ACORN Linked to Illegal Aid for Obama Campaign
And the Democratic Congress has handed them millions in taxpayer money to continue their antics.
“A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.”
— Bertrand de Jouvenel
Watching the increasingly rapacious conduct of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations) over the past few years and the considerable power and funds being gifted to it by this administration — while the press and Congress largely remain silent — I fear we are most surely heading into a government run by wolves.
ACORN’s role in the past two presidential elections has hardly received the kind of coverage a press concerned about protecting the right to free elections would have accorded it. Aside from some articles often lightheartedly making fun of the registrations of obviously non-existent voters, the press has largely averted its eyes from the widespread, multi-state efforts by ACORN to overwhelm the electoral officials through massive registration drives conducted by dubious characters paid piece work rates, operating with no supervision and making no real effort at doing an honest job of it.
In Pennsylvania, one retired justice questioned whether a fair election would be possible last November, showing stacks of phony registrations and photos of vacant lots used as “voters” addresses. The local district attorney said:
Between March 23rd and October 1st, various groups, including ACORN, submitted over 252,595 registrations to the Philadelphia County Election Board with 57,435 rejected for faulty information. Most of these registrations were submitted by ACORN, and rejected due to fake social security numbers, incorrect dates of birth, clearly fraudulent signatures, addresses that do not exist, and duplicate registrations. In one case, a man was registered to vote more than 15 times since the primary election.
In St Louis in 2006, over 1,000 addresses listed on ACORN registrations were non-existent and eight of its local workers were indicted. The Wall Street Journal reported: “In Seattle, local officials invalidated 1,762 Acorn registrations. Felony charges were filed against seven of its workers, some of whom have criminal records. Prosecutors say Acorn’s oversight of its workers was virtually nonexistent. To avoid prosecution, Acorn agreed to pay $25,000 in restitution.”
ACORN violated state law in Minneapolis by registering convicted felons — some of them still incarcerated at the time.
So widespread has this effort been — despite the organization’s suggestions that these violations of law are just the work of rogue employees — that I’ve been surprised at the federal government’s failure to institute a RICO prosecution of the organization.
I noted in the past that the Buckeye Institute of Ohio, relying on a similar state statute, instituted a suit against ACORN last year:
Among its factual assertions are these developed in Congressional hearings:
- From 2004-2006 ACORN has received $4.6 million in federal funds for its Housing Corporation.
- ACORN has 150 subsidiary organizations with a total operating budget of over $110 million this year.
- All the 150 subsidiaries operate from the top as a single enterprise, including the nonprofit Project Vote and the political operation known as Citizens Services.
- Citizens Services has endorsed Barack Obama and has received over $832,000 from Obama’s campaign during the primary period for services.
- ACORN and Citizen’s Services share the same board of directors. They also share office space in New Orleans.
The suit documents numerous instances of in-state predicate acts, including the following:
- Forgery, uttering forged documents, tampering with writings and records.
- Harassing people to encourage them to register multiple times; bribing people to register multiple times; registering non-existent and clearly ineligible voters (like minors); registering the same person in multiple counties; providing fraudulent and forged documents.
The lawsuit details numerous illegal activities committed by ACORN in Nevada, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Virginia, Washington, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Carolina.
Maurice Thompson, the director of the Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center, reports that ACORN removed the case to federal court and then moved to dismiss it. The institute has moved to remand the matter back to the state court (Warren County, Ohio) and has responded to the motion to dismiss. The case is pending, awaiting further action by Judge Weber of the Southern District of Ohio. Mr. Thompson remains confident that the Buckeye Institute will ultimately prevail.
In the meantime, new information about ACORN’s potential wrongdoing during the election has come to light.
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Clarice Feldman is a retired litigation lawyer who lives in D.C. She's a news junkie addicted to the internet.
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58 Comments
1. pedro:THESE GUYS ARE ALWAYS UP TO NO GOOD!!!
