The American Spectator : ACORN's Big Spender

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ACORN's Big Spender

By Matthew Vadum on 11.6.09 @ 6:08AM

New evidence of White House political director Patrick Gaspard's ties to the radical group.

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Levenson is the obnoxious chap Glenn Beck gave the bum's rush to on May 6 for calling the TV host a racist off-camera, a standard calumny ACORN hurls at critics. "You're just afraid of black people," he reportedly said to Beck.

Levenson's been helping to coordinate ACORN's public disinformation strategy which relies heavily on lies and misdirection. Gaspard's brother Michael works alongside Levenson at the Advance Group, ACORN's lobbying and PR shop in New York City.

Internal ACORN documents also revealed that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who heads a congressional subcommittee that may be investigating ACORN in the not-too-distant future, gave ACORN $6,000 in 2008.

Under New York's "fusion" system, ACORN ally Nadler has run on the tickets of both the Democratic Party and of ACORN's Working Families Party.

Not surprisingly, Nadler has been most reluctant to have his House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties investigate ACORN. He's even been providing advice to ACORN's New York-based lawyer Arthur Z. Schwartz on how to defend his favorite activist group.

Another ACORN figure in the news, Peter Colavito, gave $15,000 to ACORN in 2008, according to internal ACORN documents.

Colavito, a former New York ACORN official and a board member of the Working Families Party, is now political director of SEIU Local 32BJ, which was active in the recent gubernatorial race in New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Congress has extended the ban on federal funding for ACORN that lapsed at the end of October.

The ban, part of stopgap spending legislation, runs out Dec. 18.The ACORN Institute, a part of ACORN's radical advocacy network, remains eligible for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), despite the protests of Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).CFC refers to the Combined Federal Campaign, which bills itself as "the world's largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign." CFC is a federally administered program that channels donations from federal civilian, postal and military employees into causes deemed worthwhile. It is unclear how much money the ACORN network receives through CFC.

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topics:
ACORN, Patrick Gaspard, Service Employees International Union

About the Author

Matthew Vadum is an award-winning investigative journalist at a conservative watchdog group in Washington, D.C. Vadum is also author of Subversion Inc: How Obama's ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (24) | Leave a comment

drudge ette obama| 11.6.09 @ 6:49AM

Gaspard may be a tax cheat.

Did he earn the money? If so, then he needs to pay taxes on it.

Was it a gift? Then he needs to pay taxes on it.

Was it money laundering? Oops...Don't worry. Eric Holder will cover his back on that one. Charlie Rangel will cry racism if you go after him.

Did he take a charitable deduction for it? Then that's an additional potential fraud.

Like Al Capone, go after him on the tax dodging issues.

Jim O'Brien| 11.6.09 @ 7:28AM

The Obama Administration is the ACORN Administration.

Bud| 11.6.09 @ 8:13AM

Quite so. I first heard this comment from radio luminary Neal Boortz about ten days ago. It is a label the Obama people cannot dodge, a stain they cannot wash out.

As Saul Alinsky counseled, "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

S.L. Toddard| 11.6.09 @ 11:07AM

mon⋅o⋅ma⋅ni⋅a
–noun
1. (no longer in technical use) a psychosis characterized by thoughts confined to one idea or group of ideas.
2. an inordinate or obsessive zeal for or interest in a single thing, idea, subject, or the like.

Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 11.6.09 @ 2:06PM

You do know what happens when you tell the same joke too many times, now don't you Toddard?

I've got five bucks for you, now run down to the local joke store, and buy yourself a new one, and then, don't come back (now that's funny).

Let's Go Yankees in 2010 (#28 maybe?)

Big J| 11.6.09 @ 2:09PM

Main Entry: os·trich
Pronunciation: \ˈäs-trich, ˈȯs- also -trij\

2 [from the belief that the ostrich when pursued hides its head in the sand and believes itself to be unseen] : one who attempts to avoid danger or difficulty by refusing to face it

Toddard to a tee.

Doorgunner| 11.6.09 @ 4:56PM

Tarded, why is it that when there's an article to which you object there suddenly appears a dozen or so 'pingbacks' to homoerotic websites?

Margie| 11.6.09 @ 10:56PM

ACTIVITIST. n. a person who loves activism for its own sake, without reflection or sustained thought. See LOGOPHOBE.

Anthony| 11.6.09 @ 12:00PM

I think we need a RICO investigation of both ACORN and SEIU. These two organizations seem to always be mentioned in tandem and the money flow between the two is outrageous.
Of course A.G. Holder is far too busy seeking to prosecute CIA officials for their conduct in detainee interrogations.
Actually, the entire Obama administration as well as ACORN & SEIU should be subject to a RICO investigation. Al Capone was an alter boy compared to Obama & his thugs.

Joyce| 11.7.09 @ 8:17AM

How about a RICO investigation into the White House and Democrat party??!! I'm not at all sure the Republic can survive Obama. The only way to stop SEIU and ACORN is to cut off the head and then all the radical arms will die.

gerald stephens| 11.6.09 @ 2:38PM

PLEASE stop picking on S.L Toddard or he may go away. Then what would we do for entertainment?

But we do have to feed him a tid-bit from time to time to perpetuate his convulsions.

Osamas Pajamas| 11.6.09 @ 3:46PM

So ACORN and its functional equivalents, some directly affiliated, and some simply fellow-travelers sucking blood out of the taxpayers at every level of American government, are worthy targets for demolition, destruction, by denial of funding by taxpayers, and by investigation and prosecution, and by widespread, public exposure and criticism, put 'em in order however you like.

Osamas Pajamas| 11.6.09 @ 3:57PM

Hmmmm. Looks like no one is managing the American Spectator blogs to weed out the Democrats who are inserting their highly intellectual observations about "twinks" and other sexual references. Par for the course --- the Demos are always pixxing in America's soup.

Cervantes| 11.6.09 @ 6:42PM

What in the name of Pee Wee Herman is a "Hairy Twink?

Cervantes| 11.6.09 @ 6:45PM

Who in the libuturd hell is this Pingback person?

Margie| 11.6.09 @ 11:03PM

Pingback homosexual activitists are all logophobes.
And what si an activitist?
ACTIVITIST. n. a person who loves activism for its own sake, without reflection or sustained thought. See LOGOPHOBE.

Cervantes| 11.6.09 @ 6:49PM

I think Pingback is a Hairy Twink

EvilBanker| 11.6.09 @ 7:04PM

If ACORN is radical, how would you describe a group like the old Weather Underground?

Pretty soon you'll be calling the Boy Scouts "radical."

You've turned into a nation of reactive wimps.

Commie Blaster| 11.7.09 @ 10:42AM

Exeellent reporting! We need more reporting like this! Learn more details about communist organizations, ACORN and SEIU, as well as our communist President here: http://www.commieblaster.com/acorn/index.html

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