Political Hay
ACORN’s California Makeover
The largest state chapter in ACORN’s dubious empire finds a cynical way to keep the money coming in.
(Page 2 of 2)
Simply put, there is absolutely no reason to believe ACCE won’t be controlled from above as other affiliates are controlled in the ACORN network, itself a tangled mess of interlocking directorates and affiliated tax-exempt groups.
ACORN’s sleight-of-hand in California is the way the group has always done business.
ACORN plays a game of corporate musical chairs when it gets into trouble. When an ACORN affiliate does something admirable, ACORN emphasizes the ties it has to that affiliate. When an affiliate does something infamous, ACORN plays dumb and its byzantine organizational structure allows it to claim plausible deniability.
Such chicanery is standard operating procedure at ACORN, according to ACORN lawyer Elizabeth Kingsley. In an internal legal memo in 2008 Kingsley described the hoops that ACORN jumps through to create the façade that its affiliates are independent of each other.
Key ACORN affiliates argue they are not “‘affiliated,’ ‘related,’ or ‘controlled’ by or with each other, for various legal purposes, while allowing actual control to be exercised in a highly coordinated manner,” she wrote. ACORN suffers from “an organizational culture that resembles a family business more than an accountable organization.”
ACORN is indeed like Tony Soprano’s family business — but I digress.
Changing the name of California ACORN to ACCE is a slight variation of this game of institutional hide-and-seek that allows ACCE to easily blend into the woodwork and become just another little box on ACORN’s organizational chart.
As if on cue, longtime ACORN ally Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has already welcomed ACCE to the community organizing fold, but Fannie Brown, who used to be a California state delegate on ACORN’s national board, said she’s very skeptical of the “new” group.
“They started washing it a little bit and then they poured some bleach on it and kind of polished it up a little more to make it look good,” said Brown, who with Reid is a member of ACORN 8.
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.
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metin2 yang | 1.21.10 @ 6:41AM
Good thing I'm not a youngin', otherwise that figure would skyrocket.
I agree.
Pingback| 1.21.10 @ 6:57AM
Must Know Headlines 1.21.2010 — ExposeTheMedia.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ret. Marine| 1.21.10 @ 7:12AM
You know what they say "you can put lipstick on a pig but, it's still a pig". Maybe ol'e big bertha has something to hide. Skeletons anyone?
rhonda welsch | 1.23.10 @ 11:09PM
http://michellemalkin.com/2009.....hagen-e...
Let's start following the cheaters and their money- this is blatant manipulation and Obama should be impeached for giving this criminal a voice in our Nation's affairs. Soros states clearly that The United States Congress is a problem because they must agree to the Green Energy Manifesto-he said. “All that is lacking is the political will. Unfortunately the political will will be difficult to gather because of the mere fact that it requires congressional approval in the United States.” Soros said he had “informal discussions” with Obama administration officials and they recognized the difficulty of getting congressional approval. But he said the issue was too important to sweep aside. That would support the little O's big numerous actions to usurp the authority away from our congress so as to fulfill Soros' agenda. Please read Malkin's article first and then this and feel free to contribute to the discussion.
I want to be positive and I must say I am absolutely positive that the corruption in our government knows no boundaries and the only hope we have is in the complete replacement of all incumbents and their staff. It is time to shut down this government as it no longer represents the will of We the People, and is therefore a Tyrannical misrepresentation of our governments original intent. The Law of the land must be restored immediately and the criminal elites- aka "the progressives" must be exposed and called out. That goes for "all" the progressives no matter what aisle they sit on. The political agenda which abounds at this time if left unchecked,will bring certain destruction to our nation and all in power now should be suspect!
I hate to sound preachy, but God only knows how we will survive this.
The commitment and sacrifice that will be required on the part of all citizens is going to be very significant and we had better prepare for what will truly be required.
MADE in the USA should be a voluntary mandate- that will help reduce our debt. No more deficit spending-period. Our children and grandchildren will not be able to survive the unsustainable financial burden we are imposing on them and it is about time "We the People" exercise our 1st amendment rights publicly and refuse to adhere to the constraints of political correctness. It will be the absolute Death of Liberty if we do not address this issue head on in this election cycle.
