The motives behind a nonprofit organization run by West Windsor Mayor Shing Fu-Hsueh have been questioned in discussions circulating in online public forums, including some by residents associated with mayoral opponent Charles Morgan.##M:[more]##
Called into question is $57,”000 in contributions to the West Windsor Township Community Foundation in the course of one year, 2003. Questions have also been raised about the timing of the organization’s subsequent grants to community groups, including the West Windsor Arts Council and Friends of West Windsor Senior Citizens during an election season.
The questions were brought to light after it was reported during a West Windsor Arts Council event earlier this year that Hsueh’s community foundation donated $45,”000 to the arts council toward the $300,”000 it needs to raise to renovate the old firehouse.
When contacted about the questions, the mayor said he had the idea to create the nonprofit organization eight years ago after he was first elected, and organized a group of people to carry it out.
He said the idea was that “when we have the opportunity to distribute the money to all the 501c3 organizations, we would focus on newly-established 501c3 (organizations), particularly the arts council.” But “I stayed out of the details,” he added. “I didn’t want to become the decision-maker. Basically, I stood as an advisor and gave them ideas.”
Hsueh says money was granted to various West Windsor-only 501c3 organizations only if those organizations went through the process of submitting proposals.
Hsueh said that no one in the group “got a penny out of this,” and also said that the money to fund the organization came out of his own pocket, as well as members of the business community. He said his own contributions amounted to more than $9,”000, and that he would also ask couples whose weddings he would officiate to contribute money to the foundation.
Hsueh says the foundation has disbanded, but that the process to do so began two years ago. But because all of the members of the foundation were volunteers, it took a while to wrap things up.
Hsueh referred questions to Russell Schenkman, a resident and an attorney based at 13 Roszel Road, who served as the foundation’s president. “I would really rather not respond to anything because it’s all nonsense,” Hsueh said. “I contributed my money to this foundation to try to help worthwhile organizations in this town.” He said he also found it regretful that his family members, who he tries to keep away from his political life, were dragged into this.
Schenkman, who is also a secretary and trustee of the foundation, said nothing about the way the foundation recently disbanded or about the contributions is shady at all.
The foundation was formed in 2002 as a 501c3 charitable organization with the purpose of accepting donations and then distributing the money to other 501c3 organizations, which benefit the general community, he said.
Originally, there were between 10 and 14 trustees, Schenkman said. While Hsueh was one of the original trustees, he was never an officer. As time progressed, the number of trustees was whittled down to three — Howard Alter, Schenkman, and Theresa Wu, all West Windsor residents. (Alter is also chairman of Alter Asset Management, a financial services firm at 731 Alexander Road. Hsueh’s son, Stephen Shueh, is president of Alter Asset Management.)
Other members were Barbara Evans, who was listed as the group’s assistant secretary and treasurer, who also previously served as the township’s business administrator, and Parking Authority Chairman Andy Lupo, who is also listed as a trustee, as is Hsueh.
“It originally started out with large dreams with a lot of business leaders on the foundation,” said Schenkman. Evans performed all of the administrative leg work for the foundation, but she left in 2004. At that time, the members of the foundation began searching for another person to take over the administrative duties, knowing that if they did not find someone, they would have to disband.
Contributions to the foundation were mostly made by the trustees themselves or other corporations, Schenkman said. He said the biggest contribution — $50,”000, he recalls — came in 2003 from Tyco, the corporate conglomerate that is headquartered at 7 Roszel Road. Other companies contributed about $6,”000. “The Tyco donation got everything started, but it really didn’t pick up after that.”
He added: “Between 75 and 85 percent of the donations that were made were made in a single donation by Tyco. Other than that, other contributions totaled 20 to 25 percent of the donations made to the organizations.”
By 2008, when the foundation still hadn’t found a new leader, the members made a decision in the fourth quarter to dissolve. In order to do so, they needed to give the money they raised to other charitable organizations. “We were looking to distribute the money, as long as it went to a 501c3 organization,” he said. “People had to provide information on their organizations.”
There was a deadline — because “we needed to do it by the end of the year” — and the three organizations that submitted complete applications were the Arts Council, which received $45,”000; the Friends of West Windsor Senior Citizens, which received $10,”000, and the Girl Scouts of America of Central and Southern New Jersey, which received $7,”500. “Those were made in the fourth quarter of 2008,” he said. “It’s in the process of being dissolved at this point.”
After receiving an E-mail from West Windsor resident Hemi Nae asking questions about the foundation, Hsueh issued a response that he shared with the WW-P News as well. In the response, Hsueh restates information provided by Schenkman, including the goal of the foundation and the nonprofit organizations that received funding from his foundation.
He also reiterated that the foundation was titled the West Windsor Community Foundation and not the “Mayor’s Community Foundation.” As such, “it had trustees independent of government so as to make sure that contributions were federal income tax deductible,” Hsueh stated in the response. “Further, the foundation had a lawyer, Russell Schenkman, who, like everyone else associated with the foundation, provided uncompensated volunteer services.”
Hsueh also disputed Nae’s suggestion that the foundation lay dormant for five years, pointing out that contributions were made as late as 2006. “The foundation was dissolved by the trustees in December, 2008, because it was becoming more difficult for volunteers to administer,” Hsueh stated. “Also, there were more 501c3 organizations formed during this period of time to serve the community.” He said the contributions made to those organizations were made by the trustees, independent of township government.
In his response to Nae, Hsueh also said that Morgan had written to Schenkman, asking for information about the foundation. “I understand that more specific information will be provided by the foundation attorney within the next week. Finally, given both Mr. Morgan’s sudden interest and your E-mail, I would hope that the substantial contributions provided to these wonderful community organizations will not become a political issue,” he wrote to Nae.
When asked to comment, Morgan said he only found out about the foundation about a month ago, and that he was surprised to find that someone else had translated an idea he had been advocating himself for a while. “For several years now I have been asking for the administration and mayor to move forward on a 501c3 nonprofit trust that we could use to enhance the senior center, to help folks like the West Windsor Farmer’s Market, and the GroWW group.”
He said Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman was having a tough time with getting sponsors for the Greening of West Windsor environmental fair because there was no 501c3 set up, and corporate sponsors were declining because of the perception that it was associated with the government.
Morgan also said that “it just doesn’t make sense to me that he’s shutting it down in that context that I’ve been asking for one of these to be set up.”
On the website, WW-P Today, various discussions on politics linked to a Google Group page for West Windsor Community Discussion, where Nae wrote a post about the issue.
Nae’s post, called “West Windsor Township Community Foundation,” also states that Hsueh attended a meeting of the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, where he announced his nonprofit was going to be dissolved and that it could disburse funds to other organizations, including the WWBPA.
According to Nae, “the foundation reported no investment/interest income and no contributions to the community over the reported five years.”
“This information raises questions such as who contributed the money?” Nae wrote on the website. “Why was the foundation dormant for five years? Why was the money not invested in an interest-bearing account? Who else received money from the foundation and why all of a sudden has the foundation decided to dissolve itself?”
