ACORN Corruption

Even with some attention over the last couple weeks, the publicly funded group ACORN has shady history that most people still know little about.

From the 2004 National Review article ACORN and the Money Tree

A SHADY PAST . . .
Given that federal funding is used "flexibly" within the ACORN empire, what kind of return is the government getting on its investment? Historically, failed 1960s-style leftism, intimidation and rabble-rousing, and questionable business practices — and hypocrisy. The EPI study documents ACORN's involvement in an $850,000 labor-union embezzlement scheme in the late 1990s; in 2003, ACORN was found to have violated the National Labor Relations Act and was ordered to "rehire and pay restitution to employees terminated for attempting to form a union." (ACORN's in-house union-busting starkly contradicts its prescriptions for private-sector unionization, and is especially two-faced considering that ACORN's chief organizer and co-founder — Wade Rathke — is also the chief organizer of Local 100 of the Service Employees International Union in New Orleans.)ACORN's hypocrisy also extends to its stand on the minimum wage. While it has often attempted to force minimum-wage increases on private businesses through ballot initiatives and local ordinances, ACORN tried to exempt itself from California's minimum-wage requirements. According to EPI, "ACORN argued that being forced to pay higher wages would mean that they would hire fewer employees — the very dilemma faced by businesses. Incredibly, ACORN stated that paying its employees a lower wage would allow them to be more sympathetic to the low- and moderate-income families they were attempting to help. ACORN argued that abiding by the state minimum wage would limit their ability to promote their agenda and would therefore be a violation of their First Amendment rights."

Cristi Adkins from Clintons4McCain has also followed this story and writes about it in the article ACORN: The Poisonous NUT That Ended Democracy in America

ACORN is an acronym that stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Its mere definition contains hints of Socialism as it claims to be a group advocating for low- and moderate-income families that addresses housing, schools, neighborhood safety, health care, job conditions, and other social issues.[3]

Beneath that surface lie violence, intimidation, threats, race baiting and direct physical attacks on property, people and the legal establishment.

Without going into the myriad details, many ACORN policy proposals are widely considered to be in line with the far left wing of the Democratic Party.[4]

If you are asking yourself what could possibly be so ‘bad' with a group that in theory advocates for low income families, then you've just given yourself the reason this group has been allowed to thrive in America with little scrutiny and under the radar of main street observation until now.[5]

In truth, ACORN is the most virulent, organized crime group in this decade...and it is funded by YOU.

Put simply, ACORN is ripping off the taxpayer through Congressional hand outs.[6] In fact, ACORN was recently due to receive nearly $700 million of the $700 billion dollar bailout bill until Republicans in the Senate redlined it.[7]

Allow that to sink in for a moment: $700 million from the US for an organized crime group.

Yes, ACORN has been receiving Obama campaign funding, but what's worse is that ACORN leaders are actively extorting money from banks, mortgage brokers and Congress. To add insult to injury, ACORN is costing Americans millions to investigate all of its criminal activities across America.

And then there's the end of the democratic process through valid elections.[8] Yes, ACORN is behind much of the rampant voter fraud.[9] ACORN has been involved with fraudulent voter registrations for years.[10] In fact, Missouri has 8 ACORN guilty pleas on record (for 2006 violations of federal voting laws) just this year. Many other states are investigating many hundreds of cases of voter fraud in their jurisdiction.[11] We have compelling evidence that ACORN has been involved in fraudulent voter registration since early in the 2007 launch of the Obama campaign.

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ACORN Corruption

Economic and ACORN Links

With the first draft of the Democrat's economic bill including give aways to groups like ACORN, a combination of public outrage and confusion has lead to numerous questions about the bill, ACORN, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Here are some links to articles on these topics...

