bush is proposing to build his $500 million library and neoconservative institute (DeFrank, 2006; Berkowitz, 2007), recently attended the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Several colleagues there reported that Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political strategist, has been traveling around the country examining research facilities, discussing how to select Bush Institute fellows, and meeting with library directors (Johnson, 2007a).
According to Dr. Johnson, one well-respected colleague said, “Rove seems to know exactly what the square footage is of the building that will be at SMU and where it will be located on campus.” Rove also expressed displeasure that some SMU faculty and United Methodist bishops were protesting the proposed partisan institute (Korosec, 2007; Silva, 2007) over which Bush and company will have total control (Johnson, 2007b). This hands-on involvement of a top-level White House operative like Rove demonstrates the importance of the proposed library and think tank at SMU to Bush insiders.
Convincing the United Methodist Church to stain its good name and a major university to give away its academic respectability by linking itself with a president that much of the world views as an authoritarian bully who has authorized and advocated for torture and international kidnapping is one nifty trick
Bush is the most unpopular and isolated president since Richard Nixon. Inside his bubble, the President is being told by the Secretary of State (Rice, 2004) that he is another Winston Churchill or Harry Truman — unpopular now, but he will be vindicated by history for his heroic effort to bring democracy to the Middle East at the point of a gun (even if it requires a total re-write). To re-write history on the scale Bush needs will necessitate the complete control of a disinformation institute, and if it uses the legitimacy of a respected university and the good name of a major Protestant tradition, all the better (imagine the American Enterprise Institute with a giant cross on the front door, and you get the picture).
Importantly, Rove and friends will be able to continue to conceal the most damaging information about this administration in its bubble using Bush’s Executive Order 13233, signed into law shortly after 9/11, which insures that the president and his heirs are able to deny access in perpetuity to government records they select (Gillman, 2007). Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the American Library Association, observed that the executive order “completely goes against the spirit of the essence of a library” (Gillman, 2007). Steve Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said “If the Bush folks are going to play games with the records, no self-respecting academic institution should cooperate” (Gillman, 2007). Professor Benjamin Hufbauer at the University of Louisville, a recognized authority on presidential libraries, believes that dictating which papers can be seen at the library reduces it to “just a museum of political propaganda” (Jascik, 2007).
To convince the United Methodist Church (UMC) to stain its good name and a major university to give away its academic respectability by linking itself with a president that much of the world views as an authoritarian bully (Public Diplomacy, 2005; World Public Opinion, 2007) who has authorized and advocated for torture and international kidnapping is one nifty trick (Miles, 2006; Grey, 2006). Such an endeavor required skilled operators and years of stealth planning (Schutze, 2006), which according to SMU President R. Gerald Turner began in 2001, shortly after Bush became president. It required that the SMU administration hide its intentions from its faculty and from church leaders who would understand that a partisan institute lacking standard academic controls, whose mission undoubtedly will include justifying crimes against humanity, would be a bad idea (Weaver and Crawford, 2007). To achieve these goals Bush needs powerful friends in high places and he has them in the SMU Trustees.
Awash in Conflicts of Interest
The SMU Board of Trustees is a study in the appearance of conflicts of interests, at a minimum. It is dominated by individuals who have long-standing relationships with George W. Bush and his family which raises serious questions about their impartiality and therefore how they fulfill their fiduciary duty to the university (Weaver, Sprague, Hicks, and Yeakel, 2007). At least 25 of the 41 trustees (61 percent) have personal, financial, and/or political relationships with Bush, and many have been major fundraisers and contributors to his political campaigns. Furthermore, one of the three United Methodist bishops who serve as SMU trustees, Scott Jones, publicly endorsed the Bush project months before a formal proposal was even presented to the Board (Tooley, 2007).
Twenty-two of the trustees have donated to one or more of the Bush political campaigns and/or the Republican National Committee in support of Bush, including SMU President R. Gerald Turner, Board Chair Carl Sewell, Ruth Altshuler, Michael M. Boone, Bradley W. Brookshire, Donald J. Carty, Jeanne Tower Cox, Gary T. Crum, Linda Pitts Custard, Robert H. Dedman, Jr., Frank M. Dunlevy, Thomas J. Engibous, Alan D. Feld, Gerald J. Ford, James R. Gibbs, Frederick B. Hegi, Jr., Ray L. Hunt, Robert A. Leach, Jeanne L. Phillips, Caren H. Prothro, John C. Tolleson, and Richard Ware (Campaign Finance in American Politics, 2007; Fundrace, 2007; NewsMeat, 2007; Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2004, 2007).
Nearly all of the contributions to political candidates and campaigns by the trustees have been to Republican causes. In total, public records show that the SMU trustees have given $2,759,000 to Republican candidates and causes and $34,000 to Democratic candidates and causes (Campaign Finance in American Politics, 2007; Fundrace, 2007; NewsMeat, 2007; Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2004; 2007). Trustee Milledge A. Hart, III, donated the most to Democratic causes ($27,750). The only trustee to have given exclusively to Democrats is the SMU Faculty Senate representative, Dr. Rhoda Blair, who donated $250 in 2004 to the Democratic National Committee (Fundrace, 2007).
Two United Methodist clergy on the Board, Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston (Gaines, 2002) and Rev. Mark Craig of Dallas (Religion and Ethics, 2001), have long-standing personal relationships with Bush and his family. In addition, Laura Bush, the wife of the president and a trustee, has publicly stated her personal preference for SMU (Wolffe and Bailey, 2005a). The First Lady is the only trustee who has said she will recuse herself from voting on the proposal because of a conflict of interest. Despite the fact that numerous other trustees have apparent conflicts, none have recused themselves, even after three United Methodist bishops called for the compromised trustees to do so (Weaver, Sprague, Hicks, and Yeakel, 2007).
The Hunt Oil/Halliburton Connection
And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid
— Dick and Lynne Cheney’s Christmas card inscription, 2003 (both claim membership in the UMC)
Long-time trustee (since 1976) and UMC member Ray L. Hunt is head of the Dallas-based Hunt Oil Company, one of the largest independent oil corporations in the world. He is a Bush friend and a central figure in bringing the Bush think tank proposal to SMU (Personal communication, 2007). Hunt is the son of flamboyant Texas oil tycoon, H.L. Hunt, who was a staunch supporter of Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch Society. In 1948, Fortune magazine labeled H.L. Hunt “the richest man in the United States” (Texas State Historical Association, 2007). Ray L. Hunt, an under-the-radar power player, inherited much of the Hunt Oil fortune in 1974 when his father died. Forbes recently identified billionaire Ray Hunt as one of the richest men on the planet (Dallas Business Journal, 2007).
Ray Hunt is a longtime financial backer of the Bush family. He raised money for the elder Bush and served as the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee for George W. Bush in 2000 (Bryce, 2005). According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Hunt and his spouse have donated more than $460,000 to Republican state campaigns, while his company and its employees contributed more than $1 million to Republican causes between 1995 and 2002 (Grimaldi, 2002). He gave $100,000 toward the 2001 Bush inaugural festivities and one of his corporations, Hunt Consolidated, gave another $250,000 toward the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural gala (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2007). In addition, Hunt donated a whopping $35 million toward the Bush library/think tank to secure additional property for the project (Schutze, 2006).
One month after 9/11, Bush honored his friend Ray Hunt with a seat on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), and he was re-appointed in January 2006 (Bryce, 2005). According to the White House, this board operates to offer the president “objective, expert advice” on the conduct of foreign intelligence (Wolffe and Bailey, 2005b). Hunt, with international business interests, has access through PFIAB to intelligence that is unavailable to most members of Congress. This group is privy to the most current and sensitive information gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the military intelligence organizations, and several others sources (Bryce, 2005). PFIAB operates in complete secrecy. According to Salon magazine, members of this oversight board “are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and unlike other public servants who work for the president, there is no public disclosure of the PFIAB members’ financial interests” (Bryce, 2005).
Several experts are persuaded that Hunt’s position at PFIAB could easily benefit both Hunt Oil’s worldwide energy interests and Halliburton, which has been awarded billions of dollars worth of no-bid, cost-plus contracts in Iraq by the U.S. government (Bryce, 2005; Wolffe and Bailey, 2005). Hunt has been on Halliburton’s board of directors since 1998, when Dick Cheney was running the company and serving as an SMU trustee (1997- 2000). Interestingly, soon after Hunt joined the Halliburton board, he was placed on its compensation committee, where he helped determine Cheney’s pay package (Bryce, 2005). In fact, in 1998 Hunt’s committee decided that Cheney deserved a $3.78 million bonus (Bryce, 2005), and in 2000 he got $33.7 million award when he joined the Bush campaign (Bryce, 2000).
Halliburton has outdone even Enron in using offshore tax shelters to avoid paying taxes. By 2005, Halliburton had 58 offshore subsidiaries in Caribbean tax havens (Turnipseed, 2005). In 1998, the year Hunt joined Cheney at Halliburton, the company paid $302 million in taxes. In 1999, with the use of offshore tax havens, Halliburton paid no taxes and even received $85 million in refunds from the IRS (Turnipseed, 2005). Halliburton also utilized its offshore companies to contract services and sell banned equipment to Iran, Iraq, and Libya — something that would have violated federal law if Halliburton had not used offshore subsidiaries (Turnipseed, 2005). New York City Controller William Thompson said that profits made by Halliburton from states that sponsor terrorism, such as Iran and Libya, is nothing short of “blood money” (Halliburtonwatch, 2007).
