Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Seen on Facebook

It seems for the next week we can expect some eager, well-paid, but ill-informed Gen-Zers to be knocking on our doors.


17 comments:

  1. Kids will say the darndest things, and I guess give plausible deniability to Mayor Johnson, like the tree planting he took (then didn’t) credit for.

    Also, I guess the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition has no intention of regaining their 501c3 tax exempt status since losing it for not filing their IRS 990 for years—meaning there’s no way for potential donors to know what (or who) their money goes to. And now they are openly operating as a political action committee (SuperPAC) by openly endorsing and doing work for a specific candidate.

    Heads up to some other tax exempt nonprofits that are openly campaigning and providing in kind support for specific candidates, including transportation services. People, and the IRS, take notice.

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    Replies
    1. Again, a comment submitted by email from Quintin Cross:

      This is my final comment. It's important for people to understand what is and what is not prohibited under the law. Just because you believe something doesn't make it true. HCHC follows all applicable laws through our managment agreemnt with our fiscal sponsors for both our c3 and c4 work.

      Quintin Cross
      Senior Policy Advisor
      Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition

      Delete
    2. QC -

      If everything is above board then why hide who your 501c3 and 501c4 fiscal sponsors are?

      Are you ashamed of them or they of you?

      This is like Kamal's secret Galvan lease and rent payments, or the curious timing of Claire leaving Galvan housing right around the time HCHC stepped up criticism of Galvan's Pilots.

      Was this retaliation for criticism? Or criticism as payback? Or just one major coincidence?

      If you claim to speak for "the many", then why did every single WFP endorsed candidate lose in the last local election?

      Fighting for equal opportunity is noble. Concealing not-for-profit finances while lobbying for higher taxes on working families is not.

      Delete
  2. In response to this post, I received this email and the directive that it be added as a comment:

    I am writing to share some core beliefs that guide our work at the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition.

    We believe that individuals closest to the problem are also closest to the solution. The people who canvass may be lifelong Hudson residents on a fixed income, or those on the brink of losing their healthcare and food assistance.

    We envision a world that prioritizes the many, not just the few. We believe everyone deserves a seat at the table, not solely those with financial power.

    Sincerely,
    Quintin Cross

    Quintin Cross
    Senior Policy Advisor
    Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition

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  3. An unwillingness to engage in open dialogue speaks volumes.

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  4. Quintin,

    This is from the IRS’s website (and is easier to read than the actual code):

    Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

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  5. QC, Claire, and Elliott M.,

    In the HCHC July 2025 newsletter you shared these travel updates with donors:

    - many students traveling to Jamaica for an extended trip
    - Tanya attended the BOLD gathering in Atlanta
    - Elliott and Quintin attended the Socialism 2025 Conference in Chicago

    Then you wrote that everyone flew to Jamaica for a “powerful experience.”

    Shortly after, QC shared he was heading to the Republic of Botswana for a month... in the middle of WFP / Kamal’s re-election campaign.

    Were these work trips paid for personally, or by your 501(c)(3)?

    If personally, no issue and none of our business. If HCHC funds were used, it gets complicated.

    To @Kristal’s point: anyone can review non-profit finances before donating. See Hudson’s perfect, Perfect Ten After School program disclosures:
    https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454522521

    In America, tax exemption requires that a non-profit serve a public purpose, have no private owners, remain transparent, and avoid political activity.

    This matters now, because federal prosecution of politically active non-profits is rising.

    -> HCHC appears to be openly endorsing individual candidates (who also stand to funnel funds back to HCHC), lobbying for specific legislation and not just broad causes, and directly funding political organizers/canvassers as catalogued in this story.

    If this is all legal, it should be easy to explain and be transparent about your fiscal sponsors and 990 disclosures, or simply make clear you guys went private and for-profit.

    But your statements and actions conflict:
    - HCHC is selling tickets ($125–$5000) on Zeffy.com, a platform exclusively for non-profits:
    https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/support-hchcs-5th-anniversary-gala

    For this you use a 2025-created 501(c)(3), Hudson Catskill Regional Collective Corp, not the 2020 HCHC entity, which has many years of missing tax filings.

