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Special Report
How ACORN Survives — and Thrives
With friends in high places — even Obama’s HUD secretary — it’s free to remain true to its infamous self.
The Obama administration is stonewalling efforts on two fronts to investigate the still-operating ACORN and uncover what aid administration officials offered the radical advocacy group infamous for its thug tactics and election fraud.
The Obama administration is sitting on Capital Research Center’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that seeks correspondence between Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and ACORN. HUD rules state that FOIA requests must be answered within 45 days, but at this writing our request has been pending for just over seven months.
The request was filed because Donovan is a longtime ACORN collaborator. He worked closely with ACORN for five years when he was New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s housing development commissioner.
“Perhaps no administration official has had more interaction with Acorn than” Donovan, the New York Times reported. ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis admitted as much. “We grew to respect him, and he grew to respect us.”
Ever since hidden-camera videos surfaced last year showing ACORN employees helping undercover conservative activists with financial and tax planning for a brothel for pedophiles, Donovan has remained silent about his relationship with ACORN. It’s unclear what Donovan is hiding.
And if you thought conservatives were the only ones urging the Obama administration to conduct a proper federal racketeering investigation of ACORN, you’d be wrong.
The whistleblowers of the left-leaning “ACORN 8” group are learning the hard way that the Obama Department of Justice is just as adept at stonewalling as Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). Longtime ACORN benefactor Nadler is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties who refused to initiate a probe even when confronted with powerful evidence of ACORN’s wrongdoing. (To make matters worse, in a breathtaking conflict-of-interest Nadler devised a novel legal strategy ACORN used to defend itself.)
ACORN 8 is a group that broke away from ACORN in 2008. It is headed by Marcel Reid, a former member of ACORN’s national board. She was expelled from ACORN after demanding to see financial documentation related to a million-dollar embezzlement perpetrated by the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke. The brother, Dale Rathke, blew his ill-gotten gains on spending sprees at Neiman Marcus, limousine rentals, and other accoutrements of the Mercedes Marxist set. Big brother Wade and other high-ranking ACORN officials covered up the theft for eight years until it was discovered two years ago.
“I was attracted to the mission of ACORN to help people, to alleviate poverty,” Reid said previously. “We asked to see the books because the promissory note indicated a theft had occurred. They played games with us.”
At first, in 2009 ACORN 8 filed a legal complaint with U.S. attorneys across America, hoping to spark interest in an ACORN probe of the embezzlement and other crimes Reid and associates claim have been committed by ACORN. The splinter group’s pleas that ACORN be investigated for fraud, embezzlement, conspiracy, and criminal civil rights infractions fell on deaf ears.
So in April of this year ACORN 8 tried again, filing a complaint with the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The complainants said DOJ “refused to assign investigators, or bother to formally investigate ACORN 8 criminal allegations, thereby depriving the group of due process and equal protection of the law.”
They described ACORN as an “ongoing criminal enterprise that is committing mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, obstruction of justice and possibly extortion” and requested “a formal criminal civil rights investigation of this important matter.”
The ACORN 8 said they had “been forced to resort to notifying the OIG because federal law enforcement authorities across the country have refused to investigate these serious criminal allegations, and consequently, violated our civil rights.”
So what does the DOJ’s internal watchdog do? It punts. Five months after ACORN 8 filed its paperwork, the OIG informed the complainants in a Sept. 16 letter that it was referring the case to the FBI’s Inspection Division and the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
The wheels of justice may turn slowly, but this is ridiculous. All the OIG had to do was send out a form letter saying “you sent this to the wrong office.” It’s not that hard to do.
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 (15) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Matthew Vadum
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Louis Jenkins| 10.25.10 @ 8:25AM
Which shell is the pea under? Obama will not let ACORN die on the tree. It must be revived come what may, and Obama will see to it. I do not think the lameduck congress will do much, and if it has to lie fallow until 2012 after Obama makes it back into office, then so be it. The problem is that Obama, if all goes according to plan next week, may not be relected in 2012.
