Dan Rooney is running for U.S. House of Representatives in Oklahoma’s First Congressional District, advertising his bona fides as a Lt. Colonel who served valiantly in the Air Force and did multiple tours in Iraq. Rooney is also a professional golfer who has devoted his career to blending his passions in golf and the military.
Rooney founded Folds of Honor ostensibly to provide scholarships for spouses and children of America’s fallen or disabled military service members and first responders. Additionally, Folds of Honor has a golf-related element attached to it, in line with the priorities of its founder.
Rooney’s involvement in Folds of Honor, and in various golf and development ventures related to the charitable organization, raises serious questions about conflicts of interest. A recent scandal in Florida shows how Rooney mixes his nonprofit with private business development and then attempts to partner with the government to fuel his larger ambitions.
Recent reports have indicated that Rooney’s “Folds of Honor” team met with staff from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ team over a year before they rolled out the “Jack Nicklaus Golf Course” paid for, in part, by public money. They plotted a sweetheart deal to build three golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, hoping they could sneak it by unbeknownst to the public. A Florida Department of Commerce employee stated in a text message that Folds of Honor should help sell the project by “adding in the historic preservation and museum component re Tuskegee airmen” to make it easier for them to soak up public money.
Whistleblower James Gaddis, who formerly worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, went public with the program because he said “it got to the point where we were operating in total secrecy this whole time,” adding that “we were told not to talk to anybody about this including our buddies who work in other units or in the building.” After widespread anger built over the project, Gov. DeSantis denied ever supporting it despite the fact that Gaddis stated that Cody Farrill, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, ordered design specs for a state-funded golf course. Other data shows that Chief of Staff James Uthmeier was working with Folds of Honor back in 2023. The proposal would eventually fall apart under scrutiny.
This was not the first time that Folds of Honor used this model where the nonprofit’s brand helps initiate projects that later shift into more complex and ethically dubious structures. Previously, they had established the ‘American Dunes’ in Grand Haven, Michigan—where Rooney also used golf legend Jack Nicklaus as a launching pad for his grand ambitions—showing how he exploits the clout at his disposal to create an empire of luxury golf resorts.
The public numbers posted by Folds of Honor also demonstrate how charity has been very lucrative for Rooney. The 2024 Form 990 reports for Folds of Honor shows that Rooney received over $510,000 in total compensation, alongside executive perks such as leased aircraft access, paid club dues, and incentive compensation. Paired with overlapping business interests, it is clear that Rooney has turned his charity into a lucrative enterprise for not just himself but also his entire family.
The palatial Rooney family estate can be seen below:
The presence of multiple Rooney family members—including John Rooney and Jacqueline Rooney—on the board, showing how power within the nonprofit was concentrated in Rooney and his family rather than a diverse group of qualified directors. This substantially increases the risk that decisions align more closely with the founder’s interests than with the betterment of the organization.
The most substantive conflict-of-interest concerns come from the intersection of Folds of Honor with the Patriot Golf Club and related entities. Public filings confirm that Folds consolidates hospitality entities, such as Patriot Cottages, LLC and FHF Honor Cottage, LLC, operating directly within the Patriot Golf Club footprint.
These entities share an address with the club and engage in financial transactions, in what appears to be an effort to shift funds around between multiple entities that appear independent but are actually all controlled by Rooney and his inner circle. These include six-figure payments for services such as maintenance and promotions. The operational overlap between nonprofit assets and a golf property tied to Rooney muddies the waters between his nonprofit charities and private businesses, perhaps by design.
The Patriot Golf Club’s own materials identify Rooney as an equity partner alongside other stakeholders connected to the Owasso Land Trust and the broader Stone Canyon development ecosystem. Joined by several partners with serious real estate clout, Rooney has created a scenario where a nonprofit, a private golf venture, and a residential development network all coexist within the same geographic and financial orbit—all while enjoying those tax benefits from 501c3 educational nonprofit status.
Rooney’s network is designed to blur the lines between the laudable charitable mission of Folds of Honor and his entrepreneurial goals of owning and operating large-scale golf resorts. Rooney has devised a system in which leadership, governance, and related-party dealings are tightly intertwined. Now, Rooney has set his sights on becoming a U.S. Congressman, claiming to be an America First outsider.
“The battlefield may be overseas, but the decisions that shape it are made in Washington. And too often, they’re made by people who have never worn a uniform,” Rooney said in a press release announcing his run. “Oklahoma deserves a combat veteran’s voice at the table, and America needs leaders who understand what’s at stake.”
However, very little is actually known about Rooney’s political stances as he has been very cagey and vague, opting instead to offer inspirational anecdotes about his military service and inoffensive platitudes. Rooney did post a picture of himself receiving the experimental COVID-19 vaccine on his Instagram page while wearing a face diaper during the pandemic. In this post, he suggested that we “get everyone vaccinated soon,” suggesting that he would not stand for fundamental constitutional rights as a lawmaker.
It is clear that his shady golf deals as well as his calls for the entire population to submit to experimental COVID vaccinations make Rooney the wrong choice for U.S. Representative in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District.
