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The cynical, politically motivated, and apparently illegal firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin shocks the conscience.

I'm not going to examine here the circumstances surrounding the termination of Walpin but I do wish to remind readers that AmeriCorps has long been ripe for abuse.

ACORN took advantage of the federal agency a decade ago. As I wrote previously, ACORN, which is now notorious for its commingling of funds within its network of affiliates, used government resources to promote legislation.

A congressional report noted that there was "apparent cross-over funding between ACORN, a political advocacy group and ACORN Housing Corp. (AHC), a non profit, AmeriCorp [sic] grantee" that is a major affiliate of ACORN.

The government-funded AmeriCorps, which promotes public service, suspended AHC's funding "after it was learned that AHC and ACORN shared office space and equipment and failed to assure that activities and funds were wholly separate."

The report noted that, "AmeriCorps members of AHC raised funds for ACORN, performed voter registration activities, and gave partisan speeches. In one instance, an AmeriCorps member was directed by ACORN staff to assist the [Clinton] White House in preparing a press conference in support of legislation." ("Report on the Activities of the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities During the 104th Congress," Report 104-875, January 2, 1997)

Aware of this kind of abuse, earlier this year Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) tried to block ACORN from using AmeriCorps funding to promote its own political objectives, but ACORN allies, including Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), helped to defeat Vitter's legislation.

Incidentally, as I write this, ACORN donors are celebrating the 39th birthday of the radical activist group at a $250 a ticket gala reception at the National Education Association. Center for American Progress president John Podesta, SEIU union boss Andy Stern, and corrupt former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros are expected to attend.

View all comments (18) | Leave a comment

MarkJ| 6.17.09 @ 9:48PM

I'm curious: when did harassed and downtrodden "community organizers" suddenly become respectable, influential, and secure enough to openly advertise $250/head "gala receptions" without incurring any sense of a) shame and b) irony?

Deborah D| 6.18.09 @ 5:00AM

Good grief, the deeper one digs the smellier things get. I am so incensed by this whole ACORN/Americorps/Obama/Walpin thing. I used to think I lived in a Democratic Republic with a watchdog media, but I've awakened from that fairy tale over the years. The takeover of our country has been incidious and relentless with no sunlight provided by the mainstream press. Why isn't the press up in arms about any of this? Is there no integrity at all? Of course, I just answered my own question. We'll be Venezuela before we know it.

Don L| 6.18.09 @ 5:52AM

Gee -ACORN and the NEA? Surprise, surprise, surprise! How about researching the 15 million the Bishops gave this pro-abortion machine?
Could they possibly not have known who they are and what they do?

Your Majesty| 6.18.09 @ 12:47PM

ACORN-type corruption grabs the public's attention, but it's not the big-picture problem with AmeriCorps.

The real issue is that it changes the mindset of our 15-40 age group from entrepreneurism (set your own direction and go sell things to fund your org) to government dependence (let someone else decide what you will do, then beg for money via grant requests).

This was the conceit of having "volunteer scholarships" for college students. Existing college orgs (fraternities, service clubs, etc.) were always perfectly capable of providing both community service and entrepreneurial skill development. Nothing that couldn't be fixed by bribing students with scholarships!

DL13| 6.18.09 @ 1:17PM

Here is a link to Glenn Beck's interview with Gerald Walpin yesterday. He looks as sharp as a tack to me, so I don't get the BS about senility the Pres is trying to spin on this:

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/17/sweet-glenn-beck-gives-gerald-walpin-a-senility-test/

Here is the link for 2 MORE IG's the Pres has suppressed during the last 2 weeks:

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/18/obama-has-fired-2-igs-in-2-weeks-leashed-another/

We will have to decide if we live in a democracy, or a Chicago style Thugocracy.

GunnyG| 6.18.09 @ 2:38PM

Liberals and Corruption go together like cookies and milk.

Fred| 6.18.09 @ 8:51PM

Wow. To Matt and those commenting all I can say is that you folks really do live in your own little world. First of all, if you think $250 is a gala reception, I guess you aren't Republicans because they get a lot more for their parties. Second of all, if ACORN is radical you clearly need to look up the term. You might check under the 60s - Weathermen - and still think if you think Acorn's goals are radical. Third, what you are really afraid of is that a bunch of low income minorities might rise to the level where they can challenge your pathetic hold on the teensy weensy bit of power you may have in this world, but get ready, because that day is almost here.

