PrairiePundit

Washington Examiner: Remember ACORN, the far-left activist community organizing group that filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago? That followed revelations that some members were advising pimps and prostitutes on tax evasion, not to mention operating houses of prostitution and smuggling underage girls into the country to work in the sex industry. The Democratic-dominated Congress voted in 2009 to ban ACORN from receiving federal funds. After ACORN's bankruptcy filing, many of its local chapters remained intact by the simple expedient of reorganizing under different names. It's the same tactic used by fly-by-night rug merchants and disreputable used car dealers to stay one step ahead of the law. Readers will also recall that ACORN activists have long been involved in voter registration fraud, either directly or through its Project Vote affiliate. At least 70 ACORN/Project Vote employees have been convicted of voter registration fraud in a dozen states since 2006. Accordi...

The Hill: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has informed two House Republicans that it will investigate ACORN’s use of federal funds. The GAO sent a letter to Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, informing them of its decision. Smith and Issa on Thursday released the letter, dated Dec. 7. ... Issa applauded the GAO for looking into the ACORN controversy. “ACORN’s criminal acts over many years have robbed taxpayers and charitable donors of the honest public services ACORN was paid to provide,” he said. “This GAO study should be another step toward understanding the scope of funds from across the federal government that were sent to ACORN yet cannot be verified that they were used as intended.” Smith said the GAO probe is a “good start” but called on the FBI to launch its own investigation, considering the large number of criminal allegations r...

Edward Pinto: All agree that the bursting of the housing bubble caused the financial collapse of 2008. Most agree that the housing bubble started in 1997. Less well understood is that this bubble was the result of government policies that lowered mortgage-lending standards to increase home ownership. One of the key players was the controversial liberal advocacy group, Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The watershed moment was the 1992 Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act, also known as the GSE Act. To comply with that law's "affordable housing" requirements, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would acquire more than $6 trillion of single-family loans over the next 16 years. Congress's goal was to force these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to purchase loans that had been originated by banks—loans that were made under the pressure of another federal law, the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), to increase ...

NY Times: Last December, in one of his last acts as New York City’s top urban development official — and just days before President Obama nominated him as the federal housing secretary — Shaun Donovan attended a groundbreaking ceremony in the South Bronx. A complex of 125 apartments had fallen into such disrepair that Bush administration housing officials had foreclosed on the building and transferred it to a group they and Mr. Donovan had come to trust: the New York Acorn Housing Company. “These renovations will transform this once-troubled property into a remarkable asset,” Mr. Donovan declared in a city news release trumpeting the apartments’ “rescue” by Acorn and its development partners. Now in Mr. Obama’s cabinet, Mr. Donovan is unwilling to speak publicly about that project or any other work with Acorn, a group with which he at times worked particularly closely during his five years as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ’s housing development commissioner but whose missteps have all...

Doug Ross: Attorney General Eric Holder failed to prosecute the New Black Panthers after they intimidated voters in Philadelphia. He has failed to investigate ACORN , despite ongoing indictments or inquiries in 15 states, obvious criminality related to 400,000 or more fraudulent voter registrations, and its curious consistency in helping underage prostitution rings set up shop. Now Louisiana's attorney general is doing Holder's job , issuing subpoenas for the financial records of up to 300 ACORN-affiliated organizations. This should answer the question, once and for all, as to whether funds were illegally co-mingled between for-profit and non-profit entities. Given ACORN's fierce resistance against independent audits , it's clear that significant skulduggery has occurred. ... There is more. They are looking for bank records "of ACORN, Citizens Corporation and any other umbrella agencies." ACORN apparently uses several entities to effect its operations makin...

Washington Times: Obama administration officials said Wednesday there is no chance that ACORN will get a Homeland Security grant it was awarded last month because of a provision in a bill signed into law last week prohibiting any federal funding to the controversial group. Several members of Congress said they were pleased that ACORN will not get the money, which would have come from funding typically earmarked for fire departments across the country, but they questioned why it had been awarded to ACORN in the first place. At least one also still wants official assurance of a permanent withdrawal of the $997,402 fire safety grant. "We are perplexed as to how this organization would even be considered for a first-responder grant," said a letter sent Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, ranking Republican on the Se...

Washington Times: Nearly $1 million in Homeland Security funding typically earmarked for fire departments has been awarded to ACORN, despite a clear signal from Congress that it intends to cut off federal funding to the embattled group. The grant to ACORN's Louisiana office became public on Oct. 2, less than three weeks after the House and Senate voted to cut off ACORN funding after employees were caught on video advising a fake prostitute and pimp on scams. It was one of only three such grants issued to the state and made up almost 80 percent of the firefighting money earmarked for Louisiana, prompting one of the U.S. senators from the state to demand that the funds be taken back. "I request that you rescind this grant based on a history of abuse of federal dollars by ACORN and their clear lack of expertise in this area," said Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican. The group has headquarters in Louisiana. ... ACORN received $997,402, slightly less than the maximum a...

