By Scott Tibbs, November 29, 2008
I was not at all surprised to see that Planned Parenthood has applied for corporate welfare from the Monroe County Council. As I have for the past ten years with the city, I plan on attending the meeting and speaking against funding for Bloomington's abortion provider. Following is an electronic mail I sent to the Monroe County Council.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Social Services funding
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:03:36 -0500
From: Scott Tibbs <tibbs1973@yahoo.com>
To: stravis@co.monroe.in.us, mwoods@co.monroe.in.us, whenegar@co.monroe.in.us, jlesh@co.monroe.in.us, mhawk@co.monroe.in.us, cnewmann@co.monroe.in.us, vkelson@co.monroe.in.us
Councilors,
I saw in the Herald-Times that social services funding will be considered at the next County Council meeting, at 4:30 p.m. on December 9, and wish to comment on one of the requests.
Before I get to the issue itself, I want to applaud you for the changes you have made to the process. I have thought for years that the social service funding should be distributed by the County Council rather than the County Commissioners, mimicking the much more open process of city government. Unfortunately, the fact that council meetings start at 4:30 still presents an obstacle to public participation, because many people work until 5:00 and cannot be at a council meeting until an hour late. I would encourage you to reform this next year.
The H-T indicated that planned Parenthood was not included in the list of finalists. I am glad this is the case, but nonetheless wanted to encourage you to reject funding requests from Planned Parenthood. As you know, PP runs an abortion clinic just a few blocks south of the county courthouse, and the grants that city government gives to PP have been controversial as many in the community object to their tax dollars funding an organization that destroys human life before birth.
As I explained to the City Council last summer, Planned Parenthood does not need a handout from local taxpayers. According to Planned Parenthood's own annual report, the national office had $104.1 million in revenue and only $66.4 million in expenses, resulting in an incredible profit of $37.7 million. Overall, Planned Parenthood and all of its affiliates brought in over one billion dollars in revenue in the most recent fiscal year, with an organization-wide profit of $114 million. Clearly, there is more than enough money floating around the Planned Parenthood organization to give the Bloomington clinic all the funding it needs.
This is why I am so disappointed (yet not at all surprised) that Planned Parenthood has come to county government for a handout. The repeated requests to city government, as well as this request to county government, represent little more than an attempt to gain a political endorsement, not a reflection of what PP truly needs. The economic downturn has caused problems for a number of charities, and they are in need of donations more than ever. If county government is going to be giving money to private charities (which is another topic) then that money should go to charities that actually need it.
Planned Parenthood's grant request is a slap in the face to the other organizations and the people they serve. They have disrespected charitable organizations that actually need money and they have disrespected you with this cynical and politically motivated request. I urge you to reject any and all applications from Planned Parenthood out of hand, both out of respect to the taxpayers who object to Planned Parenthood's abortion "services" and as a message that these childish games are not acceptable.
Scott Tibbs
Resident of County Council District II