Despite using tax havens and earning millions in profits from rogue states like Iran, Halliburton experienced financial distress. In late 2001, according to Fortune magazine, after a series of financial debacles and billions in asbestos-related liability claims, Halliburton stock plummeted to $8.50 a share, and Wall Street worried about the corporation’s survival (Elkind, 2005). Halliburton’s fortunes changed dramatically with the onset of the “war of choice” in Iraq. Before the war, Halliburton was 19th on the U.S. Army’s list of utilized contractors; by 2003 it was number one. The company has been awarded at least $11 billion in government contracts since Bush took office (Mayer, 2004).
And Ray Hunt has become an even richer billionaire. In March of 2003 Halliburton stock was valued at $20.50 per share and by March of 2007 it was worth $64.12 per share (Rich, 2007). According to the Forbes list of the World’s Richest People in 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq war Ray Hunt was worth $2.3 billion (Forbes, 2003) and by 2007 his fortune had grown to $3.5 billion (Dallas Business Journal, 2007). Both Hunt and Halliburton have been winners in the Iraq war. To provide perspective, the $1.2 billion increase in riches in four years by Hunt is greater than SMU’s total endowment garnered since 1911 (SMU, 2006).
In 2005 audits by the Pentagon, the Government Accountability Office, and other agencies found that $1.8 billion of the $11 billion in contracts to Halliburton (16.4 percent) to be either “unjustified” or “undocumented” charges to the government (Elkind, 2005). In addition, the auditors reported widespread problems with record keeping and a refusal to provide required information, as well as misleading the auditors about its efforts to seek competitive prices. According to Fortune magazine, Halliburton’s “war profiteering” also involved outrageous price-gouging for fuel and services to the troops, such as charging $100 to wash a 15-pound bag of clothes and serving out-of-date food to the troops (Elkind, 2005).
As long-ago as September of 2004, the U.S. military called for “the immediate termination of Halliburton’s most lucrative contract with Army because of poor performance” (Halliburtonwatch, 2005). Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush ignored the request. When Fortune magazine tried to speak to Hunt about the company’s questionable practices, its phone calls were not returned (Elkind, 2005). None of these jaw-dropping scandals kept Halliburton from obtaining a new federal contract to build a maximum-security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Ivanovich, 2005; Buncombe, 2006).
In a separate business dealing, Hunt Oil has a major role in the development of the Camisea Natural Gas Project in an unspoiled rain forest in Peru. This project has encountered fierce opposition because of concerns that the pipeline will destroy the rainforest and the lives of the indigenous peoples in the region (Grimaldi, 2002). Amazon Watch, an environmental and human rights group, calls the Camisea Gas Project “the most damaging project in the Amazon Basin” (Amazon Watch, 2007). The (London) Independent newspaper reported that the project “will enrich some of [President Bush’s] closest corporate campaign contributors” but that it “risks the destruction of one of the world’s remaining pristine stretches of rain forest and threatens the lives of indigenous peoples” (Halliburtonwatch, 2004). Does Hunt’s position on PFIAB and the government intelligence to which he is privy give him a business advantage in dealing with this and numerous other projects? There is no way to be certain. What is clear, as journalist Robert Bryce has observed, is that “Hunt’s business operations are so vast that every bit of foreign intelligence he sees at PFIAB could potentially be of value to him and his associates” (Bryce, 2005).
Finally, there is another trustee associated with Hunt Oil who may benefit from intelligence gathered by Ray Hunt at the PFIAB and who appears to have conflicts of interest related to her long-standing relationship with Bush. Jeanne L. Phillips, who was appointed as an SMU Trustee in 2004, was personally chosen by Ray Hunt as his senior vice president of corporate affairs and international relations in 2005 (Solomon, 2005).
According to her official U.S. Department of State biography, Ms. Phillips “served as Senior Advisor for National Finance in the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush, developing the original fund-raising plan and structure for the finance organization…” (U.S. Department of State, 2001). She was appointed Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by President Bush in 2001. She told the New York Times in 2005 that she had been a close friend of the Bushes since 1979 when she worked as a fund-raiser for George H.W. Bush. She postponed her wedding plans to chair the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural events (Solomon, 2005).
Other SMU Trustees with the appearance of significant conflicts of interest
Ruth Altshuler is a Dallas philanthropist and investor. She pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign and gave $25,000 toward the 2001 Bush inaugural gala (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2007).
Michael M. Boone is a corporate attorney and founding partner of the prominent law firm Haynes & Boone. According to its website, Haynes & Boone has 430 lawyers and 10 offices worldwide (World Services Group, 2007). It was the third largest contributor to the Bush re-election in 2004. The firm and Mr. Boone have been active financial and political supporters of Bush since he ran for governor. Mr. Boone pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 presidential campaign and at least another $200,000 in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Mr. Boone and his law firm were the ninth-largest patron of George W. Bush’s overall political career (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2004).
Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell is Senior Pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. He introduced Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention and campaigned with him in the 2000 and 2004 elections. He gave the benediction at both presidential inaugurations, has stayed overnight at the White House, and has traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on campaign trips (Gaines, 2002). The president has said the he considers Rev. Caldwell to be a trusted friend and close confidant (White House Press Office, 2003; Caldwell, 2007).
Donald J. Carty is Chair of Virgin America and former Chair and CEO of American Airlines. He contributed $52,000 for the re-election of Bush in 2004 (Fundrace, 2007) and $100,000 to the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural gala (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2007). Carty was appointed by President Bush in 2002 to the National Infrastructure Advisory Board.
Rev. Mark Craig is Senior Pastor of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, where President Bush is a member. He has been a long-time friend and admirer of Bush. According to the PBS program Religion and Ethics, Rev. Craig expressed unfettered enthusiasm for Bush in these public comments:
I think what you [Bush] did for me, you have done for others. I think you have brought healing and brought hope to the young, to the elderly, to the marginalized, to the dispossessed. And that’s what Moses did. That’s what Moses did. He was chosen by God, as you have been chosen by God, to lead the people (Religion and Ethics, 2001).
Rev. Craig has not expressed equal ardor for the 15 UMC bishops, two former presidents of the New Zealand Methodist Church, a former president of the Irish Methodist Church, two superintendents in the British Methodist Church, 35 members of his congregation, several highly respected Protestant theologians, and more than 10,000 Christians (mostly United Methodists) who have signed a petition calling for the rejection of the Bush complex. Craig labeled these fellow Christians “a marginal group, a fringe group,” ironically asserting that if they do not share his high opinion of Bush they are “being grossly judgmental” (Hacker, Gillman, and Hodges, 2007).
Rev. Craig and Bishop Scott Jones of Kansas told the Dallas Morning News that fellow United Methodists who signed the petition and objected to the Bush complex “would have no influence on them as SMU trustees.” Moreover, they declared that “they as trustees — not the United Methodist Church — have the final say on decisions that SMU makes about the library” (Hacker, Gillman, and Hodges, 2007). Rev. Craig and Bishop Jones made this statement despite the fact that the UMC founded and owns SMU and the trustees are appointed under the authority of the church.
Jeanne Tower Cox is the daughter of the late Senator John Tower. She and George W. Bush are on the steering committee of a group called Associated Republicans of Texas that has one of the largest political action committees in the state with over $1.2 million in funds (100 Biggest PACs in Texas, 2007). The group reads like a who’s who list of leading Republican Party activists in Texas, including U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. It has roots back to 1975 when the founders committed “to putting their time and money” into rebuilding the Republican Party in Texas (Associated Republicans of Texas, 2007).
Robert H. Dedman, Jr. is Chair and CEO of Club Corp. International. The Dedmans are long time friends of the Bush family, and Mr. Dedman raised at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign.
Alan Feld is a lobbyist and one of two senior executive partners of the 25th largest law firm in the U.S. It has 900 employees and offices in Dubai, Dallas, Moscow, Beijing, Washington and 10 other locations worldwide (Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP, 2006). He pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign.
Carl Sewell is Chair of the SMU Board and Chair of Sewell Automotive Companies in Dallas. He and his spouse together donated $54,000 toward the re-election of President Bush: $50,000 to the RNC and $2,000 each to the Bush/Cheney committee to re-elect.
A Second death penalty
Veritas Liberabit Vos
— SMU motto
SMU is the only university in history to receive a “death penalty” from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). In 1987 the NCAA required, among other things, that the university cancel its football season (White, 1989). The NCAA cited the need to “eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations” (McNabb, 1987). The scandal was a deep embarrassment to SMU and the UMC and which centered on the misconduct of a number of trustees and school officials, along with a lack of proper oversight by the UMC (Wangrin, 2007; The Bishop’s Committee Report on SMU, 1987).
It involved a slush fund of $61,000 distributed to 13 football players, as well as the continuation of payments to players involving SMU officials while the school was serving a two-year probation for prior rules violations (Wangrin, 2007). When the scandal broke, the chair of the trustees was the Republican ex-governor of Texas, William Clements. Working on his re-election staff as governor was none other than Karl Rove, who was entangled in nasty allegations involving Clements’ re-election efforts (Dubose, 2001; Ivins, 2006).
According to the San Antonio Express-News, Bill Clements was smack in the middle of the SMU football mess (Wangrin, 2007). He admitted on March 3, 1987, “that while sitting on the SMU board, he and other school officials had approved a secret plan to continue illegal payments to SMU players” (Wangrin, 2007). Clements insisted that all the members of SMU’s board of trustees were in on the fix. All denied it, including Ray Hunt. UMC bishops had to intervene to save the university and its board from total disgrace (Wangrin, 2007).
