» ACORN

ACORN corruption: US Census dissolves relationship with group, MSNBC missed it, why?

bbutkins — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:57:27 +0000

September 12, 11:20 PMPittsburgh Conservative ExaminerJosh Geldrich

One would think that when an organization that receives HUD money to provide low income loans gets caught helping citizens to falsify income for bank loans and telling them how to commit tax evasion would make the news. Apparently not.On Friday the US Census Bureau scrapped plans to utilize ACORN’s personnel to perform the national census in 2010, an severed it’s ties with the organization.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, from Census director Robert Groves to ACORN, he wrote that he was no longer confident in the community organization’s ability to effectively manage its partnership with the Census Bureau. Groves wrote, “we do not come to this decision lightly, [but] it is clear that ACORN’s affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts.”

The announcement comes on the heels of major news releases implicating the union-backed radical group, made famous last year for attempted voter registration fraud, to further wrong doing. On Wednesday of last week Florida prosecutors arrested 11 ACORN employees for falsifying information on over 900 voter registration forms.

Making matters worse for both the Census Bureau and ACORN, was the release this week of two bombshell videos highlighting ACORN. The videos showing ACORN personnel and undercover investigative reporters, catching the community organization’s personnel explaining ways to break countless finance laws, defraud the IRS and legally participate in child-prostitution in both Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC ACORN offices. The breaking news was reported by the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, while MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, CBS and ABC all failed to report the story.

MSNBC, a vocal supporter of ACORN claims that the community organization “has been hit with Republican accusations of voter-registration fraud.” They, and this includes CNBC and NBC, must not be aware that the organization has been; the subject of voter registration fraud, recent Congressional hearings or nailed operating a “Muscle for the Money” corporate strong-arm fund-raising campaign.

The media giant claims that BigGovernment.com shopped this “set-up” around to at least three other locations. But, it is worth noting that even if they shopped it around to four, BigGovernment.com has shown us that petitioning ACORN to condone child prostitution, prostitution, tax evasion and and fraud, works favorably for criminals roughly %30 percent of the time.

As an unfortunate aside for the President, ACORN benefited during the election from the Obama campaign, afterward from approval of the stimulus package and to date has received $8.2 million from HUD for low incom loans. The community organization will continue to benefit from through vigorous support of the President’s agenda. ACORN relies on funding from the federal government for a portion of it’s income, which flows in through it’s many member entities. The group also benefits from it’s ownership of two Service Employee International Union (SEIU) locals whose fortunes are also heavily intertwined with President Obama’s legislative success. Their path is clear politically, to grow they must support President Obama and his legislative agenda at any cost.

As far as why MSNBC, CNBC or NBC wouldn’t cover the ACORN corruption stories, the answer is unclear. It is worth noting however, that all are arms of GE. A company which recently placed itself in a position to monopolize the power generating industry by monitoring emissions standards under the new Cap-and-Trade legislation.

It may also be worth noting, that General Electric Vice Chairman John G. Rice recently wrote in a memo to all GE personnel, “the intersection between GE’s interests and government action is clearer than ever.” he further wrote, “We were able to work closely with key authors of the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill, recently passed by the House of Representatives. If this bill is enacted into law it would benefit many GE businesses.”

With the full force of the Waxman-Markey bill coordinated with their wholly owned subsidiaries, NBC and MSNBC, the huge corporation will have the resources to grind each and every coal manufacturer and coal dependent power generator out of business.

Does that mean that there’s a conspiracy, no, not by any means. But what it does mean is that a big corporation is using it’s power to influence legislation. The days of special interests giving big money to politicians are not over, but now, today, it seems that in addition to giving donations and lobby hand-money to influence lawmakers, we also have to worry about the media outlets that huge conglomerates own propagandizing the news in exchange for ever greater profits.

And we don’t have just the left to worry about when it comes to this new form of political payoff, but the center and the right as well.

ACORN’s Roots Watered by Taxpayers

bbutkins — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:53:08 +0000

By Bret Jacobson On September 14, 2009

Until last Thursday, many Americans assumed ACORN’s massive tax windfall was just a way to funnel taxpayer money to a radical organization. That was before the shocking video revelation that ACORN Housing staff — funded by millions of dollars of the public’s money — is willing to offer their “counseling services” to would-be operators of child prostitute rings. Clearly, it’s time to take a closer look at how taxpayer money drives the ACORN empire.

The Public Trough

Until recently, few knew much about ACORN or the reach of its 300-plus organizations with a hundred-million-dollar budget. The main financial sustenance for the behemoth comes from unions (which outsource dirty work, strategy, and anti-corporate attacks to the group), powerful and politically minded non-profit foundations, political campaigns (including $800,000 from then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 and taxpayer money.

That public trough has been open to those who seem to feel they are more equal than others. The Washington Examiner investigated and found out that “at least $53 million in federal funds have gone to ACORN activists since 1994.”

