ACORN Whitewash: What ACORN Won’t Tell You About the ‘Audit’ it Bought

On September 16, 2009, with much fanfare, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis announced that ACORN was hiring an independent auditor to review its internal processes.  Yesterday, the former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger produced a report finding ACORN, as a corporation, engaged in administrative negligence.

This of course has not stopped ACORN from declaring victory and calling the report a vindication.  Is anyone surprised that a report paid for by ACORN exonerates them?  The fact that this review didn’t even include an audit of ACORN’s financial statements speaks volumes.  Luckily for taxpayers, there are numerous federal and state investigations currently underway that should ultimately produce a legitimate finding regarding ACORN’s illegal activities.

The reality is ACORN has masqueraded as charitable organization in order to fund and advance a partisan political agenda.  There is no mechanism in place to follow where the use of taxpayer and charitable dollars end and where funds used to pay for their political activities begin.

Despite these findings of obvious negligence on ACORN’s behalf, the Proskauer Rose report was not an audit.  In fact, among the “7,000 pages” (19) Mr. Harshbarger reviewed, none of those pages included:

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Bertha Lewis, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Posted Dec 8th 2009 at 6:39 am in ACORN, Congress, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 4265827 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dissa/2009/12/08/acorn-whitewash-what-acorn-wont-tell-you-about-its-paid-for-audit/ACORN+Whitewash%3A+What+ACORN+Won%E2%80%99t+Tell+You+About+the+%27Audit%27+it+Bought2009-12-08+13%3A39%3A56Rep.+Darrell+Issa+%28R-CA%29

The Recycled ACORN Whitewash: Wade Rathke Responds

The internal report issued by former Massachusetts Attorney General is out. Clearly, here’s what the headline will be.

The high-profile lawyer hired to investigate ACORN has found no pattern of intentional illegal conduct in the community organizing group — a finding that was dismissed as “damage control” by one of the two filmmakers who, posing as a pimp and prostitute, videotaped staffers offering advice on how to operate a brothel .

This was immediately mocked by conservatives in the media.

Harshbarger has determined — wait for it — that ACORN engaged in no wrongdoing
depicted in the nationwide undercover stings conducted by BigGovernment.com / James O’Keefe III and Hannah Giles.

In fact, everyone is getting into word games here. ACORN did in fact engage in no criminal wrongdoing by offering advice to a “pimp” and “prostitute” about how to hide assets and their business practices. Simply offering such advice is not illegal. If that’s what Harschbarger was brought in to do, I could have saved everyone plenty of time. In fact, if that’s what he was investigating, then it’s clear they gave him a scope that would lead to a conclusion that would maximize their positive press. In fact, these videos occurred at no less than five offices. That’s a pattern of behavior for which management, and not merely those on the videos, must take some responsibility. That’s at the heart of the series of exposes by Giles and O’Keefe. It’s not about whether or not the behavior on the videos is or is not technically legal. It’s about what it says about an organization when a “pimp” and “prostitute” can so routinely walk into just about any office and be offered advice that the advisor knows is illegal if implemented. That reality is barely acknowledged and not really addressed.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN 8, ACORN audit, ACORN Housing, acorn review
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 2:17 pm in ACORN | 4219446 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvolpe/2009/12/07/the-recycled-acorn-whitewash-wade-rathke-responds/The+Recycled+ACORN+Whitewash%3A+Wade+Rathke+Responds2009-12-07+21%3A17%3A51Michael+Volpe

AP Whitewashes My Public Statement on Whitewashed ACORN Investigation

Pete Yost of the Associated Press asked for my comment regarding the findings of the ACORN “internal investigation.”  Here is what I emailed him:

ACORN is a corrupt and criminal organization, and anyone with open eyes can see this. Yet SEIU’s Andy Stern and left wing puppetmaster John Podesta, of the Soros-funded radical leftist think-tank, the Center for American Progress, chose to architect a whitewashed ‘internal investigation’ by a Democrat Party hack from Massachusetts, and have put immense efforts into launching a two-pronged propaganda  campaign and legal assault against the filmmakers of the ‘pimp and  prostitute’ exposé and the story’s publisher. BigGovernment.com  continues to expose ACORN’s illegal activity and has helped to  illuminate how corrupt organizations like ACORN, SEIU and HCAN are coordinating the efforts to shove radical health care reform down an unwilling  majority of Americans throats.

Here is the sole excerpt from the above statement chosen for the article:

The report is “a whitewashed ‘internal investigation’ by a Democrat Party hack from Massachusetts,” said conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart, who is being sued by ACORN along with James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, who played the prostitute and her boyfriend in the videos. Breitbart posted the videos on his Web site.

