ACORN: Its Not Just The Pimps and Hookers, Its The Fraud and the President's Campaign

During the last two weeks much of America has been mesmerized by the release of "prostitution sting" videos (except apparently for the White House and Much of the mainstream media). Andrew Breitbart new website, Big Government has done a fantastic job raising questions about the scandal-ridden community organization. The one danger is that people may now think that the Issue with ACORN is a few low-level bad eggs in a couple of offices. ACORN is a tangled web that needs to be thoroughly investigated and revealed for what it is, a criminal organization using the money of the United States of America to push its own political Agenda. Beyond that the group coordinated with the Obama campaign to perpetuate the fraud.

As described by the  Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report on ACORN  report, ACORN's criminal activity starts at the top.

ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged in self dealing, and aided and abetted a cover-up of embezzlement by Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke. Committee investigators have established that a violation of corporate duties led to gross abuses of tax laws and other federal regulations. According to documents obtained from insiders, ACORN was made aware of its lax management structure but chose to ignore the problems and continue a cover-up of criminal activity. By refusing to report Dale Rathke’s embezzlement of $948,607.50 as an excess benefit transaction, ACORN appears to have violated the Internal Revenue Code. ACORN’s cover-up of the embezzlement for more than eight years would also constitute obstruction of justice.

ACORN is being investigated for, or convicted of voter registration fraud in 14 different states:

One-third of the 1.3 million voter registration cards turned in by ACORN in 2008 were invalid. ACORN has been investigated for voter registration fraud in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina. ACORN has faced a series of alleged  inadequacies and indictable offenses: In 1998, an Arkansas ACORN employee  arrested for falsifying voter registration forms. In 1999, Philadelphia authorities found hundreds of fraudulent registration forms by ACORN. In October 2008, ACORN’s  Nevada offices were raided by federal agents. In May 2009, Nevada officials charged  ACORN, its regional director, and its Las Vegas field director with voter registration fraud. Several days later, seven ACORN employees were charged in Pittsburgh voter registration fraud.
The Wall Street Journal, quoting Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, reported “Acorn’s [sic] training manuals ‘clearly detail, condone and . . . require  illegal acts,’ such as requiring its workers to meet strict voter-registration targets to keep their jobs.”10 Fred Voigt, Philadelphia’s deputy election commissioner, claimed ACORN  “submitted at least 1,500 fraudulent registrations last fall.” According to Lake County  Elections Board administrator Ruthann Hoagland, ACORN submitted at least 2,100  fraudulent registrations in Indiana.According to the Wall Street Journal,  fined ACORN and entered into a deal requiring ACORN to either increase its oversight  or risk criminal prosecution after several Washington state-based ACORN employees mwere convicted of voter registration fraud in 2007.During the 2008 election, ACORN was investigated in fourteen other states. In June 2009, judge Richard Zoller, after  holding an ACORN employee liable for election law violations, stated, “[s]omebody has to go after ACORN[.]”

This past March Heather Heidelbaugh a Pennsylvania attorney testified before Congress. She based her testimony on her interviews with Anita Moncreif, who worked for the ACORN affiliated organization, Project Vote . Last October Heidelbaugh represented “a candidate, voters and the Republican State Committee of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” seeking a preliminary injunction against ACORN and the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The complaint alleged violations of the election code, fraud and misrepresentation, and violations of equal protection and due process.

Some of the specific allegations include:

• The Obama Campaign worked directly with ACORN and the NY Times hid the story: The New York Times articles stopped when Ms. Moncrief, who is a Democrat and a supporter of the President, revealed that the Obama Presidential Campaign had sent its maxed out donor list to Karen Gillette of the Washington, DC ACORN office and asked Gillette and Ms. Moncrief to reach out to the maxed out donors and solicit donations from them for Get Out the Vote efforts to be run by ACORN. Upon learning this information and receiving the list of donors from the Obama Campaign, Ms. Strom reported to Ms. Moncrief that her editors at the New York Times wanted her to kill the story because, and I quote, “it was a game changer”. That’s when Ms. Moncrief telephoned me on October 21, 2008.

• There is no separation between ACORN and Project Vote ..Honestly, there really isn’t a difference between Project Vote and ACORN except for the fact that one is a 501(c)(3) and one is not a (2)(3). As far as the – who does the voter registration
  work and how things get done…Project Vote is basically considered ACORN political
  operations.” Ms. Moncrief testified: [page 44, line 1-25] “There was active cooperation between ACORN’s political wing and Project Vote…[They] basically had the same staff. Nathan Henderson James was the strategic writing and research department…director of ACORN and he was the research director of Project Vote. Zach [Polett] was the executive director of Project Vote and the executive director of ACORN political.

• ACORN and Project Vote were used as a way for Obama's maxed out donors to continue to give to the campaign. ACORN and Project Vote targeted particular individuals and entities to solicit donations. These included: 1.) maxed out presidential donors; 2.) the billionaires club i.e. Herb Sandler, the Rockefellers; and 3.) the millionaires club i.e. Patriciam Bowman, the Bowman Foundation, Wellspring, and Sykes. 

•   ACORN paid people based on a Quota of how many voters they registered. Ms. Moncrief confirmed that ACORN does have a ‘quota system’ for their voter registration canvassers.  Ms. Moncrief testified that she was aware of a system
  that required each canvasser to turn in “…at least 20 cards per day”. If the canvasser does not turn in the minimum of 20 cards per day, the canvasser is “fired”. 

• ACORN knew they had only a 40% accuracy rate, that's why they submitted their voter registration cards just before the elections to make things harder to detect. ACORN knew that their canvassers were turning in duplicate registrations. Ms. Moncrief testified: “I have knowledge that they were striving for at one time 40% accuracy rate.” Further, ACORN knew that their canvassers “dumped” voter registration cards on election divisions throughout the United States immediately before the cut off dates. 

• ACORN waged in Political activity: ACORN and its affiliates engaged in partisan political activity despite their tax exempt status which prohibited them from doing so. ACORN was concerned ‘publicly’ to prohibit its tax exempt organizations from engaging in partisan political activity but in actual practice it occurred behind the scenes.  Ms. Moncrief was told not to get caught engaging in partisan political activity.

• ACORN would force companies provide donations with protests.  They called it "protection money." Muscle for the Money’, Ms. Moncrief testified: “Protection. We were very – not to be flippant, but we were just always very sarcastic about it in the offices. We knew what was going on. And its not that we thought it was funny, it was just one of those things that we talked about. That’s why I said it like that, so you understand.”  The ‘Muscle for Money’/’Protection’ programs were carried out against Sherwin Williams, Jackson Hewitt, H&R Block, the Carlyle Group, and Money Mart. (If you want to read the entire testimony click here.