A large chunk of that money flows from the federal government to the ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC). On the group’s IRS filings for the fiscal year ending in June 2007, AHC reported taking in more than $2.8 million in that year alone — accounting for approximately 30 percent of that year’s budget. A 2008 report from the Consumers Rights League found that from 2004 through 2006, government funds accounted for 40 percent of the group’s $18.3 million in revenue.

Funding ACORN’s Political Movement

In 2007, more than $1.5 million went out the door from AHC to ACORN. Over the 2004 through 2006 period, the housing group sent more than $4.6 million in “grants” and “fees” to other ACORN-run organizations — and it may well have violated the law in doing so. AHC is legally allowed to accept taxpayer funds because it is technically a charity, whereas ACORN is not allowed to accept such money because it is engaged in overtly political activity. But ACORN officials run both organizations and seem to use the housing operations as a publicly funded piggy bank.

All this money going from taxpayers to AHC to other, more political ACORN entities is troubling. The trail goes cold, though, and it becomes difficult to track how the group’s officials ultimately use that money. That’s why recent revelations of $1 million embezzlement by the brother of ACORN’s founder surprised almost no one. At least twice, Democratic administrations have caught ACORN misusing taxpayer money allocated for community work. Instead, the group used funds to build its own “community organizing” efforts. The most recent example involved AHC using government money to support its efforts while trying to sign up people trying to learn how to buy a house.

There’s evidence the exact same problem continues to play out. An internal email from 2004 showed that a federal grant “will provide the opportunity for ACORN and AHC to work together…” Moreover, affidavits show that AHC employees believe there’s cause to investigate further crimes and violations. This led the Consumers Rights League to call for a Congressional investigation and conclude, “Congressional leaders should be wary of donating hard-earned tax dollars to a group with this sordid record.”

Where The Money Goes, Nobody (Really) Knows

What is clear is where the money does not go: The Examiner has reported that while the group is happy to take in millions and millions of taxpayer dollars, ACORN faces more than a million dollars in liens for unpaid taxes.

GOP Congressional Report Accuses ACORN of Political Corruption, Widespread Fraud

bbutkins — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:47:29 +0000

ACORN engaged in a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda, according to a new report from Republicans on a House oversight committee. The report, released Thursday, accuses ACORN of fraudulent activities and widespread corruption and calls for a criminal investigation into the advocacy group. It offers the first detailed account of the allegations that have dogged the organization in recent months. ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, has been under constant fire from conservatives since last year for its support of Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy and its planned participation in next year’s 2010 census.The report was released by Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Issa’s GOP colleagues.

“This report is about getting to the truth and when there are significant accusations and questions outstanding regarding an organization that has benefited from millions of taxpayer dollars, those questions should be answered and the truth should be brought to light,” Issa said in a statement. The executive summary of the report says ACORN provided contributions of financial and personnel resources to indicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and candidate Obama, among others, in what the report calls a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda, which would be a clear violation of numerous tax and election laws. “Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan agenda and to manipulate the American electorate,” an executive summary of the report reads. ACORN, which was sent a copy of the executive summary by FOXNews.com, dismissed the report as a “partisan attack job.”

“We are busy fighting to stop the foreclosure crisis, to win quality affordable health care for all Americans and to build a stronger economy for working families, so we haven’t had the opportunity to read Rep. Issa’s screed at length,” Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN, said in a written statement to FOXNews.com. But an initial review indicates that the document is a recycled and repackaged partisan attack job on ACORN’s good work,” she added. The report accuses ACORN, after receiving more than $53 million in federal funds since 1994, of blurring the legal distinctions among 361 tax-exempt and non-exempt entities to divert that money into partisan political activities.Evidence found in the report relies in part on documents provided by former ACORN employees. “Operationally, ACORN is a shell game played in 120 cities, 43 states and the District of Columbia through a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators,” the report read.

“Structurally, ACORN is a chess game in which senior management is shielded from accountability by multiple layers of volunteers and compensated employees who serve as pawns to take the fall for every bad act.” Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Issa, said ACORN’s response suggests the report “hit a nerve.” “We stand by the findings of the report,” he told FOXNews.com. “There are a lot of legitimate questions raised about the political activities and organizational structure of ACORN. We’d certainly like to have a venue and platform for ACORN to respond to our report.”

In his statement, Issa said, “It is outrageous that ACORN will be rewarded for its criminal acts by taxpayer money in the stimulus and is being asked to help with the U.S. census. This report shines a light on clear criminal conduct and it is abundantly clear that they cannot and should not be trusted with taxpayer dollars.” It would be up to the chairman of the oversight panel to hold hearings on the ACORN report and up to the Justice Department to pursue a criminal investigation. Likewise, the census director will determine whether ACORN remains a partner with the U.S. Census Bureau to assist with the recruitment of the 1.4 million temporary workers needed to go door-to-door to count every person in the United States. A spokeswoman for Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

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ACORN corruption: US Census dissolves relationship with group, MSNBC missed it, why?

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ACORN’s Roots Watered by Taxpayers

GOP Congressional Report Accuses ACORN of Political Corruption, Widespread Fraud