Bertha Lewis Declares ACORN Is NOT Closing "Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated"

Sometimes the news one hears just smells. Such was the case yesterday when the story broke that ACORN was bankrupt and was going under as of April first. The fact  the official closing date was April Fool's Day was not a coincidence, because if you really believed that ACORN was going to cease operations I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

In the past we  reported that ACORN was going to change its name in an attempt to shake off the "bad image" it earned through the embezzlement stories, the voter fraud and of course the amazing efforts of the Team of Hannah Giles/James O'Keefe.

ACORN’s announcement of “bringing its operations to a close” is just another deceptive tactic designed to take the pressure off so they can continue their scheme of using public dollars and private donations to advance their radical progressive agenda.

Or as ACORN CEO said today on NPR, "First of all, let me set the record straight. Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated"

The proof of the pudding is that ACORN is in the process of renaming many of its state and local offices but keeping the same employees and Tax Identification Numbers. For example, Affordable Housing Centers of America was formerly ACORN Housing. The new corporation has the same Tax Identification Number and Employee Identification Number as ACORN Housing, which received millions of dollars in funding from HUD.

When he was on Fox News earlier today Congressman Issa talked about the supposed closing of ACORN

“Just as criminals change their aliases, ACORN is changing its name,” said Issa. “But make no mistake about it, just because they change their name, doesn’t mean anything has really changed at all. As this most recent presidential election has showed us, just because you profess change, doesn’t mean you’re going to change. The bottom line is, whatever they decide to call themselves, they are still the same corporation with the same board, staff and people. Ultimately, the real question is aside from their name, what is really going to change?

Later in the day, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis was interviewed by Allison Keyes on NPR where she confirmed the group wasn't really closing but transforming.

Ms. LEWIS: First of all, let me set the record straight. Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.

(Soundbite of laughter)

KEYES: Uh-oh.

Ms. LEWIS: We are transforming, of course. I've been transforming this organization since June of 2008. And, yes, we've had our financial woes, and, yes, we are fighting an unconstitutional ban on any government funding. And, again, it is unconstitutional, but we're transforming. Of course the financial realities forces us to do things a little bit differently. So we've gotten lean.

KEYES: So, what exactly do you mean?

Ms. LEWIS: Well, we've gotten leaner and meaner and some of our state chapters have chosen to go their own way. We haven't been able to maintain the resources, state by state, that we had. So we have gotten a little bit smaller. We've had to change some of our programming, but we're not dead yet.

KEYES: Are you changing your name and the people who are running it?

Ms. LEWIS: We are ACORN, Inc. I'm still Bertha Lewis. We still have a board the board may be smaller. I'm the ACORN lady. No, we continue to fight. Poor people haven't gone away. Black folks haven't gone away. People of color haven't gone away. And as we've seen in this last drama around health care, organizations like ours are needed now more than ever.

On the other hand other people in ACORN disagree with their CEO

Tuesday, ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan reiterated that ACORN would close in the coming months. He said Lewis' comments may reflect the organization's efforts to settle outstanding business issues before it closes its doors.

"I think Bertha's main point is that ACORN has not gone out of existence, yet," Whelan said. He said ACORN is still actively pursuing a lawsuit over the congressional ban on funding. The group has said the action was unconstitutional because it singled out ACORN. A hearing is set for Friday.

Whelan had announced the board's decision Monday, saying the decision was made because of "really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need."

Judging by group's  past, one can be sure that ACORN's announced death was nothing but another ruse by the criminal enterprise that as been charged with/convicted of voter fraud in 14 States,and offered to help set up under-aged prostitution units (among its many crimes).