Two of the strongest recommendations the bishops made to SMU were to place “limits on the length of time a person can serve as a trustee and create more diversity among the trustees” (Bishops’ Committee Report on SMU, 1987). The football scandal came as result of a concentration of power in the hands of a few like-minded, long-time trustees, who acted in secret against the best interests of the university. Only two trustees are on the 2007 board who were there in the scandal-ridden years of 1983-1987, Ray Hunt and vice chair Richard Ware.
The humiliation to SMU and the UMC from that self-inflicted wound of the athletic program debacle will pale in comparison to what will unfold if the partisan Bush complex goes to SMU without adequate oversight. University President R. Gerald Turner has repeatedly stated his belief that “When a President is in office, everything is political; when he leaves office, it becomes historical” (Turner, 2006). Given the extreme secrecy and nefarious behavior within this presidency, nothing could be more counter to reality (Chandrasekaran, 2006; Greenberg, 2005; Isikoff and Corn, 2007; Saar and Novak, 2005).
Over the remainder of Bush’s life, horror stories of war crimes that were committed under his authority undoubtedly will spill out (Murray, 2007). We will continue to hear about clandestine torture and the international kidnapping of innocents (Miles, 2006; Ratner, 2004). The full extent of the lies that were told by this administration to start a greed-based war will be uncovered and the real story of war profiteering by Bush’s friends will be told (Chandrasekaran, 2006; Isikoff and Corn, 2007). SMU and the Bush Institute bubble may well become the final bastion in the defense of the indefensible, and the United Methodist Church will continue to be stained by its complicity and collaboration.
What you can do
The UMC bishops within the region where SMU is located have the power to stop the Bush partisan institute. If they say no to Bush, he will not go to SMU. The church owns the school. Contact these bishops in a courteous manner telling them of your concerns.
The Bishops include:
DALLAS EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Alfred L Norris
16475 Dallas Parkway Ste 680
Addison, TX 75001-6216
Phone: (214) 522-6741
Fax: (214) 528-4435
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
NORTH TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
FORT WORTH EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Ben R Chamness
464 Bailey Avenue
Fort Worth, TX 76107-2153
Phone: (817) 877-5222
Fax: (817) 332-4609
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
CENTRAL TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
HOUSTON EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Janice Riggle Huie
5215 South Main Street
Houston, TX 77002-9792
Phone: (713) 521-9383
Fax: (713) 529-7736
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
KANSAS EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Scott J Jones
9440 East Boston Suite 160
Wichita, KS 67207-3603
Phone: (316) 686-0600
Fax: (316) 684-0044
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
KANSAS EAST ANNUAL CONFERENCE
KANSAS WEST ANNUAL CONFERENCE
LOUISIANA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop William W Hutchinson
527 North Boulevard
Baton Rouge, LA 70802-5720
Nationwide Toll Free Phone: (888) 239-5286
Phone: (225) 346-1646 ext 212
Fax: (225) 387-3662
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
LOUISIANA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MISSOURI EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Robert C Schnase
3601 Armon Court
Columbia, MO 65202
Nationwide Toll Free Phone: (877) 736-1806
Phone: (573) 441-1770
Fax: (573) 441-0765
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
MISSOURI ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NEBRASKA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Ann Brookshire Sherer
2641 North 49th Street
Lincoln, NE 68504-2899
Phone: (402) 466-4955
Fax: (402) 466-6793
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
NEBRASKA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NORTHWEST TEXAS-NEW MEXICO EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop D Max Whitfield
11816 Lomas Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112-5614
Nationwide Toll Free Phone: (800) 678-8786
Phone: (505) 255-9361
Fax: (505) 255-8738
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
NEW MEXICO ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NORTHWEST TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OKLAHOMA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Robert E Hayes Jr
PO Box 60467
Oklahoma City, OK 73146-0467
Phone: (405) 530-2025
Fax: (405) 350-2040
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
OKLAHOMA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OKLAHOMA INDIAN MISSIONARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SAN ANTONIO EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Joel N Martinez
PO Box 781688
San Antonio, TX 78278-1688
Phone: (210) 408-4500
Fax: (210) 408-4501
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
RIO GRANDE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SOUTHWEST TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Bishop Charles N Crutchfield
2 Trudie Kibbe Reed Dr
Little Rock, AR 72202-3770
Phone: (501) 324-8001
Fax: (501) 324-8021
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
ARKANSAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Andrew J. Weaver, M.Th., Ph.D., is a United Methodist minister and research psychologist. He is a graduate of Perkins School of Theology at SMU and lives in New York City. He has co-authored 12 books including: Counseling Survivors of Traumatic Events (Abingdon, 2003), Reflections on Grief and the Spiritual Journey (Abingdon, 2005), Counseling on Addictions and Compulsions (Pilgrim, 2007), and Connected Spirits: Friends and Spiritual Journeys (Pilgrim, 2007).
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Amazon Watch. (2007). Peru Camisea natural gas project. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
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Bishops’ Committee Report on SMU. (1987). Report to the Board of Trustees of SMU from the special committee of Bishops of the SCJ of the UMC. June 19, 1987; Dallas: United Methodist Reporter.
Bryce, R. (2000). The Candidate from Brown and Root. The Texas Observer, October 6, 2000.
Bryce, R. (2005). Top Secret Cronies. Salon.com. November 5, 2007. Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
Buncombe, A. (2006). New maximum-security jail to open at Guantanamo Bay: Far from winding down, the controversial US detention centre is expanding. The (London) Independent, July 30, 2006. Retrieved on April 25, 2007.
Caldwell, D. (2007). A good and faithful confidence-keeper. Beliefnet. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
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Center for Public Integrity (2007). Kellogg, Brown & Root (Halliburton). Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
Chandrasekaran, R. (2006) Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone New York, Knopf.
Dubose L. (2001). Bush’s hit man: Karl Rove wins…by any means necessary. Texas Observer, March 16, 2001. Retrieved on May 14, 2007.
DeFrank, T.M. (2006). W library in record book: $500M center would be priciest for a Prez. New York Daily News. Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
Dallas Business Journal. (2007). North Texans makes Forbes’ wealthiest List. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
Fundrace. (2007). Fundrace 2004 Neighborhood Search. Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
Gaines, A.S. (2002). Houston’s power broker: He is a confidant of President Bush and the leader of the nation’s largest Methodist congregation. Charisma Magazine. Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
Gillman , T.J. (2007). SMU pressed to fight Bush’s secrecy: Historians ask school to reject presidential library unless Bush voids privacy order. Dallas Morning News, February 5, 2007. Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
Greenberg, K.J. (2005). The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Grey, S. (2006). Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program. New York, St. Martin’s Press.
Grimaldi, J.V. (2002). Texas firms line up U.S. aid in Peru: Gas project’s damage to rain forest assailed. Washington Post. November 20, 2002; Page A01. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
Hacker, H.K., Gillman, T.J., and Hodges, S. (2007). Methodist faction fighting Bush library at SMU. Dallas Morning News, January 19, 2007. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
Halliburtonwatch. (2004). Payback: 99 percent of political donations from Halliburton’s board of directors go to Republicans, August 3, 2004. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
Halliburtonwatch. (2005). In 1 year, Halliburton’s stock doubles as troop deaths double, September 20, 2005. Retrieved on April 20, 2007/
Halliburtonwatch. (2007). Cheney/Halliburton chronology. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
Isikoff, M., and Corn, D. (2007). Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Ivanovich, D. (2005). Halliburton to build $30 million prison at Guantanamo Bay. Houston Chronicle, June 17, 2005. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
Ivins, M. (2006). TruthDig; April 18, 2006; Karl Rove’s early machinations. Retrieved on May 14, 2007.
Jascik, S. (2007). Boarding the Bush library debate. Inside Higher Education. February 6, 2007. Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
Johnson, B. (2007a). Will Karl Rove be the first head of the Bush Institute? Questions about the Bush complex, faculty leadership, and the future of SMU. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
Johnson, B. (2007b). Personal Communication, April 10, 2007
Korosec, T. (2007). Drop Bush library bid, Methodist clergy tell SMU. Houston Chronicle, January 19, 2007. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
Mayer, J. (2004). Contract sport: What did the vice-president do for Halliburton? The New Yorker. Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
McNabb, D. (1987). SMU football canceled for 1987; Dallas Morning News, February 26, 1987: Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
Miles, S. (2006). Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror., New York: Random House.
Murray, C. (2007). Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror. New York: Mainstream Publications.
Nelson, C.M. (2006). Visitors passing on presidential libraries. Dallas Morning News, March 24, 2006. Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
NewsMeat. (2007). Federal campaign contribution search. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
Personal communication. (2007). This was confirmed in personal conversations with three members of the Mission Council of the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ) of the UMC and five UMC leaders living in the SCJ of the UMC in January, February, March and April of 2007.
Public Citizen’s Congress Watch. (2004). WhiteHouseForSale.org: Retrieved on April 27, 2007.
Public Citizen’s Congress Watch. (2007). Bush’s 2005 inauguration celebration: Brought to you by corporate America. Retrieved on April 27, 2007.
Public Diplomacy. (2005). World opinion grows more negative after Bush re-election: Surveys in 21 countries, conducted November 2004 to January 2005. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
Ratner, M. (2004). Guantanamo: What the World Should Know. New York; Chelsea Green.
Religion and Ethics. (2001). Spirituality of President Bush. January 19, 2001, Episode 421. Retrieved on April 27, 2007.
Rice, C. (2004). National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice discusses war on terror at Reagan Library and Museum, February 28, 2004. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
Rich, F. (2007). The Ides of March 2003. New York Times. March 18, 2007. Retrieved on April 27, 2007.
Saar, E., and Novak, V. (2005). Inside the wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier’s Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo New York: Penguin Press.