Mike McDermott| 6.18.09 @ 10:42PM

Watergate is child's play compared to obaminations' digging OUR country six feet under. I consider apologizing to the world for America's greatness and compassion an act of treason by the 'leader' of America the beautiful! How many picks has BHO made who 'forgot' they broke serious laws in various ways. How many lies and scandals will it take to bring this goliath down? I'll take a buffoon like Biden over BHO any day! The Speaker of the House should have resigned instead of insulting the integrity of us all or that sacred office.

Who is BHO to decide we will become world citizens, that we are NOT a Christian nation, or we shall abandon Israel to the dogs of war and terrorism? Why are we letting ourselves become meaningless pawns, with no representation safeguarding our inalienable rights, bestowed upon us all by our founding fathers?? BHO's associations with far-left radicals, bandaged with lame excuses covering his true relationships to them, are still hidden from our scrutiny, as is his official birth certificate!

If bank robbers or con artists get caught at their craft, can they just 'return' the stolen goods and all is forgiven? You can bet your sweet bippie it won't happen. Mr. Walpin caught St. Hope red-handed stealing public funds! I DEMAND to know why the administrators involved at St. Hope aren't charged with grand larceny to the ummph degree! It is too coincidental BHO keeps picking citizens with less-than-impeccable qualifications for highly responsible posts. Isn't our credit checked when applying for jobs or apartments? Since when are people absolved for breaking the law by returning the 'booty' they got caught with? Is it payback time? I demand to know why these 'crimi-politicians' aren't standing with the bank robbers and con artists before a judge! Add to this the 'Top Secret' cover-up of ACORN and what we have here should be sending our czar "good old boy system" into the toilets of jail cells!

When watchdogs, who independently monitor government actions and dealings, get terminated by the 'commander-in-chief' near the conclusion of an investigation detrimental to said "commander-in-chief', we should be as outraged as the townfolk chasing after Frankenstein with torches and pitchforks! If BHO has committed prosecutable offenses he should be tried in a criminal court of law, and if found guilty, sent to Leavenworth!!!.

The very people monitored and assessed should NEVER have the authority to squash an investigation about to uncover their shady dealings. Mr. Walpin shoud be afforded the same protections given to whistlebowers, or those who stand up on the job then suffer retaliation and persecution. BHO should be exiled to the muslim world that he conveyed his 'secret' message quoting from the koran condoning 'scriptures' calling for conversion or of meting koranic justice to unbelievers, up to and including death. Oh, by the way, I am totally disgusted and ashamed our president doesn't know how many states there are.

Devon Young| 6.18.09 @ 10:46PM

NOW HEAR THIS:

We the People do not live in a "Democratic Republic" or a democracy. If you were passing notes in 9th grade and missed it, America is a
REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC.

Look up what that means if you do not know. PLEASE educate yourselves and use the proper terms.

Barbara| 6.19.09 @ 7:29AM

Here's the thing, just like Unions taking dues then donate those dues to the Democratic Party...our government takes our tax dollars and gives to this crooked organization!
I do not want my tax dollars going to these thieves or any other group that is crooked!
What can we do to stop this, or are we just being used as serfs to fund a bunch of thieves?