Washington Post: A rapidly growing union that represents nurses, janitors and other low-wage workers is coming under fire from conservatives because of its long-standing financial and leadership ties to ACORN, a liberal organizing group recently embarrassed by videos filmed covertly at its offices. Some Republicans say federal agencies that recently cut ties with ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform now -- should also consider severing their relationship with the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU and ACORN have long worked closely together, with the union paying the association more than $3.6 million in the past three years and sharing some office locations and leaders with the group. ACORN's training of its staff and use of federal funds were called into question last month when two conservative activists who posed as a would-be prostitute and her pimp circulated undercover videos they had filmed of ACORN housing counselors advising them...

NOLA: An internal review by the board of directors of the community organization ACORN determined that the amount allegedly embezzled from the community organization was $5 million, well more than the previously reported amount of nearly $1 million, according to a new subpoena in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell. The subpoena, released this afternoon, says, "It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds." ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new accusation about the embezzlement is "completely false." She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have a chance to review the subpoena. Caldwell issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to Acorn International then-President Wade Rathke and his brother Dale Rathke, who kept the group's books. Those subpoenas were focused on possible Acorn violations of state employee tax law, obstructing justic...

Sen. David Vitter: Earlier this month and despite the public scrutiny over the voter fraud and felony criminal activity associated with ACORN, the Department of Homeland Security went ahead and granted $997,402 to ACORN under the FY 2008 Fire Prevention and Safety Program. To most people, the timing and the amount of the grant would seem off base, but when you take into account the fact that DHS awarded ACORN–an organization with no clear expertise in fire safety and prevention–a fire prevention and safety grant, it’s just plain offensive. With fire departments all over Louisiana – and the rest of the country – struggling to make ends meet and get the equipment and training they need to protect their local communities, the idea of a million dollar grant going to ACORN is unsettling, to say the least. ... Giving money to an organization that should be the subject of a RICO investigation smells of corruption. It is unlikely that Democrats will launch and investigation of this grant, bu...

NewsOK: A Republican state legislator released documents Tuesday which he says show the community-organizing group ACORN focused on helping Democrats in three legislative races in the November 2008 election and had developed a game plan to "take power” in Oklahoma within five years. The documents, which include legislative district maps and various forms, were recovered from computers abandoned by ACORN workers in Oklahoma City , said Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. Also found was a script apparently used in Houston to go door-to-door to encourage voters to vote for Barack Obama in November 2008. "They say they’re not political, but one of the subdirectories was called political action plans,” Reynolds said. "It was their political plans to take over key targeted races in Oklahoma City to show how powerful they are.” ... There is much more. This is more evidence to the pile that exist that shows the partisan nature of this "non profit." It may b...

Dough Giles: Let me see if I have this right: ACORN, in five locations coast-to-coast are on tape counseling tax fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and the coup de grace, how to set up a whorehouse for 12 to 15-year-old El Salvadoran sex slaves, and now ACORN and the Left are POed about it being exposed without ACORN’s consent?! What else ticks the Left off about ACORN being uncovered assisting in some of the worst kind of scandalous scat known to mankind? Well, if you Google around you’ll find the “progressives” are peeved not because ACORN had the spotlight bare down on their dirty deeds done on our dime but because of the fact that Hannah is part of the Young America’s Foundation and James, at one time, was a member of the Leadership Institute. That’s crazy! Run for your life, people! Hannah and James have been influenced by conservative principles and traditional values! Run away! Yes, according to some the shame should fall on Hannah and James for hanging out with college stu...

Washington Post: Documents released by a Senate Republican on Thursday show that leaders of the community organizing group ACORN transferred millions of dollars in charitable and government funds meant for the poor to other arms of ACORN with political and sometimes profit-making missions. ACORN's community organizing groups, now in trouble after some embarrassing undercover videos were taken in their offices, used more than half of their charitable and public funds in 2006 to pay other ACORN affiliates, according to an analysis by the tax staff of Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Ia). On Thursday, Grassley called it a "big shell game" and said ACORN donors might be surprised at how the liberal group known for helping the poor get housing and health care was spending their money. He urged the Internal Revenue Service to take a closer look. "Similar to the use of charities by [convicted lobbyist] Jack Abramoff, charities are being used to raise monies which are then f...

Politico: ACORN is launching a wide-ranging lobbying offensive , hoping to salvage the reputation – and the funding – of a group whose reputation has been largely destroyed in the past few weeks. The community group ’s Washington lobbying shop has been quietly meeting with sympathetic congressional offices, reminding them that ACORN’s services help low-income residents of urban areas. On the legal front, the group is playing hardball, filing a lawsuit Wednesday against the conservative activists who produced the now famous undercover film in which a fake pimp and prostitute ask for tax advice at an ACORN office. But even as they try a Capitol Hill charm offensive and promise internal investigations, ACORN suffered more setbacks on Wednesday. The IRS cut off ties to the group, ending its volunteer tax services. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) – a key supporter — hurt the organization even more Wednesday when he backpedaled and said he would have voted to cut off the group’s funding, a...