Schutze, J. (2006). SMU’s shame: Even people who like the President shouldn’t want his library here. Dallas Observer, March 16, 2006. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
Silva, M. (2007). Plans for Bush library stir Texas-size tempest; Chicago Tribune; April 8, 2007; Retrieved on May 16, 2006.
SMU. (2006). 2006-2007: Financial information. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
Solomon, D. (2005). It’s the President’s party. New York Times, January 2, 2005. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
Texas State Historical Association. (2007). Philandering tycoon finds new El Dorado in East Texas; November 26, 1930. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
Tooley, M. (2007). Not everyone at SMU hates Bush. FrontPageMagazine.com: The David Horowitz online newsletter | February 7, 2007; Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
Turner, R.G. (2006). Personal Communication, December 12, 2006.
U.S. Department of State. (2001). Biography: Jeanne L. Phillips. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
Wangrin, M. (2007). 20 years after SMU’s football scandal. San Antonio Express-News, March 3, 2007: Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
Weaver, A.J., and Crawford, G. (2007). The Bush think tank: A giant Trojan horse among the Ponies? Daily Campus; Southern Methodist University. January 18, 2007: Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
Weaver, A.J., Sprague, C.J., Hicks, K.W., and Yeakel, J.H. (2007). Trustees should follow lead of First Lady. Daily Campus; Southern Methodist University. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
White, G.S. (1989). Gridiron Greed. New York Times. October 22, 1989; Retrieved on May 1, 2007.
White House Press Office. (2003). Remarks by the President in Houston at the Power Center 10th anniversary celebration. PR Newswire; September 12, 2003; Retrieved on May 15, 2007.
Wolffe, R., and Bailey, H. (2005a). msnbc.com Oval: Picking up steam. Newsweek (March 30, 2005). Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
Wolffe, R., and Bailey, H. (2005b). msnbc.com Oval: Look who’s joined Bush’s intel panel. Newsweek (November 2, 2005). Retrieved on May 1, 2007.
World Public Opinion (2007). Muslims believe US Seeks to undermine Islam: Majorities want US forces out of Islamic countries and approve of attacks on US troops. Global Public Opinion on International Affairs. Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
Saintly clergies. Please pray for these criminal church leaders for a renewal, taking off the corrupt political masks.
A petition to Bishop Jeremiah J. Park to recover misused Church money
Dear Bishop Jeremiah J. Park:
Current and earlier events need the attention of your office because they will test the meaning of Christian values and of honor among Koreans.
Recently, you advocated, “No tortureâ€, and with other religious luminaries you have marched to the United Nations to protest against the torture and abuse of suspected terrorists held at U.S. facilities in Guantanamo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. However, why have you not condemn the torture and abuse of the innocent members within your church?
Unwittingly it seems to appear the double standard of morality in the episcopacy as you overlooked the torture agony within a Methodist church.
In any event, the church should not be let alone in a Mafia image under your jurisdiction.
More specifically, Mr. Steve Park, and other church officers, had deliberately and consistently tortured and abused my family for many years while the church remained silent. He and his church underlings used the church’s name and trust fund to malign my family and me in order to rid of us from the church. It was to cover up the looting of the church money.
For instance, for one of the three frivoouls lawsuits, Mr. Park falsely accused my son and me that we planned to kill him, his family, his attorney, and other church members in one of his court depositions:
12 A “He said watch out, you asshole,
13 Specifically said you asshole, you watch out, if
14 You don’t watch your step; I’m going to kill you.
…
5 A “I’m going to kill your whole family.â€
6 Q That’s what Dr. Sone said to you?
7 A “Yes.â€
P. 62; 9-17, 21-23.
9 Q You’re claiming that Dr. Sone
10 threatened to kill you and your whole family?
11 A “Yes.â€
Furthermore, he substantiated his assertion that more than 10 persons had witnessed our threats to murder. His witnesses included Reverend Wontae Cha, Y. S. Kim, K. D. Shin, Y. H. Lee, Y. J. Kim, D. J. Chun, Paul Choi, Y. J. Kwon, and I. C. Lee.
Rev. Cha is a good colleague of yours according to information.
Because of his false allegations, my son and I were on trial at the New York State Supreme Court in Nassau County. He used the church’s funds to finance his lawsuit against us. In his lawsuit, Mr. Park also demanded $4,000,000 in damages, while pushing us into the jail as felons.
His lawsuit had nothing to do with the church and was simply a personal vendetta against us. My only offense against Rev. Cha, Mr. Park and others was to strictly observe my fiduciary duty as the chairman of the Board to protect the church’s Building Fund. Nevertheless, according to the court records, officials from the church hierarchy and Steven Park had deceived the judge as if the case was a church-related during an ex-parte conference.
Now, Bishop Jeremiah J. Park must be responsible to identify the persons who were at the secretive meeting with the judge. He must investigate all and any conspiracy against the church and its members. The bishop’s actions matter much with the prestige of the episcopacy.
The year 2008 is the 87th anniversary of the Korean United Methoidst Church and Institute. Bishop Jeremiah J. Park, Reverend Won Tae Cha, Steven Park, Young So Kim and other such characters one day must come to the church and faithfully explain to the worshippers for the justification of the looting for either personal gain or criminal racketeering against the innocent loyal members.
The cowardly leadership owes an explanation to the fellow church members about the mismanagement of church finances: For example, an $180,000 building renovation contract lost for nothing. It only enriched the related parties. Or, another example when the chairman of the board of trustees embezzled $70,000 he is awarded with church money to pay for his legal fees and for part of his embezzlement. Also his faction paid the fines for the sanctions and the contempt of court with the trust fund although they had to pay. Another irony is Methoidst Mission Fund donated $50,000 to the trust as if an incentive to the looting
The judge and NYS Attorney General advised to recover the funds from the abusers. But, why anyone in the church leadership has done anything about these malfeasances?
Now, the time has come to your office to clarify the ultimate moral issues. On July 15, 2007, the church decided to hire a certified public accountant (excluding Korean CPA) to audit the church finances starting from year 2000. The audit is to determine if any fraud has occurred. But, since then, Reverend Chang, the current pastor, who is a friend of yours according to information, has not yet started it.
The church must recover the stolen funds from Mr. Park and the embezzlers. Perhaps, the church may file an insurance claim for the stolen funds so that the insurance company can compensate them. But, you, the bishop, must enforce church rules and order to help this church recover financially as well as morally. Otherwise, the church has no standing as “a light house†to the dark world.
Now, remember that any decent mind cannot allow our historic church to be built on the foundation of the age-old scandals, but on “the rockâ€. Most of all, the church should be liberated from evil capitulation still in power. If Mr. Park and others like him have succeeded to scapegoat the church scandals on an innocent family, then they would have said, “Halleluiah!!†The church should be maintained as a house of prayer, but a “den of robbers.†(Matthew 21; 13)
Without any further delay, you must recognize that the Korean United Methodist Church and Institute has been under the control of the spiritually-dead clergies and criminals who are filled with demons, falsehoods, hatreds, and deception. It does appear to be a moral crisis of the Korean Church, the NY Annual Conference, and, perhaps, the United Methodist denomination.
I am praying for your spiritual victory in good faith and for the renewal of our historic church. The Book of Discipline guarantees open meetings and free speech. Why can’t we have an open debate for the renewal at the church or a public media? The congregation wants your spiritual leadership as the bishop of the NY Annual Conference as well as the top church leader of the Korean immigrant Christian community.
Please let me remind your office that it is my duty and mission to continuously protect the church’s common interests, according to the church’s rules and the Christian teachings. That is my only way to seek justice and to restore our family name as I have learned from the church throughout my life.
Alas! The church is spiritually, morally broken as it is now.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Chae S. Sone and family
Please forward the e-mail petition to:
Reverend Jeremiah J. Park, Bishop
New York Annual Conference
White Plains, New York
e-mail address: [email protected]
Reverend Chul Woo Chang
e-mail address: [email protected], OR WRITE TO
633 WEST 115TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY10025
[email protected]
UMC: [email protected].
NCC
Grassley, Chuck (R)
[email protected]
Hillary Clinton (D)
[email protected]
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Let us pray for the Bishop to do His will accordingly. Especially it is a wakeup call for Korean Christian community – It is a cyber age.
======================
Korean United Methodist Church and Institute
West 115h St., New York, NY
Dear Rev. Paul Chang:
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that you are devoted for a faithful progress of our historic church –the mother Church of all the Korean churches in this area.
Many years ago when you were ministering for the Plainview Methodist Church, my wife often went to your office for consultation concerning our church problems.
By the time when you were appointed to our church, you were sufficiently informed about our sufferings from the torturous lawsuits.
At your inauguration, many would recall your challenging statement, “Rev. Won Tae Cha is my mentor who opened the way to come to this church,â€
Please let me suggest you that there are many unresolved crucial moral problems which you as the pastor should have promptly resolved for the church with the help of the church members. It is long overdue. The time is running out.
You often praised the historical background of the church. President Myung Bak Lee could have had a visit to this church when he comes to New York.
If Rev. Cha’s group did not sabotage our done-deal with Columbia University’s building, our church could have had very beautiful building and could have proudly invited the president Lee to visit our historic church. But the trust was betrayed. Now she is emerged in the shameful scandals.
Now you are trying to establish a new elder system to strengthen the power structure. The situation seems to strongly suggest that we need to have a spiritual renewal first. (Rev. Chang cheaply gave back the titles of elders and Stewards to the purged former officers without explanation which Rev. Won Tae Cha disgracefully purged.)
Please let me present the shameful historical scandals in the church for a decade which the members in good faith should investigate and resolve – although unpleasant to deal.
Remember that the powerful New York State Governor had to resign his position within 48 hours when his crimes were revealed. How long the church scandals should go without punishment?