    On your Botswana trip, you shared via the official HCHC Instagram Account a Cash App QR donation link directing funds to Cash App Account “$qcross2” on Instagram (02:22 SAST, 20:21 ET, Aug 10, 2025) with the following appeal:
    ---
    “Aug 10 marks 15 years since Quintin Cross was freed from the bondage of the NYS carceral system. What they thought would break Quintin only radicalized him to fight harder for Black liberation. There's still work to do. Right now, he's in Botswana, learning firsthand about its journey for independence and its place in the global struggle for Black liberation. Swipe to support Quintin's current travels in the motherland. #BlackLiberation #BlackAugust #Botswana #Motherland #Freedomfighters”

    Location Pin: Gaborone, Botswana
    ---
    Anyone can ask friends for help, but the public interest question that you put at issue voluntarily with your two emailed comments is whether HCHC funds (not-taxed, requiring annual IRS 990s) are clearly separated from personal accounts (taxed).

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  6. 🇧🇼 An aside for any government readers, our fans and haters, and Union Jack:

    By purchasing-power standards, a poor person in Hudson lives on roughly half the income of the average Batswana. Botswana is 98% Tswana (African Black), avoided colonial rule, and is an upper-middle-income democracy, landlocked, super dry with no navigable water ways, and far from Manhattan.

    Yet it is one of the most stable and well-managed economies in Africa. No coups.

    After discovering minerals, Botswana’s leaders built a disciplined Public Finance Management framework: zero-based budgeting, surpluses, low debt, and investment in education and infrastructure.

    One could argue Botswana/Gaborone is better managed than Hudson. They certainly spend less on youth education and see greater outcomes.

    Kamal’s Hudson specializes in recurring entitlement spending, destroying surpluses, taking on debt, and failing to improve education ROI. See the current budget discussion and shortfall.

    Botswana turned diamond revenues into savings, tourism, and a growing knowledge economy.

    Hudson was built on whale oil; now mining/Colorusso is one of its largest businesses, and HCHC and Kamal’s Hudson are not helping the city move toward a skills economy.

    QC - you might be intrigued to know that Botswana has no rent control. Its public housing (HUD equivalent) serves mostly government workers, is nice, is not open to non-citizens, and tenants who pay on time and maintain their homes can buy them through special loans after a 5 year probationary period of good stewardship.

    Oh, and to become a naturalized Botswana citizen takes 10 years (the US is 5 and 3 for marriage visas), you have to speak their language, and you must be financially self-sufficient.

    Should Hudson copy Gaborone?

    If so, we would not follow any of HCHC or Kamal’s policy proposals.

    Next time you visit us from Albany get all riled up and speechifying in City Hall, we might remind you that an entirely black nation built wealth and opportunity in the middle of a desert without blaming others or coercing private landowners.

    ~QC, we are curious, what was your takeaway from Botswana?

    It would be great to read about it in the next HCHC newsletter and fundraising appeal.

    Please make sure you are clear if the funds are going to you, or to which specific 501(c)3 or fiscal sponsor.

    Tsamaea sentle!

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  7. Quintin playing games with OPM?! The shell game with NFPs? Once again, I’m shocked. Shocked. It’s the poverty industry coupled with tax laws. And it never ends. There’s a fine and seemingly permeable line between communism and NFP tax avoidance. At least in Hudson (and Catskill and parts of Albany).

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  8. Common Sense, we owe you absolutely NOTHING! You can go on and on and I will still hold that we owe you not one drop of explanation. And while there are reasons for everything and we are doing things to correct our nonprofit status and work with fiscal sponsor, I still will not give you an ounce of satisfaction in knowing anything that we do. Your South African entitlement gets nothing from me.

    For everyone else, we understand that there have been questions regarding our organization's nonprofit status and operations. We understand that you don’t know what agreements and contracts we have that allow us to do what we do. While we are unable to discuss specifics publicly, our commitment to our work remains unwavering, and we believe that our actions and their positive impact will continue to speak for themselves.

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    Replies
    1. All NFPs owe the communities they work in (and solicit for funds) clarity, honesty and legality. HCHC provides none of that. Rather, we get Q’s (often racist, sexist and ageist) bloviation, and now, this Elliot fellow’s indignant screed.

      Not too encouraging. And as it applies to Q, not too surprising.

      Delete
    2. You claim that you "are doing things to correct our nonprofit status" but you're engaging in activity that will disqualify you from obtaining the same. Many nonprofits and sponsored organizations report on the fiscal sponsor's activity in an effort to be transparent. It seems transparency would go a long way to answer the questions the public has.

