House Republicans Move To Defund ACORN
Jun 4, 2009 11 Comments ›› Erik Wong
ACORN Contributed to Financial Collapse & Was Rewarded With Tens of Millions in Federal Funds
Washington, Jun 4 – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and dozens of other House Republicans today became original cosponsors of the Taxpayer Protection and Anti-Fraud Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to prohibit organizations indicted for violations of state or federal election laws from receiving federal funds through programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
A voter registration fraud trial currently being conducted in Pittsburgh reveals one of many examples of the techniques employed by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to illegally influence elections:
“Two former Pittsburgh-area members of the community group ACORN said Friday that they had voter registration quotas to meet, otherwise they faced losing their jobs. They are among seven workers charged in Allegheny County with either forging, illegally soliciting or illegally filling out voter cards in the lead-up to the 2008 elections.
“‘We did it the way they trained us. Know what I’m saying? So why are we getting picked up, when it should be the people that’s above us getting picked up? We only did what they asked us to do,’ Mario Wyatt Grisom said after a preliminary hearing in municipal court.
“One witness testified that she saw wrong ZIP codes, signatures and dates of birth on many forms. ‘I received a voter registration card for my wife last November, and she had passed away a year ago March,” said another witness, William Jung, of Penn Hills.’”
As the New York Times has reported, ACORN’s own attorney recognized the potential illegality of the organization’s shifting of funds among its web of affiliate groups:
“An internal report by a lawyer for the community organizing group Acorn raises questions about whether the web of relationships among its 174 affiliates may have led to violations of federal laws.
“The June 18 report, written by Elizabeth Kingsley, a Washington lawyer, spells out her concerns about potentially improper use of charitable dollars for political purposes; money transfers among the affiliates; and potential conflicts created by employees working for multiple affiliates, among other things.
“‘A full analysis of potential liability will require consultation with a knowledgeable white-collar criminal attorney,’ Ms. Kingsley wrote of the embezzlement, which occurred in 2000 but was not disclosed until this summer.
“Ms. Kingsley’s concerns about the way Acorn affiliates work together could fuel the controversy over Acorn’s voter registration efforts, which are largely underwritten by an affiliated charity, Project Vote. Project Vote hires Acorn to do voter registration work on its behalf, and the two groups say they have registered 1.3 million voters this year.
“As a federally tax-exempt charity, Project Vote is subject to prohibitions on partisan political activity. But Acorn, which is a nonprofit membership corporation under Louisiana law, though subject to federal taxation, is not bound by the same restrictions.â€
ACORN also played a key role in the financial meltdown that cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars by pushing policies that contributed to the housing and financial collapse, such as loosening lending rules.
A study conducted by the Office of the House Republican Leader revealed that ACORN has received more than $53 million in federal funds from a variety of programs administered by HUD. This amount does not reflect the millions more ACORN has received in federal block grant funds awarded to state and local agencies which passed them on to ACORN.