Apr 1, 2009 - 2:00 am 2. ked5:seriously, is *anyone* surprised? this group has been convicted (mine’s one) of voter fraud in how many states, and are being investigated in how many more?
Apr 1, 2009 - 2:31 am 3. Shef Rogers:Aw c’mon, Matthew Vadum was much funnier than this on the Colbert Report, with that line about ACORN trading votes for crack. What, the little guy was already booked?
Apr 1, 2009 - 4:23 am 4. David:What a racist article
Apr 1, 2009 - 4:27 am 5. MarkD:How dare you question illegal and immoral behavior !
/sarc
Until the people wise up and vote them ALL out, we will continue to get what we are getting. We turned a blind eye to small scale vote fraud, and we got more of it on a larger scale. It works. Honor, decency, and shame are jokes to these people.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:14 am 6. huxley:Meanwhile Attoorney General Eric Holder is pushing forward on a bill to give the District of Columbia a Congressional Representative. DC is predominantly Democratic. With representation in Congress, can two senators for DC be far behind?
I don’t know how far to the left Obama goes, but I am convinced that he wants to rewire America into a Dem-controlled political machine like Chicago.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:17 am 7. Craig:They’ve got legal problems in at least 12 states. Until they’re summarily disbanded and thrown out in the street- like Dan Akroyd in Trading Places- we will be reading about their grievance mongering, extortion, corruption, and racketeering for the next 4 years.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:34 am 8. Meryl:ACORN linked to illegal aid?
I really don’t know how much more shocking and disappointing news I can deal with where the dhimmis are concerned.
How can this possibly have happened.
We don’t have any laws defining illegal activities with regard to elections?
Oh, we do?
Ok. I think I’m beginning to understand. Those laws just aren’t ENFORCED? (kind of like illegal immigration?) Well, then. It’s just none of our business, is it? Because Nancy said, just last week, that it’s morally illegal to enforce laws regarding immigration.
We are no longer a nation of laws. We are a nation of fruits and nuts, and the inmates (read Congress–all stripes) have taken over the prison.
Impeach ‘em all for failure to perform the duties they swore to perform, beginning with their failure to uphold the Constitution.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:44 am 9. Old Soldier:I am shocked! Just shocked!
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:52 am 10. Maurice:Unfortunately if Obama and the Dems can hold together this alliance with thugs and street gangs, they will be unbeatable in any federal election. We will soon be held hostage to the kind of petulant, violent anarchists who are demonstrating all over Europe today.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:55 am 11. JD:Aided and abetted by the venerable New York Times, which killed a story last November that would have linked ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign:
http://trackacrat.com/category/acorn/
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:57 am 12. Kathy L.:Bill O’Reilly had story on ACORN last night, and I think will air another one tonight. Everyone saw these antics during the run up to the last pres election, I am disappointed that no one did anything about it. I think this would have been a job for the attorney general. I guess didn’t want to appear racist, but now we are stuck with the aftermath.
Apr 1, 2009 - 6:00 am 13. David Levavi:All honor to Ms Feldman. Needs to be widely disseminated. These folks are government funded airheads with teeth. The citizenry needs to be alerted. We’re past tea parties. Its almost pitchforks and torches time.
Apr 1, 2009 - 6:39 am 14. AlexinCT:I guess that’s why ACORN needed those $4 billion dollars they just got handed by Congress. It is now obvious that it was to pay democrat lawyers to defend them and buy the judges off in all these cases. Power to the people!
On a side note, isn’t ACRON also heavily involved with the US census process the WH appropriated. And does the results of that census process not have far reaching consequences that, say, if skewed to favor one party over another, would almost guarantee a lock of said party on power for a decade or more? I guess that’s the change we where promised.
Apr 1, 2009 - 7:17 am 15. JED:This is a good look at the far left. To see the farther left, watch the G-20 protesters in England. “Abolish money,” they chant. I can’t wait to go back to trading bear skins and arrow heads, or acorns which is some sort of nut. It is quite laughable until they turn dangerous.
