Mitt Romney's Tyler Foundation and the Millions He Donates To Charity

For all the bitching and moaning about  Mitt Romney's wealth, over the years the Romney's have donated millions to charitable organizations, according to Forbes.  Since they have the means, and the Mormon Church requires a 10% tithing of annual income, the Romneys have been very generous donating to organizations as diverse as AIDs Action and the Wright Museum through their Tyler Foundation.

Romney and his wife Ann also maintain a separate foundation, established in 1999, the same year that Romney left Bain Capital to serve as CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics Organizing Committee. The couple have contributed approximately$13.6 million, including an initial gift of more than $3.6 million, to their Tyler Charitable Foundation, based in Boston, MA, in the past 13 years.
Since the Tyler Foundation began making grants in 2000, its annual disbursements have averaged approximately $650,000 per year. The foundation’s most active years were 2003 and 2008, with approximately $2 million given away in each. In 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, the foundation hit its average, donating $650,000.
All told, Mitt and Ann Romney have doled out over $7 million via the Tyler Charitable Foundation. And although last year’s annual tax disclosure won’t be publicly available until this coming November, I would wager that the Romneys kept the pace in 2011, and that figure is now around $8 million. As of the 2010 disclosure, the Tyler Charitable Foundation had assets of more than $10 million.

His favorite top ten organizations and charities, and the amounts the Tyler Foundation has gifted  since 2000 are:

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: $4,781,0002. Brigham Young University: $525,0003. The United Way: $177,0004. Right to Play: $111,5005. The George W. Bush Library: $100,0006. Operation Kids: $85,0007. Center For Treatment of Pediatric MS: $75,0008. Harvard Business School: $70,0009. City Year: $65,00010. Deseret International: $50,000Weber State University: $50,000

Yes, the bulk has gone to the Mormon Church, but according to one of the comments in response to a disparaging remark regarding that fact, the Church helps not only the community but aids countries in need.

Yes, Mormons contribute 10% tithing to the Church, as well as more to various other charities. But it is worthwhile to know where the Church is spending that money. Since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no paid clergy, it has much more to use for the welfare of its members and their neighbors. When a natural disaster or catastrophe occurs around the world, the Church is often the first organization there to offer help and relief. The Sunday following the Tsunami I was one of the volunteers who removed tons of clothes off the racks of Deseret Industries and prepared them for shipment to Japan. We bundled the clothes on Monday, they traveled to Salt Lake City by truck on Tuesday, and were on a plane to Japan on Wednesday. I was honored to have that privilege. And, one more comment, this one from then US President Ronald Reagan: “If, during the period of the Great Depression, every church had come forth with a welfare program founded on correct principles as the LDS church did, we would not be in the difficulty in which we find ourselves today.” He urged that in our need we turn not to government but rather to ourselves. He also commented, “What I think is that if more people had this idea back when the Great Depression hit, there wouldn’t be any government welfare today, or need for it.”

Well said.

Read the rest on Forbes.

TN Obama "Team Member" Encourages Anti-Mormon "Whisper Campaign"

This election is going to get down and dirty before all is said and done; it already has.  Just watch some of the vicious SuperPAC ads running, and then there's people misquoting- as Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz did a few days ago. But I was waiting for someone to glom onto Mitt Romney's Mormonism, and it looks like that has finally happened.

When the Obama campaign released its much-anticipated Dashboard platform last May, it was touted as a potentially revolutionary organizing tool that would connect supporters, and merge online activism with real-life grassroots campaigning.

It can also be used as a platform to launch whispering campaigns, as one user proved this week.

On Monday, a "team member" named Laurence De Palma, who lists his location as East Nashville, presented volunteers with some talking points to convince Southern Christian voters they shouldn't vote for a Mormon. The message was available under "Resources" and tagged "persuasion."

"I'm thinking that even though we don't LIKE campaigns to get nasty, we in the south (TN) come to EXPECT it," De Palma began. "What we also know is that we have a very 'rigid' view of Christianity, and apparently, Mormonism isn't anywhere in our views. This could easily win TN/SC/AL/GA, etc."

The post goes on to include brief, oversimplified summaries of Mormon doctrines, framed to clash with evangelical Christianity.

Obama's campaign condemned it (at least in public), and has removed the post, but the whole idea has already been set in motion.

According to Buzzfeed, in spite of the fact that the forum allows users to moderate each others posts and flag the ones they deem inappropriate, this one sat there for four days until Buzzfeed brought it to the campaign's attention.  Only then was it removed.

Although both candidates have no control over what their supporters say and do, they do have control over how long a post sits on a campaign dashboard. Condemnation is also within their power.

Romney's camp condemned the action

"The news concerning the Obama Campaign's dashboard containing language based on sowing religious division is deeply disturbing. There is no place in politics for this, and it must be addressed and put to an end."

If the liberals are so concerned about Mormon politicians, maybe they should run Harry Reid out of Vegas, and Sen Tom Udall out of New Mexico, and all the other Mormon Democrats.