Connerly’s excessive compensation levels from his tax-exempt non-profit organizations have raised questions in Congress about their propriety. On August 2, 2006 Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) wrote to the IRS requesting an inquiry into “possible excessive compensation practices” by ACRI and ACRC.

Conyers noted that in 2004 “Mr. Connerly was paid a $1 million salary for a mere 30 hours of work per week.” [“Conyers Questions Ward Connerly’s Compensation,” Press Release, Office of John Conyers, August 2, 2006.]

Even conservatives are on to Connerly's profiteering. The most recent issue of The American Conservative revealed:

In 1998, 22 percent of his nonprofits' revenue was paid to Connerly in salary or to his firm. By 2001, Connerly's salary and the fees charged by Connerly and Associates ate up 49 percent of the nonprofits' combined revenue. Most of the money paid to the firm was listed on tax forms as "speaking fees." In 2006, when Connerly took up a concrete goal in political activism-ending Michigan's affirmative-action policies-the cut of nonprofit revenue paid to him and his firm rose to 66 percent of total receipts, nearly $1.6 million.

As The American Conservative writes, "An IRS spokesman said that he could not comment on a case under investigation."

Connerly profits and IRS increases oversight of non-profit executive compensation. (Article from Chronicle of Philanthropy)