Apr 1, 2009 - 7:17 am 16. Sebastian Shaw:The MSM will not report about ACORN until they absolutely have no other choice. Hopefully, this story will build where the MSM must cover it, despite their alligence to Obama.
I believe this story will blow up after Obama’s approval ratings plummet below 40%.
Apr 1, 2009 - 8:27 am 17. BillJ:No Shot, Sherlick!
Apr 1, 2009 - 8:30 am 18. davidingeorgia:the days of even halfway fair and legal elections in America are over…might as well deal with it…Venezuela North, here we come!
Apr 1, 2009 - 8:32 am 19. Mark:Obama is just insuring his success for 2010. ACORN is one of the main reasons that he ‘won’ in 2008. That and massive fundraising fraud via untraceable Visa gift card donations. Not to mention the control of the fawning media. He is putting in place fail safes (ACORN/2010 census, UAW, ‘fairness doctrine’, etc.) so that he can’t lose, even if 90% of the people vote against him.
Apr 1, 2009 - 8:46 am 20. Matt:And another issue the GOP should be screaming bloody murder about. Assume Acorn is a republican scheme for votes (“Walnut” ?)- imagine the outrage in congress and the press. “They’re what ?? BUSSING REPUBLICANS VOTERS TO THE POLLS- they should be arrested…”
Instead, the GOP has become the silent minority.
Apr 1, 2009 - 8:51 am 21. Moogie:The only people in this entire country who know about this are those of use who read the real news (here and other conservative websites) and the crooks involved. If the MSM does deign to cover any of this, it will be shown as a mere blip on the radar. Then the next time the radar swings around, that blip will be gone.
Who is going to tell the ignorant masses if not the MSM? I guess that job falls to us. And I don’t think Tea Parties are going to do it. “Conservatives Light” just isn’t enough. Any sound suggestions?
Apr 1, 2009 - 9:29 am 22. AThinkingPerson:*yawn* Is Acorn + illegal activity unexpected? Just more obamination. Wish I could live long enough to see how history records all of this. A “community organizing” group stealing an election, rigging a census and God only knows what else.
Apr 1, 2009 - 9:39 am 23. Ousslander:Acorn with municipal unions have started the working family party of new york. The party has turned into the defacto power in albany
Apr 1, 2009 - 10:15 am 24. clarice:Alex in Ct..You are right. I should have included that:
Apr 1, 2009 - 10:42 am 25. karlstro1:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/17/lawmakers-concerned-role-acorn-census/
Greed, corruption and theft is the battle cry of this new Administration and Congress. The lies are so bold and in your face I really fear this nation. Is is very hard to witness this dismantling of a once proud country. Shame!
Apr 1, 2009 - 10:56 am 26. ReaganTMan:At one political rally, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists” regarding his associations with, among others, William Ayers. At a rally in Bangor Maine, Palin said “In this election, it’s a choice between a candidate who won’t disavow a group committing voter fraud, and a leader who won’t tolerate voter fraud.” At another rally, one I attended in Richmond, Virginia 10/13/09, VP candidate Palin raised the same concern about voter fraud associated with the ACORN.
Some dismissed her comments on both issues as political rhetoric. CNN spent a day on Troopergate, running a hit piece about Todd Palin as an objective news story. I emailed them that same day because there was not one mention of “it’s spelled A-C-O-R-N, research it.”
Today is April 1, 2009. It’s no April fools joke, though, that the president, his administration and the Democrat party are using Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals” to marginalize Republicans like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. President Obama learned these tactics from William Ayers. The McCain campaign said that his associations were important because they show his judgment and character. They were right.
Now, Pajamas Media has just broke a story about election fraud and ACORN.
Amazing, isn’t it?
The sheep are now being led by the wolves. We’re going to need a wolf killer to stop the madness. When are we going to wake up and listen to Sarah Palin?
She warned us.
Apr 1, 2009 - 11:04 am 27. zanne:13. David Levavi:
“All honor to Ms Feldman. Needs to be widely disseminated. These folks are government funded airheads with teeth. The citizenry needs to be alerted. We’re past tea parties. Its almost pitchforks and torches time.”