O and Holder are Treasonous enemies of the State and their own words and deeds since elected prove it. Impeachment should be the first order of business after the elections. Someone needs to write thr orders now!
I withdraw consent and will exercise my 2nd amendment right as a birth right God gave me. I have the right to defend my country, my children, and myself against Tyranny. America's only guarantee of freedom is through this right. If it is lost all will be lost. Guns do not kill people, dirty politicians and other violent criminals do!
The three strikes rule must apply to politicians too- when they violate their oath of office time and time again it is imperative that we do what we are obligated to do: Defend our Mother country and kick the bastards out!
The United States of America came with a blessing from God and much blood shed- let us never forget the blood! Jesus sure didn't! We must put the welfare of our nation and her future first for if we do not we will be exterminated. It is now or never and all True Americans must get engaged. Silence and apathy are no longer options! Nov.2nd, 2010 vote the incumbent out!!!!!!
Pingback| 1.21.10 @ 7:47AM
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S.L. Toddard| 1.21.10 @ 8:25AM
mon⋅o⋅ma⋅ni⋅a
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MOS was 71331| 1.21.10 @ 10:11AM
Can't these advertising posts be removed? They have no relevance to the discussion.
Dustoff| 1.21.10 @ 9:37AM
Time to DE-fund these crooks.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.21.10 @ 9:57AM
Matthew,
Thanks for the head's up! We appreciate it.
Pete| 1.21.10 @ 1:02PM
Why is there no vocal Republican champion of this issue? Someone who is in front of a camera with some frequency needs to be on this like a pit-bull.
Pingback| 1.21.10 @ 1:54PM
Capital Research Center: links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.21.10 @ 2:18PM
ACORN’s Getting a Facelift! | Little Miss Attila links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Tim| 1.21.10 @ 4:05PM
The tree doesn't fall far from the acorn does it?
Osamas Pajamas| 1.22.10 @ 12:06AM
There has to be a way to destroy these bloodsuckers. There's no reason why taxpayers should pay even one cent to government or private organizations to fund "empowerment" or "community organizing" or "get out the vote drives." Choke off their supply of hijacked funds and boycott any corporations which fund them with private money. Run all of these creeps head first into a stone wall.
Pingback| 1.22.10 @ 2:11AM
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The American Spectator : ACORN's California Makeover links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.22.10 @ 7:57AM
The American Spectator : ACORN's California Makeover links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Marc Jeric| 1.22.10 @ 4:36PM
It is a big mistake to underestimate ACORN brownshirts. They constitute a system of local soviets (community organizations were called soviets in the USSR), headed by Obama, our Community Organizer-in-Chief. They are in charge of the 2010 census - they will register illegal aliens as voters, ignore white Republicans, redefine election limits, and lie,lie,lie.
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The American Spectator : ACORN's California Makeover links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.22.10 @ 2:52PM
» ACORN Crime Family Renames New York Chapter - Big Government links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.22.10 @ 4:43PM
ACORN’s Latest Trick: Shutdown and Rename « Mayrant&rave links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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ACORN is attempting to perpetrate yet another spectacular fraud - INGunOwners links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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ACORN Crime Family Shutting Down Nationwide: Launching Renaming Effort - Fencing Dis links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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ACORN’s Relentless Push To Deceive Taxpayers Continues | NewsReal Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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ACORN’s alias con game for money and power « VotingFemale links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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Converse | 8.11.11 @ 10:51PM
is good
Jamie| 9.27.11 @ 12:37PM
If the standard for affiliation is that an executive used to work somewhere else, then every company in the Fortune 500 is effectively part of the same conglomerate, having played a game of unending musical chairs among the C-suite staff for decades.
Dis_Gust| 10.16.11 @ 1:04PM
how soon we forget that the O'Keefe ACORN tapes were edited frauds that the Democrats were just to unorganized and weak to even bother to check.