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The Spectacle Blog
A new congressional report accuses the radical activist group ACORN of organized criminal activities. I will have a full article here on the American Spectator website in the morning about it.
The report, called “Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?” comes from minority staff on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The ranking member on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), is appearing on the “Glenn Beck Program” on Fox News today to discuss the report.
The report, available here, contains information about the ACORN network’s interlocking directorates, various unethical and possibly unlawful activities, and the shocking fact that despite its mounting legal problems, ACORN remains eligible for $8.5 billion in federal funds this year.
Here’s an excerpt from the congressional report:
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has repeatedly and deliberately engaged in systemic fraud. Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American electorate.
Emerging accounts of widespread deceit and corruption raise the need for a criminal investigation of ACORN. By intentionally blurring the legal distinctions between 361 tax-exempt and non-exempt entities, ACORN diverts taxpayer and tax-exempt monies into partisan political activities. Since 1994, more than $53 million in federal funds have been pumped into ACORN, and under the Obama administration, ACORN stands to receive a whopping $8.5 billion in available stimulus funds.
Operationally, ACORN is a shell game played in 120 cities, 43 states and the District of Columbia through a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators. Structurally, ACORN is a chess game in which senior management is shielded from accountability by multiple layers of volunteers and compensated employees who serve as pawns to take the fall for every bad act. […]
Congressional Democrats have shown little interest in probing ACORN. After initially expressing interest in an investigation, House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-Michigan), a longtime ACORN ally, backed off saying “the powers that be decided against it.”
The website of “Lou Dobbs Live” indicates Issa will also be on that show at 7 p.m. (Eastern) tonight to talk about the report.
View all comments (27) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Matthew Vadum
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/07/23/congressional-report-acorn-inv
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claire| 7.23.09 @ 5:44PM
Thank you, thank you for your efforts in exposing this fraudulent outfit. I am grateful that there are at least a few true journalists left in our country.
Juan Rico| 7.23.09 @ 5:51PM
Wonder why some enterprising lawyer hasn't sued them civilly under RICO (18 USC 1961 et seq)? It provides for treble damages and attorney's fees. Penalties also include divestiture.
Sam| 7.23.09 @ 6:01PM
Let's get the 361 entities publicly named! Kudos to Rep. Issa and all others who worked on this.
Dianna| 7.23.09 @ 7:06PM
Oh this is BEAUTIFUL!!!
I have been following your work for some time Matthew! You are doing a fantastic job! I dearly love quoting your work as often as possible! Keep it up!
Missy| 7.23.09 @ 7:31PM
Dirty, dirty democrats--organized crime thugs are running our country. Banana Republic.
Patriot| 7.23.09 @ 7:34PM
Matt, you may have been born in Canada, but you are a true American hero. Thank you for your courage. You've got our support.
Pingback| 7.23.09 @ 7:59PM
» The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Congressional Report: ACORN … Criminal News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 7.24.09 @ 1:47AM
Whiner-in-Chief… « Time for Thorns links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 7.24.09 @ 4:19AM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Congressional Report: ACORN … | All Free Report links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Kmac| 7.24.09 @ 6:12AM
Be sure to let y our "vacationing" Congressional Representative know that this is important to you, so that when they return to work - they can inform the "powers that be" - the the American people are on to them - and we expect them to fix this.
randyinrocklin| 7.24.09 @ 11:35AM
Next item on the agenda, we need to file a suit on the constitionality all these czars out there. Will there be any Republicans to stand up to this gross abuse of power by the Executive branch?
Dutch | 7.24.09 @ 4:53PM
This is GREAT, But realy do you think OBAMA is going to let anything happen to HIS Company?
Pingback| 7.24.09 @ 5:01PM
Congressional Report: ACORN Involved in Organized Crime links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Bob | 7.29.09 @ 12:39PM
As time goes by, more and more people are scratching their heads and wondering what's going on? WAKE UP van winkle and smell the coffee.
Nota garza| 8.3.09 @ 4:01AM
Can someone that knows how get this out into the public?
SEIU bosses throw union members to the wolves
The pro-business group Americans for Tax Reform provides some excellent background information for union members to chew on. Put simply, union bosses appear to be underfunding their members' pensions, deliberately and systematically, while enriching their own plans.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the large public sector union, appears to be one such group. Aside from being a major supporter of the far left Democrat agenda, it is tied to ACORN, the troubled group of community agitators. So the act of skirting ethical, legal and moral roadblocks isn't exactly virgin territory for this crew.
The Rank Hypocrisy of the SEIU
The SEIU argues on its website that 401(K) plans are bad for workers. It claims that defined benefit funds are superior tools to assure workers' pensions. It would seem reasonable that the SEIU, then, would ensure that its 2 million members would benefit from generous, well-funded pensions.
But that is not the case -- at least for rank-and-file union members. ATR reports that:
• In 2006, the average SEIU members' pension plan was only 82% funded with assets of about $19,000 per person.
• Separate funds for employees of the SEIU were 105% funded, with about $85,000 per person.
• And funds covering SEIU officers and employees were 123% funded, holding roughly $80,000 per person.
However, only ten years earlier, in 1996, the SEIU National Industry Pension Fund possessed nearly 110% of the funds it would need for all of its pension obligations.
The Reason for the Disconnect Between Union Bosses and Members
So why are the union bosses' pension plans overfunded at 123% and the rank & file union members plans are near "endangered status" at 82%?
While the union blames market conditions, actual fund performance metrics demonstrate that this is not the case. It appears, instead, that the playing field has been tilted to reward the union bosses and union employees at the expense of the rank-and-file.
The problem exists not only in the SEIU's national plans. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealed that 13 SEIU local pension plans were less than 80% funded. Six were less than 65% funded.
For example, the Massachusetts Service Employees Pension Fund fell from nearly 110% to 70% funded in 10 years; and the SEIU 1199 Upstate Pension Fund fell from 115% to 75% since its inception in 1999.
To regain some semblance of fiscal stability, the SEIU has wagered heavily on forcing other employees to help fund its drying pension reserves. That was the motivation behind the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a major Democrat initiative for 2009, and one on which the SEIU spent tens of millions of its members' money.
Enactment of the EFCA (also known as "Card Check") would tie the hands of employers and employees, leaving many in a dire situation:
• Government arbitrators could force workers into underfunded pensions, putting their retirement at risk
• The average union pension has resources to cover only 62% of what is owed to participants
• Less than one in every 160 union-represented workers is covered by a union pension with required assets
• Under EFCA, government arbitrators can force businesses to fund failing pensions
• The PBGC already supports upwards of 30,000 pension plans
• Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the governmental pension insurer, will assume $86.7 billion in liabilities by 2015
• The PBGC limits the benefits in multi-employer plans to $13,000 a year per retiree, compared with roughly $52,000 for single-employer plans.
• In 2007, the PBGC reported a deficit of $955 million, a $216 million increase from the previous year
• On July 23, PBGC agreed to take on $6.2 billion in pension liabilities from bankrupt auto supplier Delphi Corp
The EFCA-slash-Card Check bill is a Democrat payoff to union bosses, who fear what will happen when the massive pension disparity between workers and bosses becomes widely known.
The bill could, quite literally, crush companies under the weight of unfunded pension liabilities, and further devastate the economy.
The Card Check bill must be opposed at all costs.
Labels: Crime, Democrats, Economy, Obama, Unions
// posted by directorblue @ 11:16 AM Permalink | Follow on Twitter |
Pingback| 8.15.09 @ 12:30PM
Know About Small Business Retirement Plan Options - The Blog Planet links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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