Ms. Moncrief herself testified in a Pennsylvania court. She testified that the group knew 60% of the voters who were registered were bogus and the group REGULARLY coordinated with the OBAMA Campaign.

The group, she said, barely trained its workers in how to register voters properly, and would fire employees if they did not meet a quota of 20 new voter applicants daily. And, if they were caught committing fraud, the group "threw them under the bus" as scapegoats to take all the legal blame, Moncrief said.

Moncrief said she worked as a development associate for Project Vote in Washington from 2005 until early this year, but that the group was so closely aligned with its sister organization, ACORN, that they were one and the same.

Moncrief was fired in January after using a Project Vote credit card to pay for personal items. On the stand, she acknowledged the incident and called it "a bad mistake." She is unemployed after short stints in two jobs since she was fired.

Nationwide, ACORN has helped 1.3 million people register to vote this election cycle. That includes about 140,000 new registrants in Pennsylvania.

Many of them have been flagged by election officials across the state as illegitimate because they were already registered, gave wrong names, or provided incorrect addresses.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to, among other things, prohibit ACORN and its affiliates from further contacting those that the groups signed up in Pennsylvania as well as to force the groups to fund public-service announcements to inform new voters that they need to bring identification to the polling place.

The suit also asks the court to order ACORN and affiliates including Project Vote to release a list of all voters registered in the latest drive.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, after hearing seven hours of testimony yesterday, said he hopes to rule on the matter today..

On cross-examination by ACORN lawyer Katheryn Simpson, Moncrief, who lives in Virginia, acknowledged that she had never worked on the registration drive in Pennsylvania, but said she was privy to national briefings on the subject.

Two ACORN officials from Pennsylvania took the stand after Moncrief and insisted that the group has policies in place to train new employees and to spot and flag applications that appear to be fraudulent.

Carol Hemingway, president of ACORN's Philadelphia chapter, yesterday called the suit a media stunt "to create voter-fraud hysteria and create a preemptive strategy to de-legitimize results of the upcoming election."

In a national conference call with reporters, former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth, cochair of Honest and Open Election Committee for McCain-Palin 2008, seized on Moncrief's testimony as proof that ACORN's massive voter drive was "a high-volume, low-quality operation."

"We believe the quota system and the threat of firings induced the turning in or filing of phony names," Danforth said.

Moncrief also testified that, in November 2007, she was given a massive database of Barack Obama donors who had already reached the maximum that they are allowed to give to the Democratic presidential nominee. Her task was to cull it for potential donors who, though prohibited from giving any more to Obama, could give to ACORN.

Moncrief said that she received the database from her supervisor and that the person insisted the Obama campaign had provided it.

 Put it all together, there is enough evidence to show that ACORN is corrupt through out its vast organization.  The congress and senate should follow through on its defunding legislation, and the President should sign the legislation.

There should also there be a call for a special prosecutor, we should not rely on the the politically appointed justice department, especially since there is evidence that the Presidents campaign committee was involved with the organization.

ACORN- New Name, Same RANCID SMELL

The Democratic Party's favorite criminal enterprise the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) has officially changed its name to “Community Organizations International.” They are also working on dismantling Citizen’s Consulting Inc. (CCI), the umbrella organization in "Nawlins" that collect and distributes all of the cash for ACORN and its subsidiaries.


Just because they are changing their name it doesn't mean they are changing their ways,  ACORN still isn't opening their books, even to their own people, the ACORN 8. They are suing ACORN 8 for using the name they are about to abandon.  But no fear, your Democratic representatives are still allowing this group being investigated in 14 states for voter fraud to receive federal dollars:

ACORN drops tarnished name and moves to silence critics
By: Kevin Mooney

Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) leaders are using the threat of a law suit to silence and intimidate critics, according to current and former members of the liberal activist group.
 
In a letter dated June 11 an attorney for ACORN advised top whistleblowers that their unauthorized use of the organization’s name could make them liable for monetary damages and injunctive relief.
 
ACORN executives have also changed their organization’s name, which was tarnished by investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign, and charges by current and former members of financial mismanagement and misrepresentation.
 
The new name will let ACORN leaders continue their operations without worrying about prior bad publicity, according to Marcel Reid of ACORN 8, a group of present and former members.
 
“We’ve known for many months now that the name ACORN is going to be retired,” Reid said. “The name has been so damaged to the point where the leadership knows it simply can’t go on as it has with the ACORN label out front and center, especially after all of the reporting.”
 
In fact, the process has already begun, she noted. Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to “Community Organizations International.”
 
Reid also said ACORN is in the process of dismantling Citizen’s Consulting Inc. (CCI), a New-Orleans based non-profit, which has been used to maintain centralized financial control, ACORN 8 activists claim. Tax records show that CCI is interlinked with several ACORN affiliates.
 
Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled almost $1 million from the organization in 1999 and 2000, while he was employed as the organization’s chief financial officer with the CCI affiliate. For almost a decade Wade Rathke and other staff members concealed the embezzlement from ACORN’s board of trustees, according to the criminal complaint ACORN 8 members filed against the organization.
ACORN’s national leaders withdrew a lawsuit Reid filed with fellow board member Karen Inman last October seeking access to internal financial records. Reid and Inman were also expelled from their board positions; a move they say was illegal. Reid and Inman then came together with six other colleagues to form ACORN 8.
 
“ACORN has to be decapitated,” Reid said. “The senior staff and current national board should be dismantled. The only way to have reform is for the current leadership to be removed completely. We also need a forensic audit.”
 
Arthur Schwartz, the general counsel for ACORN, has sent a “cease and desist” letter to Reid and Inman instructing them to discontinue using the name ACORN in a connection with their activities. This same letter threatens legal action if the ACORN 8 members do not provide written assurances that they will comply with this demand by the end of June.
 
“It is a violation of federal and state law for you to use the ACORN name and mark without the written permission of ACORN,” the letter states. “Should you continue to do so, you will be liable for monetary and injunctive relief.”
 
Reid told The Examiner that ACORN 8 will not comply.
 
“We have no intention of not using the name ACORN 8, it is not a trademark infringement,” she said. “This get tough attitude is part of larger attempt to silence people and shut them down. We are not going to be silenced.”
 
Meanwhile, ACORN’s Project Vote affiliate has filed suit against Anita MonCrief, a former employee, who has testified under oath on voter registration allegations. ACORN is currently under investigation in at least 14 states for electoral irregularities. The Project Vote suit claims that Anita MonCrief and an unidentified accomplice gained access into private e-mails from group executives and stole the group’s name without permission. It also accuses Moncrief of using a company credit card for her own purposes.
 