I wanted the BigGovernment.com readers to see that’s it’s not just the internal investigators who are whitewashing the magnitude of the ACORN scandal, it’s the mainstream media writ large.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Andrew Breitbart, Associated Press, Center for American Progress
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 1:19 pm in ACORN, Media Criticism | 4220670 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/12/07/ap-whitewashes-my-public-statement-on-whitewashed-acorn-investigation/AP+Whitewashes+My+Public+Statement+on+Whitewashed+ACORN+Investigation2009-12-07+20%3A19%3A03Andrew+Breitbart

The Complete ACORN Whitewash Report: Nothing to See Here Folks, Move Along…We Have to Pass ObamaCare

Well, ACORN retained a law firm to investigate its operations and, surprise, the law firm found that ACORN hadn’t done anything wrong in the undercover videos filmed by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. The review, overseen by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harschbarger, a long-time ally of ACORN, found that any problems within ACORN are, gosh darn it, simply because ACORN was too successful, i.e. grew too big and too fast. The problems are also mostly, conveniently, the result of people who are no longer employed by ACORN, i.e. Wade Rathke.

Full report below:

ACORN Report –

The entire report can be summed up: Wade Rathke really made a mess of things. The current management, i.e. Bertha Lewis, has been trying to reform the organization and she is really, really committed to it now. ACORN has a “roadmap” for reform that, while it may take a while to implement, will really fix everything you thought was wrong with ACORN. Just trust them.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Andy Stern, Bertha Lewis, Center for American Progress
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 10:43 am in ACORN | 42122203 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2009/12/07/the-complete-acorn-whitewash-report-nothing-to-see-here-folks-move-along-we-have-to-pass-obamacare/The+Complete+ACORN+Whitewash+Report%3A+Nothing+to+See+Here+Folks%2C+Move+Along...We+Have+to+Pass+ObamaCare2009-12-07+17%3A43%3A26Mike+Flynn

Shocking!! Report Paid For By ACORN Exonerates Them

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) released the following statement today regarding the report commissioned by ACORN released by Scott Harshbarger report on ACORN:

“How surprising is it that a report paid for by ACORN exonerates them?  There are numerous federal and state investigations currently underway that should ultimately produce a legitimate finding regarding ACORN’s illegal activities.  The reality is ACORN has masqueraded as charitable organization in order to fund and advance a partisan political agenda.  There is no mechanism in place to follow where the use of taxpayer and charitable dollars end and where funds used to pay for their political activities begin.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN independent review, acorn scandal, Scott Harschbarger
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 10:08 am in ACORN, Featured Story | 4207847 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/07/shocking-report-paid-for-by-acorn-exonerates-them/Shocking%21%21+Report+Paid+For+By+ACORN+Exonerates+Them2009-12-07+17%3A08%3A42Publius

ACORN’s Fingerprints on Mortgage Crisis Appeared 20 Years Ago

ACORN has been fairly criticized for its actions that led up to the mortgage crisis, which culminated in a huge rash of foreclosures last year.  While the tide appears to be waning, it’s a problem that is still occuring.

Specifically, ACORN strong-armed banks and worked with members of Congress, such as Barney Frank, to weaken credit standards in order for banks, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to fund risky mortgages.  Mortgages, of course, that stood little chance of ever being paid, as we witnessed last year.

But ACORN’s penchant for shaking down banks didn’t begin 2 years ago, or even 10 years ago.  Check out this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from 1988.  Grant Williams was an organizer for ACORN at the time ( I wrote here about his new gig at SEIU), and he managed to weasle ACORN into a bank’s proposed interstate merger.  From the article:

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Annette Wilcoxson, Bank South, Barney Frank
Posted Dec 6th 2009 at 9:41 am in ACORN, History, News, Politics | 4145037 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/12/06/acorns-fingerprints-on-mortgage-crisis-appeared-20-years-ago/ACORN%27s+Fingerprints+on+Mortgage+Crisis+Appeared+20+Years+Ago2009-12-06+16%3A41%3A34Kyle+Olson

Congressman Nadler Defends ACORN, Again

This morning, at a hearing of the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) raised the issue of a need for a full congressional investigation of ACORN.  As Rep. King notes, Subcommittee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has said he would consider an investigation as soon as he saw credible evidence of ACORN wrongdoing. (Rep. Nadler apparently doesn’t read Big Government)

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, constitution subcommittee, House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler
Posted Dec 3rd 2009 at 11:17 am in ACORN, Congress, Politics | 4048672 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/03/congressman-nadler-defends-acorn-again/Congressman+Nadler+Defends+ACORN%2C+Again2009-12-03+18%3A17%3A28Publius

Sweetheart, Get Me Frank Ross: Crouching ACORNS, Hidden Cameras

On Monday, I discussed some of the background in the ongoing journalistic argument about the tactics used by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles in their ACORN takedowns, first released here at Big Government.  This is part two of that discussion.

