Reply #34: Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY) requesting an investigation [View All]

Rising concerns over an estimated $65 million in U.S. taxpayer money used to influence the outcome of the Ukrainian presidential election, despite denial from the White House, have prompted United States Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY) to request an investigation. Specifically, evidence is mounting that U.S. official funds were funneled to the support of organizations with a known preference for candidate Viktor Yushchenko, and that these organizations were key elements in mobilizing Ukraine's "orange revolution" that sprung up election eve with tents, equipment and huge plasma screens "spontaneously."

"Information in the public domain indicates that a significant portion of the reportedly $65 million spent during the past two years, for such programs in Ukraine, may have been given to organizations with a known partisan agenda in support of one of the presidential candidates," wrote Representative Towns, Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management, in a Dec. 14, 2004 letter to Andrew Natsios, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), believed to be the agency responsible for most of the funding for pro-Yushchenko forces. "Such a bias would be inconsistent with public claims by the Administration that the United States is impartial in the Ukrainian election, and this would contribute to a negative image of the United States for unwarranted interference in that country's domestic affairs."

In his letter to Administrator Natsios, Representative Towns asks for 1) the total amount of funds provided by USAID to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for fiscal years 2003, 2004, and 2005 to support ostensible "democracy" and "civil society" programs in Ukraine; 2) the names of organizations receiving these funds and the amounts received by each; 3) the programs for which the funds were intended for use and how they actually were used; and 4) an accounting of how much of the funds were used to support or oppose a particular Ukrainian political party or candidate.

Representative Towns notes, as an example, that USAID funds the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), which in turn distributed sub-grants to numerous NGOs that clearly display their partisan support for Viktor Yushchenko on their Web sites -- and which some have sought to conceal when such funding became a matter for official scrutiny. Numerous other PAUCI sub-grantees are also believed to have such an agenda but do so covertly.

Representative Towns specifically asked about the "questionable expenditure" of U.S. taxpayer funds by USAID to fund an organization with a known pro-Yushchenko agenda, the US-Ukraine Foundation (USUF). USUF, co- founded by Viktor Yushchenko's wife Kateryna Chumacheko (who also served on USUF's board in the past), co-sponsored several election observation missions to Ukraine in 2004 with the Association of Former Members of Congress.

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