“ACORN is attempting to silence me, and the allegations in the lawsuit are false,” MonCrief said in statement emailed to The Examiner.
 
ACORN 8 has released its own statement on “whistleblower retaliation” through its national spokesman Michael McCray that expresses support for new protective legislation.
 
“On behalf of the national board of ACORN 8, we are all saddened by and express great concern due to ACORN’s court action filed against whistleblower Anita MonCrief,” the statement reads. “While we do not express an opinion on the merits of ACORN’s complaint; we as reform advocates decry the tactic of suing whistleblowers – especially, low to moderate income people who do not have the financial means to effectively fight back in courts of law. Moreover, this is yet another example of why congress must enact strong corporate, government and tax-payer funded whistleblower protection laws.” ACORN 8 has endorsed H.R. 1507, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009.

STUNNING New ACORN Revelations: Shifting Public Money To Elect Progressives, NY Times Cover-up

People shouldn't think that all ACORN does is help pimps and hookers buy houses, they serve the community in so many other ways, including embezzlement of donated funds, voter fraud, and using tax exempt dollars to help get liberal candidates elected.

Yesterday the Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a forum to discuss ACORN and urge the Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Democratic Party's favorite criminal enterprise.

Congressmen Smith and Issa presented documentation indicating that ACORN already transferred many of its resources to several other left-wing advocacy and political groups including several chapters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and possibly Data and Field Services, the Working Families Party, Change to Win and the Council for Unity,and others.   Anita Moncrief, former ACORN employee told the panel the organization continually got federal block grants but did not use the grants for helping the poor as promised. Rather, ACORN “used the money to fund the political machine.. Poverty is big business for ACORN.

Keep in mind as the "housing end" of ACORN is a not for profit organization receiving federal funding, it is not allowed to engage in political operations. Moncrief tells of how ACORN shifted money from one to the other all with the intention of electing progressives elected, the direct connection from the Obama Campaign Committee and ACORN, and the NY Times cover-up of the scandal.

Below are some of the highlights of her incredible testimony outlining the way's the non-profit arm of ACORN used public funds to get Democrats Elected.

She began talking about previous testimony she had made:

...My testimony in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania covered the following significant facts:

• November 2007 – Project Vote contacted by Obama presidential campaign
• Project Vote received Obama donor list from Obama campaign 
• Project Vote solicited Obama donors to pay for voter registration and to "get out the vote" 
• Project Vote received donor lists from other Democratic and labor union sources: John Kerry campaign, [Hillary] Clinton campaign, Barack Obama campaign, Democratic National Committee, America Coming Together (“ACT”)
  

• Project Vote development plan was to "approach maxed out presidential donors" and allegedly use the funds raised for voter registration drives
• ACORN "employees" were paid through Project Vote for partisan campaign activities, such as telling voters “don’t vote for Albert Wynn (sic) or vote for this person” 
• In reality, there was no division between the staff of ACORN and Project Vote and persons working for one entity performed work for either or both organizations
• ACORN chose the states in which Project Vote would conduct voter registration drives, based on political considerations
• Registration drives (by Project Vote) conducted in 'battleground states" where “by coming in and registering new voters, it could change the outcome of the election” 
• The Obama campaign’s donor list was part of the evidence admitted into the hearing on the injunction in October 2008 
• ACORN Political is the ‘strategic planning arm’ of ACORN, and it looks at contested congressional districts, ballot measures, initiatives like minimum wage, etc. 
• Project Vote had a $28,000,000 budget which was funneled through Citizens Consulting Incorporated (“CCI”) 
• CCI is an ACORN affiliated entity that receives and disburses all funds, including charitable contributions from the Rockefeller Fund, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment and other private foundations and donors, to over 175 affiliated ACORN entities 
• In 2007, there was a $9,000,000 discrepancy in the ACORN affiliated accounts 
• My testimony also shed light on a little known program within ACORN called “Muscle for the Money” and Heidelbaugh also summarized the lengthy court transcript to highlight this program:
• ACORN has official and unofficial programs called “Muscle for the Money”
• ACORN’s Official “Muscle for the Money” Program:
• The "official" program is the name for the ACORN voter registration drives.
• The Obama campaign paid ACORN affiliate Citizens Services International (“CSI”) almost $900,000 for voter registration, voter identification, turnout and get-out-the-vote services.
• Obama campaign reported to the FEC that the expenditure was for “sound and lighting equipment," which does not exist.
• ACORN/CSI markets its programs to campaigns, which pay ACORN/CSI for the "services"
• ACORN is paid not only to register voters, but to also convert those voter registrations into votes at the polls for specific candidates. 
• ACORN is supposed to get the voters to the polls by bus or to make sure the voters get an absentee ballot and to make sure the votes are cast.
• CSI used the political canvassers and others employed by ACORN for its voter turnout programs.

• ACORN’s Unofficial “Muscle for the Money” Program:
• This is an "unofficial" corporate directed program for donations
• Payments from SEIU were made to ACORN’s DC office to harass The Carlyle Group and, specifically, Mr. David Rubenstein, a founder of the company
• Even though DC ACORN had no interest in The Carlyle Group, they were paid by SEIU to go break up a banquet and protest at his house.
• It was called “Muscle for Money” because they would go intimidate people and protest.
• Targets of the paid protests included Sherwin-Williams, H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt and Money Mart, among others
• The purpose was to get money from the targeted entities for ACORN, to force the companies to "negotiate"
  

In addition to my prior testimony, I can provide information regarding the following:

1) Project Vote may have violated its 501(c)(3) status since its inception by using government and private grants that ultimately go directly or indirectly to ACORN:

• The internal accounting system Navision could be used to prove that Project Vote acted as part of ACORN political operations while purporting to be a 501(c)(3) organization to better promote ACORN's political agenda. 

• Staffing lists would illustrate the overlap in staff and name several employees from the Project Vote payroll who were part of ACORN Political Operations.
  

2) ACORN, Project Vote and Citizen Services Inc (CSI) are the same organization with different tax designations that are used to facilitate the transfer of money among the organizations:

• Documents may show what the functions of CSI are and would then tie those activities back to Project Vote. 

• Documents may also show that CSI is intricately involved in the donor management system, DonorPerfect, which is used by ACORN and its affiliates.

3) ACORN has promoted a culture of dishonesty motivated by a desire to reach target Voter Registration goals and senior staff portrayed an attitude that allowed for some “bad” cards in order to reach these goals

• ACORN hires canvassers to conduct voter registrations. Some canvassers are employed as paid political canvassers on salary.

