By Raymond O’Hanlon
There are two ways of looking at the finances of the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Either they resemble Fort Knox or fortress Enron. Actually, there’s a possible third way, but the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which is currently examining parade finances, has yet to let everyone in on it.
The parade executive secretary, Jim Barker, clearly viewed the finances in a healthy light when he spoke during the recent investment of Cardinal Edward Egan as grand marshal. He told assembled delegates that the parade’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is in order and has been in place since 1992, the year that, according to the parade committee, the parade parted ways with the Ancient Order of Hibernians and formed its own corporation. That the tax-exempt status has been applied for over the last decade would appear to be true. But according to a report drawn up for William J. Flynn, the former parade corporation president, this tax-exempt status was actually sought under the umbrella of the AOH name up until the tax year ending Sept. 30, 1999.
Readers will recall that Flynn and the parade committee parted ways in less than ideal circumstances last summer. Flynn’s report, compiled by the law firm of Burns, Kennedy, Schilling and O’Shea, stated that the “failure to promptly file for a favorable determination of the Corporation’s tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Code, within fifteen months of its incorporation in June, 1992, deprived the Corporation of having its tax exempt status determined retroactively to the date of its incorporation.”
This report to Flynn was dated Aug. 1, 2001. In a subsequent Aug. 30 letter to parade officers and contributors, parade committee chairman John Dunleavy disputed the Flynn position with regard to the parade’s status with the IRS.
“Mr. Flynn was very much aware that the Parade’s Officers and accountant had filed in 1999 and then again earlier this year a revised application with the IRS and were in communication with the Service, working to resolve this technical issue,” Dunleavy wrote.
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In a separate financial statement, issued with the Dunleavy letter, it was stated under “Note B. Income taxes” that the parade organization was a not-for-profit corporation “and has applied for exemption from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. When granted, the Organization expects to be classified by the Internal Revenue Service as other than a private foundation.”
No matter which way this goes, it would appear that the parade continued to file with the IRS under the AOH name for years after its official separation from that organization. Whether the IRS takes the view that this is just a technical matter or something more serious remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, the IRS is probably as confused by now with parade politics as most Americans are with the tax codes. The A.G.’s office in New York, meanwhile, continues to dig into the murky worlds of both.
Reilly’s charge
Peace was in the air at the installation of Cardinal Egan. For a little while anyway. Putting aside the tensions of last year, a group of Staten Island AOH members came along to applaud Msgr. Peter Finn as he was presented with an award by the parade committee for his pro-life stance. Readers will recall that Finn led a boycott of the Staten Island march last year over the pro-choice stance of the grand marshal, City Councilman Jerome O’Donovan. The Staten Island group in the room was led by Bill Reilly, one of the main organizers of the parade and who last year vigorously defended the choice of O’Donovan, who also happened to be highly decorated Vietnam veteran.
The lads had no problem with Msgr. Finn’s pro-life position, just as they didn’t think that O’Donovan’s views were relevant when it came to the grand marshal’s position. But when the NYC parade’s executive secretary, Jim Barker, took swipes from the dais at O’Donovan’s “voting record” on abortion and the AOH organizers of the “cultural” Staten Island event, Reilly and the lads saw red, stood up and walked out.
Unfortunately, this gesture went largely unnoticed because the Staten Islanders had been seated at the rear of the room. Reilly later took issue with Barker, saying that the City Council did not vote on the issue of abortion and, as a result, O’Donovan didn’t have a “voting record” to begin with.
O’Clery’s charge
Confusion at the World Economic Forum over how to accommodate the press was evident in ways great and small. Conor O’Clery of the Irish Times was given a hint of things to come when he was presented with his press identification badge. It read: “Conor O’Clery, The Irish Times, People’s Republic of China.”
Now while O’Clery was the Times man in Beijing at one point, he has been based in New York for over a year now. So it was O’Clery who duly rallied the pack of angry Irish hacks when it transpired that the on-screen presentation of the panel discussion on Northern Ireland was not going to be beamed from the Waldorf Astoria into the hotel where the press was being penned.
Within minutes, the O’Clery-led SWAT team, in the words of Jim Dwyer of the New York Times, “charged into the room” where the Irish panel discussion was taking place. Readers are invited to suggest a suitable collective noun for a charging pack of angry Irish journalists. Nothing rude, please, and remember that “gaggle” is already taken up by geese.
Suite dreams
What a clever idea to name suites at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel in Manhattan after eight leading Irish artists. But what manner of night’s slumber awaits future guests in these famously named rooms? “IF” will hazard a guess or two. First, the Frank McCourt Suite: Nightmares about Malachy becoming an introvert. Wake up with water all over the floor. Gabriel Byrne Suite: No time for sleep at all, ya boyo. Roma Downey Suite: A night of heavenly rest. Seamus Heaney suite: You snore in iambic pentameter. Noel Pearson Suite: Presumably a good place to produce. M’ve Binchy Suite: Bring camp beds for your circle of friends. Phil Coulter Suite: A night spent answering Ireland’s Call, and nature’s too. The Jim Sheridan Suite: Sleep with your left foot outside the bed covers and all your dreams will come true. There’s no suite named after “IF” of course. Presumably it was decided that it wouldn’t do to have the guests waking up in the morning roaring and confused.