The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) recently made public IRS forms and their budget for 2005, all in response to media reports raising concerns regarding the organization’s handling of its contributions.  Despite the release of these figures, some members, current and former, are still unsure how the Minutemen have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributors’ money.  

Specifically, what has raised the controversy is the organization’s $50 membership fee.  Chris Simcox, founder of the Minutemen, charged a mandatory $50 fee for background checks for those wishing to join the organization.  However, the group’s recently posted IRS Form 990 shows that the group spent only $1,074 on volunteers’ background checks in 2005, while collecting over $54,000 in registration fees.  

According to the Houston Chronicle, the discrepancy in the Minuteman organization finance is alienating members, leading to the resignation of a number of Minutemen leaders.  Bill Parmley, the former head of the Texas chapter of the Minutemen, was one of the first people to resign.  “There were just too many irregularities,” Parmley said. “I just didn’t want to be involved in something like that.”  In addition to the finance issue, Parmley said he resigned mainly because he was concerned about suspicions of racist attitudes.  

Shannon McGauley, creator of Texas Minutemen, a splinter group, said that during the MCDC’s inception that no one addressed the finances “because the mission was so important.  Now all these people are quitting because of questions about the money.  When a couple people quit and start bad-mouthing, you can believe MCDC.  But when you talk to them and every single one of them says the same thing, that warrants some investigating.”