• ACORN does have a "quota system" for their voter registration canvassers that required each canvasser to turn in at least 20 cards per day.
• Evidence supports the allegation that canvassers who did not turn in the minimum of 20 cards per day were fired. 
• Evidence also supports that in order to meet the daily quota, ACORN pressured contractual employees, the part-time, temporary employees to perform.
• Contractual employees must sign a document agreeing to prosecution if fraudulent cards are found but in some instances supervisors appeared to be encouraging filling out incomplete cards.
• I have knowledge of employees being paid in cash, in some instances.
• ACORN had several hiring frenzies during the voter registration drives and the "ramp-up" period and ACORN was aware of the problems associated with this period
  

4) Karyn Gillette, Project Vote Development Director, Jeff Robinson, senior Project Vote “money man” and Nathan Henderson James, Project Vote Research and Political Director are all employed by CSI (Citizens Services Inc.) and may have worked directly with anyone seeking the services of CSI. Money paid to CSI would have obvious ACORN ties.

• Facts exist that may tie Project Vote staff back to the payroll of CSI. 

• Jeffrey Robinson is listed as CSI Executive Vice President and the national deputy political
  

New York Times Cover UP
In July of 2008, I contacted New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom after reading her article, "Funds Misappropriated at 2 Nonprofit Groups" (July 9, 2008). I provided information and documents about the inner workings of ACORN and Project Vote to Strom and passed information from ACORN board member Marcel Reid to Strom.

In the late summer of 2007, I reported to Strom that the Obama Presidential Campaign had sent its entire second quarter 2007 donor list to Project Vote Development Director, Karyn Gillette. Gillette instructed me to work from the list to identify maxed out Obama donors and to separate the lists by states for fundraising for Project Vote's voter registration drive and Get Out the Vote efforts run by ACORN.

On October 21, 2009, Strom was set to come to Washington to meet me and to receive from me proof of contact between ACORN and staff of the Obama campaign. By this time, I no longer trusted her as I had earlier and would only give the proof to her in person. I had provided Strom with the list of donors from the Obama and Clinton second quarter donor list as well a DNC, DSCC and Kerry donor lists prior to her scheduled visit. That day, Strom reported to me via a voice mail that her editors at the New York Times told her to “stand down.” In a subsequent telephone conversation that day Strom told me that it was not the policy of the New York Times to print a story that close to the election that could be considered a “game changer” for either side.

These revelation are not unexpected but still shocking. If these allegations are true ACORN is an organized crime organization and should be prosecuted under the RICO statutes. Attorney General Holder should be naming special prosecutor to investigate the group, instead he tells the federal government to pay them money.  To promote a transparent political process, the government should be cutting off all involvement with this group and conduct hearings into their operations, but because they help DEMOCRATS get elected don't expect to see anything soon.

UPDATE: Anita Moncrief, the ACORN whistle blower needs our Help

As a whistle blower, Anita MonCrief made a very bold and patriotic move. In 2008, after years of working for the organization as an employee, she revealed ACORN's (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) secrets that have damaged the United State's election process and public integrity for decades. But now, she faces a pending legal battle with ACORN that will cost her millions of dollars if ACORN gets its way.

 

Anita is standing up to corruption. Will you stand up and fight for her?

Your contribution to Anita's Defense Fund will help send a message that Americans are tired of corrupt organizations that steal taxpayer dollars. Please consider giving a generous contribution of $100, $50, $25, $10 or even $5 today.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE 

Will ACORN Kill the American Democracy ?

For over Two Hundred and thirty two years America has been a Democratic Republic, in three weeks time we will be in danger of losing our Democracy. As things stand now, when you step into the voting booth, in many states that vote will be for show. The outcome will be determined by ACORN. There are claims of ACORN-led voter fraud in Nevada, Missouri, Wisconsin and Connecticut just to name a few. In Ohio a Judge ordered the Secretary of State to follow the law and let voting boards to check to see that those who registered were legit, AND SHE IS APPEALING THE DECISION! She doesn't want to follow the law.

BOTH The Democratic Party and Especially Senator Barack Obama have their fingerprints all over this scandal. If you remember the Democratic version of the "bail-out" bill ACORN was to get 20% of all profits to continue the fraudelent work.

Obama Paid ACORN $800,000 Via Their "Front Group." "For starters, Obama paid ACORN, which has endorsed him for president, $800,000 to register new voters, payments his campaign failed to accurately report. (They were disguised in his FEC disclosure as payments to a front group called Citizen Services Inc. for "advance work.")" (Editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" Investor's Business Daily, 10/8/08)

Obama Was ACORN's Lawyer. "The next year, 1993, Obama joined the civil-rights law firm Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, where he sued the state of Illinois on behalf of ACORN to implement the federal "Motor Voter" law, which the GOP governor at the time refused to do. Then-Gov. Jim Edgar argued, presciently, that the Clinton law would invite voter fraud." (Editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" Investor's Business Daily, 10/8/08)

Obama and ACORN, Fellow Travelers. "ACORN attracted Barack Obama in his youthful community organizing days. Madeline Talbott hired him to train her staff -- the very people who would later descend on Chicago's banks as CRA shakedown artists. The Democratic nominee later funneled money to the group through the Woods Fund, on whose board he sat, and through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, ditto. Obama was not just sympathetic -- he was an ACORN fellow traveler." (Mona Charen, "ACORN, Obama, And The Mortgage Mess," Real Clear Politics, 9/30/08)

Obama Trained ACORN Staff. "Several community organizers and Altgeld Gardens tenants confirmed Johnson was working on asbestos but said Obama organized residents to act. ‘He got people to vote with their feet' on the issue, organizer Madeleine Talbot said. At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff." (Letta Tayler and Keith Herbert, "Obama Forged Path As Chicago Community Organizer," Los Angeles Times, 3/2/08)

ACORN's Political Action Committee Endorsed Obama. "ACORN's Political Action Committee, ACORN Votes, announced Feb. 21 that it had endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President." (ACORN, "ACORN's Political Action Committee Endorses Obama," Press Release, 2/21/08)

Obama Praised ACORN For Being A Good Ally. "When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education. Senator Obama said, ‘I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I did for three and half years before I went to law school. That's the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work." (Barack Obama 2008 Website, Accessed 10/8/08)

"Obama Worked As Executive Director Of ACORN's Voter-Registration Arm, Project Vote." "What's more, Obama worked as executive director of ACORN's voter-registration arm, Project Vote, in 1992. Joined by two other community organizers on Chicago's South Side, Obama conducted the voter-registration drive that helped elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the Senate that year." (Editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" Investor's Business Daily, 10/8/08)

H/T

In an editorial today the National Review says that ACORN is going to make Florida, and hanging chads seem like a walk in the park:

Jive Turkey Rides Again
By the Editors

If we learned anything from the mess in Florida in 2000, it’s this: When elections don’t end on Election Day, things get ugly quickly. That is why today, and not the day after Election Day, is the day for Americans of all political stripes to aggressively press for more robust safeguards against vote fraud and for immediate action on the registration-fraud investigations targeting ACORN, the community-organizing enterprise that has been the sometime employer and full-time ally of Barack Obama.