Please tell to the congregation on a Sunday pulpit WHY the church, among other things, financially supported Pak WHO charged me and my son was going to kill him, his family, and his lawyer and church members and put us on the trial, pushing us into the jail?
The transparency is long overdue.
GENESIS OF THE PROBLEM
In 1992, the pastor wanted to spend the Building Trust Fund ($2,000,000) for other than the pledged in violation of the trust. According to law and the church rules, the trustees opposed his approach.
He recruited members and started hostile or disturbing actions against innocent members. I become one of his major targets as the trustees tried to protect the trust fund when I was the chairman.
His group falsely accused me as embezzler in addition to public assaults, insults and harassment.
Eventually he purged the elders, stewards and other church officers with the help of Young So Kim and others to grab the power to control the fund which he succeeded. The congregation rapidly declined. However, he demanded a highest pay among the churches.
As the result the Bishop Lyght removed him as of June 2000 in order to save the troubled church. Then he staged legal persecution against our family. It was a tactic to cover up his failures.
ABUSE OF THE CHURCH TRUST FUND
An active purge participant promoted to BOT chair. But shortly after he resigned because of embezzlement of $70,000, but honored with legal fees and partial pay of the embezzlement. Why it subsidized the embezzler?
Steve Park filed the firs lawsuit in the stolen name of the Church to expel us from the church with the support of perjured affidavits, foreign students or new comers in a Taliban way in violation of the church rules. It was quickly dismissed. He wasted the Building Trust Fund for his un-Christian personal malice as his group captured the fund.
KOREAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH AND INSTITUTE, REVEREND WON TAE CHA, YOUNG SO KIM, KI DUCK SHIN, KYUNG HEE SHIN, HYUK DAL KWON, DONG JIN KIM
Vs.
CHAE S. SONE AND KYUNG KIM SONE
For this case, the six plaintiffs, including a fake M.D., sued us. Steve Park and Young So Kim privately retained the attorney, illegally spending the Building Trust Fund. But they cheated the court as if the church sued us.
They demanded $4,000,000 damages from us in the stolen name of the church.
Eventually the judge sanctioned it as groundless, frivolous and also fined them for the contempt of court.
At the sanction hearings, the judge said, “The church is not just a building,†as she found the empty leadership of it.
The ADB chairman Chun Deuk Joo laundered the church money and rewardingly paid even their penalties and attorney fees. But he lied to the judge that he did not know the source of the fund.
The sanction was a victory for the true church, justice and for the family who maintained costly, agonizing long fight. Of course, the sanction positively affected upon the Church with the help of the court and the State Attorney General. Indeed, the guardianship struggle won.
However, the wise scavengers or opportunists seized the momentum, strengthening the cell organ – It was like Garbage in, garbage out. Thus, the victory sadly short-lived. She lost again. But the peril remains.
STEVE H. PARK vs. CHAE S. SONE
In this case, plaintiff Park, a fake M.B.A., put me and my son on trial at a full jury, NYS Supreme Court, with the felony charges that I and my son was going to kill him, his family, his lawyer and other church members. See the attached testimony.
He demanded $4,000,000 extortion while pushing us into the jail.
Reverend Won Tae Cha, Mrs. Plaintiff, Young So Kim, Un Bong Yoo and his underlings came to support the falsely created felony case on the trial, conferred on the hallway, like the criminal racketeers and Al Qaeda terrorists – a satanic ritual at best.
According to the testimony, more than 10 names were involved in it. It was another church’s collective brutal racketeering to destroy the innocent family.
Paradoxically, the scandalous Church officers paid his legal fees too from the stolen Church money.
How the dumb church allowed the Building Trust Fund.
to be used for the persecution of the innocent church members? It was certainly a brutal mob action if not by an Al Qaeda – A torture by a bogus church. A mind control tactics skillfully seemed to have applied as in the polygamist camp.
ILLEGAL EX PARTE CONFERENCE
According to the court records, the Church hierarchies – the bishop, superintendent or pastor – illegally deceived the Judge at a secret conference as if the fake criminal charges were Church related.
However, the bishop Park, or the Superintendent refused to name who were at it when they were repeatedly questioned by me and disgraced the Episcopal office. Why can’t they be honest to God?
Can’t the servants of God be respectable?
DID KANCC INVOLVE?
For the trial, my son and I represented without a lawyer as we could not afford. They brought Mrs. Sung Kuk Ham (Lim Byung Dae) to serve as an interpreter for them. We strongly opposed it as a conflict of interest as Rev. Sung Kuk Hahm was the chairman of Korean American National Coordinating Council, a pro-North Korean communist organ. He was an ally of Rev. Cha. The judge did not allow her service after hearing a long argument. Another woman from their side served as an interpreter.
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
AND ABANDONED LARGE ACCOUNTS
Another question is still lingering on how the $180,000 building repair contract lost for nothing through the related party transactions. The chair was an employee of the contractor.
In 2004, the new Board chair Kwang Hee Kim made a boldly, but costly recovery of the trustees’ large accounts including stock certificates from the New York State which confiscated as the former trustees abandoned.
It was not clear about the differences between the amount of recovered and the amount prior to the abandonment.
MENTOR
The pastor Chang said, “Reverend Cha is my mentor…†It is time for him to make a naked evaluation of its negative effective upon the church.
THE LOOTING AGAINST THE DONOR’S WILL (Disc. 270.4(e))
When we met with the Superintendent Chin in June 2007, I expected the Superintendent would advise me on the subject matter. He appeared not ready. So I explained to him about the corrupt history of the church for more than two hour.
I questioned him if he replied to the Bishop’s letters related with the lawsuits. He said no. It sounded ominous that the Bishop was handicapped without getting proper cooperation.
At one point, the pastor Chang asserted the request for the recovery of the looted fund was “Anti-Church and Anti-Church interest.â€
To honor the trust is anti-church?
The assertion seemed to appear defamatory to the Christian belief under any circumstances.
ABUSED MISSION FUND?
In the midst of these abuses the UMC Mission Board donated $50,000 gift to the scandal ridden Building Fund against the missionary spirit. It appears as an incentive to the looting or as an exchange of judas money bag, scandalously dishonoring the donor’s will. (Matt.26:16-16, 50). “In iconography, the symbolic color of Judas is yellow, the tint of dungâ€
.
Now, those who supported the litigation with false affidavits in a Taliban way against the innocents are still ominously holding saintly positions in the Church. The threat is as if a hangman’s noose on the adversary – fear. The return of the Gestapo church should be prevented by any means – enough is enough.
STALLED AUDIT
On July 15, 2007, the Church Council decided that the audit of the Building Trust Fund should be done by a CPA, excluding Korean CPA, as decided, from 2000.
At that moment, the pastor Chang said. He would take care of it with two other members. Almost eight (8) months gone. Now the audit is stalled
Remember the Bible said, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.†(1Ti 6:10). Also remember what Peter said to Ananias, “You not lied to men but to God.†(Acts 5:1-22). When you as the servant of God clear the account frauds, “The truth shall make you free.†(John 8:32).
The New York State Attorney General and the court advised that she could recover the abused fund from them. But the officers did not do it.
BRUTALLITY OF THE YEAR
Shouldn’t the Korean United Methodist Church be a more humane place than Vick’s dog house?
The Virginia Tech shooting rated as top as the brutal crime of the year 2007,
If they racketeered in the name of Church, shouldn’t they be over the top of the Virginia Tech brutality? For they used God’s money for torture.
For more than a decade, superintendents and ordained clergies coalesced this anti Christ activities for personal benefits. Isn’t this a phenomenon of church corruption?
There should be a criminal investigation to destroy the network of evil cheaters, false prophets and saintly racketeers.
The Bible said, if you, members keep quiet, “The stones will cry out.†(Luke 19:39-40).
WHY MR. AHN CHANG HO?
The late Ahn Chang Ho, great teacher is very often named on the pulpit. If his ghost were here in the church, guess what he would have said to you?
RERESTORE JUSTICE
The main goal of this message is to recover the abused fund for the church and a moral renewal for the church, according to the Bible. This appeal is nothing but to save the poor souls and the lost church.
The church leaders should try to have an open debate on a decade’s old church corruption and unconscionable scandals and find the solutions in a faithful way.
1. Investigation should be based upon documentary evidence, rejecting baseless hearsays in this electronic age
2. Demand an audit by CPA from 2000 as decided.
3. Demand the embezzlers return to the church the abused trust fund for their personal frivolous lawsuits and other expenses for a renewal of the church.
4. Investigate who were at the ex parte secret conference in a serious violation of the church rules, secular and moral laws.
Thus, the Annual Conference violated our civil rights.
5. Those who offended the innocents and the church rules should repent to God and to the congregants. Then God will bless all of us.
Then, Jesus will tell, “on this rock, I will build my church.†Mt; 16-17.
6. In the case, the sacrament, the baptism and our prayers will be trustfully meaningful to the fellow members and God.
7. The church should claim a compensation of un-recovered stolen fund by the church Liability Insurance Co.
Please share this message to the Church Council and other
members for justice and peace of the United Methodist Church in the name of
God.
Chae S. Sone
Email Faith feedback to:
The Bishop Jeremiah Pak. [email protected],
Metro N. District Superintend. [email protected],
The pastor Chang. [email protected] and others
Chae S. Sone. [email protected]
===
The corrective majors are long over due or just ignored by the leaders.
