ACORN: What is going on here?
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Who are they?
There has been a lot in the news over the past year concerning ACORN also known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. On the surface this community organization is mainly concerned with helping people in impoverished communities keep or buy homes, keep families together, and generally survive in a changing economic conditions.
Current CEO Bertha Lewis is under attack by various groups for the recent videotaping of ACORN front staff helping two people posing as a pimp and a prostitute to find suitable housing and to carry on their "business." Those staff members who violated the rule and intent of ACORN have been fired, according to Bertha Lewis.
Bertha Lewis came into ACORN with the idea, as she stated on recent news programs, of making sure ACORN abided by all the laws and regulations the organization is under. ACORN does receive about 10% of its budget from the Federal government and smaller amounts from various state governments. Much of the funding is prom private individuals and companies, however.
With the recent revelations of alleged misuse of ACORN's influence in the video tapes, there has been a call for ACORN to open its books and allow Congress to investigate the group. Bertha Lewis was on FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace, and seemed to evade the question of whether or not she would voluntarily submit to such an investigation. Her reluctance to agree to these questions may in part be in response to FOX News reporting about ACORN, which seems to be very negative, focusing only upon the recent videotaping of ACORN employees helping the two people posing as pimp and prostitute.
While this is damning enough for concern, the actual dilemma here is whether or not ACORN has in place sufficient firewalls to prevent Federal funding from being used for political purposes, to which Ms. Lewis said there were, but failed to elaborate further.
The presence of Republican Congressman Darrell Issa during the interview also seemed to put Ms. Lewis in a defensive mood. That plus FOX News has, to my point of view, failed to report in such detail on Conservative groups that also may have violated the law. Perhaps this scenario set up a hostile environment for Ms. Lewis from the start.
What has been done?
On the ACORN site Bertha Lewis says that ACORN has reacted accordingly to the issues raised by the videotapes. ( see: http://www.acorn.org/) Furthermore she claims that the purpose of ACORN has not changed, to provide assistance to people in need of keeping or finding suitable housing, plus other community assistance for poor people.
While these goals are indeed worthy of respect, the recent revelations about ACORN have raised a lot of eyebrows as to how this organization does its work. It has also created a few lighter moments, such as when governors Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty demanded that their states, Louisiana and Minnesota, stop funding ACORN, even though neither state currently funds the organization.
But will Congress create an investigation of ACORN, and if they do, will they be able to at last reveal the way ACORN works? Although I would support any group that helps poor people to survive, I also wonder, just what ACORN is doing with taxpayer funding? It is an issue which bothers me because I do not see the transparency I would expect from such a group.
Bertha Lewis said on FOX Sunday that today, Monday, 9-21-2009, she would announce which independent group would be named to investigate internal workings of ACORN. Originally she said last Friday 9-18-2009, would enlighten us about this matter, but for some reason she did not mention, that decision was delayed until today. As of yet I have not seen the update on their website.
Representative Issa seemed to push for Price, Waterhouse Cooper, without stating exactly why, or whether this group, if it found ACORN not culpable of the charges against it, would suffice to stop the criticism, and Ms. Lewis seemed to reject the idea as she appeared to ignore the presence of Rep. Issa. All in all it was a most uncomfortable interview to watch, from my point of view.
Full Disclosure
Because ACORN is not a not-for-profit organization, and because this allows ACORN to participate openly in political campaigns, I would like very much to see a full and completely independent review of the internal workings, firewalls and other measures that either are or need to be put into effect to shelter taxpayer funding from political events and spending. This is at the heart of the ACORN controversy in my mind. ACORN has, as is its right, supported candidates, including Barack Obama, and claims that no government funding has been used for this purpose, yet the way ACORN has gone about this seems murky, at best.
Only a full, independent and credible review will clear ACORN from controversy, and if there is nothing to hide, why not go through it and relieve our concerns? I would hope that in light of CEO Bertha Lewis' statements that she is working to make sure ACORN stays above the law, that this investigation and independent internal review will take place as quickly as possible.
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Comments
I agree you Chef Jeff, I think they need to do what ever needed it to get done, to clear up this situation. Thanks for your informative hub on Acorn. creativeaveone
I'd say Jeromeo has a very valid point of view.
I'm not real big on Acorn however since they aren't a non-profit organization.
If they're not non-profit then they're part of the "market" and part of the problem.
ACORN is just one of many groups that should be investigated, but with the revelation of the tapes about ACORN front line people acting badly, I think they are in the lime light just now. Let us not forget that many PACS and other organizations have allegedly broken the laws as well. CWB is correct that these groups, Right or Left, are part of the problem. Jeremeo is also right in that some on the Right, especially FOX News, have chosen a wounded duck to hunt.
Along with this disclosure, PACS should be made to account for their spending as well. There was one Coal group that spent a lot of money sending out false emails, outright lies and using other tactics to kill any Congressional interest in energy programs that just might help the nation.
When corporate greed overcomes the public good, that is a role only the Feds can take on to stop it, clean it up and make sure it never happens again.
Alas, we often forget that government is us, and we are the government. At least, in theory!
Cheers!
Chef Jeff
Agreed, Chef. Because the GOP is failing monumentally on the really important issues, they've gotten really good at teasing out much smaller Democratic vulnerabilities and making a big deal out of them. ACORN should be investigated, but so should so many other PACs that benefit the Republicans. (They're just not on the radar for Democrats because the Democrats are, you know, working.)
It feels like they're trying to cause death by 1,000 cuts as a way of sidestepping the fact that they have no actual alternative plan for governance.
