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August 28, 2007
The Barnes filing, part two
Continuing from this morning's perusal of the Friend of the Barnes' court filing...
The Friends of the Barnes petition's biggest bombshell is its suggestion that Pew president & CEO Rebecca Rimel may have given misleading testimony before Montgomery County Orphans' Court Judge Stanley Ott. It is one of several claims that Pew and its allies played fast-and-loose with the court.
In December, 2003 Rimel testified before Ott that Pew's application to the IRS for a change from a private to public charity status was "not based on anything that may or may not happen with the Barnes... It has no implications whatsoever."
However, according to the petition, Pew's application to the IRS for public charity status, filed in December, 2002, suggests quite a different story. The petition quotes from Pew's IRS submission:
"If [Pew] receives recognition of its public charity status, it will assume the Pew Charitable Trust Division's role in the Barnes Foundation project. As a public charity, [Pew] will be in a position not only to continue the Pew Charitable Trust Division's role in planning and coordinating the project, but also to receive grants and contributions from the Trusts and from other donors, and to hold and administer those funds until the Barnes project is completed. Putting [Pew] in this position presents a significant advantage because it allows [Pew] not only to develop a plan and a vision for the project, but also to raise the funds and then administer the project to ensure that the plan and the shared vision are realized."
Pew did not immediately respond to a request for comment. UPDATE, Wednesday, 9am: Still no response from Pew.
Posted August 28, 2007 1:07 PM
