Do All Washoe County Grant Recipients Pass the Sniff Test?
Commissioner Mike Clark donated $10,000 of his discretionary funds to the Reno Toy Run, a Nevada-based nonprofit that files taxes as a 501C3 charity for children. During the acceptance of the donation, members of motorcycle clubs sat in the gallery. One member from the Branded Few caught the eye of a reporter, who snapped a photograph. Despite not knowing how the man wearing a vest embroidered with a swastika in the gallery was affiliated with the Toy Run, Chair Alexis Hill has said, “Donating government funds to a group whose members are openly engaged in, or tolerant of, hate speech crosses a line for me.” Never mind that the word “hate speech” is an undefined term bantered around by the left, Washoe County still seems keen to paint Clark as some sort of neo-nazi loving hater.
The primary takeaway of our story is that Clark did not donate the money to the Branded Few, the club that wears the symbol, instead he donated it to a legitimate charity that supports an annual toy run for Christmas (and dare we say Chanukah) in the Reno area. The entity collects donations all year and in turn they provide toys to needy children and issue checks to other charities. The motorcycle run is administered by the Confederation of Clubs, a local group formed in 1997 that represents clubs from all over Northern Nevada. At one time 38 clubs were members of the confederation. The members of the confederation are diverse and the Toy Run does not control who participates in the event.
Picon found the Secretary of State business information for the Reno Toy Run, and three of the four listed officers of the charity spoke at the meeting, none were swaztika-wearing nazis.
Despite the wholesome donation from Clark’s discretionary fund, the county has now sought to malign him and intimate that somehow one member wearing a swastika means Clark’s donation is being given to nazis. Now, we realize Marialuz Garcia and Alexis Hill look down their noses at the smelly Walmart types, however, we think they have opened a fat can of worms. If a member of a club, that pays dues to the Confederation, is now being called a “sponsor” of the Reno Toy Run, then it is time to dig into all discretionary fund donations given and received by the County. Besides, last we checked, the Reno Toy Run is the sponsor and the Confederation is the facilitator of the event.
The list of charities that receive money from the Reno Toy Run charity is extensive, including entities such as Black Wall Street and Washoe County Human Services. Entities that are supported by Alexis and Marialuz. Are they suggesting these entities return the funds they got from these bikers? We mean what entity wants money stained with the shadow of nazism, right?
Picon was rather perplexed, as we were told last year about the founder of Soulful Seeds, a local non-profit supported heavily by Marialuz Garcia, and “gushed’ about by Alexis Hill. Not only did Picon find the idea of growing food in Northern Nevada to offset “food insecurity” preposterous, the overhead and size of this organization makes one wonder. Consider fruit trees in Northern Nevada. It is more often than not we experience a late freeze that renders fruit trees barren. Not only do we have a very stunted growing season, but we are also plagued with long periods without rain and intense UV from the Nevada sun. Conditions that are far from ideal, hence the reason we do not have vast agriculture in the area. We also have limited water.
The local government elected officials seem eager to suckle at the money teet of developers, builders and suppliers of construction equipment, where are they setting aside all this open space for community gardens.
Aside from the nonsensical idea of growing food here to sustain people, the founder of Soulful Seeds is harboring his own dark secrets. In public records, Picon has confirmed that Earstin Whitten was no stranger to media coverage in Chicago. In a bizarre 2006 crime tale, his then-wife stabbed their daughter to death and then drove the family car, with the dead daughter inside, off a bridge in an apparent suicide attempt. Earstin was reportedly not home at the time of the killing. The daughter, 34 at the time, was disabled with cerebral palsy.
An internet blog reported that his wife accused Earstin of "extreme and repeated mental cruelty", as well as adultery while seeking a divorce. They were apparently members of the Jehovah’s Witness and according to the reporting, Earstin moved to Reno to start a new life. Based on the blog reporting, is his attitude proper for receipt of tax dollars. Who decides whose attitude is proper, Alexis? She does love her gavel and unilateral decision-making.
As far back as 1999 Earstin was seeking donations to run clinics on jelly making. Prior to that, his wife hatched another charity that made scarves for needy children. Earstin is not the only one with a past. The county's seemingly favorite non-profit, Karma Box, was founded by Grant Denton, a self-described felon and homeless man until about 11 years ago. Despite being a felon, he administers millions in grant funds and was recently accused of misconduct with women and drug use by a woman during public comment at a BCC meeting. In what can only be described as a swift investigation, he was cleared by the county “initially” of wrongdoing.
His attorney said, Denton and Karma Box were not the same, so that the new contract should be awarded. The county awarded a new contract on the spot, despite the allegations and absent an outcome of the investigation. Funny, we think Clark is making the same argument now, the Reno Toy Run is not the Branded Few, so why deny the money?
Picon noticed that Marialuz donated money to Black Wall Street, a group funded in the wake of George Floyds death. One of the founders, Romar Tolliver, has been to prison. Did she vet that information, did she check to see what he was in prison for and whether his attitude conforms to the standards needed to receive funds?
Picon could go on and on, and even into the acceptance of donations by commissioners and whether the morality of the donor has been properly judged, however to what end? Commissioner Clark donated money to a Toy Run for kids. Anyone who thinks motorcycle clubs do not have bad actors should wake up, however, this is not about each member's bio, this is about kids and charities. Over the years all sorts of politicians have photo-opped the Toy Run, swaztika and all.
The Branded Few has been around since the 1970s. Their long-time president had mixed-race family members. Members of Native American descent have worn the patch. The club has long denied the patch symbolizes hate, instead they have argued against the label of nazi’s. We are unaware of any hate crimes committed by the Branded Few in the last 30 years. So what patch they chose to wear is their deal, in fact we just need to rewind to 2001, when a judge kicked Branded Few members out of the courthouse for offensive garb. Carson City was sued and they lost, so Washoe County ought to tread lightly with the First Amendment protections afforded everyone, especially those we disagree with.