Since the freewheeling days of the 1920s celebrated in The Front Page, there has been a profound shift in the way journalists view themselves and their societal role.  We might locate its origins in the 1947 report by the Commission on the Freedom of the Press, known today as Hutchins Commission after its chairman, Robert M. Hutchins, of the University of Chicago, and funded by Henry Luce of Time Inc.   In answer to the question, “is the freedom of the press in danger,” the commission answered yes, and issued “five ideal demands”:

1) A truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning.

2) A forum for the exchange of comment and criticism.

3) The projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society.  (“The Commission holds to the faith that if people are exposed to the inner truth of the life of a particular group, they will gradually build up respect for an understanding of it.”)

4) The presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society.

5) Full access to the day’s intelligence. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 at 8:11 am in ACORN, Culture, History, Media Criticism, Obama, Politics | 3949016 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mwalsh/2009/12/02/sweetheart-get-me-frank-ross-crouching-acorns-hidden-cameras/Sweetheart%2C+Get+Me+Frank+Ross%3A+Crouching+ACORNS%2C+Hidden+Cameras2009-12-02+15%3A11%3A14Michael+Walsh

Biggest Story of 2009: The Rise of the Virtual Newsroom

From the American Spectator:

It was the biggest story of 2009.

If you doubt, ask ACORN. Or Van Jones. Or the So We Might See campaign. You won’t need Timemagazine’s once clout-filled “Man of the Year” issue to figure it out, either. Just take a look back at the bestseller lists, the ratings of Fox News or simply turn on your local AM radio dial.

The single most important news event of 2009 was the emergence of The Virtual Newsroom. A newsroom run by a virtual army of conservative journalists famous and unknown, their individual and collective impact multiplied exponentially by millions of Internet users, radio listeners, readers and television viewers.

How did this happen? How does it work in practice?

First, perspective is needed here. Like other big news events, it didn’t happen overnight. There is history, lots of it.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Big Media, Hannah Giles
Posted Dec 1st 2009 at 6:39 pm in ACORN, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3946667 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/01/biggest-story-of-2009-the-rise-of-the-virtual-newsroom/Biggest+Story+of+2009%3A+The+Rise+of+the+Virtual+Newsroom2009-12-02+01%3A39%3A09Publius

REVEALED: ACORN, NBC Worked Together in ‘Undercover Video Sting’

Since the undercover ACORN videos from James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles first broke, the grand pooh-bahs of journalism have gone into self-absorbed philosopher mode. Rather than report on the ACORN corruption playing out before our eyes, “journalists” have tsk-tsked their way through thousands of words and yards of column inches making certain that everyone understands that what James and Hannah did IS…NOT…JOURNALISM. (As if that is the existential question to make sense of the ACORN videos.) Undercover videos and assuming fake identities are things real journalists do not do…except when they do.

Below is a page from ACORN’s 2005 Annual Report. In it, they tell the story of how one of their employees teamed up with NBC Dateline to do a ‘video sting’ on tax-preparer Jackson Hewitt.

Pages from 2005-ACORN-Annual-Report-web -

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Columbia Journalism Review, Hannah Giles
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 11:41 am in ACORN, Media Criticism, News | 38594135 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/30/acorn-nbc-worked-together-in-undercover-video-sting/REVEALED%3A+ACORN%2C+NBC+Worked+Together+in+%27Undercover+Video+Sting%272009-11-30+18%3A41%3A23Publius

Sweetheart, Get Me Rewrite: ACORN and the James Rainey Saga

The hidden-camera videos by James O‘Keefe and Hannah Giles detailing the inner workings of the taxpayer-funded leftist racket known as ACORN have set off a storm of journalistic controversy, but not in the way one might think.  Rather than engaging the substance of the stories first made available on Big Government and later on Fox News – that ACORN, to put it generously, seems to be staffed by an inordinate number of employees blithely willing to aid and, if possible, abet criminal activity – the dinosaur media has reacted not by investigating the message but by attacking the messengers, all in the name of “journalistic ethics.”

