I received an email from a listener about all of the internal strife between the two factions of the MMP. There is some very interesting information that is just starting to really come out. We've heard some whispers of an internal problem for a little while now, but it has escalated. Keep reading to see the emails each side is sending to members of the MMP, and decide who's side you are on.
First email from my listener:
Casey,
I received this yesterday from the minuteman webmaster, Linda. Gilcrest was the one that started bringing the facts out on Ramos & Campeon, the Border Patrol Agents; that's why I mentioned the MinuteMan Project in my previous mail. Following this email will be an email I received today from the people that hijacked the MMP.
Diane
Second email from Gilchrist's people:
Dear Brigade,
As you know I am also the WebMaster for Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman
Project [MMP]. See below my latest MMP email. I am asking you to forward
this email everywhere and ask others to pass it on as well. Upload it to
message boards, and post it on websites. We need your help to let the
world know about these shameful, greed-driven and downright diabolical
conspirators.
As always, for the Cause - Linda
PS -- Within the last few minutes they also hacked into our MMP website
and took control of it - they put up an "under construction" sign. For
now, stay tuned to our www.forthecause.us site for MMP news and updates.
-----------
Dear Minutemen,
Yes it is true. Several people who Jim Gilchrist fully trusted have put
their pursuit of money and power above the Cause. They conspired to
remove Jim Gilchrist as head of the Minuteman Project and insert
themselves in positions of power in the organization.
Who are these individuals?
Deborah Peterson - AKA Deborah Courtney
Marvin Stewart - a quasi-Minister and government worker
Barbara Coe - California Coalition for Immigration Reform
I am still stunned. Did they really think that all of us would just roll
over and let this happen?
See the MMP press release below and please note the following about
these three individuals:
1. Using stolen passwords they hacked into our Web Servers and changed
the passwords for several of our accounts.
2. They took control of all our Minuteman Project email addresses. As of
right now, all email sent to anyone @minutemanproject.com goes to these
corporate raiders. We are forced to use our personal email addresses
until this is resolved in court. You can contact us at:
Linda Muller [WebMaster] - lindamuller@forthecause.us
Jim Gilchrist [MMP Founder]- century21minuteman@sbcglobal.net
Tim Bueler [Media] - media@timbueler.com
3. It also looks like they might have stolen our email list. If you, as
a member of the Minuteman Project email list, receive email claiming it
is from the MMP, from anyone other than me, Tim or Jim, please remember
it is bogus.
4. They stole over 20,000 pages of our letterhead stationery and
envelopes bearing Jim Gilchrist's personal signature. Needless to say if
you receive any letters in the mail that seem out of character, you will
know they are from this band of devious conspirators.
5. As of right now they have been unable to hack into our website - we
still have full control over it. Tommy Crenshaw, who manages our system,
is keeping watch on it round the clock. He says they are using
sophisticated hacking tools to try and break into the Web Server. Thus
far he has been able to thwart their incessant attempts to break in.
Again, if you notice content on the website that seems out of character,
you can assume that they were successful in taking over our website. If
that happens, stay tuned to my personal website at www.forthecause.us
for updates.
For now I just wanted to make sure you know about our email addresses
and the stolen stationery so you will not be confused if you are
contacted by them. I will be writing up much more on this over the next
few days and posting it on the www.minutemanproject.com and the
www.forthecause.us websites... and also emailing it to several lists.
Please help Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project by sending this
information across the USA. Post it on websites. Upload it to message
boards and chat rooms.
I for one will be damned if I will stand quietly by while Deborah
Peterson [AKA Deborah Courtney], Marvin Stewart and Barbara Coe try to
steal the Minuteman Project from Jim Gilchrist. How about you?
As always, For the Cause - Linda
And still the Minuteman Project Webmaster!
---------------
Minuteman Founder Under Attack by Internal Terrorists
Press Release - The Minuteman Project - February 27, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 February 2007
CONTACT: Tim Bueler
Office: (310) 855-3460
Cell: (530) 401-3285
media@timbueler.com
www.MinutemanProject.com
MINUTEMAN FOUNDER UNDER ATTACK BY INTERNAL TERRORISTS
For years, Jim Gilchrist had been concerned about the illegal alien
invasion of America, which is so evident in southern California. On
September 11, 2001, as he watched the terrorist attack on the Twin
Towers, he was outraged that these terrorist-murderers were mostly
illegal aliens, here on expired visas.
Three years later, the government had done nothing to secure the
borders, and Jim Gilchrist decided that letters and phone calls to
politicians clearly weren't enough. On October 1, 2004 he founded The
Minuteman Project and launched a recruiting program that called together
patriotic Americans to stand watch on the borders, report to the Border
Patrol, and try to stem the tide of illegal aliens and terrorists who
daily, in the thousands, infiltrate America. With about 1,200 volunteers
from every state in the union Gilchrist and his hand-picked
co-organizers successfully conducted the largest Minuteman assembly
since 1776.
