PrintSeptember 22, 2008
Diana Aviv Has Some 'Splaining to Do
Why would someone involved in keeping nonprofits ethical give the appearance of being involved in political partisanship?
When Ricky Ricardo caught Lucy in some very compromising position he said she had some "‘splaining to do."That's how I feel about Diana Aviv, head of Independent Sector, an organization which assists almost 600 nonprofit organizations around the country and the world to establish and maintain appropriate ethical standards and practices of transparency.
Independent Sector is the leadership forum for charities, foundations, and corporate giving programs committed to advancing the common good in America and around the world. Our nonpartisan coalition of approximately 600 organizations leads, strengthens, and mobilizes the charitable community in order to fulfill our vision of a just and inclusive society and a healthy democracy of active citizens, effective institutions, and vibrant communities. (snip)
Independent Sector serves as the premier meeting ground for the leaders of America's charitable and philanthropic sector. Since our founding in 1980, we have sponsored ground-breaking research, fought for public policies that support a dynamic, independent sector, and created unparalleled resources so staff, boards, and volunteers can improve their organizations and better serve their communities.
Given this mandate and the broad scope of its membership, one would suppose that its head, Diana Aviv would remain strictly non partisan.
Instead, along with such obvious partisans like Eric Alterman, Soros-supported members like Gail Furman ,Morton Halperin and Eli Pariser, Democratic big names like Peter Edelman, and people with extremist views on Israel like Maxine Singer and Milton Viorst, Diana Aviv serves on the JStreetPac's Advisory Council. This organization expresses its aims in transparent code:
JStreetPAC is the first and only federal Political Action Committee established to explicitly promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israel conflicts peacefully and diplomatically.
Of the 32 candidates it supports, 31 are Democrats.
I have e-mailed the organization's communications department and called them asking for an explanation but have received none for such an obvious and blatant overreaching by the organization's head.
Has Independent Sector been taken over by Obama and or Soros?
I looked briefly through its member list and found that this year it has a couple of new members which might have played a role in hijacking the organization: the Brown University, Center for Public Service joined on August 5 of this year and Be The Change joined on September 15.
The Center at Brown University is the site of the Annenberg Challenge which gave Obama and Ayers all that money to waste in Chicago in a nonsensical operation purportedly designed to improve public education in Chicago but, in fact, to aid Ayers and Obama and their friends. When last I looked the center was blocking efforts to see the records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in its possession.
Be the Change seems quite obviously another Obama front. Its board includes David Gergen, Michelle Nunn (daughter of ex-Senator Sam Nunn who for some time had been considered a potential Obama running mate) and John Schnur formerly of "New Leaders for New Schools" who on September 22 of this year left to join the Obama campaign.
