Court Strikes Down Law De-Funding ACORN

As Fiscal Year 2010 finally begins, a judge has struck down Congress’ law ending federal funding of ACORN. It’s ironic in that de-funding ACORN was the only example of fiscal restraint we’ve seen from Barack Obama, even more so since he’s now stacking the courts with judges that will continue to issue such rulings. And perhaps that’s what he’s wanted all along.

ACORN has shown America what the audacity of hope really looks like. In the aftermath of the videos showing ACORN employees engaged in conversations that should have triggered a federal racketeering probe for tax fraud and underage prostitution, Congress reacted to the overwhelming public revulsion to ACORN by enacting a federal law blocking ACORN from receiving any more of your tax money.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN funding, ACORN Investigation, ACORN lawsuit, acorn scandal
Posted Dec 18th 2009 at 10:20 am in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Obama, Politics | 4853843 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kenandken/2009/12/18/court-strikes-down-law-de-funding-acorn/Court+Strikes+Down+Law+De-Funding+ACORN2009-12-18+18%3A20%3A08Ken+Blackwell+and++Ken+Klukowski

GAO to Investigate ACORN

From The Hill:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has informed two House Republicans that it will investigate ACORN’s use of federal funds.

The GAO sent a letter to Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, informing them of its decision. Smith and Issa on Thursday released the letter, dated Dec. 7

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN funding, ACORN Investigation, acorn scandal, Darrell Issa
Posted Dec 17th 2009 at 12:49 pm in ACORN, News, Politics | 4889047 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/17/gao-to-investigate-acorn/GAO+to+Investigate+ACORN2009-12-17+20%3A49%3A35Publius

Delaware Official: ACORN Illegally Lobbying in State

As part of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) ongoing investigation into the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now’s (ACORN) lobbying and election activities, the Delaware State Public Integrity Commission responded to a letter of inquiry sent by Issa revealing that “no person has ever registered to represent any of the ACORN affiliates identified in the Committee’s letter” and that after being notified that a “lobbyist must register” they had yet to do so while still engaging in lobbying activities.

12-11-09 Deleware State Public Integrity Commission Letter to Issa – ACORN Deleware Lobbying –

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Investigation, ACORN lobbying, Darrell Issa, lobbying disclosure
Posted Dec 11th 2009 at 1:18 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, State Politics | 4495472 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/11/delaware-official-acorn-illegally-lobbying-in-state/Delaware+Official%3A+ACORN+Illegally+Lobbying+in+State2009-12-11+21%3A18%3A24Publius

‘Independent’ ACORN Apologist Applauds ‘Independent’ Investigation Conclusion

Professor Peter Dreier, an ACORN apologist who portrays himself as an independent analyst, is really anything but.

As Andrew Breitbart articulated on BigGovernment November 25th, regarding a “study” Dreier produced critical of media coverage of ACORN:

At the end of the piece Professor Dreier offers the following biography: Peter Dreier, E.P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College.

Why did Professor Dreier choose to leave out the critical information regarding his advisory relationship to ACORN? Isn’t sitting on an advisory committee of ACORN the definition of a conflict of interest in writing a fair and balanced piece on the organization? In fact, Dreier has been shilling for ACORN at least since 2003.

So when Dreier proclaimed ACORN “Not Guilty” in one of his recent columns on TalkingPointsMemo, I must admit I threw up a bit in my mouth.  Some of Dreier’s most pathetic conclusions:

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Investigation, acorn scandal, Alliance for Justice, Andy Stern
Posted Dec 11th 2009 at 12:07 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 4474253 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/12/11/independent-acorn-apologist-applauds-independent-investigation-conclusion/%27Independent%27+ACORN+Apologist+Applauds+%27Independent%27+Investigation+Conclusion2009-12-11+20%3A07%3A44Kyle+Olson

Whatever Became of ACORN’s ‘Internal Investigation’?

On September 29th, when ACORN is under full public scrutiny in the aftermath of the undercover video sting, it announced with great fanfare that it was launching a thorough and independent  review of its operations. It named Scott Harshbarger, former Massachusetts Attorney General, to head up this review.

STATEMENTFROMACORNADVISORYCOMMITTEE_092909 –

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN internal review, ACORN Investigation, acorn review, acorn scandal
Posted Nov 27th 2009 at 9:01 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, Justice/Legal, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 37866112 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/27/whatever-became-of-acorns-internal-investigation/Whatever+Became+of+ACORN%27s+%27Internal+Investigation%27%3F2009-11-28+04%3A01%3A14Publius

What Happens When a PI Dumpster Dives Behind a San Diego ACORN Office?

He strikes the flippin’ mother lode! At least that’s what happened to private investigator Derrick Roach at the National City (San Diego) ACORN office.  Yep, Roach scored big-time on the cockroaches of ACORN when he staked out their San Diego workplace.

According to señor Roach via BigGovernment.com, after the release of the San Diego ACORN sting videos—which my daughter Hannah, James O’Keefe, and Andrew Breitbart dropped on the Nation’s head—and following Governor Schwarzenegger’s call for a probe into this batty zoo, Roach took it upon himself to get busy and see if he could ferret out more funky filth from this nefarious gang.

And, as stated, Roach scored more than Dwayne Wade would playing hoops against blind five-year-old, one-legged narcoleptic midgets.

