political story

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) is known mostly for his Hall of Fame career in Major League Baseball. Bunning spent 17 seasons as a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, even throwing a perfect game in 1964. The man who, when he retired from baseball in 1971, had the second highest strikeout total in Major League history, however, has struck out in regard to the non-profit organization that bears his name.
Bunning, who doubles as an employee of the Jim Bunning Foundation, drew a $20,000 salary from the foundation in 2008 according to documents filed as part of a United States Senate financial disclosure report. The salary paid to Bunning is the only source of outside income listed for the senator in the documents.
To contrast, the foundation gives an average of $13,600 a year to charities according to a story in the Lexington Herald-Leader. So essentially, Jim Bunning gets more money from the Jim Bunning Foundation than the charities the foundation contributes to.
The foundation makes its money through autograph sessions attended by Bunning. According to the disclosure documents, Bunning appeared at two signings, one in New York City and the other at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Those two appearances, plus money from the HOF licensing program, earned $16,091.79 for the foundation in 2008. Due to legislative ethics restrictions, Bunning cannot accept money for his autograph, however it can be donated to a charity, Bunning’s charity in this case.
So it would appear Bunning has found a loophole in the ethics rule. He can’t make money directly off his autograph sessions, but he can give the money to his charity organization that pays him a salary from the money it gets – you guessed it – from Bunning’s autograph sessions. One potential conflict of interest in all of this is that the IRS has not questioned the foundation’s actions while Bunning, coincidentally, oversees the IRS as a member of the Senate Finance Committee.
That, however, is not the only potential conflict of interest for the foundation. Bunning’s wife, Mary is one of the three foundation board members. The other two, also have close ties to the senator.
Bob Sumerel is a close friend and campaign contributor of Bunning’s, according to the Herald-Leader story. Richard Robinson is a former congressional aid of Bunning’s and is now a Washington lobbyist whose clients, also according to the Herald-Leader story, have received budget earmarks from Bunning.
There have been no inquiries into the foundation potential ethics violations by the IRS or the Senate Ethics committee to date.