Mr. Soros’ once tiny army(ACORN) is now marching with our tax dollars to secure his global economy views. Growing larger to accomodate the newest voters via amnesty of illegals. God isn’t dirty politics a blast!!
Apr 1, 2009 - 12:22 pm 28. Callie:To MarkD:
I agree with you 100% but how are we ever going to vote any of “them” out with ACORN running and defrauding our elections. They are now growing exponentially in numbers and financially under the careful stewardship of Barrack Obama. A massive investigation of this group needs to be conducted ASAP. We need sanctions and incarcerations of the offenders and of those in power who enable them.
Apr 1, 2009 - 12:34 pm 29. Voice of Experience:ACORN is Obama’s “Sicherheitsdienst” in the making.They shut down a Chicago radio station that scheduled an anti-Obama guest and just finished harassing those evil AIG executives and their families in their homes. Of course they are being funded with tax dollars
Apr 1, 2009 - 12:51 pm 30. atlargeinohio:After the the manufactured faux (mostly) outrage in the media during the Bush years, we now have real reason for outrage and the media’s head is in the sand. Nice, nice, very nice. ACORN should have their nuts examined under the media spotlight.
Apr 1, 2009 - 1:15 pm 31. John Galt:ACORN is heavily loaded with black people. It would not be politically correct and also out of fear of intimidation by various black organizations be realistic to think that the MSM would cover this ACORN story.
Apr 1, 2009 - 1:22 pm 32. Leatherneck:ACORN is just another front for BLT. Obama gave them millions. Of course, in a few years with hyper Inflation, it will seem like hundreds.
Apr 1, 2009 - 1:31 pm 33. fireyourguns:Maybe we should start our own fraudulent voter registration grass roots movement to help out our sackless GOP leadership! You know, fight “fire with fire”! We could call it “NONUTS”! Whadaya say?
Apr 1, 2009 - 2:01 pm 34. Moogie:What do you want to bet one of the first requirements of the new Brute Squad (GIVE) will be to volunteer at ACORN, since community service will be mandatory.
This just gets uglier by the minute.
Apr 1, 2009 - 2:13 pm 35. one more voice:ACORN should be disbanded; however, I just want to remind everyone about what happened back in 2000. Voters were turned away from polls because they had names that resemebled the names of felons, ballots were thrown out, and several voting machines were rigged to balance democratic votes so that for every positive vote Gore got, a negative vote was also cast. Voter fraud in election is a problem period, not just a Democratic one. Don’t fool yourself into believing that some how the Republican leadership is any less corrupt that their liberal counterparts. Down with republicrats
.
Apr 1, 2009 - 2:33 pm 36. crystal balls:the writing’s on the wall, peeps. serve america act is the first step and acorn getting its cut is of course no accident.
next, you ask? ah, but think. what is another highly volatile topic of the era? illegal aliens. you KNOW they will find some way to legalize those how many millions.
think long and hard on acorn’s involvement in certain (controversial) areas of late. the writing IS on the wall that TAXPAYER FUNDED acorn “volunteers” WILL be relocating those soon-to-be legalized illegal aliens into areas predominantly anything but democrat.
just watch. illegally squatting in repossessed homes was simply the practice play for what they really had in mind all along.
Apr 1, 2009 - 2:38 pm 37. Will:Why are we shocked?,it’s what they do.
Apr 1, 2009 - 3:03 pm 38. Roderick Reilly:“”"”"”Don’t fool yourself into believing that some how the Republican leadership is any less corrupt that their liberal counterparts. Down with republicrats
.”"”"”"
So? Seriously, I understand your point and its partial validity, but, again, so what? Nice try, trying to “dilute” the message by saying “oh, everybody does it.” Forget it, because Democrats and their radical allies ARE the Power, and intend to extend it, OK? It’s a waste of energy trying to be “fair” and criticize the “right” as well, because that’s the job of vile lizard vermin like James Carville and Paul Begala.