For his efforts, Gilchrist, a wounded combat Marine veteran and retired
CPA, has been routinely attacked by the usual suspects: special
interests, pro-unrestricted immigration groups, amnesty supporters, drug
lords, and others, in and out of government.
Now Jim Gilchrist is under attack from a different sort of terrorist:
covert subversives who managed to gain Gilchrist's trust, only to breach
that trust by attempting to kidnap the organization he founded.
Gilchrist has effectively led The Minuteman Project since its inception,
but according to the propaganda voiced by these brazen corporate
raiders, Gilchrist is a bad guy. These hostile corporate raiders claim
they are taking over The Minuteman Project to "save" it.
Save it? Hijack and take it over, is a more apt description, says Steve
Eichler, the Minuteman Project's Executive Director. He supports
Gilchrist and is outraged at the high-handed manner in which a gang of
isolated insiders have moved to oust Gilchrist.
Deborah Courtney, Marvin Stewart, and Barbara Coe have all been trusted
confidantes, said Eichler, and it is devastating to Jim and me,
personally, to realize that they have been covertly manipulating to take
over the Minuteman Project.
Courtney, Stewart and Coe claim that they are the Minuteman Project, by
virtue of them having voted Gilchrist off the Project's so-called board
of directors, a board that never existed.
That's pretty funny, says Eichler. The Minuteman Project is incorporated
under Delaware law, and Jim is the only corporate officer. There is no
board, so just how is it that three supposed board members meet secretly
and vote off the founder and president, then vote to give themselves
access to the bank accounts and withdraw money? What will they claim
next, that Marvin L. Stewart is the president of the United States in an
attempt to oust the president from the White House?
These people were simply confidantes and a board of advisors, explained
Gilchrist. They were not a decision-making corporate board. Even if the
seven-person board they claim to have been a part of existed, how could
three people, who couldn't even constitute a quorum, meet secretly
without notifying the others, and take any sort of legal action?
There is also the question of bank fraud, adds Eichler. Deborah
Courtney, Marvin Stewart, and another person went to the bank with bogus
paperwork, seized the Project's bank account and withdrew Minuteman
Project funds, causing the Project's outstanding checks to bounce. We're
not talking about a simple policy disagreement, here. This is white
collar crime, and we intend to pursue it as such.
An Orange County Times article (Ousted Minuteman Leader Seeks Court
Remedy, by Jennifer Dilson, Feb 27, 2007) refers to the non-existent
board of directors having ousted Gilchrist, and refers to Gilchist's
claim that the renegade board had stolen 20,000 letterhead stationery
and envelopes bearing Gilchrist's personal signature, had hacked into
the Minuteman Project's website, and had stolen money from the Project s
bank accounts (about $4,000, according to Gilchrist, who filed a
criminal report of theft with the Orange County Sheriff), and had
diverted money from other sources. Gilchrist plans to meet with
investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation next week to
discuss any federal criminal violations that may have been perpetrated
by the takeover collaborators.
Gilchrist is concerned that Courtney, Stewart and Coe will use the
stolen Minuteman Project materials, including access to the Project s
mailing list, to send out bogus appeals for funds. Our supporters are
dedicated patriots. They don't deserve to be deceived by bogus
fund-raising appeals, says a concerned Gilchrist.
Attorneys for both sides presented their case Feb 26 to Orange County
Judge Randell L. Wilkinson. This morning the court ruled in Gilchrist's
favor by expediting the matter and setting a court date for a formal
hearing on March 21 at 1:30 PM in Santa Ana Superior Court.
###
SOURCE: MinutemanProject.com
The Minuteman Project
P.O. Box 3944
Laguna Hills, California 92654
------ end ------
Third email from those trying to oust Gilchrist:
CONTACT ROBERT VASQUEZ
Minuteman Project, Inc.
Media Spokesperson
208.989.4260
THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS NOT THE EASY THING TO DO
From MMP President Marvin Stewart, Treasurer Deborah Courtney, and Member Barbara Coe
The easy thing to do would have been to walk away and not have to listen to the slander and read the libel. The easy thing to do would have been to do nothing, and not have misrepresentations printed about us in the press.
It’s an old political trick to blame the people who ousted you for the very same indiscretions for which you yourself were ousted. Such is with Jim Gilchrist and cohorts.
However, because we ARE the Board of Directors of The Minuteman Project, a 501C4 non profit organization, we have taken our responsibilities seriously, not like Jim Gilchrist, Sandy Gilchrist, Steve Eichler, and Tim Bueler. Delaware Corporation Law, Title 8, specifically states that when incorporated as a 501C4, "THE BOARD OF DIRECTOR'S SHALL MANAGE," and that the BOARD OF DIRECTOR'S is held in trust of the publics' funds, as well as oversight of the publics’ funds and donations.
We are therefore protecting YOU.
Gilchrist's claim is that there was never a Board of Director's. If that is true, he defrauded the public when he initially incorporated as a 501C4 and solicited the publics' donations. However, numerous public documents and emails, our lawsuit against Columbia University, the lawsuit against Compton College, and our Resolution against the City of Long Beach clearly state that we are members of The Minuteman Project Board of Director's. Yet to be released tape recordings also confirm the fact.
