Will Legatus Be a Catholic Politician's Millstone?

Originally posted July 24, 2008
A July 23, 2008 article in The Washington DC Examiner makes much of the fact that Keith Fimian, Congressional candidate for Virginia's 11th District in DC's suburbs, has received "more than $100,000 from dozens of members--or relatives of those members--of Legatus..."(1)

The rest of the paragraph describes how Legatus is a national organization of Catholic business executives founded by Tom Monaghan. It repeats two things about the Domino's Pizza hundred-millionaire that have grown and blossomed in the media's mind: that he also founded Ave Maria, Florida, "a religious community" and that he vowed that sales of pornography and contraceptives would not be allowed in Ave Maria.

This ACLU-baiting promise to do something unconstitutional enhanced the half-wit appeal of the whole venture, but since it was utterd in 2006, Ave Maria's developer, Barron Collier Companies has been trying to dispel the conception that the development in very rural SW Florida is intended to steer Catholics.

The project's slogan is "Every Family, Every Lifestyle, Every Dream." However as of 7/24/2008, Ave Maria's official web site slideshows pictures of the monstrous church at the town's center. One of these photos flashing between shots of happy folks having fun does not have the rooftop cross cropped out (Better get on that, boys!).

The problem for politicians now may be that whenever any connection between them and Monaghan is made, this stuff about him decreeing a rubber-free Catholic pleasure dome will be dredged up with it, making it easy for hostilii and Opposition Research staff to imagine and propose that an officeholder or candidate is part of a conspiracy of rich Catholic men using their money to staff the branches of government and impose their beliefs on society.

Being associated with Legatus may be as bad for pols as having an affiliation with Opus Dei, if not worse. Were there no town and no goofy promises made by the founder, donations from members of Legatus to politicians might be no more noteworthy than support from members of the Knights of Columbus.

Most interesting about The Examiner article is the basis for making the claim that "dozens of [Legatus] members" and relatives have given to Fimian's campaign.

Political campaigns must file a form, Schedule A, with the Federal Election Commission. Donor information from Schedule A filings is publicly available from the FEC and through a few web sites such as The Huffington Post and Congressional Quarterly's CQ MoneyLine (subscription). The FEC requires campaigns to list on Schedule A's donors' names, addresses, occupations and amounts donated, but it does not require disclosure of organization memberships.

Which raises the question: Where did The Examiner, a conservative-leaning newspaper, by the way, get a list of dozens of Legatus members in Northern Virginia?

It could not have been from Legatus' Northern Virginia Chapter web page. This lists only nine chapter members, the officers, including Keith Fimian himself whose office is described as "At-Large." Three of the nine chapter officers show up in Schedule A's as donors of at least $2,000 each to Fimian's campaign. One insurance guy whose title is "Spiritual" has given the maximum $2300 to several other candidates.

If there truly are dozens, then The Examiner or a source got a list of NOVA Legatus members' from somewhere and compared it with lists from Schedule A's.

That's really digging. Is it a sign of lots more to come? Does Legatus count any plumbers among its membership?

(1) "Fimian's conservative ties may clash with shifting 11th District," William C. Flook, The Examiner, July 23, 2008

Copyright 2008, 2012 by Neal J. Conway

Epilogue 2012

At left is a very stale posting from 2008 that in 2012 is getting a lot of web traffic. Some updates:

"Better get on that boys!"
Two days after this page was posted in July of 2008, Barron Collier removed the pictures of the rooftop cross from the Ave Maria Town web site. These real estate professionals never thanked me for pointing out that the cross could have been construed as an instrument of religious steering in violation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

The Great Succession
There is credible speculation that Tom Monaghan is no longer to Ave Maria University what Kim Jong Il was to North Korea.

Evidence that the chancellor has been retired by the board is the recently established Tom Monaghan Catholic Leaders Scholarship Fund. This smacks of making The Founder look like he's leading the parade when he is really being run out of town.

Barnum & Bain
Some college bolshies who aspire to live in McPherson Square still call for boycotts of Domino's Pizza because of its Monaghan connections. The fact is, Monaghan sold the company long ago in 1998 to Mitt Romney and Bain Capital. Bain resold it to an owner who eventually admitted that the pizza wasn't that great.

There is a photo of Romney handing Monaghan a giant $1 billion check, the alleged price that Bain paid for the franchise chain that the Detroit Free Press in the 1990s reported had been financially run into the ground by its owner, as had been The Detroit Tigers.(1)

From what we've recently learned about how Romney/Bain Capital operated, it was in the interest of one party to convince potential buyers that a Domino's for resale was worth more than it actually was. It was in the interest of the other party to be thought of as a genius who had built a company that could be sold for a cool billion.

Pvt. Gomer Pyle, USMC Ret.
Just as he tapped into disgust at Catholic schools teaching their graduates to drop out of the church, the genius has glommed onto a current fast-food fad: hamburger delivery. His contribution to that race for the sandwich that doesn't go soggy over a distance is Gyrene Burger, a franchise that features employees dressed as Marines jogging up to customers' doors and then handing them the bag with a salute.

As the burger-bearers are most likely to be Hispanic immigrants, there is a planned Burger Boot Camp to teach them to say a sharp, "Sir! Yes Sir!" Not only does Gyrene Burger make a gimmick out of the uniform bloodied in places such as Iwo Jima, the menu doesn't include fries and drinks.

See What Happens When You Attack The Manger Scene?
Legatus is still very much alive, reporting 73 chapters and over 2200 CEO members. On Feb. 2, 2012, it held its annual "Summit," closed to the media, at which George W. Bush and Bobby Jindal spoke.

No doubt the club for chief executives is digging trenches, along with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Knights of Columbus and ordinary Catholics, for a decades-long battle for religious freedom in legislatures and courts.

If that horrifies you, you know what? None of the fight would probably be happening -- Few would even be noticing or caring what HHS does -- if the left hadn't started it by attacking symbols, the manger scenes in public parks and Ten Commandments tablets in the courthouse.

The way things are going, affiliation with Legatus may be a talisman of honor.

(1) Two articles from Detroit Free Press that people who got involved with Monaghan probably never read.

"Debt Eats Monaghan's Cash, Reports On His Empire Show," Bernie Sellum, Detroit Free Press, August 11, 1992

"A[merican] L[eague] Threatened to Take Over Tigers," Robert Musial, Detroit Free Press, July 27, 1993
Copyright 2012 by Neal J. Conway. All rights reserved.

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