There's an amusing but very serious protest going on in Philadelphia. Citizens fuming over the incredibly light sentence given ex-state senator Victor Fumo have taken to the streets to say to the Judge -- you don't appreciate the harm Mr. Fumo has done. Their protest has begun with a lining up of vacuum cleaners at the Capitol. The vacuum cleaners represent one of the ways Mr. Fumo ripped off his nonprofit by purchasing 30 Oreck vacuum cleaners (who can really say why). The protest hopes to collect many more vacuums and send them to the judge as a statement that the little less than 5 years and 1/2 of the amount of money stolen (to be repaid) does not represent justice for all the harm done.
I must admit that this is one of the few instances I can think of where citizens have rallied against a verdict focused on nonprofit embezzlement. Ideally I would hope that the nonprofit boards and those who would be served by these nonprofits would also be loudly protesting the verdict. And yet, that does not appear to be the case. No, the citizens that are protesting are protesting out of principle -- Fumo committed a crime against all citizens and should be fairly punished. This is at least a good reminder that nonprofits are indeed, owned by the citizens and it is in all our interest to ensure their welfare is safeguarded.
For more on the story, see the Philadelphia Inquirer.