Allegations of Financial Misconduct by Rep. Williams at John Hope
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
The recently ousted Executive Director of the John Hope Settlement House has alleged that Board President Representative Anastasia Williams had used the house for political purposes, without compensating the organization.
GoLocal reported Monday that Williams appointed former discredited head of ProCAP, Frank Corbishley, to serve as the interim Executive Director in the wake of former Director Taino Palermo's sudden departure last week, when Palermo challenged Williams' leadership.
In a letter to the John Hope Settlement House board upon his resignation last week, Palermo leveled a series of allegations against Williams, including that on July 26, Williams "hosted an event...for her campaign (this event was not for John Hope) in which John Hope paid staff to create the flyer, distribute the flyer to the community and work the night of the event. John Hope has now documented payroll for a political event of which I would be responsible for as the Executive Director. There is no rental agreement or payment for the event."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPalermo goes on to outline additional instances that he said Williams used the building for political purposes without compensation, including hosting a fundraiser for Gina Raimondo on July 31 that he said Williams said she would pay the rental fee for, but never did. Williams did not return request for comment.
Charges Came Prior to Leadership Change
Prior to his resignation, Palermo, who started as Executive Director at the John Hope Settlement House at the end of May, had worked in non-profit management at Syracuse University. Less than two months into his tenure at the John Hope Settlement House, Palermo addressed his initial concerns to two members of the board in an email dated July 22.
"I'm reaching out to you both as veteran board members of organizations and fountains of knowledge (especially in regards to legal matters and/or non-profits) about a few things that are concerning to me," wrote Palermo. "I am telling you both this in confidence...yet in writing, so it's documented somewhere that I voiced these concerns should something arise in the near future."'
Palermo goes on in the email to broach his issues with perceived conflicts of interest in both the political arena, and management style, of Williams. "I want to be clear that my issue is not with her personally, or even with her as a board member and our board president," wrote Palermo.
Palermo spoke with GoLocal Monday about his non-profit experience prior to coming to John Hope, and his experience at the West Side non-profit that has served the community since the 1930s.
"My whole career's been non-profits. I'm well aware of the blurred lines between politics and non-profits in cities," said Palermo, who had worked with Syracuse's Near West Side Initiative. "I guess it's more in your face here. When I was being interviewed, I was also interviewing them. I saw online there was a 990 for 2010 for a $5 million operating budget, but that was the most recent one at the time."
"So I believe I asked all the right questions about fiduciary responsibility, but couldn't get direct answers," continued Palermo. "But they seemed eager for direction. I saw it as a clay I could mold, put a stamp on it. I believed in the mission."
Palermo, however, said that despite the political issues, he did not see a larger pattern of financial malfeasance at the house.
"In my short time, [Williams] never had anything to do with the finances, although she did cut staff hours and pay," Palermo told GoLocal. "She'd say we had a lack of resources, but I one of the first things I did was to restructure things to save $20,000 in salaries."
Palermo's replacement Corbishley was previously the Executive Director of ProCAP, before he was suspended and subsequently stepped down. In November of 2011, GoLocal reported of ProCAP, “More than $500,000 in government funds that were designated for various vendors that work with the city’s top anti-poverty organization were never paid while the organization continued to dole out interest-free loans to select employees, according to a report filed last week by an independent assessor.”
Finances in Question
A 990 from 2010, for the 2009 tax year, shows that the John Hope Settlement House started the year with $7.2 million in assets, and ended the year in $6.3 million in assets. A 2012 990 -- for the 2011 tax year -- had the House starting the year with $5.1 million in assets, and ending with $3.9 million.
Palermo said that while the house had his challenges, he had worked to keep it in good standing.
"I knew there was a legislative grant of $250,000 of state funding coming. That's what [Williams] told us. It was supposed to come, but I hadn't seen it," said Palermo.
"When I first came on, I got multiple calls a day [from vendors], saying "You owe us this," said Palermo. "I'm probably a certified debt collector at this point. But [John Hope] is in a good place. There's a $100,000 line of credit of with city, of which $50,000 has been used. I know, as it was in our audit."
"So while they're relatively sound right now, the bigger issue is they have no formal funding streams. The Rhode Island Foundation, Champlain Foundation, United Way...all of those former funders no longer give to John Hope," said Palermo. "So finances aside, there was a clear power struggle at play [with Williams] that I'm still not fully aware of at this point."
John Hope Settlement House board member Sarah LaRosa said that she fully supported Palermo.
"I loved that Tai was from out of state," said board member Sarah LaRosa, who had voted for Palermo to stay. "He had visions -- and a plan -- to bring the John Hope Settlement House back to greatness."
Related Slideshow: Rhode Island’s History of Political Corruption
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