“We’re looking for corporate records and financial documents” states Investigator Scott Bailey; which are essentially the same things the ACORN 8 sought nearly 18 months ago. “We also wanted ACORN real estate records” states Marcel Reid, President of ACORN 8.

“We sent letters to the entire ACORN Board of Directors nearly a year ago, stating that it was either provide this information through the ACORN 8’s Writ of Mandamus (request for books and records) or we were going to go to the Police” continues Reid.

“It could not have happened at a better time” states Michael McCray, National Spokesman for the ACORN 8. “We believe that ACORN is trying to flee this jurisdiction. Since Louisiana seems to be the only government agency that is seriously investigating ACORN.”

“If ACORN hopes to survive then the know nothing, see nothing, do nothing board of directors must by replaced by individuals with the strength and capabilities to fulfill their fiduciary obligations and the courage to reign in corruption within ACORN’s senior management ranks” continues Reid.

“ACORN as we know it today is finished.  It’s a 40 year old business model that never adopted to changing political times or new technology” McCray continues, “and a do nothing board of directors can not operate such a high-profile multi-national corporation.”

ACORN is still reeling after a barrage of bad press and negative government reaction following undercover videos of “pimps and prostitutes” seeking ACORN assistance; and is desperately struggling to remove itself from this legal imbroglio.

In a letter that ACORN Attorney Schwartz sent to “ACORN Friend’s in the Legal Community” stating, “We need some top-notch bankruptcy advice and maybe representation. The reorganization may involve the creation of new nonprofit entities in each state where ACORN functions, as ACORN considers moving from a centralized corporate structure to a decentralized federated structure. ACORN will need help from people who have handled rebranding …”

“That’s like putting lipstick on chitterlings” states McCray, “If ACORN was afraid of the independent audit and forensic examination which  eight ACORN board members demanded; I can’t imagine what they will do once a U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee is appointed to investigate ACORN.”

“The ACORN 8 have always sought a forensic examination and an independent audit of ACORN and its related entities. And we were thrown off the board for attempting to investigate a $1 Million embezzlement” continues Reid.

Recently, Eric Eve senior vice president of Global Consumer Group, Community Relations, at Citigroup also unexpectedly resigned from the ACORN Advisory Council. The “new” board charged with assisting Bertha Lewis, ACORN Chief Organizer to investigate and reorganize ACORN. This advisory council includes John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank; Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

“ACORN’s organizational structure and management culture creates real conflicts for anyone who truly seeks to exercise their fiduciary obligations for the benefit of the membership and not just to appease management” concludes Reid.

While not everyone has always approved of ACORN’s confrontational tactics, many know some of the impressive results achieved for poor people over the years. Living wage laws to fight poverty. Partnership with unions to assist workers. Housing programs to get Americans one step closer to the American dream. Those are real, tangible victories that improve people’s lives.

“We just only hope and pray that ACORN’s  mission to serve the underserved, and give meaningful voice to low and moderate income families can continue” states McCray. The ACORN 8 is dedicated to doing just that. Quoting the late Senator Edward Kennedy, an ardent ACORN supporter, McCray concludes “the work goes on, the cause endures, hope still lives, and the dream will never die.”

However, under conditions of strict anonymity, ACORN organizers and staff have complained to the ACORN 8 (www.acorn8.com) that senior management has ordered them to continue to work for ACORN as “volunteers” but for them to apply for unemployment insurance.

In order to legally collect unemployment insurance compensation, the applicant must attest that they are ready, willing and able to work elsewhere to qualify for benefits. This is unemployment insurance fraud. And fraudulently applying for unemployment insurance compensation is a crime.

When these allegations were first brought to the attention of the ACORN 8, we initially thought no way. This is unbelievable, no one in their right mind would ever agree to do this. But we kept hearing these same allegations, over and over again, from different people in different parts of the country. And this is ACORN – these are the same of workers who registered Mickey Mouse to vote and offered tax advice to a pimp and prostitute.

Consequently, we fear that ACORN senior management has launched yet another scheme to exploit the gullibility of some low income workers and bilk American taxpayers out of thousands of dollars of government benefits.

