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ACORN canvassers are facing convictions for voter registration fraud in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so what does ACORN do?

Sue to change the statute that outlaws the fraud, of course.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and ACORN’s get-out-the-dead-people-to-vote affiliate Project Vote filed a federal lawsuit today in an effort to snuff out the Keystone State’s anti-election fraud law.

According to the ACLU the law has been misapplied by Allegheny County’s Democratic District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr., who filed seven charges against former ACORN workers for falsifying voter registration forms. After preliminary hearings, all seven have been ordered to stand trial.

In a press release, the ACLU said the law has been misapplied “to prohibit an organization from using flexible productivity standards and goals to manage paid canvassers.”

Translation: efforts to crack down on election fraud are bad because, well, they crack down on election fraud.

“They already charged the employees, and they’ve hinted they might go after ACORN next,” the New York Times dutifully quoted Witold Walczak of the ACLU saying. “It’s the ACLU’s reading of this, that these kind of laws that restrict an organization’s ability to hire and pay canvassers impacts on voter registration activities, which are constitutionally protected actions.”

The New York Times, of course, is a business partner with one of ACORN’s business partners, and it covered up a potential scandal involving ACORN and the Obama campaign.

View all comments (16) |

Matthew Vadum | 7.23.09 @ 11:47AM

Not a single comment? Where is Bob when we need him?

Pingback| 7.23.09 @ 2:16PM

House GOP Target ACORN « Nice Deb links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

House GOP Target ACORN « Nice Deb Nice Deb About Word Press Political Blog Alliance Archives July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July…

Missy| 7.23.09 @ 2:52PM

Matt, you need Bob like you need a hole in the head.

Matthew Vadum | 7.23.09 @ 4:52PM

Missy, I was just amazed he wasn't jumping all over me, but I guess he cares more about CRA than ACORN.

Pingback| 7.26.09 @ 8:27AM

Moe Lane » ACLU: Election fraud is a civil right. links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…under investigation by Mr. Zappala’s office for eight months, said Witold Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which is representing Acorn. See also the American Spectator, which in another article notes the real estate links between the NYT and ACORN.  Just in case anyone was wondering why the sympathetic tone. The basic issue here is that it’s illegal in…

Pingback| 7.26.09 @ 10:47AM

ACLU: Election fraud is a civil right. | Social Debate: Barack and American Politics links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

ACLU: Election fraud is a civil right. | Social Debate: Barack and American

Brad Schwartze| 7.26.09 @ 5:47PM

Matthew, I hate to tell you this, but ACORN and the ACLU may end up winning this. See Meyer v Grant (1988), a case that struck down Colorado's law making it a felony to pay initiative/referendum signature gatherers. SCOTUS agreed with the plaintiffs that the prohibition on payment was a violation of their First Amendment rights.

The first district court that hears this isn't going to make a distinction based on "productivity standards."

Pingback| 7.26.09 @ 7:33PM

Dirty Democrats » ACLU: Election fraud is a civil right. links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…under investigation by Mr. Zappala’s office for eight months, said Witold Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which is representing Acorn. See also the American Spectator, which in another article notes the real estate links between the NYT and ACORN.  Just in case anyone was wondering why the sympathetic tone. The basic issue here is that it’s illegal in…

Pingback| 8.27.09 @ 4:14PM

ACORN in Retreat « Right Sided American Kafir links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…tighter control over the whole network, Inman explained. Former ACORN employees are facing trial on election fraud charges in Pittsburgh, but those charges appear to be on hold now that the ACLU is challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s voter registration law. ACORN remains under investigation by the local Democratic prosecutor in Cleveland, Ohio, after a grand jury indicted a local…

Pingback| 9.14.09 @ 12:06PM

Big Government » Blog Archive » ACORN’s Lawless Ways links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…tighter control over the whole network, Inman explained. Former ACORN employees are facing trial on election fraud charges in Pittsburgh, but those charges appear to be on hold now that the ACLU is challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s voter registration law. ACORN remains under investigation by the local Democratic prosecutor in Cleveland, Ohio, after a grand jury indicted a local…

Trackback| 11.3.09 @ 1:06PM

credit restoration, on credit restoration, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

So many different ideas listed here - amazing..

More Blog Posts by Matthew Vadum

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/07/23/aclu-acorn-sue-to-overturn-pen

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