Petronius| 10.25.10 @ 8:47AM
Aside from stuffing ballot boxes and enrolling urban parasites in welfare programs ACORN is just a support group for activists who are too uncouth for state employment.
JF| 10.28.10 @ 4:55PM
If only they were that benign. Several months ago (on the heels of the Breitbart expose) PBS' Frontline did a program exposing the NYC branch of ACORN as a group of extortionist thugs. Apparently, a developer interested in gentrification used their services to rough up some little old ladies who refused to move from their rent-controlled apartments. First, ACORN members went to the media and accused the women of "RAACISM" for not moving (the ploy was that the developer promised neighborhood minorities "jobs.") Then they started using terrorist tactics - vandalism and violence - against the residents. Bottom line - when PBS admits this group is one step lower than the Mafia, you KNOW the real truth is much worse.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.25.10 @ 9:37AM
ACORN,
and the "Attorney general project" are trying to over rule this election. Watch the re-counts this year.
Raise hell in your districts and States when they do.
wodiej| 10.25.10 @ 10:51AM
"The wheels of justice may turn slowly, but this is ridiculous. All the OIG had to do was send out a form letter saying "you sent this to the wrong office." It's not that hard to do."
that is what we get for publicly paid employees who make twice as much as the private sector??
Harry Keester| 10.25.10 @ 1:33PM
That's why public employees could never get a job with private industries. Capital L for loser.
Houston Rao| 10.25.10 @ 11:01AM
Some of you may have heard about True the Vote, an independent organization that found substantial problems in the voter registration rolls in Harris County, TX. http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ote-texas/
Now the Texas Democrat Party and other democratic supported parties, including Houston Votes, an Acorn like voter registration outfit, have sued the True the Vote organization for their investigative work. They have also sued the county claiming that the county is barred from correcting these registration problems.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2613063/posts?page=2
While this may not be related to the France subject, please spread the message.
Dustoff| 10.25.10 @ 2:59PM
Then this will make you sick
**************************************
The Yuma Sun is reporting that two organizations — Mi Familia Vota and One Vote Arizona — submitted more than 3000 voter registrations in Yuma County, and more than 20,000 voters statewide. Even more, they have signed up 43,000 people statewide for the permanent early voter list.
What they didn’t tell you is that voter fraud on a massive scale could be taking place, ostensibly to help Raul Grijalva keep the congressional seat he holds by stealing the election.
Here’s what the article doesn’t tell you, by a source in the Yuma County Recorder’s Office:
* These 3000 voter registration forms were all dropped off at once by the one group on the deadline to turn in voter registration forms.
* Almost all of the registrations were for the Democratic Party, a statistical improbability at best.
* Today, these same 3000 newly registered voters — as a group — had papers dropped off at the Yuma Recorder’s office requesting to be signed up for the permanent early voters list… which means the ballots will be mailed early, with no accountability.
* The Yuma Recorder’s office is checking the voter registration forms and have found that already more than 65% of them are invalid due to the registrant not being a citizen, wrong/invalid address, false signature, etc.
Now, the question is: is voter fraud taking place in Yuma County… and is it taking place on an even bigger scale in Pima County?
So far, the partisan Democrat in charge of the Pima County Recorder’s Office, F. Ann Rodriguez, has been completely silent about any such activity, though certainly even just a few thousand votes could change the outcome of the race between rocket scientist Ruth McClung and boycotter Raul Grijalva.
PattyMor| 10.25.10 @ 3:33PM
ACORN has been committing voter fraud for a long, long time. It is evident that we need to tighten up the process for voter registration and increase the penalties for voter fraud. This is a imperative so they can't steal any more elections,
but especially for 2012.
CalMark| 10.25.10 @ 4:42PM
Voter fraud is another tool of the Establishment: the Democrats who push statist government, and the RINO enablers who privately cheer the same.