Apr 1, 2009 - 3:09 pm 39. Avitar:Will being convicted crimes reduce the 4 billion dollars that the Stimulus package had in it to pay ACORN to fix future elections?
Apr 1, 2009 - 3:13 pm 40. Lynn B.:Even better news, Soros fined 1.6 million for shorting the Hungarian Market on Oct 7th. Wasn’t it just ten days later the US market went ballistic?
Apr 1, 2009 - 3:50 pm 41. Noesis Noeseos:As for ACORN, we all know what they stand for.
I suspect conservatives would not want to imitate ACORN’s tactics, but a gathering of monitors, sizable and determined enough to be secure, when and where ACORN runs its intimidating antics on such people as AIG executives, might help. Roll the cameras, flood the internet video sites and Fox News, and perhaps enough people will eventually take notice.
And, yes, we must get over submitting to this “racism” hustle. Often a spade will get dirty, and when it does, then it’s time to call a spade a spade–with no apologies!
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:15 pm 42. Bilgeman:#29 VoE:
“ACORN is Obama’s “Sicherheitsdienst” in the making.They shut down a Chicago radio station that scheduled an anti-Obama guest and just finished harassing those evil AIG executives and their families in their homes.”
I think the more apt comparison would be to the SturmAbteilung, and like the SA, I reckon that the alleged Hawaiian will decapitate the organization before it gets any notions of a life apart and after his Administration.
I saw a video of an ACORN rally once somewhere with a creepy-crawly type dame who intoned to her thralls that:
“Yessss, yessss! ACORN needs Obama. Yesssss.
and…Obama NEEDS ACORN. Yessss!”
(I’m not taking any literary license here, she really spoke like this…real sphincter-clenching stuff!)
No sane politician worth his inflated sense of self-esteem is going to let some boob “nobody” get away with thinking that he’s beholden to them.
The only unknown is when the “Night of the ACORN Nutcracker” will take place.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:19 pm 43. MiamaMan:Wow, what a surprise!
The only reason the last election in Ohio did not explode like an atom bombs was that the margin between the candidates was big enough to dissuade the critics. Fraud was rampant in Ohio.
MSNBC loves ACORN, never reports any of their wrongdoings, neither Olbermann nor Lesby Maddow.
And they are getting stronger, on steroids by money allocated by Pelosi-Obama in their Porkulus.
We are soon becoming a Banana republic, another Brazil. The dregs of society are taking charge, the miasma emanations are suffocating, all that is corrupt, debased, low, easy, envious, confusing, treacherous, is now the order of the day.
The US is a Christian, Muslim, Hindu nation…bla, bla, bla.
Apr 1, 2009 - 7:06 pm 44. geokstr:Gee, where are the Obamamaniacs that usually pop up to defend him and his ilk on every thread here? They finally found a subject that even they would be ashamed to support.
Apr 1, 2009 - 7:16 pm 45. MiamaMan:42. Bilgeman
Good analogy. The “Sicherheitsdienst” (SD)was Himmler and Heydrich’s idea, an intelligence service for the Nazi party.
The SA (Sturm Abteilung) for ACORN is more accurate, to make it more similar we should put Barney Frank in charge of ACORN, he dances to the same tune as Ernst Röhm did. We only need now to find a Horst Wessel.
There could even be a Night of the Long Knives for ACORN, through Eric Holder, were them to become a bigger liability.
These outfits are marvelously explained by Eric Hoffer in his 1951 classic “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”.
Apr 2, 2009 - 5:41 am 46. Pat J:Somewhere along the line the author failed to mention Anita Moncrief was fired by one of ACORN’s sister affiliates Project Vote. She was fired for stealing – putting personal expenses on her credit card. Therefore she lacked any credibility as a whistleblower. Just another disgruntled employee really.
But hey. Don’t let the truth get in the way of another lame right-wingnut conspiracy theory.
