AR - Rep. Harris rehomed his adopted daughter to man who sexually abused her

[SStarr33]

Has the Republican Party come out and distanced itself from the creep? Arkansas voters historically have distanced themselves from politicians who screw up. Bill Clinton was voted out of office as governor.

Boehner will probably recruit him.

 

[stormshine]

evangelical fundamentalist Christians were encouraged to adopt but for the wrong reason. It wasn't because of humanitarian or altruistic reasons, it was to alter public opinion about their utter hypocrisy in rejecting abortion, demanding cuts in funding for food stamps and medicaid programs to help needy children and their families. Harris is an incredible hypocrite because he exploited the children he adopted, threw them to the wolves when done and he exploited the taxpayer programs to personally profit.

JMO

I disagree with that as a sweeping general statement. I have evangelical Christian friends (who I know separately) who have adopted severely disabled children because they think it's their duty. These children (mostly now adults) are disabled to a point that they aren't exactly able to participate in religion one way or another. I believe that most do it for the right reasons.

 

[tlcya]

Anything new on Harris? He still in office? How goes the pressure to get him removed?

 

[MyBelle]

I disagree with that as a sweeping general statement. I have evangelical Christian friends (who I know separately) who have adopted severely disabled children because they think it's their duty. These children (mostly now adults) are disabled to a point that they aren't exactly able to participate in religion one way or another. I believe that most do it for the right reasons.

We'll agree to disagree. There is nothing "Christian" about adopting children and then re-homing them, imo.

In 2007, the Christian Alliance for Orphans, which took root around the same time Campbell published her first adoption articles, held a pivotal meeting at the Colorado headquarters of James Dobson's Focus on the Family; pastors emerged ready to preach the new gospel of orphan care and adoption, according to an account in the Los Angeles Times. Focus was soon predicting that, within a decade, it would be "pretty uncommon" for Christians "to not adopt or not care for orphans."

Indeed, just two years later the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Christian denomination save the Catholic Church, passed a resolution calling on its 16 million members to get involved, whether that meant taking in children themselves, donating to adoptive families, or supporting the hundreds of adoption ministries that were springing up around the country to raise money and spread the word. Neo-Pentecostal leader Lou Engle also called for mega-churches to take on the cause, which would give them "moral authority in this nation."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/christian-evangelical-adoption-liberia

 

[OneLove]

Arkansas voters historically have distanced themselves from politicians who screw up.

Bill Clinton was voted out of office as governor.

You clearly need to look up the very elementary definitions of "objective" and "subjective". Who 'screwed up' is like saying "who is beautiful", a very subjective opinion. Your comments indicate an inability to distinguish the two.
On Clinton SPECIFICALLY: he was not reelected for a 2 year term of office primarily (by voter demographics) by educators incensed over a new requirement to take and pass a 6th grade level basic literacy test (I personally knew some teachers and 1 principal who quit rather than take this simple test) AND by people who characterized the increase of car registration fees from $12 annually to $16 annually as "raising taxes". The state I moved to after leaving my job with the Arkansas State Department charged $633 annually for the same vehicle that cost me $16 in AR, lol.

In any event, the next 2 year term of Republican Frank White was such an embarrassment even on the national front that Clinton easily won back his governorship with the help of many formerly staunch Republicans, lol. It was all quite funny, actually.

Couldn't resist the synopsis since I was there, upfront and involved in this little moment of history-making.

 

[MyBelle]

You clearly need to look up the very elementary definitions of "objective" and "subjective". Who 'screwed up' is like saying "who is beautiful", a very subjective opinion. Your comments indicate an inability to distinguish the two.
On Clinton SPECIFICALLY: he was not reelected for a 2 year term of office primarily (by voter demographics) by educators incensed over a new requirement to take and pass a 6th grade level basic literacy test (I personally knew some teachers and 1 principal who quit rather than take this simple test) AND by people who characterized the increase of car registration fees from $12 annually to $16 annually as "raising taxes". The state I moved to after leaving my job with the Arkansas State Department charged $633 annually for the same vehicle that cost me $16 in AR, lol.

In any event, the next 2 year term of Republican Frank White was such an embarrassment even on the national front that Clinton easily won back his governorship with the help of many formerly staunch Republicans, lol. It was all quite funny, actually.

Couldn't resist the synopsis since I was there, upfront and involved in this little moment of history-making.

I don't need to look up anything. The fact is that Arkansas voters dumped Clinton out of the governor's office. It is what it is and it has absolutely nothing to do with a political party. If teachers or a principal are not willing to take a simple test, their refusal says more about their lack of character than anything about the Governor. Clinton was voted out because voters in Arkansas wanted him out for whatever reason. Amazing thing, called democracy.