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    3. I have had very open communication with folks in our communities who have asked me what is going on and I have done that with no problem. But with you lot here are insufferable, racist, misogynistic, entitled, pompous, and harmful. You do not deserve the same that I’ve given others. You will know when the public does but you will never get a friendly response from me. You don’t encourage me to do that.

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    4. Dear Elliott M -

      First - you do not owe our Editors anything per se, but you owe taxpayers and the public:

      1. Public Benefit Duty
      2. Directors cannot profit
      3. Fiduciary Duties of Care, Loyalty, and Adherence to mission and law

      See here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5781.pdf

      Second - Re: "While we are unable to discuss specifics publicly, our commitment to our work remains unwavering, and we believe that our actions and their positive impact will continue to speak for themselves."

      Your lack of transparency says it all. 

      And your "actions" have arguably harmed the public, the tax-payer, and certainly those you claim to help in this town.

      Does HCHC exist to provide pay and platform for its founders and employees like you?

      Or does it exist to advance housing for those who need it in Hudson and Catskill?

      Right now you have a legally questionable take-over of an Albany school... murky finances... the most expensive office lease per square foot in the County with Galvan... no IRS 990 disclosures for several years, the foundations you list as sponsors on your site does not line up with your public statements and disavowals, and several donors are frustrated with your lack of transparency.

      Furthermore - Using 501(c)(3) funds to support a political candidate forces your fiscal sponsor to either misrepresent the activity to the IRS or disclose it and risk losing their tax-exempt status. It is unlikely the sponsor knowingly permitted this, as most nonprofits understand the strict ban on political campaigning.

      Maybe the simpler answer is you now all work for an entity that is not a 501(c)3?

      Third - You seem obsessed with South Africa... jsut forget about Elon Musk and watch Trevor Noah re-runs. Our editors have Australasian, European, and African residences and passports, which merely inform our global perspective and our hope for Hudson.

      To be blunt, Elliott M.:
      - Africa is a place, not a race.
      - To discriminate against anyone because of where they were born breaks human rights law in this state. To discriminate on the basis of race or sex is a crime.

      - If you wish to criticise our confirmed words, views, and actions as classical liberals who oppose corruption and wasteful welfare, go ahead.
      - If you wish to explain why giving one dollar to HCHC serves the public good better than giving it to other local groups, or simply keeping it, then go ahead and address how the past behaviour of your founders predicts the future of your organization.

      But make no mistake, your rhetoric shows the hypocrisy and moral hollowness of your organisation. HCHC claims to be “pro-immigrant” while maintaining legal and financial ties to the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, whose revenue curiously quintupled in a single year.
      Yet when immigrants who are not ideologically compliant or from your preferred ethnic groups ask questions, you attack them.

      This is not compassion. It is vanity dressed as virtue. You and your colleagues do not care about housing and the homelessness, or immigration and the stateless.

      You care about power (furthering the oppressed/oppressor critical race theory and neo-Marxism) and the money that comes with it.

      The rest is theatre, moral posturing for a class that mistakes slogans for ideas.

      As Nelson Mandela warned, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

      Hudson’s career politicians and protest proletariat have learned nothing, Elliott.

      You have merely learned to disguise intolerance as righteousness... all to raise taxes on the real working class.



      Reference:

      Columbia County Sanctuary Movement IRS Disclosures;

      https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/821804199

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    5. Do not Nelson Mandela me! You dislike nonprofits because your upbringing is from a culture that takes money, takes resources and takes lives. My “obsession” with South Afrikaans is non-existent. YOUR views and thoughts mean nothing to me. In 1996 I was “friends” with many South Afrikaans who lived illegally in NYC. I know what I experienced and due to that I know what YOU are about. So, I won’t talk to you about the c3 or what a c4 does or who the fiscal sponsor is or the going ons with the Albany Free School or any Memos of Understandings or CCSM or contracts we create. I will not talk to you about absolutely anything. You get nothing. Good luck!

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    6. You may not owe him any explanation. However, you may owe the IRS one after a forensic audit.

      Wouldn’t it be easier to quell this disagreement with transparency?
      If you know the truth, than the truth shall make you free.

      Delete
  9. The Trump tax returns
    The Epstein Files
    Kamal Johnson’s rent to Galvan
    HCHC’s tax return

    What do all of these have in common? 🧐

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