Apr 2, 2009 - 9:32 am 47. clarice:Wade Rathke, the head of ACORN seems to have less problems with embezzlement than Pat J does. He covered for his own brother’s $1 million theft from the organiztion.
http://theunionlabelblog.com/2009/02/13/acorn-dissidents-sued-for-embezzlement-documents/
ACORN may have made this charge against Moncrief, but whether it’s true or not, I couldn’t say as she’s never been tried for it. Rathke’s theft has been acknowledged as has the organization’s efforts to cover it up.
Good try though, Pat.
Nect time tell the guys to send over someone a bit smarter.
Apr 2, 2009 - 1:11 pm 48. Pat J:Nice try. It seems Wade Rathke did have a problem with his brother’s embezzlement. It was discovered, and while he made a mistake by not informing it to the ACORN board, covering it up as you say, the money was eventually paid back. Also, the brothers both left ACORN last year, after a whistleblower revealed the embezzlement. Rathke is not the head of ACORN. He’s the founder. A bit of a difference.
The New York Times also reported last year the embezzlement happened in between 1999 and 2000. Totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand especially considering you mentioned ACORN’s activities during the previous two presidential elections.
No, this is just another attempt to demonize ACORN and secondarily the New York Times. I’m suprised you didn’t go for a hat trick and link ACORN to George Soros.
Apr 2, 2009 - 6:59 pm 49. Kathy L.:ACORN has been active in my city for at least 4ys. They let go of the volunteers who manned the election polling stations, and replaced them with illegal aliens, not even eligible to vote. The people who reported this, lost their jobs. Scary.
Apr 3, 2009 - 6:08 am 50. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:The 0bama coalition consists of two element: the nuts, and ACORN.
Apr 3, 2009 - 7:23 am 51. Tom Perkins:#35, one more voice
“Voters were turned away from polls because they had names that resemebled the names of felons, ballots were thrown out, and several voting machines were rigged to balance democratic votes so that for every positive vote Gore got, a negative vote was also cast.”
You know, if any that actually happened as part of a plan–you, know and actual conspiracy–there’d be proof.
There isn’t any.
OTOH, no matter how the votes got recounted, if the same rules were used for all precincts, Bush beat Gore in 2004.
Apr 3, 2009 - 9:35 am 52. Bill Bailey:Shef Rogers: Matthew Vadum was on The Daily Show, not The Colbert Report.
Apr 3, 2009 - 10:18 am 53. Dorothy:Everyone in Congress knows that Acorn is part of the Obama group and yet nobody stopped the millions in each bill that they voted on. Not democrats, are there any honest ones left and they did not stop this money given to Acorn..or republicans who should walk out of the Capital and the liberal media would have to cover this aspect of the mob running the White House. Bring back the poor reporters who reported the real news and didn’t cover up the crooks in politics. Where is Mr. Smith goes to Washington?
Apr 3, 2009 - 12:47 pm 54. savarulz:well duh didn’t the republicans keep saying this during the campaign. oh i’m sorry if you said anything about obamacorn you were a racist
Apr 3, 2009 - 7:09 pm 55. WJA:A non issue. MSM will never report it, just like the big bonuses going to Fannie and Freddie, but let AIG brass get some extra cash and Barney Fink is all over it
Apr 3, 2009 - 8:38 pm 56. johnjack:AND NO ONE IS GONNA STOP THEM !!!! RIGHT?? YOU DON’T KILL THE GOOSE WITH THE GOLDEN EGG !! ASK OBAMARAMADINGDONG !
Apr 4, 2009 - 2:43 pm 57. deguello:NO! ACORN ILLEGALLY HELPING OBAMA? I`m shocked! shocked ! I tell you!Next you’ll be telling me that bears s#$t in the woods!
Apr 7, 2009 - 9:12 am 58. AfterBurn:If acorn is behind Obama winning the election, I hope he is.. I don’t know what would be worse, losing everything and put jail for life or being kicked out of the country. I would just want Obama to be miserable and not be able to enjoy life ever again.
Sep 18, 2009 - 3:11 pm