But who controls the staff at ACORN? The national president (Maude Hurd)? The Executive Director (Steve Kest)? The answer is the Chief Organizer, or Bertha Lewis. Under ACORN by-laws the Chief Organizer (not the board of directors) is responsible for all of ACORN staff and employees. Lewis has control of the staff; but the board has to reign in Lewis (and others).

Bertha Lewis has previously announced that an advisory council would assist her in getting ACORN’s “house in order”. This advisory council includes John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank; Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. In our opinion, the first order of business should be to “clean house” entirely and remove all culpable leaders and managers, including Lewis.

This will never stop until the corrupt leadership and senior management are purged from the organization. These individuals have gotten away with doing wrong for so long; they appear incapable of doing anything the right way. Greg Hall of Truth To Power once described ACORN as an organization that can’t count to “one” when preparing voter registrations. Now they can’t fill out unemployment insurance forms either.

The ACORN 8 have always sought to reform – not destroy – ACORN. But as scandal after scandal continue to emerge; it is getting hard for die hard supporters, like the ACORN 8, to believe that ACORN will survive. And there simply is no way that ACORN can continue to exist under the control of incompetent or corrupt senior management and executive leadership.

Lewis noted that ACORN’s advisory council would assist her in choosing an outside auditor, former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger. The ACORN advisory council includes John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank; Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

“As a result of the indefensible action of a handful of our employees,” Lewis said in a statement, “I am, in consultation with ACORN’s Executive Committee, immediately ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN’s service programs until completion of an independent review.” Mind you, these are the same senior staff and executive committee members who concealed and covered up a million dollar embezzlement, but who themselves were never terminated.

Besides, ACORN already had its chance to do the right thing following the Rathke embezzlement when the board of directors appointed an interim management committee to investigate this fraud and reorganize ACORN. So what happened the last time that ACORN claimed to put in place its own internal management committee?

Last year, the national board of directors installed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) following a million dollar embezzlement by Dale Rathke and subsequent cover up by the ACORN executive committee, senior staff and co-founder Wade Rathke. The national board appointed Karen Inman (Legal Affairs), Carol Hemmingway (Financial Affairs) and Marcel Reid (Governance) to the IMC.

The national board authorized the IMC to hire independent professionals to investigate and reorganize ACORN following the million dollar Rathke embezzlement. While the ACORN board of directors took prompt corrective action after learning about the misappropriations, the IMC desired to take even more definitive remedial actions, including a complete accounting of all ACORN assets, a forensic examination of the known embezzlement and an independent audit of ACORN and it related entities.

These were all professionally prudent recommendations under the circumstances; unfortunately, 38 of 50 board members were swayed by the executive committee and ACORN insiders into condoning the cover up and removing the IMC board members who attempted to exercise their fiduciary obligations. Nevertheless, eight courageous board members banded together and formed the ACORN 8, LLC to reform the once venerable organization.

The ACORN 8 were the first to identify the nebulous Citizen’s Consulting Inc. (CCI) and attempted to “follow the money” at ACORN; the first to seek a forensic examination and independent audit of ACORN and its related organizations; the first to seek injunctions against ACORN, the Rathkes and CCI; the first to call for a national boycott of all charitable donations, federal funding and member dues; and the first to file Civil Rights and RICO complaints against ACORN’s corrupt management. Consequently, Louisiana Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell issued subpoenas and is investigating ACORN and Rathke.

Lewis also said that ACORN would name an independent auditor and investigator to conduct a wide-ranging “top to bottom” review of the organization.

Really?!? We’ve heard that one before; the IMC objected to ACORN’s duplicitous assertion that an “independent auditor” would be engaged following the Rathke embezzlement.  When ACORN senior staff hired Mesirow Financial Services (not a licensed CPA firm) to conduct a review of ACORN’s financial controls, ACORN insiders presented this review as an “independent audit” to the board. Don’t be fooled: a review is not a forensic examination or an independent audit.

Worse still, the senior staff and executive committee members who were implicated by the embezzlement and continuing fraud cannot be the same individuals who hire the “independent auditors” to investigate – it is an inherent conflict of interest. If ACORN hopes to survive then the know nothing, see nothing, do nothing board of directors must by replaced by individuals with the strength, courage and capabilities to fulfill their fiduciary obligations. ACORN needs a qualified audit committee to formally engage truly independent outside auditors.

