iNow Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 This one made me chuckle a little. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/15/charity-president-unhappy-about-paul-ryan-soup-kitchen-photo-op/?print=1 The head of a northeast Ohio charity says that the Romney campaign last week “ramrodded their way” into the group’s Youngstown soup kitchen so that GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan could get his picture taken washing dishes in the dining hall. Brian J. Antal, president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, said that he was not contacted by the Romney campaign ahead of the Saturday morning visit by Ryan, who stopped by the soup kitchen after a town hall at Youngstown State University. “We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations,” Antal said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.” He added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.” Ryan had stopped by the soup kitchen for about 15 minutes on his way to the airport after his Saturday morning town hall in Youngstown. By the time he arrived, the food had already been served, the patrons had left, and the hall had been cleaned. Upon entering the soup kitchen, Ryan, his wife and three young children greeted and thanked several volunteers, then donned white aprons and offered to clean some dishes. Photographers snapped photos and TV cameras shot footage of Ryan and his family washing pots and pans that did not appear to be dirty. <...> He noted that the soup kitchen relies on funding from private individuals who might reconsider their support if it appears that the charity is favoring one political candidate over another. “I can’t afford to lose funding from these private individuals,” he said. “If this was the Democrats, I’d have the same exact problem.” He added that the incident had caused him “all kinds of grief” and that regardless of whether Ryan had intended to serve food to patrons or wash dishes, he would not have allowed the visit to take place. “Had they asked for permission, it wouldn’t have been granted. … But I certainly wouldn’t have let him wash clean pans, and then take a picture,” Antal said. The soup kitchen to launch a new slogan, "You didn't wash that!" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewmon Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Ryan and his people may have also put this faith-based organization's not-for-profit status in jeopardy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mississippichem Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 (edited) Ryan and his people may have also put this faith-based organization's not-for-profit status in jeopardy. That came to my mind as well. iNow, Do you know if the soup kitchen is set up as a 501©3? If so, I don't think they are allowed to participate in politics of any sort IIRC. I feel bad for these folks. We need more apolitical organizations devoted to the greater good. Even though they are "faith based" (which you know my sentiment regarding faith) I tip my hat to them and hope they don't befall any legal or IRS troubles as a result of Ryan's ass-hattery. Do you know of a way I can make a financial contribution to them? Edit: ah...the forum turned my [math] © [/math] into a copyright c. Gotta hate that it's a censorship conspiracy. Edited October 16, 2012 by mississippichem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Edit: ah...the forum turned my [math] © [/math] into a copyright c. Gotta hate that it's a censorship conspiracy. It's copyrighted censorship, so the full weight of the DMCA can be brought to bear. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 16, 2012 Author Share Posted October 16, 2012 iNow, Do you know if the soup kitchen is set up as a 501( c)3? If so, I don't think they are allowed to participate in politics of any sort IIRC. It would seem so. In Ohio, Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society: http://svdpusa.net/membership_live/c3report.printreports.php?publicview=nsged1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Great. More dishonesty, a complete misunderstanding of the requirements for faith-based initiatives and a blatant lack of respect. I understand about staged photo ops and tight schedules, but this goes quite a bit beyond that kind of chicanery. In the raw footage, at about 1:20, while his kids look on, he makes a comment about cleaning sauce (at least that's what it sounds like) off the spotless pan he's holding as he explains how to make things clean. It still made me feel dirty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 16, 2012 Author Share Posted October 16, 2012 Nice find, Phi. The way he tilted the pans away from the cameras as he began to wipe them down suggests to me that he was very much aware of what he was doing and didn't want the photos/video to show their cleanliness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncool Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 (edited) That came to my mind as well. iNow, Do you know if the soup kitchen is set up as a 501©3? If so, I don't think they are allowed to participate in politics of any sort IIRC. The entire society is set up as a 501©3, yes, and yes, that does mean that they can't participate within any political campaign for any person to run for office. That's not quite the same as not being allowed to participate in politics - they aren't allowed to have a substantial portion of their funds go to lobbying/etc. for certain legislation. St. Vincent de Paul does advocate for legislation that affects the poor - they have a program called "Voice of the Poor" which includes that. But they still are not allowed to participate in any campaign for any individual person. =Uncool- Edited October 16, 2012 by uncool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mississippichem Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 The entire society is set up as a 501©3, yes, and yes, that does mean that they can't participate within any political campaign for any person to run for office. That's not quite the same as not being allowed to participate in politics - they aren't allowed to have a substantial portion of their funds go to lobbying/etc. for certain legislation. St. Vincent de Paul does advocate for legislation that affects the poor - they have a program called "Voice of the Poor" which includes that. But they still are not allowed to participate in any campaign for any individual person. =Uncool- Okay, the part I bolded clears it up. