FOOD STAMP BILL RAISES QUESTIONS

AJC Exclusive: Legislator's Angel Food job may pose conflict of interest

By Christopher Quinn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 26, 2010

A legislator has sponsored a bill that could benefit the nonprofit he works for, stirring concerns about a conflict of interest.

If the law passes, Angel Food Ministries, which is under investigation by the FBI, would be able to sell groceries online to food stamp recipients.

Rep. Len Walker (R-Loganville) told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he did not design HB 1054 to benefit Angel Food, which sells more than $140 million a year in steeply discounted food to the poor and which accepts food stamps. It distributes the food through a national network of churches, including more than 200 in metro Atlanta.

“It would benefit the food stamp recipient,” Walker said of the bill, which he expects will be up for a vote before the House in early March.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently does not allow online purchases with food stamps in Georgia.

But if Walker’s bill passed and if the USDA accepted the program, it would be easier to buy from Angel Food and other grocers.

Walker said his bill would also cut down on fraud. For instance, online sales could filter out illegal food stamp sales for items such as alcohol that some store clerks might let pass, he said.

The lawmaker said he asked a legislative counsel whether the bill represented a conflict of interest and was told no. Walker declined to name the attorney he consulted.

Gary Snyder, a former nonprofit CEO, author and charity watchdog in Michigan, said Walker’s bill gives “an appearance of a conflict, even if he is trying to do good.”

Snyder, who is familiar with Angel Food’s legal problems, said the bill “could be perceived as another black mark when they are trying to clean things up.”

Walker was not working at Angel Food a year ago when the FBI searched the nonprofit’s offices. He began working for it in August.

A spokesman for the ministry said after the search that agents were investigating whether unnamed individuals associated with the ministry were involved in financial wrongdoing.

Ministry founder Joe Wingo, his wife, two sons and a daughter-in-law worked for Angel Food and together made more than $2.8 million in 2007. The nonprofit made personal loans to the family of more than $1 million, and it donated money to a church the Wingos pastor.
The FBI declined to comment on the case.

Two dissident board members of the nonprofit who spoke to law enforcement officers also sued the organization, claiming financial wrongdoing by the Wingos. The suit says the family used the nonprofit’s credit cards for personal purchases and made personal trips in the company jet. Joe Wingo owned the jet under another corporation and rented it to the nonprofit at a profit. The suit is unresolved in Walton County Superior Court.

Juda Engelmeyer, a vice president at Angel Food, said the nonprofit has changed. Two members of the Wingo family no longer work there, and salaries for Joe Wingo and a son were cut. A forensic audit has been performed, and the jet was put under the watch of a committee.

He described the lawsuit as a power grab and said he had no idea when the FBI investigation might conclude.

Engelmeyer said he and others talked to Walker about the legislation before he sponsored it, but it was not designed to benefit the nonprofit.

Walker, a semi-retired Methodist minister, said Angel Food is paying him $50,000 a year to set up a program to help homeless children in Georgia schools. Schools would sell food from Angel Food Ministries, collect $1 for each box sold and spend it to help local children.

“I want you to know that is my focus,” Walker said. “There are more than 50,000 [homeless children] in Georgia.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/food-stamp-bill-raises-331429.html

© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution