AJC: Atlanta councilman’s non-nonprofit
There’s a great story on the front page of the print edition of today’s AJC about Atlanta City Councilman H. Lamar Willis and his eponymous charitable foundation.
Did councilman misrepresent charity?
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For the past five years, Atlanta City Councilman H. Lamar Willis has solicited donors for a foundation he says he created to give scholarships to Atlanta students. The H. Lamar Willis Foundation has told major corporations — which have contributed tens of thousands of dollars — that donations are tax-deductible because it is a federally approved nonprofit.
But it’s not, and it never has been.
The implied possible “why”:
Willis, an attorney, has refused to provide The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a list of donors or recipients of the money. Of the donors mentioned on the foundation Web site, many are companies doing business at the airport, which Willis helps oversee as a member of the City Council’s transportation committee. Companies include Coca-Cola, Comcast, AirTran, Target and Turner Construction, among others.
Ha!