New IRS Filings Show ConsumerWatchdog.org Raked in Nearly $3 Million in Lawyer Fees in 2010, Reports ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ConsumerWatchdog received more than $2 million in lawyer fees, more than $971,000 in special state "intervenor fees," and paid its founder more than $500,000 in consulting fees in 2010, according to documents the organization recently filed with the California Attorney General, California Secretary of State, and California Department of Insurance.

"While ConsumerWatchdog refuses to reveal its special interest donors, it also rakes in millions of dollars from lawyers fees and from a fee it inserted into a ballot measure to benefit itself," said Steven Maviglio of ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com. "These new filings offer an eye-opening look into how this so-called 'non-profit' organization that alleges to help consumers is actually more interested in lining its own pockets and paying outrageous fees to its founder, Harvey Rosenfield."

According to IRS documents filed with the state agencies, Rosenfield was paid $472,288 in "legal/professional" fees from ConsumerWatchdog in 2010. He also received $40,530 in political consulting fees from the organization's political committees that year, according to the Secretary of State.

(Another ConsumerWatchdog affiliate, the Consumer Education Foundation, has still failed to file its 2010 records with the Attorney General's Office; in previous years, Rosenfield paid himself $100,000 per year from this foundation, whose sole purpose is the distribution of a single grant to ConsumerWatchdog.)

According to records compiled by the California Department of Insurance, ConsumerWatchdog was the sole beneficiary of "intervenor fees" in 2010, receiving more than $971,000 that year. These funds are a direct result of a provision inserted in Prop 103, a measure authored by Rosenfield.

ConsumerWatchdog is in the midst of attempting to put another measure on the November 2012 ballot to regulate health insurance rates that also includes the same provision. It also is the prime supporter of Assembly Bill 52, a health care rate regulation bill which also includes a provision for "intervenor fees."

The documents can be found at www.ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com

SOURCE ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com