Cross-posted from NorthDecoder.com
I'm going to try to walk you through something I think is kind of a big deal. You might disagree. You might say, "it's pre-election silly season," and that's fine. That doesn't make what I'm about to show you any less offensive. Or less criminal. (Allegedly.)
Follow along :
- North Dakota's State Treasurer is Kelly Schmidt. The duties of the State Treasurer are set forth in North Dakota Century Code section 54-11-01 that you can read -- if you're really bored --by clicking here.
- The State Treasurer runs a website you can see by clicking here (pdf). You'll notice that right below the Treasurer's photograph there's a little box alternating between saying "Manage Your Financial Future" and "Tomorrows' Money." That's an advertisement.
- If you click on that advertisement, you'll be taken to this page (pdf), which is a letter to you from North Dakota's Treasurer. The Treasurer, in her letter, says she wants to help you with your planning for a "path to a successful financial future." (Interestingly, I'd note that helping you with that planning is not one of the duties of the State Treasurer that's outlined in the statute I suggested you should read if you're really bored.).
- Within her letter, the Treasurer invites you to link to a website called "northdakota.tomorrowsmoney.org" (pdf). You'll get to that page and you'll think to yourself (quietly, I hope), "Hey! There's the Great Seal for the State of North Dakota in the upper right left-hand corner, and it says 'North Dakota State Treasurer' so I must still be on a state government website." You'd think that, of course, because you're a smart NorthDecoder.com reader and you know it's a Class B misdemeanor (click here) to use the Great Seal for the State of North Dakota for non-State purposes (with limited exceptions, none of which seem to apply here). Well, you'd be right that it's a crime to use the Great Seal, but you'd be wrong about whether you were still on a State of North Dakota website.
See, you've crossed over into the land of the United States Bond Market Foundation and their promotional website, "TomorrowsMoney.org." What is the "Bond Market Foundation?" you ask? Good question.
The Bond Market Foundation (TBMF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable and educational entity organized by members of the bond market industry. The Foundation was re-launched in 2000 to harness resources to help society strengthen communities.
TBMF is an educational and charitable partner of the Bond Market Association's membership. The Association graciously contributes the net proceeds from its Annual Awards Dinner; however, the Foundation raises money and is expected to operate on independent outside financing. The Foundation's Charter Partners are MBIA and Gartmore Global Investments/Gartmore Group. Barclays Capital is a contributing Partner. Project partners include the Bear Stearns Charitable Foundation. Other funding comes from individuals and foundations both within and outside the bond industry.
NorthDakota.TomorrowsMoney.Org(pdf)
Being the observant NorthDecoder reader that you are -- having had your brain trained to look for these sorts of things -- you will have noticed the Great Seal of the State of North Dakota, again, in the left-hand margin of that "about" page I just pointed you to, just above the North Dakota State Treasurer's name. You'll again think to yourself, "This must be a State of North Dakota website, because it would be ANOTHER crime for them to have put it on this second page." Again, you would be right that it could be a crime, but you would be wrong about being on a State of North Dakota website.
You might spend some time looking around on that website and find numerous other pages with the North Dakota Great Seal at the top of the page, next to our State Treasurer's name, or in the left-hand margin. If you're like me you'll wonder "How many of those uses of the Great Seal are criminal, and how many are not criminal?" You won't know. Because nobody's been charged with a crime. Yet. (Feel free to contact your local law enforcement person or prosecutor and report a crime if you feel you've just witnessed one.)
Then you'll go back and read that "about" information (indented, above) and you'll say "Who is this 'Bond Market Association' and what have they done to get our State Treasurer to co-opt the Great Seal and "partner" with them to have our Seal put on their website?" That too will be a great question.
I'm going to leave that question open for today, but I will give you a couple things to chew on: (1) do you think the Bond Market Association (or Foundation) has any kind of "other" relationship with our State Treasurer? Hmmm... That might be worth looking into; and (2) If you click here (pdf), you will find a list of 60 or so of the members of the Bond Market Association. [And, oops, there's that Great Seal again.] Some of them that may be of interest to you include "Bear, Stearns" and "Edward Jones." Do those companies' names ring a bell to anybody out there?
If you're like me, you're probably still stuck back there in #2, above, where I've pointed out the fact that there is an "advertisement" for the Bond Market Foundation right there on our State Treasurer's website. You probably think that's a scandal in and of itself. The fact that the Great Seal is plastered all over a private foundation's website hasn't sunk in yet. You're probably not ready to think about the possibility there might be other connections "of interest." We'll let this stuff sink in a little before we continue this story.
Because this story is...
(to be continued)
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This is a post from my co-blogger at NorthDecoder(used with permission). We are running a candidate for this office. His name is Mitch Vance and he has a website here. Donate if you can. This lady's kinda kooky... She doesn't really do her job. Basically just refers people to the Bank of North Dakota for questions. Smart woman...