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 So Paul Ryan forced his chicanery on a soup kitchen that could lose private and faith-based funding because of it, so he can win votes he wouldn't otherwise deserve to get elected and cut funding to other programs that help the poor. A new low for Team Romney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ydoaPs Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 I somehow don't think that members will be typing "You didn't wash that" in political arguments when they've got nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Backlash. Ryan pulls a fast one, and the soup kitchen is losing donors because they blame the soup kitchen for the debacle. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/soup-kitchen-paul-ryan-photo-donor_n_1980541.html Fortunately others have stepped up. http://americablog.com/2012/10/romney-ryan-supporters-destroy-photo-opp-soup-kitchen.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ydoaPs Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Ryan pulls a fast one, and the soup kitchen is losing donors because they blame the soup kitchen for the debacle. With how they talk about rape, is blaming the victim in this case any surprise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imatfaal Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 From outside the USA it is getting harder and harder to believe the depths plumbed by the Republicans in this election - trying to run a soup kitchen out of existence, lynching empty chairs surely symbolizing the first black president, a high-profile commentator referring to the president as a retard, the madness of retrogression in science (evolution is from hell, and unbelievable statements on rape), romney's family buying voting machine manufacturers, the list goes on, these are just matters that we have touched on here from the last week or so. It's beginning to look like a mel brooks film - where the challenger realises he must lose the election and does everything in his power to look like a complete tool who is magnificently unfit for the position and yet he keeps gaining in popularity and is getting dangerously close to winning. If I read the polls and commentary correctly Obama is still the more likely winner, but one minor foul-up in the next few days which causes a small blip in popularity and Romney might well sneak it; a crappy challenger who should have been counted out many rounds ago and at the head of a god-awful campaign might sneak into the Whitehouse. I mean, seriously guys, WTF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 I mean, seriously guys, WTF? Yep, that about sums it up for me, too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padren Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 While it's not a lot, I am glad things like this happen: http://www.indiegogo.com/svdp-soupkitchen?c=home Huff Po on fundraiser After news that donors were pulling their support for the Society of Saint Vincent DePaul to protest Ryan's use of its Youngstown soup kitchen, users of Fark, an online news aggregator, started a fundraising campaign for the embattled charity on Indiegogo. So far, Fark.com's efforts have raised over $11,000 for the branch of the Saint Vincent DePaul affected by the boycott. When it comes to Fark's hyper partisan and incredibly trollish political section, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy - but people can still agree to help raise $15k (so far) for the soup kitchen that was just caught in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 So far, Fark.com's efforts have raised over $11,000 for the branch of the Saint Vincent DePaul Now in the news, Paul Ryan updates his stump speech to share with attentive crowds how his recent visit has helped a local charity to raise $11k in a week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Now in the news, Paul Ryan updates his stump speech to share with attentive crowds how his recent visit has helped a local charity to raise $11k in a week just under three hours. FTFY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padren Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Now in the news, Paul Ryan updates his stump speech to share with attentive crowds how his recent visit has helped a local charity to raise $11k in a week. I'm sure some objective third party news reporting from Fox would easily prove every single donor was a Chick-Fil-a scarfing Real American Conservative too. Regardless of how easily politics taints everything - at least those funds that are raised will do some good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewmon Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 ...lynching empty chairs... So, when do such activities become hate crimes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now