Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Former organizer says ACORN will commit fraud in Census work

By: Gregory Hall, OpEd Contributor
- | 5/18/09 6:29 AM
Following calls by a reform group known as the “ACORN 8,” many are rightly worried about the prospect of taxpayer money flowing to the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for the stated purpose of counting Americans in the 2010 U.S. census.

After all, this is the same group that couldn't count to "1" when registering voters during last year's election. In Ohio, ACORN's machine registered one man more than 70 separate times. But the group's critics don't face the same mathematical challenges. They have counted to at least 14 - the number of states investigating ACORN for voter registration and potential voter fraud. In the past month alone, the group has been named in complaints by at least two states.

While much criticism is directed at ACORN, though, the problem is more complex. A group intended to better our communities is a thing that should be commended. Unfortunately, a small cadre of powerful but corrupt ACORN executives have warped the organization's mission into a high-powered, big-money machine that treats its well-intentioned, idealistic staff horribly.

"Barney Frank Lies About ACORN"
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On the May 18 edition on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) said she was worried about the fact that ACORN and other organizations would "have access potentially to $8.5 billion" in federal funds.

ACORN, which Bachmann noted has received about $53 million in federal money since the early 1990s, has "a pattern of indictment for voter fraud," she said. "It's very concerning. No organization has a right to federal taxpayer money."

During the heated discussion that followed, longtime ACORN ally Frank said, "the notion that they're eligible for $8 billion is nonsense." A moment later Frank, who appeared last year in one of the group's promotional videos on YouTube called "ACORN Grassroots Democracy Campaign," repeated his mantra.

"But it's not $8 billion," he said.

Bachmann, whose provision blocking ACORN from receiving funding in a recent mortgage reform bill was stripped...

It's impossible to figure out where all of ACORN's money goes. As the Employment Policies Institute noted in a report: "Because it operates a virtual self-contained economy, ACORN entities exchange millions of dollars every year for goods and services. The scant financial documents available for public inspection paint a picture of a spider web of ACORN-run organizations that trade loans, leases, payments, and grants."

Congresswoman Bachmann is right to be worried about ACORN getting its hands on federal tax dollars.

Given its long history of electoral fraud and unorthodox accounting practices it shouldn't get even a penny of federal money.