The anonymous comments on this blog raise interesting questions: Who is sending them? What agenda is being served in each instance? I often don't comment on anonymous posts. Why bother? But one did catch my eye today.
A writer going by the name "John" raised an interesting point about former TLC Executive Director Joane Garcia-Colson. ("TLC: Who Feeds The Cash Cow?")Is it true that she was earning $200,000 for a part-time job? And is it true that despite having been paid more than a million dollars over her tenure, her name is not on the top 50 donors' list.
First, it is true that Garcia-Colson's name is not on the list.
Next, I cannot tell from what I have been sent just what she was paid. The 2007 TLC IRS Form 990 reports her compensation as approximately $37,500 for the year on Statement 3. That sum is certainly not the whole story. A more meaningful picture emerges for the first three months of 2009, where a total of $77,352 was paid on "Staff Salaries, PR Taxes & Benefits." I assume that covers more than just Garcia-Colson, but I cannot tell. Interestingly, whoever sent me the financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2009 deleted pages 9-11, which may contain this information: I simply don't know.
So, your guess is as good as mine regarding Garcia-Colson's compensation.
I do believe her job was far from part-time, however. There are programs taking place somewhere virtually every month of the year. How much it takes to organize those is beyond my ken.
At the 80/15 celebration a new executive director was named. Perhaps she and Jude will cough up the numbers, lending transparency to an opaque set of issues.
Perhaps the person who sent me these forms, again anonymously, will step up. The Post Office Box written on the envelope in which the material arrived is written in a shaky hand. But I made out the state and town, and I contacted the one tribe member who lives in that town. This person knowns nothing about the package, I am told. Someone is going to extraordinary lengths to keep their hand hidden. Why?
