“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.”

Amid the paperwork associated with a search warrant served on ACORN’s New Orleans headquarters Friday is a one-sentence acknowledgement by the embattled activist group’s attorneys that it is has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.

“Regarding the federal grand jury subpoenas, ACORN does not object to the provision of information and documents to the federal government…” reads a letter from Abbe David Lowell of the Washington law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery. 

The letter was included in court filings from ACORN explaining the legal basis for why they weren’t complying with a subpoena issued by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, which seeks a wide range of accounting information regarding the group’s many affiliated agencies. 

Lowell disclosed the federal investigation as he was writing to a New Orleans lawyer representing ACORN’s local outside accountants. The accounting firm of Duplantier, Hrapmann, Hogan & Maher was served with a subpoena from Caldwell, and, apparently, at least two from federal officials. In the letter, Lowell said ACORN was asserting accountant-client privilege, which is recognized in Louisiana, but not at the federal level.

Neither Lowell nor William Wright of the New Orleans firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, to whom the letter was sent, returned calls for comment regarding the federal subpoenas. An official with the office of Jim Letten, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, said the office couldn’t confirm nor deny any investigation. The letter from Lowell does not make clear where the grand jury was convened. 

After learning ACORN was not going to comply – and hearing that two former ACORN employees had cleared their offices of everything, including computers – Caldwell’s office executed a search warrant Friday and seized more than 100 computers and other records from the activist group’s New Orleans headquarters. 

“We were not in the mood to sit around and wait a whole long time,” said David Caldwell, the assistant attorney general over Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions and son of the attorney general. “Now we don’t have to worry about anything walking off…unless it’s already gone.” 

As he spoke outside the ACORN headquarters at 2609 Canal St., investigators inside continued to load up scores of seized desktop and laptop computers, as well as other evidence. Caldwell said his office would copy the hard drives and return the computers to ACORN, perhaps within a week. 

He said attorneys representing ACORN alerted him to the fact that two employees, whom he did not identify, removed computers from the offices. ACORN national officials recently fired longtime local ACORN leader Beth Butler, the common-law wife of ACORN founder Wade Rathke. 

Caldwell credited ACORN and its attorneys for calling the computer removals to his attention and said they acted in good faith. Still, the search warrant was necessary, Caldwell said, because “they can’t watch everybody.” 

Armed investigators in SUV’s arrived about 8 a.m. at the organization’s headquarters at 2609 Canal Street. By 2 p.m., they had loaded four vehicles with computer hardware. Caldwell spokeswoman Tammi Arrender said ACORN employees were polite and cooperative with officials, though they were irritated by the presence of reporters and news media cameras. 

The attorney general has been investigating the national activist groups since June on allegations of payroll tax fraud, covering up an embezzlement, and mismanaging a retirement fund, among other things. 

The attorney general has already served subpoenas on the former head of ACORN, Rathke, whose brother is alleged to have improperly charged at least $1 million to ACORN-related credit cards. Whitney Bank and the accountants have also been hit with subpoenas. 

Rathke and his brother, Dale, who worked on the financial side of the house, were ousted from their positions with the primary ACORN organization, though Wade Rathke continues to work with an international offshoot. 

Buddy Caldwell made headlines nationally recently when he said in court documents that Dale Rathke might have embezzled up to $5 million, though ACORN officials have disputed that amount. ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis has said that figure was cited as the amount needed to clean up the mess created by the Rathke brothers, not the amount taken and later repaid.

Photo from Big Government Contributor Kevin Kane

In a fast-breaking development comes word that agents of the Attorney’s General office in Louisiana have raided ACORN’s offices in New Orleans. ACORN’s New Orleans was, for decades, the headquarters of the national community organizing association. News of the raid comes from Marcel Reid and her colleagues at ACORN 8, an association of former ACORN leaders and board members. Many of the individuals involved with ACORN 8 were fired from ACORN for demanding a forensic audit following an embezzlement scandal involving Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN co-founder Wade Rathke.

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Update: Big Government has contacted the Louisiana Attorney’s General office. We are told that all of the press officers are “out to lunch” right now. We have been promised a return call later this afternoon.

According to NOLA.com:

Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has served a search warrant at the ACORNoffice at 2609 Canal Street, according to Tammi Arender Herring, a spokeswoman with the office.

Investigators in khaki pants and polo shirts loaded several dozen computers and other electronic items into an SUV. They are also carrying records out of the building on handcarts.

The large office building sits at the corner of Dorgenois and Canal. ACORN staffers were given no notice that a search would be conducted today, Herring said.

Whole story here.

From WDAM in New Orleans:

Caldwell said investigators will copy records and hard drives, then return them to ACORN.

He said the original allegations of embezzlement were made last year by ACORN board members who were fired after they asked for a forensic examination of the group’s books.

ACORN fired the longtime director of its Louisiana chapter last month, citing a lack of accountability.

Whole story here.

Big Government readers may remember that the ‘longtime director’ ACORNS’s LA chapter is Beth Butler, longtime companion/wife of ACORN co-founder Wade Rathke.