“ACORN has a long history of serving those who most need help, and giving voice to those who have been left behind.” Townsend said in a statement. “We will take the necessary steps to ensure that ACORN functions with the highest levels of ethical standards and competence.”  But how is that possible when ACORN won’t terminate ACORN senior staff and executive board members who concealed a million dollar embezzlement and then ousted the board members who attempted to investigate the fraud?

Margaret Williams, Maryland ACORN board member and Sonja Merchant-Jones, Baltimore ACORN President both reported that the low level ACORN employees caught on tape in the Baltimore office were immediately terminated for behaving unprofessionally; but yet, senior staff members who assisted and concealed a million dollar Rathke embezzlement remain employed.

The ACORN 8 commends these board members’s decisive action, but find it extremely ironic since the board of directors do not actually control ACORN employees. According to ACORN’s by-laws that authority is exclusively exercised by the “Chief Organizer,” formerly Wade Rathke and now Bertha Lewis. This fundamental disconnect between an actual functioning board of directors and senior management is the true problem and real scandal within ACORN. It causes low-income members and staff to become mere pawns of senior management.

Ultimately, ACORN’s low-income workers are simply trying to meet and fulfill unreasonable membership quotas set by senior staff. This undue management pressure results in fraudulent voter registrations, tax assistance for “pimps and prostitutes” or worse. Poor governance and lack of accountability are the real problems. Voter fraud or rather voter registration fraud are just symptoms of a far greater problem. And that is the lack of meaningful control and accountability by the membership. So don’t fault poor workers – blame the board!

If ACORN hopes to survive then the know-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing board of directors must by replaced by individuals with the strength and capabilities to fulfill their fiduciary obligations and the courage to reign in corruption by ACORN’s senior management. If they fail, it is the low income communities which ACORN serves which will suffer the loss.

The damage to the ACORN brand and its overall effectiveness has been immeasurable due to poor governance, mismanagement and corruption within senior management. Consequently, the board of director’s missed the last best chance to save ACORN through reform. It seems apparent to all, except the most ardent and the culpable, that ACORN has been mortally wounded; and the only question now is who goes down with the ship?

But it may already be too late; ACORN had its chance to do the right thing following the million dollar Rathke embezzlement. There was a glimmer of hope when the board of directors appointed an interim management committee tasked to investigate the embezzlement and reorganize ACORN. But they were terminated for seeking a forensic audit.

From the very beginning, the ACORN 8 have always sought to reform – not destroy – the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now. But now find it impossible to imagine that even this once venerable association can withstand the latest onslaught of negative publicity.

The Census Bureau and IRS recently severed ties with ACORN, and the U.S. Senate voted 83 to 7 to cut off funding for the embattled group. The House followed suit by a vote of 345 to 75. Unfortunately, this is yet another example of poor governance, mismanagement and corruption within the once venerable organization. ACORN cannot survive if it can’t raise any more money.

No More Charitable Donations: No tax exempt 501(c )(3) organization will donate money to ACORN under the present circumstances. Since they cannot prove that the 501(c )(3) funding was not commingled with partisan activities.

No More Federal Contracts: Likewise, the federal government has already begun to sever ties to ACORN and could not fund the association through CCI a registered lobbying organization.

No More Negotiated Settlements: ACORN no longer possesses the necessary moral authority to pressure corporations or any organization through public demonstrations or protests. Thus, even this revenue stream will be unavailable to ACORN.

ACORN has been hijacked by senior staff and executive leadership who are acting in their own personal interest and not the best interest of the association or its membership. Only one question remains. Is ACORN now dead on arrival?!?

ACORN has survived in the past as a surprisingly well funded, politically well connected, dictatorial operation which flew under the public’s radar. Ironically, the election of President Barack Obama was actually the worst thing that could happen to ACORN. The attention that the election of the first African-American and community organizer to the highest office in the land has made it impossible for ACORN to avoid real scrutiny as it has in the past. Ironically, President Obama’s ascent has turned into ACORN’s demise.