Water Users Play Bank For Semanko

The nonprofit Idaho Water Users Association, partially supported by taxpayers, listed its assets last year as $453,906. More than one-third of that amount is money its executive director, Norm Semanko, owes the organization. “This isn’t a new thing,” said Semanko of the loan, which was made a decade ago. The money Idaho Water Users loaned Semanko — $136,000 in 2001 and an additional $40,000 in 2007 — was used for a downpayment on a home and to make home improvements, among other things, Semanko said. The loan is entirely legal, said Semanko, an attorney. True, but the practice is illegal in New York, Tennessee, Illinois and other states. After Enron and other accounting scandals a decade ago, the practice of making loans to directors or executives was outlawed nationwide for publicly traded companies and strongly discouraged for nonprofit organizations/ Cynthia Sewell , Statesman. More here.

Question: Does this pass the smell test?