Fox News reported earlier today that remnants of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), the radical community organizing group that collapsed after its corruption was exposed by Big Government, are playing a “behind the scenes” role in organizing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

The Fox News investigation followed Matthew Vadum’s report two weeks ago at Big Government that ACORN was paying people to attend the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York through the Working Families Party, an ACORN front group.

Now, Big Government has learned that in an email (below) sent by Fithian to Occupy organizers and supporters on October 22, 2011, she reported that the “New Bottom Line”–an effort to move as much money out of major banks as possible on November 5th–is being led by several ACORN-linked organizations: “National People’s Action, National Pico Network, and Alliance for Just and Sustainable Economy and other key state groups like ACCE in CA, NYCC in NY, or MORE in St. Louis.”

Fithian New Bottom Line

ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), NYCC (New York Communities for Change), and MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment), are apparently nothing more than reconstituted ACORN branches.

National People’s Action, PICO National Network, and Alliance for a Just Society are all closely linked to ACORN. At the time of ACORN’s collapse, National People’s Action in particular vowed publicly to pick up where ACORN left off: “Organizations can come and go, but what’s important is that people who want to come together should have the opportunity to…identify their interests and work on them together.” These groups have also collaborated on similar ACORN-style campaigns against banks in the recent past.

Former ACORN chief executive and organizer Bertha Lewis is also involved in the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Her new organization, The Black Institute, is calling its protests “Occupy Black America” and “Occupy The Hood.”

Meanwhile, Fithian is at the core of Occupy itself, urging activists to join the New Bottom Line, whose webpage reveals a variety of ACORN-style demonstrations and “direct actions” across the country.

The chosen date for the financial protest, Nov. 5, is known in the British Commonwealth as Guy Fawkes Day, named to commemorate the failure of the man who had attempted to blow up Parliament and thereby assassinate King James I four hundred years ago.

Guy Fawkes has become a symbol of the Occupy demonstrations and the Anonymous hacker collective–hence the near-ubiquitous Guy Fawkes (“V for Vendetta“) masks at protests.

The involvement of ACORN’s successors in the Occupy movement is yet another sign of the true, radical nature of the demonstrations.

Given President Barack Obama’s past links to ACORN, the fact that ACORN is playing so large a role in continuing Occupy protests raises questions about whether Occupy enjoys a level of political protection far higher than the local politicians who recently pressured the owners of Zuccotti Park not to clear out the demonstrators.

So what if thousands of school children are trapped in lousy schools and will have few opportunities for success after they graduate? That’s not really what the Oakland teachers union is about, man. Providing students with a quality education isn’t really their bag.

You might say that the OEA has “progressed” beyond such things. These days the union is dedicating its time and energy to protesting. . .banks?

It’s sad but true.

Jack Gerson is one of the OEA’s most prominent leaders and a well-known radical agitator.  Recently Gerson explained that the union is partnering with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) to protest banks over foreclosures and the bailout money, at a time when public school employees are being asked to make cuts. (Why does Gerson matter?  You’ll have to wait ‘til the end!)

Before going any further, it is important to note that ACCE is simply the newest incarnation of the old war horse ACORN. The same corrupt officials who oversaw ACORN are still in charge.

The head of ACCE is Amy Schur, and according to the American Spectator, she’s been in ACORN’s inner circle.  In fact, she was so high up in ACORN’s leadership that she was reportedly one of the few who knew about Dale Rathke’s $1 million embezzlement cover-up.

Back to Gerson and ACCE. A few weeks ago, I revealed that a coalition of radicals is planning massive “militant” demonstrations against government spending cuts during the month of March. In a recent conference call, Gerson explained how his union, an affiliate of the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association, is partnering with ACCE to fight the banks, and that some of their “actions” will coincide with the March activities.

Like I said earlier, the union will not be protesting over the abysmal state of Oakland’s public schools. The OEA is only concerned with one thing, and that’s the amount of money being pumped into union-controlled schools. And don’t question what taxpayers are getting in return for all their “investment” unless you’re prepared to be denounced as a hater.

It will be very interesting to see if Gov. Jerry Brown (who exonerated ACORN from any wrongdoing when the O’Keefe tapes came out) will capitulate to the radicals or if he’s serious about fixing his state’s spending problems, which will necessitate that he rein in the unions.