ACORN’s voter-registration affiliate, Project Vote, was founded by leftist activist Sandy Newman. When Newman was looking to hire somebody to run Project Vote in Illinois, he turned to a local lawyer who had conducted training for ACORN: Barack Obama. Small world. (“He did one hell of a job,” Newman says. Undoubtedly.) ACORN’s political-action committee is supporting Obama, to nobody’s great surprise, and ACORN has hired Michelle Obama’s old Chicago law firm to help them out in a million-dollar embezzlement case. (National Review’s Stanley Kurtz documents the Obama-ACORN nexus here.) More significant, Obama represented ACORN in a lawsuit against Illinois, seeking to force the implementation of “motor voter” registrations, an initiative that has provided rich opportunity for voter-registration fraud. Senator Obama today disavows his connection to the leftist group in much the same way he describes his longtime associate and benefactor, the impenitent terrorist Bill Ayers, as “some guy who lived in my neighborhood.” Which is to say, he does so dishonestly.

ACORN’s Nevada offices were raided by federal law enforcement on Tuesday as part of a vote-fraud investigation. At least ten states have reported suspicions about ACORN’s new voters, who number at least three million since 2004. Among those the group was seeking to register to vote in Nevada were the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys. “Tony Romo is not registered to vote in the state of Nevada,” deadpanned Ross Miller, Nevada’s secretary of state. It is against the law to employ felons in voter-registration projects; ACORN seems to have employed at lest 59 of them, inmates on work release.

Unsurprisingly, the team of vote-canvassers assembled by ACORN for the benefit of Senator Obama — a gang one disgruntled felon/inmate/activist described as “lazy crackheads” — has produced some colorful results: 21 separate voter-registration applications were filed for a single voter in Miami; activists have attempted to register untold numbers of dead, underage, imprisoned, imaginary, or otherwise ineligible voters in swing states; in Indiana, signatures were forged on registration cards for names apparently pulled out of the phone book at random, and Indianapolis/Marion County’s registration now stands at 105 percent of the voting-age population; in Nevada, registrations for Cowboys’ star Terrell Owens and other would-be voters were filed from non-existent addresses, and there were no records of the existence of many of the people proffered as voters. In Albuquerque, at least 1,400 registration cards are in question. Missouri (53,500 new ACORN voters) and Ohio are finding forged signatures and registrations from non-existent addresses. These are not isolated cases; they run into several thousands already, and the investigations have only begun.

In July of 2007, five ACORN activists pleaded guilty to fraud in Washington state for submitting nearly 2,000 phony voter applications. ACORN’s new team has facilitated at least 40,000 new voter registrations in the state of Washington for this election. The Wall Street Journal reports that ACORN workers in Ohio were “given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey.” The Republican party in Ohio is asking the state this year to cross-reference driver’s-license numbers on registrations against the state’s motor-vehicles database, so that any mismatches can be examined. They are making their case in federal court, but Ohio’s Democratic secretary of state is resisting. Democratic officeholders across the country deny there is a problem.

There are millions of new ACORN-registered voters on the rolls for this election. It would be corrosive to our institutions if fraud were to force a close 2008 presidential race to be hashed out in court after the fact, or cast doubt on the result. Recall the gubernatorial election of Christine Gregoire of Washington State, where those ACORN activists were convicted of fraud. In Gregoire’s election, Democratic districts tallied up more mail-in ballots than there were mail-in voters, while Republican districts were found to have fewer votes than voters. Mail-in ballots are inherently problematic because there is no way of knowing who actually fills them out; their use should probably be restricted to overseas military and diplomatic personnel. Asking voters to go to the polls and show a valid photo ID would put an end to many of these questions, and doing so is not too much to ask to maintain the integrity of our democracy.

Folks this VERY SCARY, YOU ARE ABOUT TO LOSE THE POWER OF YOUR VOTE. Write your congressman, senator tell them to pull ACORN Funding, the GOVERNOR and ALL YOUR LOCAL officals and demand that all ACORN-registered voters have their elegiblity checked BEFORE the election.

ACORN Received Funds From the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

When you hear about ACORN getting help from the Justice Department (DOJ), most people hope it refers to the community organizing group getting an nice small room with bars, a warm bed and three squares a day. Unfortunately this is about the criminal enterprise ACORN,  receiving money from the US department charged with maintaining law and order.

The Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department investigated whether the DOJ had provided grants to ACORN. The investigation covered whether:

• ACORN applied for federal funds through DOJ-administered grant programs
• ACORN received federal funds through DOJ-administered grant programs
• Controls were placed on the use of DOJ grant funds awarded to ACORN
• The DOJ conducted any reviews or audits of the use of DOJ grant funds awarded to ACORN. 

Initially they did not find any direct DOJ grants to ACORN during the past 7 years, but they did find  one recipient of DOJ grant funds entered into a sub-agreement with ACORN for program activities.  They also found three instances in which a DOJ grantee entered into a sub-award with an ACORN affiliate, and one direct grant of DOJ funds to an affiliate of ACORN, In total,  ACORN  received one direct grant and four sub-awards totaling approximately $200,000 between fiscal years (FY) 2002 and 2009.

According to the Hill 

The report, requested by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also found a few instances of ACORN mismanagement of federally contracted work.

For example, ACORN received a $20,000 sub-contract to do community outreach on crime prevention in New York. The organization that contracted with ACORN has not released the funds yet, claiming that ACORN submitted reimbursements "outside the scope of the agreement," including "fringe benefits" for the salaried staffer working on the project.

In another instance the city of Phoenix contracted with the "ACORN Institute" to receive about $9,000 to canvass citizens and raise awareness about a tax credit and a tax assistance program. The city hasn't paid ACORN yet due to "poor reporting by the ACORN Institute regarding another project not related to DOJ grant funds." Phoenix is trying to terminate its contract with ACORN.