John McClain| 6.19.09 @ 9:18AM

If you are not conversant with the Constitution, if you do not support the enforcement of every provision in the Constitution including the exact limitations placed on the central government, and you are not willing to fight to defend it, you have relinquished your status as a "Sovereign American Citizen", and have no right to complain about anything. Millions of Americans voluntarily relinquish their rights in order to serve in the Military for the express purpose of preserving those rights you only have as a "Sovereign American Citizen". We have exactly the government we chose, because a majority of residents of this nation have no desire to be citizens except when the handouts are being doled out. Sovereignty does not come free, the price of authority is an equal portion of responsibility. The primary reason our population does not desire to be citizens, is that it requires they take responsibility, meaning doing things before deciding who to vote for, and also being responsible for the things those elected politicians do. I hear of calls for term limits when a particularly eggregious crime is exposed, but that is once again, avoiding responsibility. This Nation can only be a Representational Republic if we represent ourselves. That means no person should ever be re-elected to office, and every elected official should be elected on the basis of returning to their place of residence when their term is up, and returning to work.
That is the only means of a Sovereign People to maintain that Sovereignty, because it is the only means of keeping the power wielded by citizens who are temporarily public servants, rather than by lawyers who are professional politicians.
If you are swayed by a political ad, you need to re-assess your values. If what a candidate says affects your choice, you did not do your duty and delve into the candidate's background and already know their position on pertinent issues. Essentially, if anything besides your personal research affects your vote, you are selling yourself out, as did more than half the voting Nation.
We have the current illegal alien in office because most residents of this Nation want nothing to do with being a citizen and having responsibility, and are willing to live under government mandates and relinquish all their rights to avoid being responsible for anything.
When the state of the nation is assessed, and it is found we are, as a whole, far worse off than we were before the election, all of those who voted to have this state of the Nation come about, will be the first to complain, and the first to deny any responsibility for their place and pain, just as those same irresponsible residents were the first to deny responsibility for their status after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and the first to lay claim to government hand outs, all the while blaming the hand feeding them, for their own lack of planning, coordination, and preparation which is and was an entirely local issue for New Orleans and Louisianna. When you call me names for this, remember the picture published, of all the fueled and ready to roll school buses sitting under water because no one had a plan to put a driver in each seat, and use the assets at hand, to work the storm and disaster it needn't have been.
John McClain
GySgt, USMC, ret.
Vanceboro, NC

Todd M. Stevens| 6.19.09 @ 2:51PM

Gunny McLain is right about the majority of the population giving America away. They are giving it away because they don't know what they have. I have heard it said that if you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you are. That is so true. Our public education system (NEA & AFT) is insuring that its inmates have no understanding of and therefore no hope of living in a free America. Benjamin Franklin, after finishing his work on the constitution, was asked what sort of government we had. His reply was, "A republic, if you can keep it." The Biblical principles upon which the constitution rests are held in contempt now, so it is no surprise that the constitution is no longer valued by so many. America needs to wake up & strengthen what is left or America will be no more. I never thought I would see our citizens give America away.

Diane| 6.19.09 @ 9:03PM

STARVE THE BEAST! The time has com for a national work strike. Come on, people, are we going to let a Kenyan usurper put us down? Hell no!!!!

Ed S| 6.19.09 @ 10:27PM

It's appalling to think that our media, who have the power to inform and influence so many Americans, have given up their journalistic principles for pursuing the truth. We blame American's for not voting the corrupt out of power, but perhaps the true blame lies with the 'elite' media and their sycophants who have actually chosen to accept almost any statements or excuses that come out of the mouths of the majority of politicians and bureaucrats in Washington. The freedom of our country actually depends on a free press, and sadly, that is all but gone across the country. There are very few sources these days with a viewpoint that opposes what is put forth by Washington, and the political powers in Washington do all they can to diminish and defame all such opposition. The corruption and deceit seem to be rampant, and all Americans need to expose it with any means at their disposal.

Charlie| 6.20.09 @ 9:10PM

To Fred above: "You bet your ass were going to rise to the occasion and beat your dumb/arrogant F&*^%*( ass, out this county!! F$#ks like you...a BO boot licker and worshiper.. probably some 60's anti war prick who ran off to Canada. Yeah-theres going to be change...and thats going to be getting rid of stupid, irritating anti American trouble makers, like your sorry brainwashed ass.

elvishshe| 6.30.09 @ 5:43PM

is there anything being done about all the voter fraud charges??? please tell me it didn't just disappear b/c "the powers that be" wanted it to??? what can we do?

Omar Brown| 7.30.09 @ 2:35PM

Obama has removed the inspector general who is accountable to the people and replaced them with Czars who are only accountable to him, and now that his wife is seemingly incharge of his brown shirt army in the form of Acorn, Americorp it is just a matter of time before the governments influence on our lives comes to our doorsteps.

Healthcare Bill page 95
The Government will use groups, i.e. ACORN & Americorps, to sign up individuals for Government HC plan.

From healthcare, census, to even H1N1 now being in play as "military" force will intervene in the breakout.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/28/mil...flu/index.html

The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.

The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates...

Alex Aurora Co Apartments| 10.26.10 @ 12:55AM

Its amazing how this stuff is allowed to go on. Seems like the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I would like to see more checks and balances in issues like this.

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More Blog Posts by Matthew Vadum

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