JMO

 

[shadowraiths]

Arkansas lawmaker who gave daughters away votes to make practice a felony

Republican Justin Harris, who gave away his two adopted daughters, aged three and five, to a man who later sexually abused one of them, is facing calls to resign

An Arkansas lawmaker who gave away his adopted daughters to a man who later sexually assaulted one of them voted on Friday to make such transfers a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Representative Justin Harris did not speak as the house passed two laws without opposition that sponsors said are a direct response to the Republican lawmaker giving away his three- and five-year-old adopted daughters to Eric Cameron Francis, who later abused the older child.​

link

 

[shadowraiths]

Arkansas: Bill Would Prohibit Giving Away Children

A lawmaker who gave away his adopted daughters to a man who later sexually assaulted one of them voted Friday to make such transfers a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The House unanimously passed two laws that sponsors said were a response to Representative Justin Harris’s giving away his 3- and 5-year-old adopted daughters to Eric C. Francis.
​

NYT link

 

[MsFacetious]

I'm going to guess that this can't be applied retroactively?

 

[ohiogirl]

http://ualrpublicradio.org/post/gov-hutchinson-releases-information-about-dhs-review-justin-harris

A review is coming, it will be interesting to see the result.

 

[daisy7]

http://ualrpublicradio.org/post/gov-hutchinson-releases-information-about-dhs-review-justin-harris

A review is coming, it will be interesting to see the result.

From the link:

Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said Tuesday that the $25,000 payment for an out-of-state consultant to analyze the agency will be paid for by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national philanthropy for disadvantaged children.

Hutchinson said Monday that he selected Paul Vincent of the Alabama-based Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group to lead the review. Hutchinson announced the review last week after reports that Republican Rep. Justin Harris of West Fork in 2013 gave his adopted daughters to a man who later admitted to sexually abusing one of them.

 

[shadowraiths]

Files show $350,000 paid to preschool's 2
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2 Shareholder dividends tallied since ’09


"I haven't been on the payroll since 2010," Justin Harris, a third-term Republican from West Fork, said in a text message on Thursday.

But as a shareholder, he has received annual distributions, said Jennifer Wells, his Little Rock attorney.

The total amount of shareholder distributions for 2009 through 2013 was $355,798.

[...]

According to the company's 2006 income-tax records, 50 percent of the shares are owned by Marsha Harris, 49.9 percent by Justin Harris and 0.1 percent are owned by Pauletta Frederick, Marsha Harris' mother.
​

link

 

[believe09]

Is this guy insane? Serious question. Does he not get that this will come out?

 

[K_Z]

shadowraiths, or anyone-- do you know what the incorporation status is for "Growing God's Kingdom"? Surely they're not pretending to be a "non-profit"?

Are they an S-corp, or a C-corp? They sure sound like an S-corp, IMO. Makes sense he's not on the payroll-- all he needs to do is flow thru distributions for personal income as needed, then pay tax on the personal income. It's clearly their primary source of family income.

But being that it's primarily a religious education institution, and receiving a substantial amount of govt funding, it's on the very shaky side of what is legal, at least in my state (and others). One of our businesses is structured as an s-corp, so all this sounds familiar to me.

Like a C corporation, an S corporation is generally a corporation under the law of the state in which the entity is organized. However, with modern incorporation statutes making the establishment of a corporation relatively easy, firms that might traditionally have been run as partnerships or sole proprietorships are often run as corporations with a small number of shareholders in order to take advantage of the beneficial features of the corporate form; this is particularly true of firms established prior to the advent of the modern limited liability company. Therefore, taxation of S corporations resembles that of partnerships. As with partnerships, the income, deductions, and tax credits of an S corporation flow through to shareholders annually, regardless of whether distributions are made. Thus, income is taxed at the shareholder level and not at the corporate level. Payments to S shareholders by the corporation are distributed tax-free to the extent that the distributed earnings were previously taxed.

Unlike a C corporation, an S corporation is not eligible for a dividends received deduction.

Unlike a C corporation, an S corporation is not subject to the 10 percent of taxable income limitation applicable to charitable contribution deductions.

BBM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_corporation#Conversion_from_C_corporation

Shareholders of a corporation may elect to treat the corporation as a flow-through entity known as an S corporation. An S corporation is not itself subject to income tax; rather, shareholders of the S corporation are subject to tax on their pro rata shares of income based on their shareholdings.[1] To qualify to make the S corporation election, the corporation's shares must be held by resident or citizen individuals or certain qualifying trusts. A corporation may qualify as a C corporation without regard to any limit on the number of shareholders, foreign or domestic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_corporation

 

[K_Z]

My apologies-- I missed the link in shadowraith's post the first time around. "Growing God's Kingdom" is incorporated as an s-corp, as the article discusses.

INCORPORATION

Growing God's Kingdom was incorporated in 2004 with Marsha Harris as president and Justin Harris as vice president, according to the secretary of state's office.

It was set up as a for-profit S Corporation, which passes corporate income and losses through to the shareholders, who must report them on their personal income taxes.

By doing it that way, the owners avoid paying taxes twice, at the corporate level and again at the personal level, said Wells.

According to the company's 2006 income-tax records, 50 percent of the shares are owned by Marsha Harris, 49.9 percent by Justin Harris and 0.1 percent are owned by Pauletta Frederick, Marsha Harris' mother.

Pauletta Frederick is listed as secretary and treasurer of Growing God's Kingdom, according to the secretary of state's office.

Growing God's Kingdom receives about 90 percent of its funding from the government, according to the audits. About 60 percent comes from the state, 30 percent from the federal government and 10 percent from tuition. The school's annual budget is about $900,000.

Marsha Harris, who is chief administrator of the preschool, is on the company's payroll.

An Arkansas Better Chance Program grant application, signed by Marsha Harris on March 31, 2014, listed her as receiving salary and fringe benefits of $54,200 per year.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/apr/01/files-show-350000-paid-preschools-2/

It sure does appear that they abandoned their model of fee for services (pay your own tuition) as soon as they found out about the Arkansas Better Chance ("ABC") funding stream. From that point on, their business model was tailored to recruiting low income candidates for the ABC funding stream. I think they would be on far more solid footing if the name of their business was "Justin and Marsha Harris' Pretty Good Preschool." The religious education focus, while taking state money, is troublesome, IMO.

 

[Margo/Mom]

Some additional information--pointing in the direction of fraud: http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlo...told-to-sign-in-adopted-girls-despite-absence

Apparently there was a legislator about a year ago convicted of bribery in helping to funnel kids/funds to another quasi-religious entity, this one for mental health counseling. apparently the organization has had presence in multiple states as well as India. As well as charges of physical abuse. Suggested ties to Huckabee as well as Hutchinson.

 

[EllieBee]

Boy, I used to think Louisiana was the most corrupt state. But Arkansas is changing my mind.

I have been following this case and signed the Change.org petition. I simply don't understand how this *person* is still holding an office and has not been charged with anything.....

 

[MyBelle]

Files show $350,000 paid to preschool's 2
Share on facebook Share on twitter More Sharing Services
2 Shareholder dividends tallied since ’09


"I haven't been on the payroll since 2010," Justin Harris, a third-term Republican from West Fork, said in a text message on Thursday.

But as a shareholder, he has received annual distributions, said Jennifer Wells, his Little Rock attorney.

The total amount of shareholder distributions for 2009 through 2013 was $355,798.

[...]

According to the company's 2006 income-tax records, 50 percent of the shares are owned by Marsha Harris, 49.9 percent by Justin Harris and 0.1 percent are owned by Pauletta Frederick, Marsha Harris' mother.
​

link

Thanks. I'd like to know the number of children enrolled who are having their tuition paid by taxpayers. The Harris couple seem to have hit the jackpot in exploiting tax dollars for their own personal gain. The Feds should prosecute them.

JMO

 

[daisy7]

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a bill into law this week that makes "rehoming" an adopted child a felony. The governor also signed a companion measure that adds requirements for adoptive parents who receive subsidies from the state. The bills that are now law were filed shortly after the Arkansas Times reported that state Rep. Justin Harris (R-West Fork) and his family adopted two girls from state custody and then placed them with another family seven months after their adoption was finalized.

(snip)

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/rehoming-now-a-crime/Content?oid=3802179

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[EllieBee]

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a bill into law this week that makes "rehoming" an adopted child a felony. The governor also signed a companion measure that adds requirements for adoptive parents who receive subsidies from the state. The bills that are now law were filed shortly after the Arkansas Times reported that state Rep. Justin Harris (R-West Fork) and his family adopted two girls from state custody and then placed them with another family seven months after their adoption was finalized.

(snip)

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/rehoming-now-a-crime/Content?oid=3802179

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

And of course, the law is not retroactive....(but honestly, what law IS?).

Still, it pisses me off that Justin Harris was pushing this bill through on the heels of his despicable abuse of authority.

He is a person without redemption, IMO.