Miller
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced an agreement on Tuesday barring a Minnesota professional fundraising group from future Iowa fundraising.
Public Safety Council LLP and Community Safety LLC, both headquartered in Minneapolis, subcontractor Safety Services LLC of St. Paul., Minn., and principals Robert T. Callan and J. Michael Callan, entered into an assurance of voluntary compliance with Miller. As part of the agreement, the group will refrain from future fundraising or charitable solicitations directed at businesses or people in Iowa, effective immediately.
The companies signed an assurance of voluntary compliance in December to change their fundraising practices in Iowa. Miller alleged, however, that subsequent solicitations did not comply with Iowa law or the December AVC.
Telephone solicitors in St. Paul, working for the fundraising group, allegedly called Iowans on behalf of at least three Iowa law enforcement associations, including the Iowa State Reserve Law Officers Association, the Iowa Peace Officers Association and the Iowa State Police Association. In each case, the organizations received 15 to 16 percent of donations, while fundraisers retained 84 to 85 percent.
Miller alleged that the fundraisers engaged in unfair and deceptive conduct. The fundraisers denied wrongdoing or liability of any kind.