Good hub, Chef. I, too, had been hearing about ACORN on the news, but didn't really pay much attention, not knowing what ACORN was about. I agree that an investigation is called for, if only to have everything out in the open.
Thanks for keeping me informed
If there is nothing to hide, then I would think ACORN would HAPPILY open the books and get this cleared up so that people can move on to other subjects.
As a taxpayer, I have a problem with ANY of my taxes going to support candidates that are not of my choosing. If ACORN...or any other groups or organizations for that matter...receive even a portion of "my" money...I do not think that it is fair to spend a dime of "my" money towards supporting a candidate or party of their choosing.
Open the books...the sooner the better! Good hub!
Well, livelonger, any political party that depends on fear for a message will fail until it replaces that message with a way out of the fear. Right now the GOP is doing what the Dems did decades ago, ignoring the Great Middle that actually elects most national leaders. Their message pays well to their base buyt frankly turns off a lot of Moderates and Independents such as me. I simply can see past the hype and misstatements, just as I do for when the other side inflates an issue.
mward1125, ACORN is only one of many groups out there, both Right and Left, that should be more open in how they conduct their business. If ACORN is guilty then I gladly accept they receive no more Federal funding. But that goes equally for any other company that has mispent taxpayer dollars, and unfortunately, the government is still doing business with companies that have been prosecuted and found guilty of the very same thing ACORN is being accused of.
Peggy W, the major compaint against ACORN is not that they are out there to register voters. There have been some cases where ACORN reported fake registration forms they were handed, others where it seems they might have not reported them until after someone else found out they had been submitted, the latter for reasons unclear to me.
However, if they are using the Federal funds for certain political activities, then they may have a problem. ACORN recently did say they were going to appoint an independent investigator to oversee their firewalls against such misuse of funds. Whether or not this will be adequate has yet to be seen.
As for any group that registers voters, they have to be above board. Unfortunately a Republican sponsored registration group was openly accused of trashing registraton forms that indicated the voter would support Democrats. That is equally wrong and worthy of investigation.
There is a lot of dirty pool out there in our nation and it all smacks of third-world politics. Shame on whoever does this kind of thing.
Cheers!
Chef Jeff
I don't think you and your friends get the point. This organization follows the principles of Saul Alinsky who described Lucifer (the Deceiver) as his idol, and taught thousands of people how to use community organizing to game the system, meaning to use the federal leviathan to steal the taxpayers treasury through finding loopholes—learning how to game the system. It is not just supporting prostitution, approving international slave trading, child abuse, income tax evasion, violations of the Mann Act, racketeering, and money laundering; while using taxpayer money to do it. This is emblematic of what they do across the board. Don't want to work? Go see ACORN, they'll tell you how to claim your back hurts to get lifelong federal funds. Got no job or credit but want a nice home? ACORN can tell you how to rig your application to take advantage of the CRA. Over 300 ACORN workers have been convicted of election fraud. One of its co-founders embezzled a million dollars and it was covered up by the organization—a violation of many federal statutes. No big deal right? Sure. There are 1000 ACORNS now. This is a serious problem. I wonder why every single one of them votes for Democrats? I wonder.
James, thanks for the comment. I am curious about some of the things you pointed out, because I have not heard them before. Do you have some websites with the info you state? I'd like to read them.
Also, as for ACORN, it is one of many groups using taxpayer money for alleged illegal purposes. Currently accused companies with felony convictions use our tax money for all sorts of nefarious purposes, and they should be handled exactly as ACORN should be handled. If guilty, then no more federal money, period. But because ACORN is politically active, they are receiving the brunt of the scrutiny.
The other organizations many not be so openly political but they do donate money to either one or both major political parties. They also hold tremendous sway because they are involved in defense contracts.
Here are a few:
ACORN vs Lockheed
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/09/28/acorn-ve
GAO report on Lockheed:
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d04230r.html
Blackwater:
James, I didn't find any Satanic references to Saul Alinsky you mentioned above. He may have said it, but I didn't find anything to that effect. Even so, while it may cause a Christian's skin to creep, it's irrelevent to the legal question here.
As for the other allegations, I have found cases where voter registrations were fraudlent but were caught either by ACORN or county officials, and fraudulent voters apps are just a part of the normal screening process. Without ACORN haing anything to do with it there are many of these.
In our county, where ACORN does not have any offices or workers, over 200 were found before the last election.
And here are a few items about the GOP committing similar voter fraud as ACORN.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/mccain-em
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-acorn20-
This is a problem that goes beyond just ACORN, no matter how reviled they may be amongst some groups. This has been occurring all over the nation and is repugnant to me no matter who does it. I suggest we look at ALL these cases and act accordingly.
Cheers!
Chef Jeff
Jeff - this is a great, balanced look at the issue. Some people just hate ACORN because of the work it does - it can be a very effective political force.
I worked for ACORN for a few months and I left with mixed feelings. It's pretty complicated, but ACORN (and community organizing in general) is definitely not the devil that James and other extreme conservatives seem to think. ACORN has done tremendous good for poor people in this country.
On the other hand, I think ACORN is too big to be what it is trying to be. Like the Unions which started out on the side of the little guy, and gave us 8 hour workdays, child labor laws, overtime, and all the other labor protections we now take for granted, ACORN has become too bloated. It is a victim of its own shortcomings in many ways.
It was nice to read this balanced piece.
Jeromeo says:
3 months ago
It is evident to me that this recent flap is just political hit on an organization that helps to elect people other than those who support the status quo.
They are counting the numbers and with a few less dollars Acorn will bring in a lot less votes.
Its a shame the way every one is being led around by their noses.
If more people would think for themselves, this would be country that every one voted for.
But alas here we are.