ACORN

[classicman]

How bout this one?

[Shawnee123]

That looks like LaBeau on Hogan's Heroes.

[TheMercenary]

This ACORN shit is just starting to get to get good.

[TheMercenary]

By JOHN FUND
Democrats are split on how to deal with Acorn, the liberal "community organizing" group that deployed thousands of get-out-the-vote workers last election. State and city Democratic officials -- who've been contending with its many scandals -- are moving against it. Washington Democrats are still sweeping Acorn abuses under a rug.

On Monday, Nevada officials charged Acorn, its regional director and its Las Vegas field director with submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms last year. Larry Lomax, the registrar of voters in Las Vegas, says he believes 48% of Acorn's forms "are clearly fraudulent." On Thursday, prosecutors in Pittsburgh, Pa., also charged seven Acorn employees with filing hundreds of fraudulent voter registrations before last year's general election.

Acorn spokesman Scott Levenson calls the Nevada criminal complaint "political grandstanding" and says that any problems were the actions of an unnamed "bad employee." But Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada's Democratic Attorney General, told the Las Vegas Sun that Acorn itself is named in the criminal complaint. She says that Acorn's training manuals "clearly detail, condone and . . . require illegal acts," such as requiring its workers to meet strict voter-registration targets to keep their jobs.

Other Democrats on the ground have complaints. Fred Voight, deputy election commissioner in Philadelphia, protested after Acorn (according to the registrar of voters and his own investigation) submitted at least 1,500 fraudulent registrations last fall. "This has been going on for a number of years," he told CNN in October. St. Louis Democrat Matthew Potter, the city's deputy elections director, had similar complaints.

Elsewhere, Washington state prosecutors fined Acorn $25,000 after several employees were convicted of voter registration fraud in 2007. The group signed a consent decree with King County (Seattle), requiring it to beef up its oversight or face criminal prosecution. In the 2008 election, Acorn's practices led to investigations, some ongoing, in 14 other states.

The stink is bad enough that some congressional Democrats have taken notice. At a March 19 hearing on election problems, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, pressed New York Rep. Gerald Nadler, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, to hold a hearing on Acorn. He called the charges against it "serious." Mr. Nadler agreed to consider the request.

Mr. Nadler's office now says there will be no hearing on Acorn because Mr. Conyers has changed his mind. Mr. Conyers's office released a statement on Monday saying that after reviewing "the complaints against Acorn, I have concluded that a hearing on this matter appears unwarranted at this time." A Democratic staffer told me he believes the House leadership put pressure on Mr. Conyers to back down. Mr. Conyers's office says it is "unaware" of any contacts with House leaders.

Then there's Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Last month, he voted for a committee amendment (to the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act) by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R., Minn.) to block groups indicted for voter fraud from receiving federal housing or legal assistance grants. Identical language was passed into law in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Mr. Frank now says he "had not read [the amendment] carefully" before backing it. He gutted the amendment on Thursday, claiming that the language Congress passed just last year is "a violation of the basic principles of due process."

A lot of money is at stake. In the stimulus bill passed by Congress, Acorn is eligible -- along with other activist groups -- to apply for $2 billion in funds to redevelop abandoned and foreclosed homes. Meanwhile, public records show that last spring the IRS filed three tax liens totaling almost $1 million against Acorn, most of which concerned employee withholding.

All of this infuriates Marcel Reid, who, along with seven other national Acorn board members, was removed last year after demanding an audit of the group's books. "Acorn has been hijacked by a power-hungry clique that has its own political and personal agendas," she told me. "We are fighting to take back the group."

Bertha Lewis, the head of Acorn, told me last year before their ouster that the "Acorn Eight" were "obsessed" and "confused." But Anita MonCrief, an Acorn whistleblower, says the problems run deep. Ms. MonCrief worked at Project Vote, an Acorn affiliate, in late 2007. She says its development director, Karen Gillette, told her she had direct contact with the Obama campaign and also told her to call Obama donors who had maxed out on donations to the candidate but who could contribute to Acorn. Project Vote calls her charges "absolutely false." (Ms. Gillette has declined comment.)

Acorn's relationship to the Obama campaign is a matter of public record. Last year, Citizens Consulting Inc., the umbrella group controlling Acorn, was paid $832,000 by the Obama campaign for get-out-the-vote efforts in key primary states. In filings with the Federal Election Commission, the campaign listed the payments as "staging, sound, lighting," only correcting them after reporters from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review revealed their true nature.

