This is a message from Jan DeLaval, Co-Admin, Overpasses for America, Texas. “Impeach Obama Now Coalition” is an independent blog, not part of “Overpasses for America,” and will post messages from all sides on this matter.
October 24, 2013 at 9:22am
TO MEMBERS OF OVERPASSES FOR AMERICA (aka Overpasses for Obama’s Impeachment):As you may have seen, I resigned from Overpasses on the 21st due to improprieties within the upper echalon of the organization. Three of the top national leadership have left as well as our own Texas coordinator. The two remaining leaders, James Neighbors and Dallas Thurman have been asked to step down as part of an overall damage control and restructuring, but both refuse to do so, even though it would benefit the organization as a whole.
I have been in direct communication with all parties involved and have come to the conclusion that it is in our best interest to separate ourselves from this organization, but continue to rally and protest like we have been doing all along. Too much information is being brought to the forefront daily and it is not looking good for the organization as a whole.
You may have read that James Neighbors admits to taking $1500 of the solicited donations to use to pay his bills. This money was earmarked for use to further the OOI organization which he himself stated on the donations page. I have come to find out that this was not a one time event, but in fact the monies were taken out over a 3 month period of time as stated by the one remaining national admin to me in a private message. That was the last straw for me. If James Neighbors and his cohorts will allow this type of practice now, what will happen later on down the road when there are tens of thousands of dollars at stake?When the donation site was taken down, there was a total of $4640 that had been donated. No one except for James Neighbors actually knows how much has been withdrawn. The monies went directly to his personal PayPal account and so far, we as leaders have seen no accounting of the funds. We had also found a second donation site that went to a PayPal account supporting the “American Party” which has connections to Lyndon LaRouche. I have asked for an explanation about this but have not received one. Those of you who donated money to this group did so with the understanding that no money would be used for personal gain. James Neighbors even stated this fact on the page. We just don’t know how much of the $4640 has been taken, only what we are being told by the apology posts from James Neighbors.
The very nature of our group and agenda is under much scrutiny. We must remain resolve in our actions, our reputations, both political and personal, and our code of ethics. Right now, as we speak, legal recourse is being sought against James Neighbors. Those who speak out against him are banned from the group. Those that disagree with him are also being banned. Many groups are breaking away but are continuing to rally and spread the message. I urge all of you to do the same.
In the coming days, there will be much more happening behind the scenes and I will let everyone know as I find out. If there are those who believe in the man more than they believe in the group as a whole, then please follow the man. This is the very mentality within the leaders pages that is going on now. I myself have never seen as much unprofessional so called leadership under one roof. It is like being a school teacher on the playground with a class full of 6th grade bullies.
For those of you who may not have read my resignation, I am including a copy of it here. If you have any questions for me, I will do my best to answer them.
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In order for OOI aka Overpasses for America to save face, certain things need to be fully understood. First and foremost, we are a grassroots politically motivated group who has chapters nationwide. Our primary goal is to have the President of the United States impeached and removed from office. We are most likely one of the most dangerous grassroots movements ever formed in recent history and we are a direct threat to many other politicians in office as well.
The organization was never formed legally as a non-profit or PAC and depends solely on volunteers. A decision was made by the national leadership to take donations which would further the cause of the group as a whole. Another decision by leadership was to allow said donations to be used for personal reasons by one of the leaders. No matter what the reasoning behind this decision (be it need or a way to undermine the organization), this should have never been allowed to happen. Misappropriation of donations is a crime. All parties involved could be subject to criminal or civil actions should a donor want to pursue this matter.
James Neighbors needs to step down as founder immediately and return all funds back to Overpasses for America. The leadership who agreed to let Mr. Neighbors have this money should also step down immediately. While Mr. Neighbors might be entitled to a salary if we were a non-profit, he does not have the ability to set said salary, nor can he take funds to pay his personal bills that are designated for the organization.
I would like to make a short comment on the legality of paying salaries within a non-profit organization (which at this time, OOI is not): The requirements are that the compensation is approved by an authorized body of the organization (duly elected or formed), appropriate data is used for comparing compensation, and the basis for the determination is documented. The donations in question were SOLICITED and the question arises due to the fact that our organization is not a legal entity at this time. Solicited designations: A solicitation means that your organization asked for donations for a particular cause. Maybe it was by letter, email, website, radio spot…it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that donations given in response to a direct solicitation are to be permanently dedicated to that purpose.
Overpasses should completely restructure itself with new leadership and form some type of legal entity to continue. All requests for donations to the group should cease and desist until this is done. At some point, possibly an annual membership fee could be assessed as long as there was a proper accounting for any funds going into the organization. Once the organization has been restructured, Mr. Neighbors could then submit invoices for his out of pocket expenses for running the website and purchases directly related to the organization itself.
The damage has been done and if this organization wants to have any credibility in the political arena, swift and serious action needs to be taken immediately. A letter of apology is not enough. This one infringement can and will take everything we have built down including our personal reputations which I cannot to be a party to unless this situation is rectified immediately. It is my hope and prayer that it will be.
Those leaders who want to let this infraction just “go away” do not fully understand the long term implications of the actions that occured. Their loyalties lie with a person much more than the organization itself. There is no credibility or accountability for Overpasses for America at this time. A group as large as our own should be held to the highest standards and ethics.
There is much more work to do in getting Obama impeached. We have only scratched the surface at this point. Now that it is time to step things up a notch by way of properly conducted petitions signed and delivered to Congress, we must take this group to a more professionally run organization. I hope the necessary changes will be made quickly so that I can continue to be a part of this history making process. Until that time occurs, I respectively resign my position as Co-Admin for Texas and Admin for the New Caney, Humble, Atascocita, Kingwood group.
Sincerely,
Jan DeLaval, Co-Admin, Overpasses for America, Texas….
10/21/2013
Glad you guys found out. I was in a group here in Missouri. James Neighbors publicly called out myself and others in the group telling us we could not be part of any other Facebook groups but his, or to speak to other like minded persons unless those persons happened to be in his organization. He laid out ridiculous rules like Hitler, he publicly accused a woman of being mentally ill because she refused to abide by his laws, and when she broke from the group after publicly humiliating her, he threatened to sue her for using his organization’s name (of which he had no copyright or trade mark at the time, and she wasn’t using it anyway,) and threatened other insidious actions against other former members. Some of the women were being right out harassed by him and the state admin. Who by the way was stuck so far up his rear end and micro managed the hell out of everything to the point that hosts in other areas could not even plan their local events, she made
Things very confusing and would send out a barrage of invites that were not even fees able for people to attend blowing up our smart phones continually, instead of simply pinning pertinent links to the information page regarding events for each persons locality for them to find and respond to an event in their own areas. As the previous admin had done. She left the cause because of that woman who then was only an over zealous, James Neighbors brown-noser which he promptly made admin when the good admin left. Myself and others transferred into our current group free of neighbors and his cohorts after issueing many warnings about this man, his behavior, and our suspicions that he was up to no good with his so called fundraising which threw up several red flags from the start. Glad you guys broke away from that. We knew Neighbors was going to totally destroy his own cause. We predicted that over the summer. Anyway… Good luck fellow countrymen in your endeavors in your state, and with the combined efforts o other like minded groups for the same purpose, I will pray that we the people are strengthened under this great constitution, armed with the power of our rights to take our country back! Best wishes!
Jan, are you going to join the new group “voices” or will Texas have its own form of organization?
Not sure Jan reads this blog.