Technically, the money that Cap Times founder Bill Evjue bequeathed to a charitable trust in his name does not belong to the people who run it, but to its intended beneficiaries: the entire Madison community. That message seems lost on the people who run it.
As with the buyout story, Isthmus ran into a wall of silence while trying to learn how the meltdown of the U.S. economy will affect the Evjue Foundation, which annually dispenses about $2 million to the UW and area nonprofits.
Jack Lussier, as noted, hung up the phone. The foundation's executive assistant, Arlene Hornung, did not return calls. Kathleen Woit, who heads the Madison Community Foundation and serves as an Evjue trustee, declined comment.
"There's nothing about it that's at all controversial," said Woit. "But it's up to them [Lussier, Hornung, Frink] to speak to it. It's not up to me."
Attorney Howard Sweet, who represents the Evjue Charitable Trust that feeds the foundation, did provide some useful perspective: "The Evjue Charitable Trust and the charitable foundation are not immune from what's happening everywhere in terms of investments, and I would expect distributions would be affected by it."
Can we quote you on that? Sweet defers to Lussier and Frink but doesn't say no. Bless his heart.