The DOJ did not audit the funds that went to ACORN or its affiliates, but did conduct an audit of one of the organizations that contracted with an ACORN affiliate. That audit concluded that the organization "did not properly manage the grant and did not adequately monitor some of its 36 sub-grantees, including the [American Institute of Social Justice]," an ACORN affiliate.

Smith seized on the report to call for a broader review of ACORN activities.

"Given the willingness of some ACORN employees to ignore the law, it comes as no surprise that the IG’s report found several instances in which ACORN and its affiliates failed to adhere to proper procedures," Smith said in a statement.

"Because the Justice Department’s review found only small amounts of taxpayer dollars going to ACORN, it is imperative that the Inspectors General from federal agencies that have provided millions to ACORN undertake the same kind of review. The Justice Department IG’s report may prove to be just the tip of an iceberg-sized fraud."

In a related story Andrew Breitbart had some choice words for the Eric Holder, the Head of the Justice Department about ACORN on Sean Hannity last night:

BREITBART: Well, there's a lot of hypocrisy, and the dust has settled for ACORN. And at the end of the day they've recognized that Eric Holder, the attorney general, has not initiated an investigation into ACORN, after we now have seven tapes. There were five initially that came out.

ACORN was defunded by the Senate, was defunded by the House, lost its link to the Census. While all that damage occurred, Congress didn't come in to investigate them. Obviously, not the attorney general's office.

And they've now realized, "Let's get back into — get back into business," because they realize that the dust settled, and they were not being investigated. It was Hannah, James and me who were being investigated. That's why we've been forced to offer this latest tape.

HANNITY: Yes. Well, are you saying, Andrew, that there are more tapes?

BREITBART: Oh, my goodness, there are. Not only are there more tapes; it's not just ACORN.

HANNITY: Wow.

BREITBART: And this message is to Attorney General Holder. I want you to know that we have more tapes. It's not just ACORN. And we're going to hold out until the next election cycle.

Or else, if you want to do a clean investigation, we will give you the rest of what we have. We will comply with you. We will give you the documentation we have from countless ACORN whistleblowers who want to come forward but are fearful of this organization and the retribution that they fear, that this is a dangerous organization.

So if you get into an investigation, we will give you the tapes. And if you don't give us the tapes, we will revisit these tapes come election time.

 Wow !! Kind of makes one hope that Holder does not bother to investigate so we can see what Andrew Brietbart has up his sleeve.  Well since we have to wait for Brietbart's evidence, let me suggest you take a click over to Michelle Malkin's site where she has a story about MORE corruption in the justice department. Click on the headline below:

Corruptocrat AG Eric Holder’s conflicted DOJ

ACORN's Voter Fraud For DUMMIES

Its a housing charity, NO its a bring out the group. Well its TWO, TWO, TWO GROUPS IN ONE.

There is so much Going around about what ACORN is and what they do and how they do it. Which party they work for (if any). How many states are they being investigated in. It would probably be a great time to take a step back and layout the information in one place. So below for your information is a succinct overview of ACORN, so easy even I can understand it:

The Complete Guide to ACORN Voter Fraud

October 14, 2008 - by Jim Hoft

And you thought 2000 was bad.

This year’s election is shaping up to be one of the most controversial in history. Just this week, a [1] federal judge ordered Ohio’s top elections official to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents. The very next day a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals[2] set aside the federal judge’s order on verifying registrations.

Further igniting the voter fraud/voter registration debate was the news that a national community organizing group is being investigated in at least 14 states and several swing states for massive irregularities. This news would make headlines anyway, but what made it worse was that Barack Obama was a key player in this organization, the [3] Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, in the past. Obama [4] trained its local leaders, [5] represented the organization in court, and worked to [6] funnel funds to the organization. The Obama campaign also [7] donated $800,000 this year to an ACORN affiliate.

What is ACORN?

The [8] Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is a community-based organization that advocates for low and moderate income families founded in 1970 by Wade Rathke and Gary Delgado. [9] Rathke, one of the most powerful hard-Left activists in America, is a former member of a radical 1960s group, the [10] Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The Weathermen terrorist group split off from the SDS in 1969. [11] ACORN says its priorities include better housing and wages for the poor, more community development investment from banks and governments, and better public schools.

ACORN is also known for its voter registration efforts.
[12]

This year alone [13] ACORN has registered 1,315,037 voters.

Although the organization prides itself for its registration efforts, it also has a long history of scandal. In the state of Missouri in 1986, [14] 12 ACORN members were convicted of voter fraud. But that case was not an isolated incident in the state. In December 2004, in St. Louis, six volunteers pleaded guilty of dozens of election law violations for filling out registration cards with names of dead people and other bogus information. Authorities launched an earlier investigation after noticing that among the new voters was longtime St. Louis alderman Albert “Red” Villa, who died in 1990. The volunteers worked for “Operation Big Vote” — a branch of ACORN — in St. Louis.

On February 10, 2005, Nonaresa Montgomery, a paid worker who ran Operation Big Vote during the run-up to the 2001 mayoral primary, was found guilty of vote fraud. Montgomery hired about 30 workers to do fraudulent voter-registration canvassing. Instead of knocking on doors, the volunteers sat at a St. Louis fast food restaurant and wrote out names and information from an outdated voter list. About 1,500 fraudulent voter registration cards were turned in.

In October 2006, St. Louis election officials discovered [15] at least 1,492 “potentially fraudulent” voter registration cards. They were all turned in by ACORN volunteers.

In [16] November 2006, 20,000 to [17] 35,000 questionable voter registration forms were [18] turned in by ACORN officials in Missouri. Most all of these were from St. Louis and Kansas City areas, where ACORN purportedly sought to help empower the “disenfranchised” minorities living there. But the ACORN workers weren’t just told to register new voters. The workers [19] admitted on camera that they were coached to tell registrants to vote for Democrat Claire McCaskill.

In 2007, in Kansas City, Missouri, four ACORN employees were [20] indicted for fraud. In April of this year [21] eight ACORN employees in St. Louis city and county pleaded guilty to federal election fraud for submitting bogus voter registrations.

And, that was just Missouri.

This year there have been several accusations of fraud against ACORN. Over a dozen states are investigating the organization already. Here is a complete list of the ongoing investigations:

North Carolina — State Board of Elections officials have [22] found at least 100 voter registration forms with the same names over and over again. The forms were turned in by ACORN. Officials sent about 30 applications to the state Board of Elections for possible fraud investigation.

Ohio — [23] The New York Post reported that a Cleveland man said he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times. The complaints have sparked an investigation by election officials into the organization, whose political wing has supported Barack Obama. Witnesses have already been [24] subpoenaed to testify against the organization.