NPR: The IRS severed ties with ACORN on Wednesday, joining a growing list of government agencies to end relationships with the community activist group. The Internal Revenue Service said it would no longer include ACORN in its volunteer tax assistance program. The program offered free tax advice to about 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers this spring. ACORN provided help on about 25,000 returns, the IRS said. Meanwhile, ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said it had already suspended its tax program. A video from a hidden camera surfaced earlier this month showing ACORN employees in Brooklyn, N.Y., advising a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie to get housing aid. The video, produced by a conservative activist, shows employees in other cities counseling the pair on tax, banking and immigration issues. "It is absolutely critical that taxpayers have trust in our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program partners,...

Deroy Murdock: ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis told Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday that her group "absolutely pays its taxes." Not true: The IRS and Louisiana's taxmen have imposed nearly $2 million in liens against ACORN for failing to fork over taxes at its New Orleans national headquarters. The IRS recently filed a $548,000 lien against the group, and Louisiana state tax officials have slapped $334,000 in liens on ACORN since last October. Evidence that ACORN ignored its tax obligations may be less exciting than its branch offices' eagerness to help a self-professed pimp break multiple laws, or the voter-registration fraud for which various of its workers have been convicted. But the tax mess shows that the lawlessness starts at its headquarters. (ACORN actually has three national HQs -- in the Big Easy, Washington, DC, and New York City.) Another New Orleans group, the free-market Pelican Institute for Public Policy, uncovered official records that confirm ACOR...

Doug Giles: It’s been quite interesting watching and reading the statements coming from ACORN and various “news” organizations about the “facts” of the Giles/O’Keefe ACORN caper. Here’s a little sample of what they have been saying about the two evil citizen journalists, Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, the ones who picked on poor, poor, poor, old ACORN. Check it out, the truth according to nutty ACORN (and what really happened): 1. Giles’ and O’Keefe’s timeframe for filming. Bertha Lewis and others have stated that Hannah and James spent many months visiting scores of ACORN centers to get these few videos. One wizard said Hannah and James had been doing this since 2005, which would have made Hannah, oh, let’s see, about 14 or 15. Hello! I’m a cool dad—but not that cool. I guess Bertha could be right about the time Giles and O’Keefe invested in the ACORN sting op if she counts her days in dog years. If that’s how she rolls then she’s spot-on with the “many months” statement. By the w...

NY Times: James E. O’Keefe III, the 25-year-old video provocateur whose hidden camera galvanized Congress this week against the advocacy group Acorn , began his filmmaking career with a more modest target: Lucky Charms. In 2004, at a buddy’s suggestion, he and a few fellow Rutgers students set out to satirize what they saw as a pious sensitivity to ethnicity on campus. The result is still there to see on YouTube : Mr. O’Keefe protesting to a slightly befuddled university dining official that the leprechaun on the cereal box “appears to be an Irish-American.” “As you can see, we’re not short and green — we have our differences of height — and we think this is stereotypical of all Irish-Americans,” Mr. O’Keefe deadpans, as the official earnestly scribbles notes. It’s Candid Camera for the Internet age, a lethally effective political tool that Mr. O’Keefe has helped pioneer between college and graduate-school studies. He has lampooned liberals by inviting them to become pen pals of impris...

Newt Gingrich: It's hard to know who should be more embarrassed by the revelations about the radical group ACORN, the mainstream media or the politicians who have funneled taxpayer dollars to the group for years. It took two amateur twentysomething filmmakers to do what ABC, NBC and CBS couldn't or wouldn't: Expose an ongoing, taxpayer-funded criminal enterprise. These intrepid filmmakers have now supplied video of four Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now offices providing detailed instructions on how to defraud the government in furtherance of child prostitution and human trafficking. So far, ACORN staffers in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York and San Diego have been caught on tape "community organizing" for what they thought was a prostitute and her pimp. Like I said, it took two kids to expose the scam, but it took a whole lot of liberal politicians to support it over the years. So congratulations to the 345 members of the House who vot...

WWL: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal today cut off state funding for the community activist group ACORN. Jindal has also blocked any state agency for entering into contracts with the organization. The executive order also cuts off any future state funding of ACORN, on the heels of a series of embarrassing incidents for the organization. The governor's action follows a subpoena of documents from the group's national headquarter office in New Orleans. According to Jindal's executive order, "ACORN's actions make clear that financial involvement with ACORN is contrary to the public policy of the State of Louisiana and the best interests of its citizens." ... While it is not clear what contracts if any the the state has with ACORN, the real danger for the organization is the subpoena of its records. ACORN has been avoiding an audit for some time even after one of its leaders was found to have embezzled a significant amount of money.