Now, when a “journalist” – I prefer the days when we called ourselves “reporters” – starts lecturing his readers about the saintly nature of “journalism” you know that the entropic, self-referential MSM has just about hit bottom.  Long gone, apparently, are the days of the old Front Page, the 1928 play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur – filmed four times – that lovingly limned the street-smart, ink-stained wretches (in the late Herb Caen’s famous phrase) who would stop at nothing to Get The Story.  For decades – and certainly when I started in “journalism” in 1971 – this was model of the enterprising reporter: check your conscience at the bar, get the story, go home, go to bed, get up the next morning and do it all over again.  These guys were our heroes:

Not pursuing a legitimate news story, as James Rainey and the rest of the Pecksniffian  bien-pensant staff of the once-great Los Angeles Times seem intent on doing, because the young reporters are “agents provocateurs” and “political guerillas,” is bad enough.  Who cares what they are?  It’s like saying Hildy Johnson and Walter Burns are scum-sucking bottom feeders who would steal milk bottles from babies and nickels from newsboys if they thought it was a Page One story; a badge-of-honor insult those old-school newshounds would have worn with pride, alongside the egg stains on their ties and the lipstick on their collars.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Andrew McCarthy, Hannah Giles
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 10:21 am in ACORN, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3847080 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mwalsh/2009/11/30/sweetheart-get-me-rewrite-acorn-and-the-james-rainey-saga/Sweetheart%2C+Get+Me+Rewrite%3A+ACORN+and+the+James+Rainey+Saga2009-11-30+17%3A21%3A24Michael+Walsh

The Future of ACORN

If you want to know what will happen to ACORN as a result of all the scandals and controversies, this story from Connecticut is a microcosm.

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.

So, more and more ACORN chapters are moving away from their current structure, which is one organization where all the local chapters answer to a national board, to a federation. Where have I heard that term federation in relation to ACORN? Oh yeah, it was in my interview with Wade Rathke. He explained that ACORN is one organization whereas COI, what Rathke now runs, is a federation. Here’s how Rathke described the difference.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Community Organizations International, local ACORN, Wade Rathke
Posted Nov 28th 2009 at 5:27 pm in ACORN, News, Politics | 3810246 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvolpe/2009/11/28/the-future-of-acorn/The+Future+of+ACORN2009-11-29+00%3A27%3A06Michael+Volpe

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

Justice Department: ACORN Can Be Paid For Existing Federal Contracts

On Friday, the Department of Justice released a ruling it issued Monday, outlining its arguments that federal agencies can continue providing taxpayer funds to ACORN.

obligations-public-law11168 -

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN federal funding, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Darrell Issa
Posted Nov 27th 2009 at 7:01 pm in ACORN, Congress, News, Politics | 3784670 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/27/justice-department-acorn-can-be-paid-for-existing-federal-contracts/Justice+Department%3A+ACORN+Can+Be+Paid+For+Existing+Federal+Contracts2009-11-28+02%3A01%3A40Publius

ACORN Document Dump: Trashed Documents Are Relevant to Investigation

Have you heard the one about the pimp, prostitute, politician and the community organizer?  Well, thanks to San Diego private investigator Derrick Roach, Californians are not laughing at what is turning into a political nightmare for California Attorney General Jerry Brown and ACORN.  On Tuesday, November 24, Attorney General Brown appeared on KABC’s “Peter Tilden Show” after it was revealed that some 20,000 documents had been thrown into a National City dumpster by ACORN employees.

The documents were thrown out in advance of state investigators arriving at the local ACORN office to conduct an investigation resulting from national media attention.  ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera was videotaped giving advice to two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute regarding underage prostitution and human smuggling.  Without admitting any wrongdoing ACORN terminated Mr. Vera, or so they said.  Documents provided to BigGovernment.com show that Mr. Vera was not terminated but was simply laid off, implying that Mr. Vera is also eligible for rehire. (The document also notes that Mr. Vera was laid off due to “restructuring” related to “videotaping incident.)

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN dumpster, ACORN National City, ACORN San Diego
Posted Nov 27th 2009 at 2:18 pm in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 37658324 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/27/acorn-document-dump-trashed-documents-are-relevant-to-investigation/ACORN+Document+Dump%3A+Trashed+Documents+Are+Relevant+to+Investigation2009-11-27+21%3A18%3A34Publius

Study: Has Editor & Publisher ‘Falsely Framed’ Peter Dreier as an Objective ACORN Critic?

Media criticism of our ongoing and still unfolding ACORN story has been as bad as it has been funny and sad. The racket that is the mainstream media is coming to an end and exposed reporters and journalists, no longer feigning neutrality, have chosen to drive off the cliff, a la Thelma and Louise, in a customized ACORN convertible.

