Friday, July 15, 2005
More info from AECC filings
These images are scanned from the 2003 Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service by Appalachian Educational Communications Corporation (AECC) President (and State of Franklin PAC president) Dr. Kenneth C. Hill. You can find this info online at Guide Star. Some white space has been cropped out in order to reduce the file size.
A review of the Form 990 public inspection tax records filed by the 501(c)(3) tax exempt Appalachian Educational Communications Corporation President Dr. Kenneth C. Hill (also president of the State of Franklin PAC) reveals that Dr. Hill and his fellow board director and wife Janet actually received greater compensation during the last few years of the Clinton Administration than they did during each of the previous five years of the Bush Administration.
The IRS requires 501(c)(3) tax exempt organizations to file and to make copies of the Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax available for public inspection (and photocopying these public record documents at pre-established rates if so desired by the public) at the offices of the tax exempt entity.
The following board member/key employee compensation excerpts are listed within several previously IRS Form 990s filed by Appalachian Educational Communications Corporation:
1998 AECC compensation:
Kenneth C. Hill AECC President - $79,484 / 40 hours per week;
Janet Hill, AECC Director (wife) - $20,482 / 40 hours per week.
2000 AECC compensation:
Kenneth C. Hill AECC President, - $66,410 / 60 hours per week
Janet Hill, AECC Director (wife) - $17,621 / 20 hours per week.
2001 AECC compensation:
Kenneth C. Hill AECC President - $56,775 / 80 hours per week
Janet Hill, AECC Director, - $22,302 / 20 hours per week.
2003 AECC compensation:
Kenneth C. Hill AECC President, - $52,000 / 40 hours per week.
Janet Hill, AECC Director, - $13,918 / 15 hours per week
Matthew Hill, AECC Key Employee, - $36,125 / 40 hours per week.
A.G. "Bud" Branscomb, AECC Key Employee – CFO, - $39,083 / 40 hours per week
[note 1: Branscomb is also listed within Tennessee Secretary of State PAC documents as Treasurer of the State of Franklin PAC.]
[note 2: AECC also rented "warehouse space" at 3950 Weaver Pike, Bluff City. Tennessee from AECC President Kenneth and AECC Director Janet Hill for $1,000 per month. The total real estate of this 3950 Weaver Pike property owned by Kenneth and Janet Hill was listed in 2003 for total appraisal at $57,800 - State of Tennessee Real Estate Appraisal Card 09/22/2003].
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Filings for daddy Hill's organization
Check out this information from the 2003 FCC form 990 filed by daddy Hill's AECC organization:
APPALACHIAN EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATION CORP
340 Edgemont Ave
Ste 100
Bristol, TN 37620
[AECC] Board of Directors:
Francis Plummer, Treasurer;
A. G. ["Bud"] Branscomb, Key Employee [Branscomb is also listed with the Tenn. Secretary of State as Treasurer of the State
of Franklin PAC];
Dr. Sharon Cooke, Director;
Guy Tilley, Vice President;
Matthew Hill, Key Employee;
Jackie Hilton, Director;
Janet Hill, (mother) Director;
Sandra Gonce, Secretary;
Kenneth C. Hill, (father) President;
Johnny Hunt Jr., Director.
What is significant about this 2003 AECC form 990 filing at Guidestar is that this information differs with the 2003 (and 2004) AECC Board of Director listing filed with the Federal Communications Corporation. Neither "Bud" Branscomb or Matthew Hill are listed as AECC key employees on the FCC files for AECC. Also, the Guidestar web site did not list a Form 990 (skipping from 2003 to 2001) for the AECC 2002 Form 990 filing --- 2002 was also the year that the Gregorys moved the Hill tribe into the 340 Edgemont Avenue address.
One possible explanation would be a timing difference (the posting of the aforementioned AECC Board of Director information was itself not dated), but this is unlikely as 2003 was the last tax year that a Form 990 was filed by AECC.
I would like to confirm that Matthew Hill was a board director and/or key employee of the 501(c)(3) tax exempt AECC while he was allegedly soliciting funds to air the anti-John Kerry propaganda film Stolen Honor at the Cameo Theater (a real estate asset owned by AECC) on the Monday immediately before the November federal elections.
Hilly boy being a "key employee" (operations manager) of the 501(c)(3) tax exempt AECC while allegedly soliciting funds to air Stolen Honor at the Cameo is a pretty serious matter, because that would be engaging the assets of a 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity in a prohibited partisan political activity.
Attempting to influence a federal election against a particular federal candidate with AECC assets owned under 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt status is wrong no matter what.