What did Papa Roach come across?  Well, my children, it was stuff like …

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN Investigation, ACORN National City, ACORN San Diego
Posted Nov 26th 2009 at 2:09 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3740693 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dgiles/2009/11/26/what-happens-when-a-pi-dumpster-dives-behind-a-san-diego-acorn-office/What+Happens+When+a+PI+Dumpster+Dives+Behind+a+San+Diego+ACORN+Office%3F2009-11-26+21%3A09%3A24Doug+Giles

ACORN Document Dump: California Voters, Prepare to Be ACORNed

Dumping 20k sensitive documents in a public dumpster isn’t anyone’s idea of smart. Even though the Attorney’s General office was about to visit the ACORN San Diego office, ACORN employees should have taken some steps to protect the information they were dumping. There are extensive federal and state laws in play here, with very serious civil and criminal penalties.

But, one shouldn’t take this to mean that ACORN is always and everywhere incompetent. You don’t build an international organization with offices in hundreds of US cities through incompetence. Part of ACORN’s secret is that it is really shrewd politically. Below is a plan for a 2-year ACORN campaign to repeal California’s Prop 13. That initiative, passed in 1979, restricts government’s power to increase taxes. One of its toughest provisions requires a 2/3rds vote of the legislature to raise taxes. ACORN, naturally, wants to scrap that.

ACORN – CA Budget Campaign -

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN Investigation, ACORN obstruction of justice, ACORN political plans
Posted Nov 24th 2009 at 9:27 am in ACORN, News, Politics | 36290174 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/24/acorn-document-dump-california-voters-prepare-to-be-acorned/%3CSpan+style%3D%22color%3Ared%22%3E+ACORN+Document+Dump%3A+California+Voters%2C+Prepare+to+Be+ACORNed%3C%2Fspan%3E2009-11-24+16%3A27%3A54Publius

Your Move Mr. Holder: ACORN Received $200,000 From Justice Department

From The Hill:

ACORN and its affiliates received $200,000 in Justice Department grants between 2002 and 2009, according a report issued today by the department’s Inspector General.

No DOJ grants went directly to ACORN, but a handful of grants were awarded either to ACORN affiliates or to other organizations that sub-contracted with ACORN.

The report, requested by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also found a few instances of ACORN mismanagement of federally contracted work.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN fraud, ACORN Institute, ACORN Investigation, acorn scandal
Posted Nov 20th 2009 at 12:44 pm in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Obama, Politics | 34382114 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/20/report-acorn-received-200000-from-justice-department/Your+Move+Mr.+Holder%3A+ACORN+Received+%24200%2C000+From+Justice+Department2009-11-20+19%3A44%3A32Publius

Exclusive: Audio From ACORN Claims Jerry Brown Will Whitewash Investigation

On October 15th, local ACORN spokesman David Lagstein was the special guest of the East County Democrat Club in El Cajon, CA. Lagstein is ACORN’s chief organizer in the San Diego area. The meeting was held at Coco’s Restaurant, a very public venue. Because of ACORN’s close ties to the Democrat party, Mr. Lagstein clearly felt he was among friends. These two clips suggest  the investigation of ACORN announced by California Attorney General Jerry Brown already has a pre-determined outcome.

First Clip: Attorney’s General Office Visits ACORN

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Second Clip: Fault Will Be Found With Filmmakers

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Lagstein notes that the Attorney General is a “political animal.” He states that he has been in communication with Brown’s office and assures the crowd that “the fault WILL be found with the people that did the video — not ACORN.”

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Investigation, ACORN video scandal, California Attorney General, David Lagstein
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 2:51 pm in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 28610258 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/11/10/exclusive-audio-from-acorn-claims-jerry-brown-will-whitewash-investigation/Exclusive%3A+Audio+From+ACORN+Claims+Jerry+Brown+Will+Whitewash+Investigation2009-11-10+21%3A51%3A22Capitol++Confidential

It’s On! California To Investigate ACORN. And O’Keefe?

From the Sacramento Bee:

Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office has opened an investigation into the controversy surrounding videos that purportedly show members of community organizing group ACORN giving advice on how to open a brothel.

In a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dated Sept. 25, Chief Deputy Attorney General James M. Humes said the office has “opened an investigation of both ACORN and the circumstances under which ACORN employees were videotaped.” The governor had asked Brown two weeks ago to look into the incidents.

The probe was sparked by a series of hidden-camera videos in which a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute are advised on how to set up a prostitution business by people identified as workers for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The videos were taken in Washington D.C., San Diego, San Bernardino and cities in several other states.

Members of the organization are also under investigation in other states for alleged irregularities in registering voters.

Schwarzenegger issued a statement praising Brown’s decision to investigate. “I am outraged and deeply concerned by these allegations,” the statement said. “If these reports are true, they warrant prosecution under the fullest extent of the law.”

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Investigation, Arnold schwarzenegger, CA Attorney General, Hannah Giles
Posted Oct 1st 2009 at 1:08 pm in ACORN, Politics, State Politics | 1119078 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/10/01/its-on-california-to-investigate-acorn/It%27s+On%21+California+To+Investigate+ACORN.+And+O%27Keefe%3F2009-10-01+20%3A08%3A27Publius