From:[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 4:22 PM
To: [email protected];[email protected]. [email protected]
Subject: Building Funds Questions – Korean Church
Dear Bishop:
This all sounds as though the leadership of our church has handled a “difficult situation†in a poor way. Are these matters of injustice in the claims of those who cry out about the fraudulent use of building funds and trust funds of the Korean Church in New York? Real leaders not only do things right… but in the critical points of decision making…do the right thing. What is the “right thing†in his matter? It is an embarrassment to the whole community of faith.
Chuck Gummer
Former District Superintendent
Former Wyoming Conference Executive
Wyoming Confeence
‘[email protected]’
===================
Original Message—–
From: Rev. Dr. Alexander Hast [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 11:48 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: A petition to Bishop Jeremiah J. Park to recover misused Church money
Dear Brother in Christ Bishop Jeremiah J. Park,
I have received this petition which is addressed to you and only calls for an investigation and justice. If the accusations are true, the situation deserves a resolution. No one should be victimized – especially not by their own church. I don’t know the situation, do not know if any of the accusations are remotely true, but have witnessed similar cases. An impartial investigation could bring interesting unknown facts to your attention.
GOD bless you!
Rev. Dr. Alexander Hast
—
News Flash: SMU Bush Presidential Library Rejection,
passed 844-20
This rejection passed on Wednesday morning,
30-April-08, at the quadrennial General Conference of
the United Methodist Church that is still meeting in
Fort Worth, Texas.
This body is the highest authority of the denomination
and cannot be over-ruled by any other body within the
denomination.
—
From
http://calms.umc.org/2008/Menu.aspx?type=Petition&mode=Single&Number=80089
or
http://tinyurl.com/4xuhn6
Petition 80089: SMU Bush Presidential Library
Rejection (80089-MH-NonDis)
Petition Status: Calendar Item
Petition Text: Submitted Text [see below]
ADCA p. 1493
References: Non-disciplinary
Committee: Ministry and Higher Education
Financial Implications: No
Submitted by: Diane Smock, Greenville, SC, USA
Calendar Item Status
SMU Bush Presidential Library Rejection
(MH171-NonDis-R)
Calendar Item Status: Committee Voted (Printed in DCA
p. 2260)
Calendar Item No: 1185
Petitions on Calendar: 80089
Consent Calendar: Calendar D04
***
Committee Motion: Motion to Refer
Refer to: South Central Jurisdictional Conference
***
Committee Vote:
For: 51
Against: 5
Not Voting: 1
Vote Date and Time:
4/28/2008 1:30 PM
Plenary Action Status
Last Vote Action: Vote on Main Motion
This motion was Adopted, with 844 votes for and 20
votes against.
Plenary Motions:
4/30/2008 9:39 AM
Vote on Main Motion ADOPTED 844-20
—
Submitted Text
SMU Bush Presidential Library Rejection
(80089-MH-NonDis)
I hereby petition the UMC General Conference to
prevent leasing, selling, or otherwise participating
in or supporting the presidential library for George
W. Bush at Southern Methodist University.
Rev. Andrew J, Weaver, Ph.D.
[email protected] http://www.protectSMU.org
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
— Martin Luther King Jr.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D.
June 4, 2007
Southern Halliburton University
Moving the Bush Bubble to the Big D
In her final column before her untimely death, Molly Ivins wrote:
“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders.”
Dr. Benjamin Johnson, a history professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, where President Bush is proposing to build his $500 million library and neoconservative institute (DeFrank, 2006; Berkowitz, 2007), recently attended the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Several colleagues there reported that Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political strategist, has been traveling around the country examining research facilities, discussing how to select Bush Institute fellows, and meeting with library directors (Johnson, 2007a).
According to Dr. Johnson, one well-respected colleague said, “Rove seems to know exactly what the square footage is of the building that will be at SMU and where it will be located on campus.” Rove also expressed displeasure that some SMU faculty and United Methodist bishops were protesting the proposed partisan institute (Korosec, 2007; Silva, 2007) over which Bush and company will have total control (Johnson, 2007b). This hands-on involvement of a top-level White House operative like Rove demonstrates the importance of the proposed library and think tank at SMU to Bush insiders.
Convincing the United Methodist Church to stain its good name and a major university to give away its academic respectability by linking itself with a president that much of the world views as an authoritarian bully who has authorized and advocated for torture and international kidnapping is one nifty trick
Bush is the most unpopular and isolated president since Richard Nixon. Inside his bubble, the President is being told by the Secretary of State (Rice, 2004) that he is another Winston Churchill or Harry Truman — unpopular now, but he will be vindicated by history for his heroic effort to bring democracy to the Middle East at the point of a gun (even if it requires a total re-write). To re-write history on the scale Bush needs will necessitate the complete control of a disinformation institute, and if it uses the legitimacy of a respected university and the good name of a major Protestant tradition, all the better (imagine the American Enterprise Institute with a giant cross on the front door, and you get the picture).
Importantly, Rove and friends will be able to continue to conceal the most damaging information about this administration in its bubble using Bush’s Executive Order 13233, signed into law shortly after 9/11, which insures that the president and his heirs are able to deny access in perpetuity to government records they select (Gillman, 2007). Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the American Library Association, observed that the executive order “completely goes against the spirit of the essence of a library” (Gillman, 2007). Steve Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said “If the Bush folks are going to play games with the records, no self-respecting academic institution should cooperate” (Gillman, 2007). Professor Benjamin Hufbauer at the University of Louisville, a recognized authority on presidential libraries, believes that dictating which papers can be seen at the library reduces it to “just a museum of political propaganda” (Jascik, 2007).
To convince the United Methodist Church (UMC) to stain its good name and a major university to give away its academic respectability by linking itself with a president that much of the world views as an authoritarian bully (Public Diplomacy, 2005; World Public Opinion, 2007) who has authorized and advocated for torture and international kidnapping is one nifty trick (Miles, 2006; Grey, 2006). Such an endeavor required skilled operators and years of stealth planning (Schutze, 2006), which according to SMU President R. Gerald Turner began in 2001, shortly after Bush became president. It required that the SMU administration hide its intentions from its faculty and from church leaders who would understand that a partisan institute lacking standard academic controls, whose mission undoubtedly will include justifying crimes against humanity, would be a bad idea (Weaver and Crawford, 2007). To achieve these goals Bush needs powerful friends in high places and he has them in the SMU Trustees.
Awash in Conflicts of Interest
The SMU Board of Trustees is a study in the appearance of conflicts of interests, at a minimum. It is dominated by individuals who have long-standing relationships with George W. Bush and his family which raises serious questions about their impartiality and therefore how they fulfill their fiduciary duty to the university (Weaver, Sprague, Hicks, and Yeakel, 2007). At least 25 of the 41 trustees (61 percent) have personal, financial, and/or political relationships with Bush, and many have been major fundraisers and contributors to his political campaigns. Furthermore, one of the three United Methodist bishops who serve as SMU trustees, Scott Jones, publicly endorsed the Bush project months before a formal proposal was even presented to the Board (Tooley, 2007).
Twenty-two of the trustees have donated to one or more of the Bush political campaigns and/or the Republican National Committee in support of Bush, including SMU President R. Gerald Turner, Board Chair Carl Sewell, Ruth Altshuler, Michael M. Boone, Bradley W. Brookshire, Donald J. Carty, Jeanne Tower Cox, Gary T. Crum, Linda Pitts Custard, Robert H. Dedman, Jr., Frank M. Dunlevy, Thomas J. Engibous, Alan D. Feld, Gerald J. Ford, James R. Gibbs, Frederick B. Hegi, Jr., Ray L. Hunt, Robert A. Leach, Jeanne L. Phillips, Caren H. Prothro, John C. Tolleson, and Richard Ware (Campaign Finance in American Politics, 2007; Fundrace, 2007; NewsMeat, 2007; Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2004, 2007).
Nearly all of the contributions to political candidates and campaigns by the trustees have been to Republican causes. In total, public records show that the SMU trustees have given $2,759,000 to Republican candidates and causes and $34,000 to Democratic candidates and causes (Campaign Finance in American Politics, 2007; Fundrace, 2007; NewsMeat, 2007; Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2004; 2007). Trustee Milledge A. Hart, III, donated the most to Democratic causes ($27,750). The only trustee to have given exclusively to Democrats is the SMU Faculty Senate representative, Dr. Rhoda Blair, who donated $250 in 2004 to the Democratic National Committee (Fundrace, 2007).
Two United Methodist clergy on the Board, Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston (Gaines, 2002) and Rev. Mark Craig of Dallas (Religion and Ethics, 2001), have long-standing personal relationships with Bush and his family. In addition, Laura Bush, the wife of the president and a trustee, has publicly stated her personal preference for SMU (Wolffe and Bailey, 2005a). The First Lady is the only trustee who has said she will recuse herself from voting on the proposal because of a conflict of interest. Despite the fact that numerous other trustees have apparent conflicts, none have recused themselves, even after three United Methodist bishops called for the compromised trustees to do so (Weaver, Sprague, Hicks, and Yeakel, 2007).
The Hunt Oil/Halliburton Connection
And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid
— Dick and Lynne Cheney’s Christmas card inscription, 2003 (both claim membership in the UMC)
Long-time trustee (since 1976) and UMC member Ray L. Hunt is head of the Dallas-based Hunt Oil Company, one of the largest independent oil corporations in the world. He is a Bush friend and a central figure in bringing the Bush think tank proposal to SMU (Personal communication, 2007). Hunt is the son of flamboyant Texas oil tycoon, H.L. Hunt, who was a staunch supporter of Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch Society. In 1948, Fortune magazine labeled H.L. Hunt “the richest man in the United States” (Texas State Historical Association, 2007). Ray L. Hunt, an under-the-radar power player, inherited much of the Hunt Oil fortune in 1974 when his father died. Forbes recently identified billionaire Ray Hunt as one of the richest men on the planet (Dallas Business Journal, 2007).
