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Author Topic: ACORN/NYT/Kingsley  (Read 1596 times)
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« on: October 22, 2008, 09:28:53 AM »

New York Times

Quote
October 22, 2008
Acorn Report Raises Issues of Legality
By STEPHANIE STROM
An internal report by a lawyer for the community organizing group Acorn raises questions about whether the web of relationships among its 174 affiliates may have led to violations of federal laws.

(snip)
Republicans have tried to make an issue of Senator Barack Obama’s ties to the group, which he represented in a lawsuit in 1995. The Obama campaign has denied any connection with Acorn’s voter registration drives.

The June 18 report, written by Elizabeth Kingsley, a Washington lawyer, spells out her concerns about potentially improper use of charitable dollars for political purposes; money transfers among the affiliates; and potential conflicts created by employees working for multiple affiliates, among other things.

(snip)


Ms. Kingsley’s concerns about the way Acorn affiliates work together could fuel the controversy over Acorn’s voter registration efforts, which are largely underwritten by an affiliated charity, Project Vote. Project Vote hires Acorn to do voter registration work on its behalf, and the two groups say they have registered 1.3 million voters this year.

As a federally tax-exempt charity, Project Vote is subject to prohibitions on partisan political activity. But Acorn, which is a nonprofit membership corporation under Louisiana law, though subject to federal taxation, is not bound by the same restrictions.

“Project Vote and Acorn have a written agreement that specifies that all work is nonpartisan,” Michael Slater, Project Vote’s new executive director, wrote in answer to e-mailed questions about the relationship.

But Ms. Kingsley found that the tight relationship between Project Vote and Acorn made it impossible to document that Project Vote’s money had been used in a strictly nonpartisan manner. Until the embezzlement scandal broke last summer, Project Vote’s board was made up entirely of Acorn staff members and Acorn members.

Ms. Kingsley’s report raised concerns not only about a lack of documentation to demonstrate that no charitable money was used for political activities but also about which organization controlled strategic decisions.

She wrote that the same people appeared to be deciding which regions to focus on for increased voter engagement for Acorn and Project Vote. Zach Pollett, for instance, was Project Vote’s executive director and Acorn’s political director, until July, when he relinquished the former title. Mr. Pollett continues to work as a consultant for Project Vote through another Acorn affiliate.

“As a result, we may not be able to prove that 501(c)3 resources are not being directed to specific regions based on impermissible partisan considerations,” Ms. Kingsley said, referring to the section of the tax code concerning rules for charities.

She also found problems with governance of Acorn affiliates. “Board meetings are not held, or if they are, minutes are not kept, or if minutes are kept, they never make it into the files,” she wrote.

Project Vote, for example, had only one independent director since it received a federal tax exemption in 1994, and he was on the board for less than two years, its tax forms show. Since then, the board has consisted of Acorn staff members and two Acorn members who pay monthly dues.

But George Hampton, who was listed as a board member from 1994 to 2006, said that while he had been a member of Acorn, he had never heard of Project Vote. “I don’t know anything about this,” Mr. Hampton said.

Cleo Mata, listed as a board member on tax forms from 1997 to 2006, also said she was not aware she was on the Project Vote board. “If that’s what you say,” Ms. Mata told a visitor to her home in Pasadena, Tex. “I tell you that I didn’t realize I was.”

Mr. Slater said he “cannot speak to why Mr. Hampton and Ms. Mata fail to recall their involvement on the Project Vote board.” He noted that Ms. Mata, 63, was “in poor health.”

Project Vote assembled a new board this fall that Ms. Kingsley said had greater independence, even though five of the six new members have longstanding ties to Acorn.

(snip)

Thayer Evans contributed reporting for this article.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/us/22acorn.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
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« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2008, 09:35:34 AM »

Fox news:

Quote
The Democratic presidential candidate made his remarks in an effort to distance himself from the low-income advocacy group, which is under investigation for voter fraud in several states.

But that assertion is subject to debate. Obama conducted training sessions for ACORN workers a decade ago, and his campaign also recently paid an ACORN subsidiary for canvassing efforts.

Plus his work with a group called Project Vote back in 1992 raises questions about whether he was involved with ACORN back then.

Project Vote was one of Obama's earliest political successes. As director of Illinois Project Vote, Obama helped register 150,000 new voters in Chicago, and he was heralded for his efforts in local media.

ACORN was also registering voters at that time, and its relationship with Project Vote casts some doubt on Obama's statement that his involvement with ACORN didn't begin until three years later.

Obama's campaign Web site -- in a section called "Fight the Smears" that is devoted to shooting down harmful rumors about his candidacy -- states as "fact" that "ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack ran in 1992."

The site also states, "Barack Obama never organized with ACORN."

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/16/obama-denies-ties-acorn/
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Constitution101    hillsdale.edu/constitution/
Courtesy is requested; Respect is Earned.
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crazybabyborg
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« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2008, 09:58:43 AM »

Fox news:

Quote
The Democratic presidential candidate made his remarks in an effort to distance himself from the low-income advocacy group, which is under investigation for voter fraud in several states.

But that assertion is subject to debate. Obama conducted training sessions for ACORN workers a decade ago, and his campaign also recently paid an ACORN subsidiary for canvassing efforts.

Plus his work with a group called Project Vote back in 1992 raises questions about whether he was involved with ACORN back then.

Project Vote was one of Obama's earliest political successes. As director of Illinois Project Vote, Obama helped register 150,000 new voters in Chicago, and he was heralded for his efforts in local media.

ACORN was also registering voters at that time, and its relationship with Project Vote casts some doubt on Obama's statement that his involvement with ACORN didn't begin until three years later.

Obama's campaign Web site -- in a section called "Fight the Smears" that is devoted to shooting down harmful rumors about his candidacy -- states as "fact" that "ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack ran in 1992."
The site also states, "Barack Obama never organized with ACORN."

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/16/obama-denies-ties-acorn/

That same section on Obama's website originally stated that he never trained Acorn workers. It has since been changed to "He was never hired by Acorn".

I guess his campaign can afford to hire a full time editor to keep up. They certainly have enough money to do that from all those undisclosed contributions of under $200.00. .............
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« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2008, 10:18:08 AM »

Obama was Executive Director of Project Vote in the early 1990s.

ACORN and Project Vote seem like siamese twins.

$31M (at least) was funneled into ACORN, by Congress--taxpayer money.

ACORN supports Obama; Obama supports ACORN (indirectly--sort of, waffle . . .waffle.)

ACORN shells within shells?

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Courtesy is requested; Respect is Earned.
Pace Yourself, for the LongHaul.  MOs
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