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APPALACHIAN EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATION CORP
340 Edgemont Ave
Ste 100
Bristol, TN 37620
[AECC] Board of Directors:
Francis Plummer, Treasurer;
A. G. ["Bud"] Branscomb, Key Employee [Branscomb is also listed with the Tenn. Secretary of State as Treasurer of the State
of Franklin PAC];
Dr. Sharon Cooke, Director;
Guy Tilley, Vice President;
Matthew Hill, Key Employee;
Jackie Hilton, Director;
Janet Hill, (mother) Director;
Sandra Gonce, Secretary;
Kenneth C. Hill, (father) President;
Johnny Hunt Jr., Director.
What is significant about this 2003 AECC form 990 filing at Guidestar is that this information differs with the 2003 (and 2004) AECC Board of Director listing filed with the Federal Communications Corporation. Neither "Bud" Branscomb or Matthew Hill are listed as AECC key employees on the FCC files for AECC. Also, the Guidestar web site did not list a Form 990 (skipping from 2003 to 2001) for the AECC 2002 Form 990 filing --- 2002 was also the year that the Gregorys moved the Hill tribe into the 340 Edgemont Avenue address.
One possible explanation would be a timing difference (the posting of the aforementioned AECC Board of Director information was itself not dated), but this is unlikely as 2003 was the last tax year that a Form 990 was filed by AECC.
I would like to confirm that Matthew Hill was a board director and/or key employee of the 501(c)(3) tax exempt AECC while he was allegedly soliciting funds to air the anti-John Kerry propaganda film Stolen Honor at the Cameo Theater (a real estate asset owned by AECC) on the Monday immediately before the November federal elections.
Hilly boy being a "key employee" (operations manager) of the 501(c)(3) tax exempt AECC while allegedly soliciting funds to air Stolen Honor at the Cameo is a pretty serious matter, because that would be engaging the assets of a 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity in a prohibited partisan political activity.
Attempting to influence a federal election against a particular federal candidate with AECC assets owned under 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt status is wrong no matter what.
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Hilly boy the War Protester
I have been informed about a Bristol, Virginia war protest occurring on April 17, 1999 (or approximate date) in which a young Matthew Hill (then a WPWT talk radio show host) participated. Hill protested U.S. troops during the U.S. military bombing of Kosovo. I don’t have any proof, but if anyone remembers this drop me a line or leave a comment.
Rep. Hill's "Jane Fonda Moment" did not literally involve Matthew posing on North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns, but it goes a long way to demonstrate that Hill is a weasel with a history of misleading the public.
What I find ironic is the fact that various WPWT "Good Morning Tri-Cities Hosts" (including Matthew Hill) have pitched their argument that individuals cannot protest the Bush War in Iraq without protesting the U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq. Hill even posted a news release to his campaign Web site (www.matthewlistens.com) that detailed his recent "supporting the troops" speech appearance at the Gray, Tennessee armory.
I bet those same troops would not be too happy to learn about Hilly boy’s protest of their brothers in arms in 1999. This seems a little like a flip flopping, if you ask me.
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Rep. Hill's "Jane Fonda Moment" did not literally involve Matthew posing on North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns, but it goes a long way to demonstrate that Hill is a weasel with a history of misleading the public.
What I find ironic is the fact that various WPWT "Good Morning Tri-Cities Hosts" (including Matthew Hill) have pitched their argument that individuals cannot protest the Bush War in Iraq without protesting the U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq. Hill even posted a news release to his campaign Web site (www.matthewlistens.com) that detailed his recent "supporting the troops" speech appearance at the Gray, Tennessee armory.
I bet those same troops would not be too happy to learn about Hilly boy’s protest of their brothers in arms in 1999. This seems a little like a flip flopping, if you ask me.
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Hilly boy's shady campaign finances
Check out this picture of Doc and Rep. Hill from the February 2004 WHCB (daddy Hill’s station) fundraiser. Matthew was working other fundraisers at this time, particularly his own election campaign. If you listen carefully to "Good Morning Tri-Cities" on WPWT 870 AM, you will find that little brother Timothy at the Hill Rez is still pleading with WPWT listeners to send e-mails to gmtc@hotmail.com.
During both the 2004 state representative primary and general campaign cycles, candidate Matthew Hill was soliciting campaign donations using a PayPal campaign finance donation hyperlink on his campaign Web site (www.matthewlistens.com) linking back to his former "Good Morning Tri-Cities" e-mail address --- mailto:gmtc@hotmail.com.
This was the exact same e-mail address that Matthew Hill promoted for years during his tenure of WPWT 870 AM, and gmtc@hotmail.com is the same e-mail address that his brother Timothy Hill is currently promoting on-air at WPWT 870AM as the e-mail address for "Good Morning Tri-Cities". It is the same one that he was pitching to the WPWT 870 AM audience during Rep. Matthew Hill's first session within the Tennessee General Assembly during 2005.