The teachers unions, ACCE/ACORN and the radicals will refuse to go down without a fight.  Just ask Gerson. After all, he was a “student leader” of Students for a Democratic Society, according to SocialistWorker.org.

Even though the Left’s washing machine is working overtime, some stains can never be removed.

Last week the  37,000-member California state chapter of ACORN broke away from its national organization to form a new nonprofit group called the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. Amy Schur, executive director of ACORN ACCE in California, says the decision was made because “the level of controversy had become a significant distraction for us.”

So let me get this straight. The California ACORN chapter, which includes the San Bernardino group that was featured in the ACORN videos providing advice for human smuggling and prostitution, and the San Diego chapter, that conducted what looked like the world’s biggest document dump just before the AG’s agents arrived, wants to split off from the national organization because they say the national group has problems.

If anything, the national group should split off from the California group and beat them to the punch.

Just like the many Democrats around the country who are trying to separate themselves from the toxic policies of Barack Obama and Barbara Boxer, groups like the newly-minted ACCE are scrambling to disassociate themselves from the very controversies they helped to create.

The most important news in the switch from ACORN to ACCE in California is that the new group will have many of the same staff members and the same community-organizing mission, and will be funded by the same donors.  Perhaps we can also  expect the same level of suspicious activity and legal ambiguity that caused massive public outrage in the first place.

The bottom line is that no clever restructuring can change the facts. The California chapter of ACORN can change their name, put on a fresh coat of paint and even replace the air freshener but my sense is that the same stinky business is going to come pouring out, sooner or later.

The California chapter of ACORN has split from the group and changed its name.

Thousands of Californians who live in or close to poverty in the state have worked hard for decades to score victories that level the playing field. They’ve passed laws that increase affordable housing and raise the minimum wage, so they can provide for their families. They’ve also spent their personal time, which is in chronically short supply, pushing for better teachers and textbooks so the kids in their neighborhoods can have better opportunities. On these and other issues the odds have been against them, but these Californians leveraged their significant numbers with coordinated grassroots organizing to achieve victory.

Until now, they carried out this work as a chapter of the national organization ACORN. Until now, governance and financial management resided at the national level. In recent months it has become increasingly clear to the leadership, staff and members in California that the serious challenges ACORN is facing are jeopardizing the important work we are doing here in California.

The new entity will be called Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). It will, on paper at least, be entirely separate now from ACORN. The relationship will be what Wade Rathke characterized the relationship between ACORN and ACORN Housing. ACORN is its own entity and ACCE is its own entity and the two are fighting for common goals.

It’s important to note that most, if not all, of the staff and board of ACORN in California will be kept on with the new company. In fact, at the bottom of the press release the contact person is Amy Schur. Schur, according to a source, was privvy to the knowledge that Dale Rathke had been involved in embezzlement from ACORN and kept that knowledge from the board.

This continues the slow and painful-to-watch disintegration of ACORN. Last month, I did a similar story centered in Connecticut.

Its political allies fled. And with its national organization fighting for its life and unable to give any money, ACORN of Bridgeport is doing what other chapters have been doing across the nation, going independent, sort of.

This month, the group began a campaign to raise money and create two local nonprofits, one to concentrate on social issues, the other on political action. To be clear, the plan is to continue to work with other chapters on national issues through a federation, according to Emeline Bravo-Blackwood, a small business owner who is leading the effort to transform the group in Bridgeport.

This is slightly different for a few reasons. In that case, the name didn’t change and the local chapter turned itself into a federation of ACORN. In this case, the California chapter is not only changing its name but cutting ties with the national organization, at least visibly.

The most interesting dynamic to watch going forward is what the relationship will be between Gubernatorial candidate, Jerry Brown, and the new organization. ACORN is a voter registration force and that organization contributed heavily to helping Brown get elected as he was moving up the political ranks. He’s now in the uncomfortable position of having to investigate ACORN. Of course, ACORN in California is no longer. (that’s no small thing since California was their biggest chapter in terms of members)

The people at ACCE are the same as those at the former ACORN in California only with the name change there’s likely to be less scrutiny. Will there be folks out in full force wearing ACCE shirts signing up voters? Will the media notice that those folks are really from ACORN? Only time will tell that.