Nevada — Authorities [25] raided the headquarters of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now on Tuesday October 7, 2008, after a month-long investigation. The fraudulent voter registrations included the Dallas Cowboys starting line-up.

Indiana — More than [26] 2,000 voter registration forms filed in northern Indiana’s Lake County filled out by ACORN employees turned out to be bogus. Officials also stopped processing a stack of about 5,000 applications delivered just before the October 6 registration deadline after the first 2,100 turned out to be phony.

Connecticut — Officials are looking into a [27] complaint alleging ACORN submitted fraudulent voter registration cards in Bridgeport. In one instance, an official said a card was filled out for a [28] 7-year-old girl, whose age was listed as 27. 8,000 cards were submitted in Bridgeport.

Missouri — The Kansas City election board is reporting 100 duplicate applications and 280 with fake information. Acorn officials [29] agreed that at least 4% of their registrations were bogus. Governor Matt Blunt [30] condemned the attempts by ACORN to commit voter fraud.

Pennsylvania — Officials are [31] investigating suspicious or incomplete registration forms [32] submitted by ACORN. 252,595 voter registrations were submitted in Philadelphia. Remarkably, 57,435 were rejected — most of them submitted by ACORN.

Wisconsin — In Milwaukee ACORN improperly [33] used felons as registration workers. Additionally, its workers are among 49 cases of bad registrations sent to authorities for possible charges, as first reported by the Journal Sentinel.

Florida — The Pinellas County Elections supervisor says his office has [34] received around 35 voter registrations that appear to be bogus. There is also a question of [35] 30,000 felons who are registered illegally to vote. Their connections with ACORN are not yet clear.

Texas — Of the 30,000 registration cards ACORN turned in, Harris County tax assessor Paul Bettencourt says just more than 20,000 are valid. And just look at some of the places ACORN was finding those voters. A church just next door is the address for around 150 people. More than 250 people claim a homeless outreach center as their home address. Some listed a county mental health facility as their home and one person even wrote down the [36] Harris County jail at the sheriff’s office.

Michigan — ACORN in Detroit is being [37] investigated after several municipal clerks reported fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications coming through. The clerk interviewed said the fraud appears to be widespread.

New Mexico – The Bernalillo County clerk has notified prosecutors that some 1,100 fraudulent voter registration cards were [38] turned in by ACORN.

That’s not all. So far this year at least 14 states have started investigations against ACORN. Talk about a culture of corruption. It is so bad that Representatives of Congress [39] have asked for the Justice Department to investigate, and GOP presidential candidate John McCain is [40] bringing it up in his stump speeches. The Obama camp is [41] stealthily altering its “Fight the Smears” website to distance themselves from the organization — quite a challenge considering how close their candidate’s association has been with the group.

The liberal vs. conservative, voter fraud vs. voter intimidation debate will no doubt continue after this election. But this year, with the assistance of scandal-plagued ACORN, it appears that — so far — the voter fraud side is winning.

---

Article printed from Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-acorn-voter-fraud/

URLs in this post:
[1] federal judge ordered : http://www.kentucky.com/676/story/550998.html
[2] set aside the federal judge’s order: http://www.kentucky.com/676/story/552208.html
[3] Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now: http://www.acorn.org/
[4] trained: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/10/busted-obama-fight-smears-website.html
[5] represented the organization : http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/surprise-obamas-legal-career-consisted.html
[6] funnel funds : http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/figures-obamas-immigration-bill.html
[7] donated: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=804986
[8] Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now: http://www.acorn.org/
[9] Rathke: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1773
[10] Students for a Democratic Society: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6723
[11] ACORN: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now
[12] Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxd8_Aubhzw0Wjm27r5qW_vawrqf5Zd6qw3OFHuOG2Ppzdy9NPox-6BntG7QsF9sO6kQF7qGCM5L-zdULda841yKwZkuIqZ8s7CUIlyI_ElDw7F5X9q_B7XEnaJo7kvjVRcip/s1600-h/acorn+map.jpg
[13] ACORN: http://www.acorn.org/
[14] 12 ACORN members: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/politics.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-11-0098.html
[15] at least 1,492: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/10/mccaskills-acorn-friends-submit-1492.html
[16] November 2006: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/11/missouri-acorn-workers-indicted-35000.html
[17] 35,000: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/11/missouri-acorn-workers-indicted-35000.html
[18] turned in by ACORN officials: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6968
[19] admitted on camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsT0LdeVomc&eurl=http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/search?q=ACORN
%2C+st+louis

[20] indicted: http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=3083581
30652174

[21] eight ACORN employees: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNf_-bBZls_mvLIRCFJtlkMM3mhAD93MLMTO0
[22] found: http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/10/10/acorn-fraud-in-north-carolina/
[23] The New York Post: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10102008/news/politics/1_voter__72_registrations_132965.htm
[24] subpoenaed: http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/2008/10/09/acorn-voters-fraud-pizza-boy-i-was-told-to-registered-
to-vote-10-to-15-times/

[25] raided: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/7139
[26] 2,000 voter registration forms: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/09/acorn.fraud.claims/?iref=hpmostpop
[27] complaint: http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-09180536.apds.m0342.bc-ct--voteoct09,0,6354551.story
[28] 7-year-old girl: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10122008/news/politics/7_yr__old_gets_an_acorn_vote_133207.htm
[29] agreed: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/10/blunt-condemns-slay-praises-aco
rns-voter-registration-drive/

[30] condemned : http://governor.mo.gov/cgi-bin/coranto/viewnews.cgi?id=EkkFVZyyuZcJTdDqqD&style=Default+News+Sty
le&tmpl=newsitem

[31] investigating : http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_592827.html
[32] submitted: http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=14034
[33] used felons: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=804986
[34] received: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/local/article846099.ece
[35] 30,000 felons : http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbfelons1012sboct12,0,3762352.story
[36] Harris County jail at the sheriff’s office: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/politics&id=6443815
[37] investigated: http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2008/09/obamas_acorn_fr.html
[38] turned in: http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/17/acorn-watch-1100-suspicious-voter-cards-in-nm/
[39] have asked : http://republicanwhip.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=104639
[40] bringing it up : http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/10/mccain-camp-drives-obama-acorn-connection/
[41] stealthily altering: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/7231

ACORN WHISTLEBLOWERS EXPOSE NEW FRAUD

Nothing like getting the information straight from the horses mouth. According to Newsmax, four former employees of ACORN and of ACORN Housing Corp. have supplied sworn affidavits to the Consumer Rights League that provide eyewitness accounts of how the two organizations have commingled funds and resources, in apparent violation of federal law. By commingling the funds it is not only using government funds to push its liberal political agenda, but also it provided a smoke screen for some ACORN leaders to line their own pockets with your tax dollars:

More ACORN Fraud Exposed: ACORN Whistleblowers
Monday, October 13, 2008 9:15 PM

Kenneth R. Timmerman

New testimony obtained by a consumer advocate group from former employees of ACORN paints a startling picture of the apparent misuse of taxpayer dollars to further the group’s left-wing political agenda.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) bills itself as a non-partisan group, supported by tax-exempt contributions from individuals and corporations.