So how did Timothy Hill (the current "Good Morning Tri-Cites" host) gain access to the same Hotmail e-mail account that Rep. Matthew Hill utilized to route PalPay campaign finance donations to the bank account of his campaign treasury?
Gee, and I thought that members of the Tennessee General Assembly were prohibited by law from soliciting or accepting campaign contributions during the TNGA legislative session. Reads like very shady campaign finance practices to me, the kind of ethical behavior Tennessee legislators are supposed to be cracking down on.
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He's pro-litter & pro-beer
In this Oak Ridge paper we are told about how Hilly boy has no desire to fund programs for the prevention and collection of litter. He was basically alone on that matter and he made Northeast Tennessee look pretty stupid. What is interesting is how in Hilly boy's Telford meeting his constituents discussed their unhappiness with "garbage thrown out onto farmlands."
On another note, a local radio station has staged a stop in the Tri-Cites by a national conservative talk show host. These are the kind of things daddy Hill's station never does. By the way, why aren't they stoppingz in Hill of Beans Coffee shop? Probably because the place is never open. On two different days during Jonesborough Days the shop was completely closed.
I am still convinced that the shop is just Hilly boy’s attempt at convincing voters that he is a small business owner who understands the plights of other owners. In reality, Hilly boy’s facade is funded by a near billionaire and Hilly boy knows nothing about making it on his own.
In this story about Mrs. Hilly boy, the VOICE editor has a rather bizarre disclaimer given that the two photos used (there is another Hill photo on the cover)come directly off of Hilly boy's Web site. Seems like an endorsement to me. Also, the article strangely fails to mention anything about the Hill of Beans Coffee Shop.
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On another note, a local radio station has staged a stop in the Tri-Cites by a national conservative talk show host. These are the kind of things daddy Hill's station never does. By the way, why aren't they stoppingz in Hill of Beans Coffee shop? Probably because the place is never open. On two different days during Jonesborough Days the shop was completely closed.
I am still convinced that the shop is just Hilly boy’s attempt at convincing voters that he is a small business owner who understands the plights of other owners. In reality, Hilly boy’s facade is funded by a near billionaire and Hilly boy knows nothing about making it on his own.
In this story about Mrs. Hilly boy, the VOICE editor has a rather bizarre disclaimer given that the two photos used (there is another Hill photo on the cover)come directly off of Hilly boy's Web site. Seems like an endorsement to me. Also, the article strangely fails to mention anything about the Hill of Beans Coffee Shop.
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Ethics reform and Gregory
When it comes to ethics reforms in Tennessee politics there doesn’t seem to be a lot of excitement about making real changes. In this article the Democrats proposed changes that limit one rich individual from running the state. Make sure you check out the bio on Mr. Money Bags himself, and note how Bredesen returned the Gregory money he received. Not surprisingly, the Republicans will have none of these reforms because pharmaceutical billionaire John Gregory pays their bills. Though as you can see here, Mr. Gregory is afraid to show his face in public. Unfortunately the Gregory family is not afraid to buy up a large chunk of Northeast Tennessee. Forget Watauga; soon we will have Gregory Lake. And with the recent decision by the Federal Supreme Court, your own home might be the next Gregory target for real estate development.
At least two Tennessee Democrats refuse to back down to the Republicans' resistance to reform, and I hope they never do. I do believe that the Democrats can appeal to more Christian voters by emphasizing the ethics reforms that the Republicans are afraid of passing. However, more Democrats will have to oppose abortion to truly win more of those voters, I believe.
What I find interesting about the ethics topic is how many ethics violations can be found among the Ethics Committee, including Ramsey. Mr. Ramsey's behavior is not being ignored by everyone, according to this article that came out on Thursday. What is even more amusing is how Ramsey ignores his own indiscretions while throwing darts at Bredesen. I guess Ramsey missed the memo from Bill Frist that not all Tennessee Republicans hate Bredesen.
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At least two Tennessee Democrats refuse to back down to the Republicans' resistance to reform, and I hope they never do. I do believe that the Democrats can appeal to more Christian voters by emphasizing the ethics reforms that the Republicans are afraid of passing. However, more Democrats will have to oppose abortion to truly win more of those voters, I believe.
What I find interesting about the ethics topic is how many ethics violations can be found among the Ethics Committee, including Ramsey. Mr. Ramsey's behavior is not being ignored by everyone, according to this article that came out on Thursday. What is even more amusing is how Ramsey ignores his own indiscretions while throwing darts at Bredesen. I guess Ramsey missed the memo from Bill Frist that not all Tennessee Republicans hate Bredesen.
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