Professor and ACORN Adviser Peter Dreier

On Monday Christopher R. Martin and Peter Dreier wrote a commentary entitled “Have the Media ‘Falsely Framed’ ACORN?” for Editor & Publisher, “the authoritative journal covering all aspects of the North American newspaper industry, including business, newsroom, advertising, circulation, marketing, technology, online and syndicates.“  E&P was once the bible of the newspaper and publishing business, but in recent years has moved hard left, hiding its ideological tilt under a patina of “scholarship.”

Martin and Dreier’s piece — while not framed as such — is an ideological defense of ACORN and an attack on those who have truthfully investigated and exposed the obviously troubled community organizing group. It’s basically, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men trying to put ACORN together again. But instead of attempting to rebuild the king, Martin and Dreier are trying to rebuild the media and the left elite, who use the poor and the downtrodden as their foot soldiers in order to maintain power in government, academia, the media and Hollywood.  For them, ACORN provides the perfect photo-op.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Alvivon Hurd, Bon Bon Hurd, Christopher Martin
Posted Nov 25th 2009 at 11:15 am in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3689050 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/11/25/study-has-editor-publisher-falsely-framed-peter-dreier-as-an-objective-acorn-critic/Study%3A+Has+Editor+%26+Publisher+%27Falsely+Framed%27+Peter+Dreier+as+an+Objective+ACORN+Critic%3F2009-11-25+18%3A15%3A30Andrew+Breitbart

ACORN Document Dump: ACORN Throws Thanksgiving in the Dumpster

Since the first undercover ACORN video was released two months ago, ACORN’s few remaining defenders have fallen back on the talking point that, whatever the misdeeds of some of its employees, the organization provides important services to poor and low-income families. Without ACORN, we are told, many underprivileged families would lose an important voice for their needs.

Really?

Below is one family’s application for food stamp benefits that ACORN threw out with its trash, in advance of a visit from officers of the Attorney’s General office.

ACORN – Food Stamp _Redacted_ –

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN dumpster dump, acorn scandal, Amy Schur
Posted Nov 24th 2009 at 7:01 am in ACORN, Featured Story, News | 36070119 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/24/acorn-throws-thanksgiving-in-the-dumpster/%3CSpan+style%3D%22color%3Ared%22%3EACORN+Document+Dump%3A+ACORN+Throws+Thanksgiving+in+the+Dumpster%3C%2Fspan%3E2009-11-24+14%3A01%3A36Publius

ACORN Scandal, Part 2: The Evidentiary Phase

The last two months of the growing ACORN scandal have focused on the damning videos shot by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles.

In seven out of eight offices, ACORN employees attempted to aid and abet O’Keefe and Giles’ illicit “scheme” to establish a brothel for underage illegal-immigrant prostitutes from Central America. .

That phase has been tabled for a future date, as I forthrightly stated last Thursday evening to Attorney General Eric Holder on FOX NEWS’ Hannity show.

The next phase will be the evidentiary phase.  Starting with, but not limited to an extraordinary document dump at the San Diego office that was one of the offices  O’Keefe and Giles exposed, causing the firing of a single employee.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN dumpster, ACORN San Diego, acorn scandal
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 12:14 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, Media Criticism, News, Politics, State Politics | 35602194 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/11/23/acorn-scandal-part-2-the-evidentiary-phase/ACORN+Scandal%2C+Part+2%3A+The+Evidentiary+Phase2009-11-23+19%3A14%3A31Andrew+Breitbart

Why Isn’t Anyone Really Investigating ACORN?

As we rapidly approach December 18^th, the day when ACORN is again eligible to receive federal funds, we still have yet to see a meaningful investigation of ACORN.

Last week,  the Inspector General of the Department of Justice released a “Review of Department of Justice Grants to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. (ACORN) and its Affiliated Organizations.”  Unsurprisingly this report “did not find any DOJ direct grants to ACORN.”  The report did however reveal approximately $200,000 in sub-grants to ACORN affiliates.  This number pales in comparison to the amount of federal money ACORN and its affiliates have received from other agencies.

ACORN and its affiliates have received over $54 million in federal grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  These are the grants that the government should be investigating.  How did ACORN spend these federal tax dollars?  Were they used for their designated purposes?  Does ACORN owe the federal government a refund?

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Andrew Breitbart, Bertha Lewis
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 10:38 am in ACORN, Justice/Legal, Politics | 3446671 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cberg/2009/11/23/why-isnt-anyone-really-investigating-acorn/Why+Isn%27t+Anyone+Really+Investigating+ACORN%3F2009-11-23+17%3A38%3A42Chris+++Berg