Mr. Obama distanced himself from the group's scandals last year, saying "We don't need Acorn's help." Nevertheless, he got his start as a community organizer at Acorn's side. In 1992, he headed a registration effort for Project Vote, an Acorn partner at the time. In 1995, he represented Acorn in a key case upholding the new Motor Voter Act -- the very law whose mandated postcard registration system Acorn workers use to flood election offices with bogus registrations.

But Acorn's registration tricks may soon be unnecessary. Congressional Democrats are backing a bill to mandate a nationwide data base to automatically register driver's license holders or recipients of government benefits.

This "would create an engraved invitation for voter fraud," says Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission member, who points out that these lists are filled with felons and noncitizens who are ineligible to vote. Ironically, in light of its troubles with the law, Acorn was selected in March to assist the U.S. Census in reaching out to minority communities and recruiting census enumerators for the count next year.

As for the Nevada indictment, Acorn isn't worried. "We've had bad publicity before, and all it does is inform the community that we're here working for the community," Bonnie Greathouse, Acorn's head organizer in Nevada, assured the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week. "People always come forward to our defense. We're just community organizers, just like the president used to be."

Mr. Fund is a columnist for WSJ.com .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124182750646102435.html

[elSicomoro]

I have to make sure I learn canasta before I get old. Apparently, that's what 100-year-olds play.

[classicman]

Ahhh, An apparent internal ACORN memo spells it all out.

6. Swing Congressional and State Legislative Districts Project

This is a long-term, multi-faceted project with the following goals:
1. Impact the post-2010 Congressional redistricting process by building progressive electoral majorities in swing state legislative districts in states where partisan control of legislative bodies is potentially in play.
2. Organize in 10 – 20 selected Congressional Districts where recent close elections and/or demographic shifts make them likely swing districts.

The strategy here is to build the long-term, targeted organizing and electoral capacity needed if we are to have a Congress with a progressive majority. The redistricting process is key, since it is unlikely that there are enough competitive House districts to end right-wing control of the House of Representatives before 2012. But we need to start now.

The first step is to review the literature analyzing the redistricting process state-by-state, determine which states’ re-districting processes are in the hands of state legislatures (most), which state legislative bodies have a close enough Democrat-Republican ratio to be in play, and which state house and state senate districts in those states are competitive. With this information, one can then target appropriate legislative districts.

We have identified an organizer with previous experience with 21st Century Democrats and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee who we would like to hire to develop this targeting plan.

The program in a district has three parts:
1. ACORN community organizing: ACORN needs to build on-going, permanent, issue-based neighborhood organizations in the low-to-moderate income communities of the selected districts.

2. Canvass: We need to run a door-to-door canvass, with a fundraising component, in working, middle and upper-middle income communities that identifies voters who support progressive issues and builds an on-going membership and voter file of those people.

3. Political Campaign Capacity: We need to put a political operative into the district (or a cluster of 2 or more districts) who will work with local organizations and local affiliates of national organizations to build the electoral capacity (field, message, lists, candidate recruitment, etc.) that sets us up to run successful state legislative and Congressional campaigns.

The way to prevent what Tom DeLay did in Texas in 2003 is to make sure that right-wing forces don’t have control of both houses of the state legislature and the Governor’s office in states where the legislature determines re-districting. That way, even if it isn’t possible to adopt a re-districting map that favors progressives, one can prevent a right-wing gerrymandering by throwing the process into the courts, helping to ensure at least a “neutral” map.

ACORN plotted a national campaign to benefit a Democrat Party takeover of Congress, explicitly naming the Democrats as beneficiaries.

[Clodfobble]

Last I checked, that wasn't illegal? (Not saying they haven't done other illegal things, I'm just not particularly impressed that a private political organization had a plan to participate in the democratic process.)

[Kaliayev]

Look, its very simple. When Movement Conservative organizations aim at a "permament Republican majority", then thats well within the bounds of democratic society.

When ACORN aims at the same for Democrats, then its an evil, Illuminati-esque organization, a cancer eating away at the heart of the republic. Like ANSWER, only more worrying, since it has something to do with Scary Black People.

Also, ACORN did 9/11. Via community organizing.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Kaliayev

Look, its very simple. When Movement Conservative organizations aim at a "permament Republican majority", then thats well within the bounds of democratic society.

Oh, well that certainly makes all right then.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Last I checked, that wasn't illegal? (Not saying they haven't done other illegal things, I'm just not particularly impressed that a private political organization had a plan to participate in the democratic process.)

Ahhh but it is based upon their tax status. It is also contrary to what their prior claims have been. Claiming to "get out the vote" and help the poor.... Bullshit. They have been and are using those who they purport to help only to advance their own political influence, which makes them rich and powerful.

