PUBLIC INTEREST WATCH CALLS ON ATTORNEY GENERAL TO CRACK
DOWN ON NON-PROFIT GROUP, HERMANDAD MEXICANA NACIONAL
Lockyer Turns Blind Eye to Democratic Activist, Nativo Lopez
August 15, 2005, - Los Angeles-- August 15, 2005-- Public Interest Watch ("PIW") today called on Attorney General Bill Lockyer to follow through on warnings issued to Hermandad Mexicana Nacional
(HMN), a controversial 501(c)(3) non-profit social policy organization located in
Southern
California, for abusing its tax-exempt status. HMN, formerly under the guidance of
Democratic activist Nativo Lopez, has failed to file its IRS tax forms or submit a
renewal fee to State of California since 2003, and has ignored notices of a pending
tax assessment from the Attorney General's office.
On April 7, 2005, Lockyer issued a "Warning of Impending Tax Assessment" to HMN for
non-compliance, and threatened to revoke the organization's tax exempt status if it
did not pay all delinquent fees and file all necessary documents within thirty days.
However, as of August 15, 2005, HMN was still in non-compliance, and had failed to
respond to the Attorney General's warning.
In addition, a review of the web site www.hermandadmexicana.com/home/about.html ,
revealed Nativo Lopez has spun off HMN into a new 501(c) (3) non-profit organization
called Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana (HML) that works to develop low income
housing projects among other activities.
According to IRS tax documents, HML took in over one million dollars in gross receipts
in 2004. Not surprisingly, HML, following in the foot steps of HMN, appears to have
failed to register with the California Attorney General's office within six months of
collecting assets, violating California Government Code Section 12585. We strongly
urge the Attorney General to act now before history repeats itself.
Mr. Lopez is no stranger to controversy. In 1996, City News Service reported that HMN,
under the direction of Lopez, was the focus of a lengthy investigation for improper
voter registration activities. That same year, the INS terminated a contract for
citizenship services with the HMN-affiliate, Naturalization Assistance Service,
because of problems at its testing centers in Texas and Florida. According to
news accounts, Mr. Lopez was ousted from a Santa Ana, CA School Board in a financial
scandal involving HMN.
PIW Executive Director Lewis Fein commented, "This certainly raises the specter of
political cronyism. Tax-exempt organizations effectively run on taxpayer money.
With that privilege, comes a responsibility to fully disclose the details of their
operations to the taxpayers who are footing the bill. PIW encourages the public to
report non-profit abuse to expose those who take advantage of the public trust."