This isn't going away because the Powers That Be, Republican and Democrat, don't want it to. Remember, as a result of some blatant felonies during the 2004 elections, Bush had a great chance to put a stake through the heart of ACORN. He didn't.
That means that We, The People, through Tea Parties and other means, must clean up this mess. It will be very difficult to start the process, because the corruption runs deep. However, in such things, we need one or two big victories: once you excise a big chunk or two of rot, the rest follows much more easily.
antidote| 10.29.10 @ 6:00PM
delusional and brainwashed springs to mind as I read these posts. All of the crimes you people allege have been committed by democrats are in fact republican tactics that got W appointed and then elected to office. It is hilarious to watch how the Republican machine can convince you people that this is how any Democrat got into office. There are more registered Democrats in the US than Republicans. That is why Dems controlled Congress for 40 years. The Repubs mounted a campaign of gerrymandering, voter fraud and ballot box stuffing to get control of congress in 1994. Now they accuse the Dems of doing the same thing when they get control back. Hilarious. You people need to get a clue.
Oldefarte| 10.26.10 @ 12:10PM
This is a prime reason to vote REPUBLICAN on 11/2/10, since this garbage will constantly be inside governmental budgets until the American taxpayer-voters eliminate by defeating the extremely radical Democrats now in charge of our government!!!!!!!!!
Marc Jeric| 10.27.10 @ 6:08PM
ACORN brownshirts and various union goons (AFL-CIO, NEA, AFT, AFSCME, ETC.) constitute a system of local soviets (that is Russian for community organizations) under the leadership of Obama - our Community Organizer-in-Chief; they are ready and financed by the $8.7 billion reserved for them in the stimulus bill. They will perform large-scale vote fraud - by stuffing ballot boxes, voting dead and illegal aliens, eliminate military and absentee ballots, fake recounts...
Vasu Murti | 10.28.10 @ 1:57PM
The following statement was issued via e-mail by Bill Quigley of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on 8/19/2010 regarding ACORN:
Dear CCR Supporter,
We have gotten some of our best feedback from friends and allies this year on our work defending ACORN, so I am sorry to have to pass along the news that a deeply conservative panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the multiple victories we had in the lower court.
The panel somehow found that ACORN was not being punished when Congress cut off its funding based on rightwing grandstanding, FOX news rants and a video that turned out to be a lie. The court did find that ACORN had standing to sue, just not on Bill of Attainder grounds, and they sent the case back to the District Court to look at possible First Amendment and due process violations.
The Bill of Attainder provision in the U.S. Constitution says that no person or organization may be singled out for punishment by the government without benefit of a trial. The appeals court turned our argument on its head and declared that since hundreds of unspecified allied organizations might be affected by the de-funding it was perfectly legitimate since Congress did not just single out ACORN!
Though ACORN has obviously been seriously damaged by this campaign, they continue to struggle on and make the best of their situation, while government and independent investigations clear them of wrongdoing again and again. But because we cannot stand by and let this ruling empower the targeting of other politically vulnerable groups like ACORN, we will fight this deeply flawed decision. We will be seeking en banc review by the entire Second Circuit, and will keep you posted on our progress.
For more information visit our case page. Thank you for standing with us and our allies at ACORN.
The fight continues!
Bill Quigley
Legal Director
antidote| 10.29.10 @ 6:08PM
Not to mention all of these posts are for the most part coded racist hate spewing nonsense. Let's just be clear about what you are really saying. You believe that the black organization Acorn got the black president elected so he could give all of your tax dollars to lazy black people who don't want to work, just want to commit crime. that is really your obnoxious, odious message which is fueled by the republican establishment and fox news so that you will be convinced to vote against your own best interests and vote republican. Just say it people, that is really what you think, don't try to conceal it, put it out there so the world can see what small minded, racist, odious, ignorant and hateful fools you all are.