Has anyone here heard of the "Ocean of Life Foundation"?

[jmowreader]

Tip O'Neill once said, "All politics is local." This is a post about local politics.

Coeur d'Alene, ID, is having a city government election this year. Up for grabs are the mayor's chair, three seats on the city council and a couple other seats I don't remember right off the top of my head, sorry. There are two candidates in the mayor's race anyone cares about: Mary Souza, who is really far to the right, and Steve Widmyer, who is a centrist. (In this town, that makes him Che Guevara.) Souza has a history in city governance, and it's not pleasant: she was kicked off the Planning and Zoning Commission several years ago for being an asshole, and brags about it on her website. She was one of the big drivers in last year's attempt to recall the mayor for building a park Mary Souza didn't want without first holding a meaningless (and, as it turns out, illegal - according to Idaho code, only bonds can be put to public vote) "advisory vote" that, from what I see, she probably would have lost.

Back to the intent of this post: We were going through the candidates' campaign finance reports last week and discovered a $1000 contribution to Mrs. Souza from the "Ocean of Life Foundation." We naturally questioned this because it's an out-of-town donation and none of us had ever heard of this group. We fed "Ocean of Life Foundation" into Google and got a lot of stuff about marine biology. Next thing we know we're getting calls from someone who claims to be the president of the foundation telling us to lay off the candidate. And I'm like, what the fuck? Anyway, you can read what we know here:

http://cdapress.com/news/political/article_4a46bce8-8789-5917-8195-0d2d9ba5a5c2.html

My first thought is, it's some kind of fundamentalist group, just from the name. The people we found who vaguely remember them claim they're hardcore Republicans and that the group is one guy and his church, so there's at least slight confirmation.

We don't know and they won't tell us. DU is pretty up on unmasking these kinds of things, so anyone ever heard of these people?

[MattBaggins]

1. Just found this

http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_4a46bce8-8789-5917-8195-0d2d9ba5a5c2.html

"There is an Ocean of Life Foundation on file in the state of Wyoming, with the manager listed as Edge Financial Inc. There is no way to determine if that is the same foundation that made the donation, however."


"An Internet search reveals Cheryl Creson of Auburn, Wash., turned her house over to an Ocean of Life Foundation in 1999 on the advice from her attorney."

[jmowreader]

3. We know that much, obviously...

The mailing address on the donation was from Washington State.

[kestrel91316]

2. Google's never heard of them, for sure. Probably a front for purposes of making

dodgy political donations.

[okaawhatever]

4. Wow, suspect for sure. It sounds like they were complicit in insurance or tax fraud when they had

that woman put her house in the Foundation name when she thought she was going to have medical bills. Once the insurance company paid the claim, they put the house back in her name? C'mon. that's hiding assets for sure. Maybe since she never filed bankruptcy what she did isn't illegal, but it was intended to be. Sounds like all those be honest, work hard, no takers wanted policy doesn't apply here, now does it?

[SheilaT]

5. I likewise have never heard of it,

but them phoning you to tell you to lay off the candidate is possibly illegal. They have absolutely no right to do so, unless perhaps you are threatening violence against her, in which case the appropriate authorities should be contacted.

[Blue Idaho]

6. What I have found about Ocean of Life Foundation.

Ocean of Life Foundation LLC is headquartered in Cheyenne Wy. It's "Manager" is listed as Edge Financial Inc. The President of Edge Financial Inc. is Gerald Pitts. Gerald Pitts also runs Wyoming Corporate Services. More information about Wyoming Corporate Services and Gerald Pitts can be found at this link.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-usa-shell-companies-idUSTRE75R20Z20110628

Additional information about individuals can also be found at the Wyoming Secretary of State website.

Happy hunting.