ACORN

Acorn's Sentaor

CRL: ACORN Will Still Reap Windfall from Financial Crisis

Rescuing ACORN

O's Dangerous Pal's

Econ Bill

ACORN Outrage Removes Affordable Housing Provision

ACORN Issue Fueling Bailout Opposition

ACORN, Obama, and the mortgage mess

THE MELTDOWN'S ACORN

Fannie Freddie

How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis: Kevin Hassett

Where Was Sen. Dodd?

Where was Dodd during the Fannie Mae collapse?

Wrecks, Lies and Barney Frank

More Problems with ACORN and Obama's Ties to ACORN

Ken Blackwell the former Secretary of State of Ohio wrote an article for National Review entitled An ACORN Falls from the Tree. He addresses why ACORN is now garnering attention, as it was to be a recipient of 'Housing Trust Fund' money earmarked by Democrats in the first version of the economic bill. He goes on to note his own experiences with this radical organization.

As the weekend progressed, reports were constantly emerging of the sticking points preventing a final agreement. One of these reputed points of contention was whether 20 percent of the profit proceedings for asset sales in the future would go to what is called the Housing Trust Fund, subsidizing certain groups for ostensibly nonpartisan activity. One of these groups that this trust supports is ACORN.

ACORN has often been in the news since 2004. Officially, they work to register voters and support housing. In reality, everyone in public life knows that they are hardcore supporters for the Democratic Party, and employ bare-knuckle tactics. Their organization is plagued by repeated investigations of voter fraud and other crimes.

In Ohio, where as secretary of state I oversaw elections for eight years, ACORN has been busy. One ACORN man in Reynoldsburg was indicted on two felony counts of voter fraud, and another was indicted in Columbus. Other such problems surfaced in Cuyahoga County, where criminal investigations are ongoing.

The New York Post notes in their article The Meltdown's Acorn that Obama is directly connected to ACORN and he said so himself as recently as last November.

"I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career," he [Obama] told the group last November.

Indeed, in the early '90s, Obama was recruited by Talbott herself to run training sessions for ACORN activists.

ACORN also got funding from two charities, the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation, when Obama served on their boards, and from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge - the radical "education reform" outfit Obama ran from '95 to '99.

Ironically, the group stood to be a key beneficiary of the goodies Democrats were loading into Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's rescue plan - including one demand that 20 percent of any profits the feds make from reselling mortgage securities go to fund groups like ACORN.

Stanley Kurtz of National Review article Inside Obama's Acorn details the aggressive methods of intimidation used by ACORN, as well as a shrewd tactical strategy that has kept them below the radar nationally. Thus ACORN's radicalism and often illegal behavior garners much less attention than groups like MoveOn or Code Pink who seek the spotlight and in many ways are less radical. Kurtz refers to Sol Stern's explanation of ACORN and a reply to his explanation by John Atlas and Peter Dreier.

Do Atlas and Dreier dismiss Stern’s catalogue of Acorn’s disruptive and intentionally intimidating tactics as a set of regrettable exceptions to Acorn’s rule of civility? Not a chance. Atlas and Dreier are at pains to point out that intimidation works. They proudly reel off the increased memberships that follow in the wake of high-profile disruptions, and clearly imply that the same public officials who object most vociferously to intimidation are the ones most likely to cave as a result. What really upsets Atlas and Dreier is that Stern misses the subtle national hand directing Acorn’s various local campaigns. This is radicalism unashamed.

But don’t let the disruptive tactics fool you. Acorn is a savvy and exceedingly effective political player. Stern says that Acorn’s key post–New Left innovation is its determination to take over the system from within, rather than futilely try to overthrow it from without. Stern calls this strategy a political version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Take Atlas and Dreier at their word: Acorn has an openly aggressive and intimidating side, but a sophisticated inside game, as well. Chicago’s Acorn leader, for example, won a seat on the Board of Aldermen as the candidate of a leftist “New Party.”

This is a definitively radical organization and Mr. Blackwell correctly states that, "Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them."

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More Problems with ACORN and Obama's Ties to ACORN