Once we discovered there were financial indiscretions, we queried Gilchrist, who produced the corporate checking accounts that confirmed our suspicions of deception. We were never apprised of the contracts, corporate documents, and other relevant details about off shoot bank accounts, websites, radio stations, and corporations that were set up with Minuteman Project funds, clearly for ‘Personal Benefit’, an IRS term when 501C4 funds are misused, until late in the game, forcing us to take action and terminate other Board Members, and Gilchrist himself..
On January 26th, after ousting Tim Bueler for lack of loyalty because he is also the national media spokesman for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a competitor, we accepted Stephen Eichler's resignation as corporate treasurer and then terminated him for disloyalty and negligent management. We then had to make the painful decision to take away Gilchrist's responsibilities as President for gross mismanagement, and terminate him from The Minuteman Project, Inc., Board of Director’s. We had already taken away Gilchrist’s check writing abilities in late December.
We offered Jim Gilchrist, the original Minuteman, every chance to do what is right, call for a financial audit, step down quietly from daily activity, and continue his chief responsibility as National Spokesman for Minuteman Project. He could have kept his problems quiet, and repaired them behind the scene.
Imagine our disappointment when Gilchrist filed a fraudulent police report and would not and could not step up to the plate and denounce the oversight and come clean. Instead, he took his negligence and incompetence to the courts and press, perhaps damaging the entire movement himself.
The facts are, as a Board of Director's, we relied upon Jim's representation that he has his Master's in Taxation, and Stephen Eichler's claim to hold his Juris Doctorate from Trinity Law School. Therefore, the State of Delaware allows us to rely upon their specific knowledge, which in the end, will prove to have gotten them both into a lot of trouble. What we did not know, was how just much was being hidden from the Board, and the IRS and United States Postal Service penalties and fines that we would be vulnerable to because of being on the Board of Director’s for MMP.
Once we discovered this gross negligence, we were required to report to the proper authorities, before prosecutorial agencies were contact with MMP. We asked Jim to go forward with us, but he refused, so we had to go ahead, with out Gilchrist and the rest of the Board of Director’s.
It truly would have been easier for Jim to be the only Director, so that he and he alone would have been liable for the taxes on the donations and postage liabilities, but we have taken our responsibilities seriously, ousted the incompetent and deceptive management, and wish to return back to normal with your help and support.
We know this is hard for many of you to understand, given that Jim is still not coming clean or being truthful in the media, but we are confident that in the end we will prevail, even if Jim does manage to bring down the whole movement. He would rather change the rules midstream than play according to the Rule of Law.
Minuteman Project, Inc.
www.MinutemanProject.com
P.O. Box 15340
Long Beach, CA 90815
Hmmm ... who to believe? I'll be honest ... I don't really know at this point, but I'm leaning towards Gilchrist. You'll notice in this last email that the "hijackers" talked about ousting Tim Bueler for lack of loyalty because he is also the national media spokesman for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a competitor. Call me crazy, but aren't the goals of each organization the same ... to secure the borders? Why would they be competitors? Wouldn't they be allies? That's a red flag for me.
Then of course there is the fact that this is Gilchrist's creation, and I believe it to be morally wrong for anyone to oust the creator with an internal takeover. There is no demand from stock holders or anything else similar to that. This is a group of three people who have ousted the man who conceived, created, built up, and managed this organization with pretty solid success. They are more than welcome to leave, and start their own organization where they can spread their message while getting the word out about Gilchrist's activities.
Finally, there is the matter of seizing the website, and email lists. There IS some legal issues here. If you take over a company ... you don't automatically have a right to intellectual property unless a deal has been struck. Depending on how good a lawyer you have in court ... the judge may rule the site to be the property of the company regardless of who's the acting head. However, using hacking tools to break in and seize control of a site is not an accepted practice, and will land you in jail. You use the courts to gain control of the website ... not a hacker.
Then there is the email lists. It IS against the law to seize people's personal information. FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act) requires ALL businesses, and organizations, to protect the private data of customers, clients etc. This includes email addresses. To seize/use email addresses without the consent of the email's owner is illegal. It is a violation of privacy rights that are protected by FACTA, and various anti-spam laws. The members of the Minuteman Project should have been notified of the change in leadership, and been given an opportunity to opt-out.
Just so there is no confusion about this situation and merging companies retaining customer records:
- Some companies don't turn over records to the new ownership ... unless there is a deal to acquire the responsibility for those customers. Any change in customer services must be reported with an option to opt-out.
- This is a hostile internal takeover ... not a merger or sail of a company/organization. Different rules apply.
If I were to give my site to a friend ... he can't use my email list to contact any of you. I would have to notify you of the change in ownership, and ask permission to transfer your email address. Otherwise ... you could sue me privacy violations, and I'm liable if ID theft occurs because I transfered your email without your permission.
All in all ... this story is very interesting, and well worth the gossip time.
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