The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : ACORN Covering Up SEIU Ties?

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A photo retrieved from SEIU Local 100's website today. The original photo caption reads: "Organizers from Local 100, ACORN, and SEIU, supporters and attorneys celebrate our victory on February 3, 2002." The man with the sandy hair to the right of the microphones is Wade Rathke, founder and then-chief organizer of ACORN.

ACORN did a strange thing today.

It scrubbed its website of references to two of its key affiliates, Locals 100 and 880 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), an event reported by Kevin Mooney of the Washington Examiner.

Why would the radical left-wing ACORN do that? An observer I spoke with earlier today speculated that organized labor doesn't want to be associated with ACORN, which is pure PR poison, right now as it presses for the most important item on its legislative agenda: the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) also known as "card check."

Is the labor movement actually taking political heat for its ties to ACORN? It seems like a reasonable hypothesis but I don't have proof right now. Perhaps in time we'll find out. In any event, erasing the listings is weird.

What is ACORN afraid of?

In detail, here's what went down:

ACORN, which until recently proudly listed Locals 100 and 880 of SEIU as affiliates, removed the short blurbs and logos of the two entities from its allied organizations page.

As of April 20, one day before Mooney's article on ACORN and its ties to unions ran in the Washington Examiner, the ACORN website page looked like this. (The link leads to a PDF of the page I made on Oct. 30, 2008.)

From the same website, here is a copy that I made on Oct. 24, 2008 of an official list of ACORN's affiliates, a document called "ACORN, ACORN Affiliate, and COUNCIL Offices."

Moreover, SEIU Local 100's most recent publicly available IRS Form 990 shows ACORN founder Wade Rathke as that local's chief organizer (see page 5 of above linked PDF file).

(For background information on ACORN, please see the November 2008 issues of Foundation Watch and Labor Watch, two monthly newsletters I edit at Capital Research Center.)

View all comments (20) | Leave a comment

Pete| 4.22.09 @ 9:06PM

Obama's Brownshirts.

Julia| 4.22.09 @ 9:08PM

Enforcement arm of the democrat party. NYTimes and NBC are the democrat propaganda mouthpieces.

michael biskar| 4.22.09 @ 10:13PM

Indianapolis hotel workers are currently engaged in a struggle of historic proportions. The Employee Free Choice Act is not just being fought for in the Senate and House Chambers in Washington, but in the streets of Indy, where huge majorities of hotel workers at the Westin, Hyatt, and Sheraton hotels are demanding that the corporations respect their right to a fair process. The passage of EFCA would give these workers the union. Here is a video about their struggle:

http://gallery.mac.com/lynfilm#100093/RaisingIndianapolis_WEB&bgcolor=black

Smitty| 4.22.09 @ 10:33PM

The Employee FORCED Choice Act. This is nothing but a power grab by hungry fascist liberals. Watch out people, the violent Union Thugs are coming with their baseball bats and crowbars!

Daisy| 4.22.09 @ 10:33PM

UGH!!

Roy| 4.22.09 @ 11:53PM

If huge majorities of workers want to unionize, why don't they just hold a secret ballot election and vote for it?

KevlarKevin| 4.23.09 @ 12:32AM

That's what George McGovern(!) says.

Dienekes| 4.23.09 @ 12:55AM

The hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act is nothing but a big union bailout and will result in lost jobs and, likely, one-party rule for decades to come.

Why has no one asked (and answered) these simple questions in the debate over EFCA?

How many jobs have unions created?
How many jobs have unions help destroy?

While the answers should be obvious, if more people understood that unions do nothing to create jobs and have done much to destroy them, then EFCA would be a moot point.

For more info on EFCA (the Kill American Jobs Act), check out 1-888-NO-UNION.COM

Stan Redmond| 4.23.09 @ 2:52AM

I think this has more to do with the Obama paid volunteer act which states the paid volunteers [sic] can not volunteer on behalf of a labor union. But you can be a paid volunteer [sic] for a community organizing group. So... ACORN sees even more federal dollars coming their way and a wave of fresh 'volunteers' it makes perfect business sense to scrub themselves of union ties.

Becky| 4.23.09 @ 7:34AM

They must be transforming into a "secret" organization, similar to the freemasons. I'm just sorta, kinda kidding. It makes sense that they would combine and I don't know why they would be sensitive about it. They both get their money from government.

It is how things work today. The UAW scrubbed their site last year of their role in the effort to upend the Michigan constitution last year after an intern at a think tank found the plan on one of their sites. The internet giveth and it taketh away.

Deborah D| 4.23.09 @ 8:43AM

Nothing like American taxpayers footing the bill for voter fraud that dilutes their own vote. Yea, ACORN! Don't you just love that we support them? And this is the party of Thomas Jefferson? He'll be rolling over in his grave every day of the Obama administration (or should I call it "tyranny"? Jefferson would.)

"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
Thomas Jefferson

Tim| 4.23.09 @ 1:42PM

'New York Times' Spiked Obama Donor Story

By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin
Monday, March 30, 2009
A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) told a House Judiciary subcommittee on March 19 The New York Times had killed a story in October that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a “a game changer.”

http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/30/top_stories/doc49d0a73c7f98e547489394.txt

Tim| 4.23.09 @ 1:42PM

'New York Times' Spiked Obama Donor Story

http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/30/top_stories/doc49d0a73c7f98e547489394.txt

TIM| 4.23.09 @ 2:38PM

Sorry for the double post, was trying to post thins:
Times Public Editor Seeking Facts About Times Killing ACORN-Obama Expose Before 2008 Election From ACORN Whistleblower Anita MonCrief WEBCommentary Contributor Author: Michael J. Gaynor Date: April 21, 2009

"Mr. Hoyt somehow obtained Ms. MonCrief's email address and emailed her to find out the facts after "The O'Reilly Factor" played most of the voicemail on April 1, 2009."

http://www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=gaynorm&date=090421

Nat| 4.24.09 @ 9:00PM

Friday, April 24, 2009
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy: ACORN's Pawn

Not surprisingly, the silence surrounding ACORN’s latest antics has continued from the main stream media (MSM). Even after a couple of weeks where the Washington Examiner has run two editorials and Bertha Lewis was caught lying by Lou Dobbs. I was gearing up to write a scathing report on ACORN and the Census when startling new evidence was obtained that directly relates to recent articles about ACORN and their questionable alliances. Some of these partnerships do not meet the standard definition of illegal activity, but in some ways they appear to harm a great deal of people. Funders, board members, ACORN members and tax payers. The question becomes how can one serve ACORN and still maintain their integrity.

Jeff Roe| 7.28.09 @ 9:46PM

Organizations like ACORN and SEIU (and others) will be Obama's downfall - once all the threads and backroom skullduggery that tie these three together are public knowledge.

Good luck with all of that.

Keith| 12.13.09 @ 7:58AM

SEIU is freaking scary! They basically mobbed my hospital into accepting their rule, now we are having to drastically cut hours, and have lost about a quarter of our workforce. Had no problems before they came along. If the SEIU tries to get your hospital PLEASE TURN THIS MAFIA DOWN!