Humpty Dumpty Institute In The Press

December 28, 2009

By Ben Botkin

The Humpty Dumpty Institute has paid for trips taken by the staff of Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, to United Nations events. And the institute is planning to make a trip of its own to Idaho.

John Sandy, Risch’s chief of staff, traveled in September to New York City for an event sponsored by the institute with briefings from United Nations officials involved in areas like counter-terrorism, Asia and the Middle East. Michael Manning and Daniel S. Murray, two Risch staffers, traveled in May to a similar event in New York City attended by nearly 30 staff members of senators and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to disclosure forms.

The Humpty Dumpty Institute focuses on humanitarian work in war-torn nations and fostering a dialogue between Congress and the U.N. A nonprofit organization, the institute is completely nonpartisan and doesn’t take positions or lobby, said Joseph Merante, its executive director.

“The only way there’s going to be any progress made on anything is when people are talking to each other,” Merante said in an interview with the Times-News.

The organization organizes about five meetings a year for members of Congress and their staffs to meet U.N. officials.

Risch is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs. While the institute has had a long relationship with the committee, it works elsewhere in Congress, such as with the International Religious Freedom Caucus, Merante said.

Merante recently went on a trip with Sandy and the chief of staff of Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Peter Fischer, to show them the institute’s work in Laos and Sri Lanka.

The institute is removing land mines and unexploded ordinance in those nations and rebuilding the agriculture industry.

“We invited them to see the work we’re doing,” he said.

In Sri Lanka, for example, the dairy industry is being rebuilt, with milk production increasing and farmers trained in animal husbandry. Besides private donations, a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is also financing the institute’s work.

Lindsay Nothern, Crapo’s spokesman, said the trip was a good opportunity for Fischer to tour the work, which also included schools and clinics. Nothern said the trip didn’t require tax dollars, adding that the Humpty Dumpty Institute focuses on putting things back together.

“Hence the name Humpty Dumpty,” he said.

The institute has a program, called U.N. Across America, that takes U.N. ambassadors and diplomats to other parts of the country to broaden their view of the U.S. beyond New York City.

In 2010, the institute is planning to take a group to Idaho.

More than just tours, the trips help states make connections with other countries. For example, if Idaho wants to increase its trade with a particular country, Merante will try to bring that nation’s U.N. ambassador on the trip.

The trips also can become an opportunity for colleges and universities to develop or enhance academic exchange programs with other countries.

Merante said he still needs to talk with Idaho’s delegation and the governor’s office before finalizing details like dates and what part of the state the group will visit.

It won’t be the institute’s first trip out West. The institute took U.N. diplomats in 2008 on trips to Salt Lake City, Utah, and Helena, Mont.

In Salt Lake City, the U.N. officials visited with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the church’s charity work overseas.

Both work together in humanitarian efforts. The institute recently distributed more than $300,000 worth of kits with hygiene and school supplies in Sri Lanka that was donated from LDS Charities.

Risch said the U.N. delegation makes regular appearances before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While much rebuilding has taken place in Sri Lanka, more work is ahead there, Risch said.

Risch said the institute is a group that is cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee to sponsor trips for congressional staffers.

The $1,988.52 costs for Risch’s staff to attend Humpty Dumpty events are only part of the institute’s overall sponsorship of congressional trips.

The institute paid $54,336 for Congress members or their staffers to go on various trips between 2005 and 2008, ranking 24th in money spent among of all organizations that sponsor congressional travel, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The list has members from both parties. It includes staffer trips for Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when both were in the Senate.

In 2007, the institute listed $2.58 million in revenues in its annual IRS filings required for non-profit organizations. Of that amount, $634,995 was in public support, $1.9 million was in government grants, and $2,743 was from interest.

Ben Botkin may be reached at bbotkin@magicvalley.com or 208-735-3238.