Ford Foundation probed; AG claims Mich. left out

The Detriot News reports:

M ichigan Attorney General Mike Cox is investigating the New York-based Ford Foundation, focusing on its governance, potential conflicts of interest and a comparatively thin record of giving to charitable causes in Detroit and the state.

Edsel Ford, the only son of Ford Motor Co. founder Henry Ford, created the foundation in 1936 and used it mostly to fund such family-backed institutions as Henry Ford Hospital and the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village. But the Fords lost control of the foundation in the 1950s, and the last family member -- Henry Ford II -- resigned in disgust from the board 30 years ago.

Cox's probe is now 9 months old. He is using administrative subpoenas and Michigan's charitable trust laws to determine whether one of the nation's most generous foundations, with assets of $11.5 billion and a reputation for backing causes tied to terrorism and anti-Semitism, is "running a tight ship" and renewing its historical obligation to its Michigan roots.

"It's really like the legacy of Henry and Edsel Ford has been kidnapped," Cox told me in an interview. "Without a doubt, we're investigating them."

The Ford Foundation, incorporated in Michigan, has "a fiduciary responsibility to the trust that they adhere to the spirit of Henry and Edsel Ford, who gave all the money."

Trouble ahead for the bank for "Marxism".Anyone interested in the foundation world should read this one.Would the Ford Foundation support socialism with such vigor if they had to pay a confiscatory progressive income tax? Just a question to ponder.