On Friday, the Orange County Register published its investigative report on the extravagant tastes of the Orange County Boy Scouts leadership Boy Scouts execs splurge.
In December 2006 the Orange County Boy Scout Council issued a plea for support after they lost $150,000 in current funding and $300,000 in funding for the 2007 fiscal year from United Way of Orange County.
Quoting now from the press release from the Orange County Boy Scout Council:
The Orange County United Way has cut all funding to the Orange County Council from 2006-2009. United Way officials say this decision was made in an effort to focus more of their funds on fewer programs  ones that can prove they make immediate change in people’s lives. We believe Scouting does make changes in people’s lives.
Without the United Way funding, the Council will be forced to spend more time raising money from individual donors and less time focusing on core ideals  delivering character-developing programming to the young people of Orange County.
About three weeks later, the OC Boy Scouts chief Leslie Baron and an unnamed board member from the Orange County Council, along with support staff, took off on a working vacation to Key West, Florida.
The Boy Scouts press release went on to say:
However, you can still support the Boy Scouts and United Way both by designating your United Way gift to the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America. By specifying Orange County Council, BSA, your donation will be directed to benefit Scouts.
We are asking for your help in this time of unexpected need. Consider making a gift to the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America, so we may continue to positively impact young lives.
Matt Cunningham of OCBlog wrote in response on December 20, 2006:
I’ve come to expect this sort of thing from the United Way. What bothers me more is corporate Orange County’s indifference to the consequences of this political correctness, and their continued subsidization of it.
On December 20, 2006, Steven Greenhut from the Orange County Register said on the Orange Punch Blog:
…the Orange County United Way has stiffed the Boy Scouts. The agency has given some excuse for no longer funding the scouts, but the Boy Scouts have been long under attack for not accepting gays. What’s that old saying from either Bill Buckley or John O’Sullivan at the National Review? Any group that is not overtly conservative [or libertarian] becomes left-wing over time. Maybe that applies here to the United Way.
Well Steven, I hardly see the United Way as a left-wing organization, but since you’ve brought up the whole “Gays in the Boy Scouts” issue…
I find it interesting that the destination for this camping trip to the Florida Keys, which included, fine food, alcoholic refreshments at the Big Ass Cabana, golf, and sports fishing was held in one of the premier gay tourist destinations in the United States. As I said in my earlier post, Where the boys are “they won’t let gays in the Boy Scouts, but they will let the Scout Masters loose in a gay resort destination.”
But seriously, where is the outrage? Where is the condemnation of scouting big-wigs spending such limited resources on such a luxury “business” trip? For that matter, with all the time spent at the pool, and golfing, and dining, and fishing, when did they find time to conduct any business?
In my more than 20 years of work as a volunteer and board member for various non profit organizations in Orange County, I have never seen such a perfect example of poor stewardship of a non profit organization.
So Matt, Steven, and the rest of you conservative bloggers out there;
Where is your outrage? Where are the cries of disgust over highly-compensated officials, living it up on the public dime?ÂÂ
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
The Scout Oath reads:
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
Scout Law says:
A Scout is; Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
The Boy Scout Vision Statement says:
The Boy Scouts of America is the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.
In the future Scouting will continue to
Offer young people responsible fun and adventure;
Instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law;
Train young people in citizenship, service, and leadership;
Serve America’s communities and families with its quality, values-based program.
So Matt, Steven, and the rest of you conservative bloggers out there;
Where is your outrage? Where are the cries of disgust over highly-compensated officials, living it up on the public dime?ÂÂ
And can you really say that the leadership of the Orange County Boy Scout Council, through the example of this trip and clear misuse of resources intended to support scouting in Orange County, has acted in accordance with the principles, values, mission and vision represented by the Scout Oath and Scout Law?ÂÂ
How do their actions instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character?
I await your answers?
‘Where is the outrage?’ is an intellectual gimmick of those who think emotional shivers are indicative of truth. Though it makes one want to sling ones Billini, it isn’t. It does little but expose the silliness of bashing the very thing that you, as evidenced by your pastel writing style, would have killed to have been able to tag along, being among the first to jump squeeling and fully dressed, into the pool.
BTW, you are way heavy on the adverbs.
-For that matter, with all the time spent at the pool, and golfing, and dining, and fishing, when did they find time to conduct any business?-
You sound like you were there? An agast and swooning witness to human debauchery. I bet it sounded better being written than being read.
Bobby — as a former cubmaster, fundraising is a major endeavor and an unpleasant one. The extravagance of the trip to Florida is disheartening at best. And as for criticism of Chris’ writing style, perhaps you should apply it to your own lonely blog.
Bobby,
Would you care to respond to the issue rather than attack the person raising the concern?
Executives and board members from Boy Scout Councils around the country spent thousands of dollars to vacation in Key West with funds raised to support Scouting. I have no problem with them meeting in a nice location. In fact I once held a meeting of a nonprofit group at the Surf and Sand Hotel in Laguna Beach. We did have lunch during our meeting, cold cuts and rolls to make our own sandwiches as I recall. We may even have had cookies in the afternoon for a break. We found no need to play golf or go fishing to conduct our business. But if for some absurd reason we felt the need to do so, we would do it on our own dime.
There is no excuse for this type of misuse of funds. This is the same class of activity that stained the United Way several years ago. It was wrong for United Way executives to waste funds on extravagant activities, and it is wrong for the Boy Scout executives to do the same.
As for your comments on my writing style; thank you for your suggestions.
My comments on your writing style was not a criticism, as your writing is quite good. It was a comment on using emotional style to elicit emotional response from someone who would, because of idealistic differences, be more apt to accept your position based on a fact-based argument. I was attempting to express, in my response, that emotional, arguments written with the specific request for emotional response (Where is the outrage?) rarely receive, in return, logical responses from someone whos instinct would be to disagree and defend without facts. TBS, I wasn’t defending the spending. I was, however, while attempting to make a judgement on the rightness or wrongness of their actions, left unsure as to the circumstances of the trip, its reasons, validity, etc.
“Shouldn’t we be outraged that this BS group, while being behind the eight-ball on funding, be lavish in their business meetings, supposed ‘working vacations’, etc. This is an interesting agument against capitalist corporate structure, but it left me unsure of whether or not I should be ‘outraged’ at this particular incident.
If it was corporate waste in a for profit corporation, and if I were a stock holder, I would probably see this trip as the normal and customary cost of doing business, even though I don’t like it.
However, this is a nonprofit public benefit corporation. I can find no excuse for such extravagant use of donated funds, hence the “Outrage.”
However, this is a nonprofit public benefit corporation. I can find no excuse for such extravagant use of donated funds, hence the “Outrage.â€Â
Considering the funds for this boondoggle are derived via tax exempt donations, the taxpayer is indirectly funding this trip.