Ray Hunt is a longtime financial backer of the Bush family. He raised money for the elder Bush and served as the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee for George W. Bush in 2000 (Bryce, 2005). According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Hunt and his spouse have donated more than $460,000 to Republican state campaigns, while his company and its employees contributed more than $1 million to Republican causes between 1995 and 2002 (Grimaldi, 2002). He gave $100,000 toward the 2001 Bush inaugural festivities and one of his corporations, Hunt Consolidated, gave another $250,000 toward the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural gala (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2007). In addition, Hunt donated a whopping $35 million toward the Bush library/think tank to secure additional property for the project (Schutze, 2006).
One month after 9/11, Bush honored his friend Ray Hunt with a seat on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), and he was re-appointed in January 2006 (Bryce, 2005). According to the White House, this board operates to offer the president “objective, expert advice” on the conduct of foreign intelligence (Wolffe and Bailey, 2005b). Hunt, with international business interests, has access through PFIAB to intelligence that is unavailable to most members of Congress. This group is privy to the most current and sensitive information gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the military intelligence organizations, and several others sources (Bryce, 2005). PFIAB operates in complete secrecy. According to Salon magazine, members of this oversight board “are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and unlike other public servants who work for the president, there is no public disclosure of the PFIAB members’ financial interests” (Bryce, 2005).
Several experts are persuaded that Hunt’s position at PFIAB could easily benefit both Hunt Oil’s worldwide energy interests and Halliburton, which has been awarded billions of dollars worth of no-bid, cost-plus contracts in Iraq by the U.S. government (Bryce, 2005; Wolffe and Bailey, 2005). Hunt has been on Halliburton’s board of directors since 1998, when Dick Cheney was running the company and serving as an SMU trustee (1997- 2000). Interestingly, soon after Hunt joined the Halliburton board, he was placed on its compensation committee, where he helped determine Cheney’s pay package (Bryce, 2005). In fact, in 1998 Hunt’s committee decided that Cheney deserved a $3.78 million bonus (Bryce, 2005), and in 2000 he got $33.7 million award when he joined the Bush campaign (Bryce, 2000).
Halliburton has outdone even Enron in using offshore tax shelters to avoid paying taxes. By 2005, Halliburton had 58 offshore subsidiaries in Caribbean tax havens (Turnipseed, 2005). In 1998, the year Hunt joined Cheney at Halliburton, the company paid $302 million in taxes. In 1999, with the use of offshore tax havens, Halliburton paid no taxes and even received $85 million in refunds from the IRS (Turnipseed, 2005). Halliburton also utilized its offshore companies to contract services and sell banned equipment to Iran, Iraq, and Libya — something that would have violated federal law if Halliburton had not used offshore subsidiaries (Turnipseed, 2005). New York City Controller William Thompson said that profits made by Halliburton from states that sponsor terrorism, such as Iran and Libya, is nothing short of “blood money” (Halliburtonwatch, 2007).
Despite using tax havens and earning millions in profits from rogue states like Iran, Halliburton experienced financial distress. In late 2001, according to Fortune magazine, after a series of financial debacles and billions in asbestos-related liability claims, Halliburton stock plummeted to $8.50 a share, and Wall Street worried about the corporation’s survival (Elkind, 2005). Halliburton’s fortunes changed dramatically with the onset of the “war of choice” in Iraq. Before the war, Halliburton was 19th on the U.S. Army’s list of utilized contractors; by 2003 it was number one. The company has been awarded at least $11 billion in government contracts since Bush took office (Mayer, 2004).
And Ray Hunt has become an even richer billionaire. In March of 2003 Halliburton stock was valued at $20.50 per share and by March of 2007 it was worth $64.12 per share (Rich, 2007). According to the Forbes list of the World’s Richest People in 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq war Ray Hunt was worth $2.3 billion (Forbes, 2003) and by 2007 his fortune had grown to $3.5 billion (Dallas Business Journal, 2007). Both Hunt and Halliburton have been winners in the Iraq war. To provide perspective, the $1.2 billion increase in riches in four years by Hunt is greater than SMU’s total endowment garnered since 1911 (SMU, 2006).
In 2005 audits by the Pentagon, the Government Accountability Office, and other agencies found that $1.8 billion of the $11 billion in contracts to Halliburton (16.4 percent) to be either “unjustified” or “undocumented” charges to the government (Elkind, 2005). In addition, the auditors reported widespread problems with record keeping and a refusal to provide required information, as well as misleading the auditors about its efforts to seek competitive prices. According to Fortune magazine, Halliburton’s “war profiteering” also involved outrageous price-gouging for fuel and services to the troops, such as charging $100 to wash a 15-pound bag of clothes and serving out-of-date food to the troops (Elkind, 2005).
As long-ago as September of 2004, the U.S. military called for “the immediate termination of Halliburton’s most lucrative contract with Army because of poor performance” (Halliburtonwatch, 2005). Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush ignored the request. When Fortune magazine tried to speak to Hunt about the company’s questionable practices, its phone calls were not returned (Elkind, 2005). None of these jaw-dropping scandals kept Halliburton from obtaining a new federal contract to build a maximum-security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Ivanovich, 2005; Buncombe, 2006).
In a separate business dealing, Hunt Oil has a major role in the development of the Camisea Natural Gas Project in an unspoiled rain forest in Peru. This project has encountered fierce opposition because of concerns that the pipeline will destroy the rainforest and the lives of the indigenous peoples in the region (Grimaldi, 2002). Amazon Watch, an environmental and human rights group, calls the Camisea Gas Project “the most damaging project in the Amazon Basin” (Amazon Watch, 2007). The (London) Independent newspaper reported that the project “will enrich some of [President Bush’s] closest corporate campaign contributors” but that it “risks the destruction of one of the world’s remaining pristine stretches of rain forest and threatens the lives of indigenous peoples” (Halliburtonwatch, 2004). Does Hunt’s position on PFIAB and the government intelligence to which he is privy give him a business advantage in dealing with this and numerous other projects? There is no way to be certain. What is clear, as journalist Robert Bryce has observed, is that “Hunt’s business operations are so vast that every bit of foreign intelligence he sees at PFIAB could potentially be of value to him and his associates” (Bryce, 2005).
Finally, there is another trustee associated with Hunt Oil who may benefit from intelligence gathered by Ray Hunt at the PFIAB and who appears to have conflicts of interest related to her long-standing relationship with Bush. Jeanne L. Phillips, who was appointed as an SMU Trustee in 2004, was personally chosen by Ray Hunt as his senior vice president of corporate affairs and international relations in 2005 (Solomon, 2005).
According to her official U.S. Department of State biography, Ms. Phillips “served as Senior Advisor for National Finance in the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush, developing the original fund-raising plan and structure for the finance organization…” (U.S. Department of State, 2001). She was appointed Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by President Bush in 2001. She told the New York Times in 2005 that she had been a close friend of the Bushes since 1979 when she worked as a fund-raiser for George H.W. Bush. She postponed her wedding plans to chair the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural events (Solomon, 2005).
Other SMU Trustees with the appearance of significant conflicts of interest
Ruth Altshuler is a Dallas philanthropist and investor. She pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign and gave $25,000 toward the 2001 Bush inaugural gala (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2007).
Michael M. Boone is a corporate attorney and founding partner of the prominent law firm Haynes & Boone. According to its website, Haynes & Boone has 430 lawyers and 10 offices worldwide (World Services Group, 2007). It was the third largest contributor to the Bush re-election in 2004. The firm and Mr. Boone have been active financial and political supporters of Bush since he ran for governor. Mr. Boone pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 presidential campaign and at least another $200,000 in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Mr. Boone and his law firm were the ninth-largest patron of George W. Bush’s overall political career (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2004).
Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell is Senior Pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. He introduced Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention and campaigned with him in the 2000 and 2004 elections. He gave the benediction at both presidential inaugurations, has stayed overnight at the White House, and has traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on campaign trips (Gaines, 2002). The president has said the he considers Rev. Caldwell to be a trusted friend and close confidant (White House Press Office, 2003; Caldwell, 2007).
Donald J. Carty is Chair of Virgin America and former Chair and CEO of American Airlines. He contributed $52,000 for the re-election of Bush in 2004 (Fundrace, 2007) and $100,000 to the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural gala (Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2007). Carty was appointed by President Bush in 2002 to the National Infrastructure Advisory Board.
Rev. Mark Craig is Senior Pastor of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, where President Bush is a member. He has been a long-time friend and admirer of Bush. According to the PBS program Religion and Ethics, Rev. Craig expressed unfettered enthusiasm for Bush in these public comments:
I think what you [Bush] did for me, you have done for others. I think you have brought healing and brought hope to the young, to the elderly, to the marginalized, to the dispossessed. And that’s what Moses did. That’s what Moses did. He was chosen by God, as you have been chosen by God, to lead the people (Religion and Ethics, 2001).
Rev. Craig has not expressed equal ardor for the 15 UMC bishops, two former presidents of the New Zealand Methodist Church, a former president of the Irish Methodist Church, two superintendents in the British Methodist Church, 35 members of his congregation, several highly respected Protestant theologians, and more than 10,000 Christians (mostly United Methodists) who have signed a petition calling for the rejection of the Bush complex. Craig labeled these fellow Christians “a marginal group, a fringe group,” ironically asserting that if they do not share his high opinion of Bush they are “being grossly judgmental” (Hacker, Gillman, and Hodges, 2007).