The ACORN Housing Corp. (AHC), an ACORN affiliate, receives more than 40 percent of its funding from government sources, ostensibly to promote affordable housing to low- and middle-income families.

But according to CRL, internal documents obtained from whistleblowers suggest that ACORN has failed to maintain the proper distinction between its tax-exempt housing work and its aggressive political activities.

“ACORN and its offshoots take in millions of dollars in government grants under the guise of ‘consumer advocacy’ to line their own pockets,” said Jim Terry, CRL’s chief public advocate.

The new testimony, from four former ACORN and AHC employees, provides “hard confirmation” that ACORN and its affiliate are in fact one in the same, Terry told Newsmax.

“Here are people who have been in the room, testifying to the criminal intent of the people involved” in shuffling ACORN resources from tax-exempt purposes to political activities,” he said.

“Everything they do and say, with the exception of filing their government reports, treats this family of organizations as one cohesive unit. They operated as one organization, controlled from the top down,” Terry said.

One former employee, who was with ACORN for six years, including in a management position, testified that she has “knowledge that AHC has subsidized and believe that AHC continues to subsidize ACORN activities,” in apparent violation of the law.

“AHC subsidies to ACORN include office telephone service, fax, supplies and rental space paid for by AHC funds,” she added.

In addition, AHC management routinely treated federal grants as money that could be shared with ACORN, Terry told Newsmax.

“Between 2004 through 2006, AHC transferred $4.6 million to ACORN in grants and fees, according to their tax returns. This is inherently wrong.”

Since 40 percent of AHC funds came from government grants, that means that U.S. taxpayers were in effect paying for ACORN’s partisan political activities, he added.

AHC required employees to “solicit funds and cash from clients and real estate professionals to pay for AHC operations,” one of the whistleblowers said, detailing what amounted to a “shakedown” operation.

Another former AHC employee said he would testify in court to the fact that “AHC and ACORN have operated as one entity,” and quoted internal emails detailing how federal grants were shared between the organizations.

The whistleblowers also stated that:

AHC employees were instructed to hide documents from federal auditors with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD.

AHC employees were instructed on “steering” loans to partner banks, including Chase (for loans in the New Orleans area) and Bank of America for other areas around the country.

AHC National Field Director Lee Trujillo stated in the presence of several of these witnesses that “AHC and ACORN would be funded out of the same account.”

AHC and ACORN have also shared “voter initiative money.”

Internal AHC emails and other documents “clearly show that AHC is paying for lease space occupied by ACORN.”

All of these are potential violations of the laws governing non-profit organizations.

ACORN is currently under investigation for fraudulent voter registration and related activities in at least 11 key battleground states.

Election officials in several states have said that 50 percent of ACORN voter registrations are fictitious.

Just last week, for example, ACORN’s offices in Nevada were raided by state law enforcement officials after reports that ACORN had registered the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys to vote in Las Vegas.

In Connecticut, a 7-year-old girl was found to have been registered to vote by ACORN, which changed her age to 27.

ACORN announced last week that it had just completed “the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in U.S. history,” by helping “1.3 million low-income, minority and young voters across the country register to vote.”

The group insisted that the allegations of voter fraud are “bogus,” and “aim to camouflage voter suppression,” a term used by many groups on the left to describe alleged police roadblocks in black neighborhoods in Florida during the 2000 campaign.

Despite a two-year investigation by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission under the direction of Jesse Jackson protégé Mary Frances Berry, not a single eyewitness stepped forward who could corroborate the allegations of voter suppression or police roadblocks in Florida during that election.

ACORN has paid more than 13,000 workers to sign up new voters this election season, and admits that “there are always some people who want to get paid without really doing the job.”

In any large voter registration operation, ACORN said last week, there will always be “a small percentage of workers who turn in bogus registration forms.” But discrepancies in voter registration documents “has nothing to do with ‘voter fraud,’” the group insisted.

AHC gets U.S. government grants to provide free advice and counseling services to low and mid-income consumers on how to qualify for a mortgage.

In the advice it offers consumers, AHC warns about “predatory” lending. And yet, CRL alleges in a report issued earlier this year that AHC engages in many of the same practices it condemns.

“ACORN’s ‘financial justice’ operations attack lenders for ‘exotic’ loans, but AHC has recommended ten-year interest-only loans (which deny equity to the buyer) and reverse mortgages (which can be detrimental to senior citizens),” the report states.

AHC also has worked to obtain mortgages for undocumented workers, and has advised intake officers to counsel consumers how to use “under the table” income not reported to the Internal Revenue Service in order to increase their borrowing ability.

ACORN has devoted $50 million to Project Vote activities in the current election cycle, primarily to register minority and low-income voters.

Barack Obama ran the Chicago branch of Project Vote in 1992, and soon afterwards began teaching classes for “Future Leaders Identified by ACORN.”

In 1995, Obama represented ACORN in a lawsuit against the state of Illinois for its supposed failure to implement the new “motor voter” law, the first piece of legislation signed by Bill Clinton after he became president in 1993.

In a statement now immortalized in a YouTube video, Obama promised ACORN and other community organizations in an Iowa presidential campaign forum for Democrats in December 2007 that if elected president, he would bring them into the White House to help shape the agenda of an Obama administration.

“[B]efore I even get inaugurated, during the transition, we're going to be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda. We're going to be having meetings all across the country with community organizations so that you have input into the agenda for the next presidency of the United States of America,” Obama pledged.

ACORN endorsed Obama on Feb. 21, 2008, at the most critical point of the tough primary battle that pitted him against Hillary Clinton. Welcoming that endorsement, Obama said, “I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues that you care about my entire career.”

But now that ACORN’s alleged voter fraud activities have become public, the Illinois Senator has sought to distance himself from ACORN, just as he has from other former allies such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright or former wanted terrorist, William Ayres.

His “fight the smears” website now has a statement claiming that “ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee,” but acknowledged that he was hired by the organization in the 1995 lawsuit.

“Obama’s failure to disclose the true nature of his relationship with ACORN is very surprising and deeply troubling,” the McCain campaign said in a press release last week.