All I'm saying is call it what it is and tax them accordingly.

Also, for them to now have and wield as much power and influence as they have while under the guise they have put forth is wrong. How much control or influence do they now have over the politicians they got elected?

Lastly, this is the organization that is going to have a major input on collecting the census data. How skewed is that data going to be?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by classicman

Ahhh but it is based upon their tax status. It is also contrary to what their prior claims have been. Claiming to "get out the vote" and help the poor.... Bullshit. They have been and are using those who they purport to help only to advance their own political influence, which makes them rich and powerful.

All I'm saying is call it what it is and tax them accordingly.

Also, for them to now have and wield as much power and influence as they have while under the guise they have put forth is wrong. How much control or influence do they now have over the politicians they got elected?

Lastly, this is the organization that is going to have a major input on collecting the census data. How skewed is that data going to be?

Good points. I just hope we can keep digging deeper into this organization and expose it's underbelly.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by classicman

Lastly, this is the organization that is going to have a major input on collecting the census data. How skewed is that data going to be?

Guess I'm not the only one concerned...

Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she's so worried that information from next year's national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.

Mrs. Bachmann said she's worried about the involvement of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, in next year's census.

"They will be in charge of going door to door and collecting data from the American public," she said. "This is very concerning."

ACORN has applied to help recruit workers to help conduct the census. Republican lawmakers and some public interest groups have expressed concern over their involvement.

ACORN staffers have been indicted in several states (19)on charges of voter registration fraud stemming from the organization's efforts to register voters last year.

Mrs. Bachmann, who is in her second term in the House, has become a lightning rod for criticism from Democrats and liberal talk show hosts for her unapologetic conservative views.

She said she considers that "a badge of honor."

"It's clear when a person speaks out against those policies they become a target, and that should be concerning to everyone," she said.

[classicman]

Here is the lie from their website

ACORN has just completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in US history. We helped 1.3 million low-income, minority and young voters across the country register to vote.

Based upon the memo, ACORN is clearly partisan. This would also disallow them from their nonexempt status and they should not be involved in census data collection.

[classicman]

The indictment of Darnell Nash -- who address was unknown -- was the first by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office from a seven-month investigation of voter registration practices. Assistant prosecutor Rick Bell said detectives with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office continue to investigate.

The inquiry started when workers at the Board of Elections flagged dozens of registration cards turned in by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which tries to get low- and moderate-income people to register.

Meanwhile the Associated Press reported that four former Pittsburgh-area ACORN workers this week were ordered to stand trial on charges they forged or otherwise illegally solicited voter registration cards before the election, a St. Louis ACORN worker awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to mail fraud for submitting false voter registrations, and the Nevada attorney general has charged ACORN and two of its supervisors with requiring illegal quotas of 20 cards per shift and firing workers who didn't meet them.

He was charged with 19 counts.

Minnesota Republican, Michele Bachmann, has introduced the Taxpayer Protection and Anti-Fraud Act, which would bar any organization that has been indicted for violating federal or state election laws, or employs someone indicted for violating those laws, from receiving taxpayer funds.

That would cut off federal funds for ACORN, which has been accused of paying its voter registration recruiters based on the number of people they sign up.

"The act is based on some very common sense principles that I think resonate with a lot of Americans right now," Bachmann said.

"What we're trying to do is raise the bar a little bit higher for accessing taxpayer funds than to be indicted for voter fraud. My opinion is that receiving taxpayer funds is a privilege. It's not a right.

"They've been indicted and in some cases convicted in over a dozen states. It certainly seems at this point that the taxpayers can do a little bit better with this money."

Bachmann’s bill faces bleak prospects in the House where more than 200 House members voted recently or are on record for supporting a measure introduced by Barney Frank(D) to assure ACORN’s ability to keep getting federal tax dollars.

Gee really?

Moncrief said she also did a three-tape interview with CNN in November 2008. It never aired.

She has worked with the press to get her story out and has faced opposition from several mainstream media outlets.

Meanwhile, ACORN has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Moncrief.

While calls for an investigation of ACORN have been met with opposition in Congress, Moncrief told Fox News' Megan Kelly that more must be done to purge the organization of its corrupt leaders.

"ACORN needs to be investigated and almost everyone at the top level needs to be removed," she said. "The ACORN local offices do a lot of good work, but ACORN national has become corrupt and almost like a cancer on American society."

Bingo!

[Happy Monkey]

Meanwhile a Republican voter registration company owner pleads guilty to, and plea bargains out of, many of the things ACORN is accused of.

So many of the Republican-pushed scandals turn out to be projection.