Rev. Craig and Bishop Scott Jones of Kansas told the Dallas Morning News that fellow United Methodists who signed the petition and objected to the Bush complex “would have no influence on them as SMU trustees.” Moreover, they declared that “they as trustees — not the United Methodist Church — have the final say on decisions that SMU makes about the library” (Hacker, Gillman, and Hodges, 2007). Rev. Craig and Bishop Jones made this statement despite the fact that the UMC founded and owns SMU and the trustees are appointed under the authority of the church.
Jeanne Tower Cox is the daughter of the late Senator John Tower. She and George W. Bush are on the steering committee of a group called Associated Republicans of Texas that has one of the largest political action committees in the state with over $1.2 million in funds (100 Biggest PACs in Texas, 2007). The group reads like a who’s who list of leading Republican Party activists in Texas, including U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. It has roots back to 1975 when the founders committed “to putting their time and money” into rebuilding the Republican Party in Texas (Associated Republicans of Texas, 2007).
Robert H. Dedman, Jr. is Chair and CEO of Club Corp. International. The Dedmans are long time friends of the Bush family, and Mr. Dedman raised at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign.
Alan Feld is a lobbyist and one of two senior executive partners of the 25th largest law firm in the U.S. It has 900 employees and offices in Dubai, Dallas, Moscow, Beijing, Washington and 10 other locations worldwide (Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP, 2006). He pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign.
Carl Sewell is Chair of the SMU Board and Chair of Sewell Automotive Companies in Dallas. He and his spouse together donated $54,000 toward the re-election of President Bush: $50,000 to the RNC and $2,000 each to the Bush/Cheney committee to re-elect.
A Second death penalty
Veritas Liberabit Vos
— SMU motto
SMU is the only university in history to receive a “death penalty” from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). In 1987 the NCAA required, among other things, that the university cancel its football season (White, 1989). The NCAA cited the need to “eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations” (McNabb, 1987). The scandal was a deep embarrassment to SMU and the UMC and which centered on the misconduct of a number of trustees and school officials, along with a lack of proper oversight by the UMC (Wangrin, 2007; The Bishop’s Committee Report on SMU, 1987).
It involved a slush fund of $61,000 distributed to 13 football players, as well as the continuation of payments to players involving SMU officials while the school was serving a two-year probation for prior rules violations (Wangrin, 2007). When the scandal broke, the chair of the trustees was the Republican ex-governor of Texas, William Clements. Working on his re-election staff as governor was none other than Karl Rove, who was entangled in nasty allegations involving Clements’ re-election efforts (Dubose, 2001; Ivins, 2006).
According to the San Antonio Express-News, Bill Clements was smack in the middle of the SMU football mess (Wangrin, 2007). He admitted on March 3, 1987, “that while sitting on the SMU board, he and other school officials had approved a secret plan to continue illegal payments to SMU players” (Wangrin, 2007). Clements insisted that all the members of SMU’s board of trustees were in on the fix. All denied it, including Ray Hunt. UMC bishops had to intervene to save the university and its board from total disgrace (Wangrin, 2007).
Two of the strongest recommendations the bishops made to SMU were to place “limits on the length of time a person can serve as a trustee and create more diversity among the trustees” (Bishops’ Committee Report on SMU, 1987). The football scandal came as result of a concentration of power in the hands of a few like-minded, long-time trustees, who acted in secret against the best interests of the university. Only two trustees are on the 2007 board who were there in the scandal-ridden years of 1983-1987, Ray Hunt and vice chair Richard Ware.
The humiliation to SMU and the UMC from that self-inflicted wound of the athletic program debacle will pale in comparison to what will unfold if the partisan Bush complex goes to SMU without adequate oversight. University President R. Gerald Turner has repeatedly stated his belief that “When a President is in office, everything is political; when he leaves office, it becomes historical” (Turner, 2006). Given the extreme secrecy and nefarious behavior within this presidency, nothing could be more counter to reality (Chandrasekaran, 2006; Greenberg, 2005; Isikoff and Corn, 2007; Saar and Novak, 2005).
Over the remainder of Bush’s life, horror stories of war crimes that were committed under his authority undoubtedly will spill out (Murray, 2007). We will continue to hear about clandestine torture and the international kidnapping of innocents (Miles, 2006; Ratner, 2004). The full extent of the lies that were told by this administration to start a greed-based war will be uncovered and the real story of war profiteering by Bush’s friends will be told (Chandrasekaran, 2006; Isikoff and Corn, 2007). SMU and the Bush Institute bubble may well become the final bastion in the defense of the indefensible, and the United Methodist Church will continue to be stained by its complicity and collaboration.
What you can do
The UMC bishops within the region where SMU is located have the power to stop the Bush partisan institute. If they say no to Bush, he will not go to SMU. The church owns the school. Contact these bishops in a courteous manner telling them of your concerns.
The Bishops include:
DALLAS EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Alfred L Norris
16475 Dallas Parkway Ste 680
Addison, TX 75001-6216
Phone: (214) 522-6741
Fax: (214) 528-4435
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
NORTH TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
FORT WORTH EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Ben R Chamness
464 Bailey Avenue
Fort Worth, TX 76107-2153
Phone: (817) 877-5222
Fax: (817) 332-4609
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
CENTRAL TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
HOUSTON EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Janice Riggle Huie
5215 South Main Street
Houston, TX 77002-9792
Phone: (713) 521-9383
Fax: (713) 529-7736
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
KANSAS EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Scott J Jones
9440 East Boston Suite 160
Wichita, KS 67207-3603
Phone: (316) 686-0600
Fax: (316) 684-0044
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
KANSAS EAST ANNUAL CONFERENCE
KANSAS WEST ANNUAL CONFERENCE
LOUISIANA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop William W Hutchinson
527 North Boulevard
Baton Rouge, LA 70802-5720
Nationwide Toll Free Phone: (888) 239-5286
Phone: (225) 346-1646 ext 212
Fax: (225) 387-3662
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
LOUISIANA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MISSOURI EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Robert C Schnase
3601 Armon Court
Columbia, MO 65202
Nationwide Toll Free Phone: (877) 736-1806
Phone: (573) 441-1770
Fax: (573) 441-0765
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
MISSOURI ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NEBRASKA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Ann Brookshire Sherer
2641 North 49th Street
Lincoln, NE 68504-2899
Phone: (402) 466-4955
Fax: (402) 466-6793
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
NEBRASKA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NORTHWEST TEXAS-NEW MEXICO EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop D Max Whitfield
11816 Lomas Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112-5614
Nationwide Toll Free Phone: (800) 678-8786
Phone: (505) 255-9361
Fax: (505) 255-8738
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
NEW MEXICO ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NORTHWEST TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OKLAHOMA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Robert E Hayes Jr
PO Box 60467
Oklahoma City, OK 73146-0467
Phone: (405) 530-2025
Fax: (405) 350-2040
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
OKLAHOMA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OKLAHOMA INDIAN MISSIONARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SAN ANTONIO EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Joel N Martinez
PO Box 781688
San Antonio, TX 78278-1688
Phone: (210) 408-4500
Fax: (210) 408-4501
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
RIO GRANDE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SOUTHWEST TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Bishop Charles N Crutchfield
2 Trudie Kibbe Reed Dr
Little Rock, AR 72202-3770
Phone: (501) 324-8001
Fax: (501) 324-8021
Email: [email protected]
Conferences Served:
ARKANSAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Andrew J. Weaver, M.Th., Ph.D., is a United Methodist minister and research psychologist. He is a graduate of Perkins School of Theology at SMU and lives in New York City. He has co-authored 12 books including: Counseling Survivors of Traumatic Events (Abingdon, 2003), Reflections on Grief and the Spiritual Journey (Abingdon, 2005), Counseling on Addictions and Compulsions (Pilgrim, 2007), and Connected Spirits: Friends and Spiritual Journeys (Pilgrim, 2007).
References
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Amazon Watch. (2007). Peru Camisea natural gas project. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
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Ivanovich, D. (2005). Halliburton to build $30 million prison at Guantanamo Bay. Houston Chronicle, June 17, 2005. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
Ivins, M. (2006). TruthDig; April 18, 2006; Karl Rove’s early machinations. Retrieved on May 14, 2007.
Jascik, S. (2007). Boarding the Bush library debate. Inside Higher Education. February 6, 2007. Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
Johnson, B. (2007a). Will Karl Rove be the first head of the Bush Institute? Questions about the Bush complex, faculty leadership, and the future of SMU. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
Johnson, B. (2007b). Personal Communication, April 10, 2007
Korosec, T. (2007). Drop Bush library bid, Methodist clergy tell SMU. Houston Chronicle, January 19, 2007. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
Mayer, J. (2004). Contract sport: What did the vice-president do for Halliburton? The New Yorker. Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
McNabb, D. (1987). SMU football canceled for 1987; Dallas Morning News, February 26, 1987: Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
Miles, S. (2006). Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror., New York: Random House.
Murray, C. (2007). Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror. New York: Mainstream Publications.
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NewsMeat. (2007). Federal campaign contribution search. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
Personal communication. (2007). This was confirmed in personal conversations with three members of the Mission Council of the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ) of the UMC and five UMC leaders living in the SCJ of the UMC in January, February, March and April of 2007.
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Rice, C. (2004). National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice discusses war on terror at Reagan Library and Museum, February 28, 2004. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
Rich, F. (2007). The Ides of March 2003. New York Times. March 18, 2007. Retrieved on April 27, 2007.
Saar, E., and Novak, V. (2005). Inside the wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier’s Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo New York: Penguin Press.
Schutze, J. (2006). SMU’s shame: Even people who like the President shouldn’t want his library here. Dallas Observer, March 16, 2006. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
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