3 seek more financial data on Mondesire CDC

Three former board members of the Philadelphia NAACP are demanding more financial records of a community development corporation controlled by former NAACP president J. Whyatt Mondesire.

Gerard P. Egan, a lawyer for former board members Sid Booker, Donald "Ducky" Birts, and the Rev. Elisha Morris, said Wednesday that Mondesire had not fully complied with a June 11 court order to turn over all financial records of Next Generation CDC.

Egan said that Mondesire had turned over records of Next Generation CDC accounts at PNC Bank, but had not supplied its internal financial records.

"We are analyzing bank records right now, and they raise a lot of questions," Egan said. "In order to get a full picture, we want all of the records, not just bank records."

In an Aug. 18 letter to Thomas McGill, a lawyer for Mondesire, Egan asked a series of questions related to Next Generation CDC finances.

He asked for details of what happened to $540,000 deposited into a Next Generation CDC account over the last seven years and why the account now contains only $17.

The letter also questioned why checks earmarked for the NAACP totaling $309,980 were deposited into a Next Generation bank account.

The letter also alleges that donations to the NAACP from former Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Rep. Robert Brady (D., Pa.) were diverted to Next Generation CDC.

"It's pretty obvious that the people wanted the checks to go to the NAACP," Egan said. "Instead, he put them in his own CDC account and then draws out a great deal of money."

In an e-mailed letter to The Inquirer on Tuesday, lawyer Thomas D. Kenney, whose firm is representing Mondesire, said Mondesire "categorically denies all allegations" in Egan's letter.

Kenney wrote that "Mondesire's opposition has decided to proceed in a crass and unprofessional manner with regard to this matter." He added that his law firm would not countenance "the effort to make this matter into a media circus."

The dispute between Mondesire and the former board members developed in the fall after Booker began asking about a $500 check he donated to the NAACP for a gala.

Booker, a local restaurateur and nightclub owner, said he later received a deposit slip from PNC Bank indicating his check and another for $10,000 were deposited into an account for Next Generation.