I’m about to celebrate a very important birthday myself, Matt.  On November 13^th, I turn 41 ! I know, I can’t believe it either.

If there’s something you want to give me for my birthday that’s going to really cheer me up, please tell the recently departing Working Families Party co-chair Bertha Lewis to stop referring to constitutional conservatism as “McCarthyism”.  And while you’re at it, could you please ask your friend, President Obama not to call American citizens “enemies” simply for not belonging to his political party?

I think maybe it’s time to step away from Soroswood and start paying attention to the real world.

Perhaps we need to remind folks about the Working Families Party.

Originally founded by ACORN, the United Auto Workers (UAW), and the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the Working Families Party serves as a coalition of organizers and activists for what it claims are social and economic justice causes.  In states where it is legally permitted, WFP also sponsors candidates via what’s called “fusion voting“.  Instead of splitting the vote with a third-party, fusion voting allows groups to endorse a candidate under a different banner.

So, in reality, WFP enables their coalition’s endorsed candidates to get listed on the ballot – twice.  I’m sure that’s not intentionally misleading for voters at all (eye roll).

While WFP lobbies for a “free public education for all”, its interests are really focused more on those of the militant labor unions with which they are allied, not the genuine interests of working families.  Simply watch the documentary, “The Lottery,” and you’ll see members of the Working Families Party at their finest.  As successful charter schools are lifting minorities and low-income families up to a whole new educational level that never would have existed through “free public school” in their communities otherwise, WFP and its union allies like the United Federation of Teachers instead shout them down and threaten them.  WFP’s allies of course vehemently oppose both private and public charter schools, because those facilities don’t submit to the commands of labor unions.  The charter school featured in the film is of course focused on the well-being of the children, not of the labor unions.  Union bosses don’t take well to that.

Former Working Families Party co-chair and NY state co-chair Bertha Lewis was also once the CEO and Chief Organizer of the mighty ACORN, before it disbanded from its national brand name to a multitude of local and statewide affiliates under different names (thanks to those infamous prostitution tapes).

Ms. Lewis departed from the WFP organization in February this year, in the wake of the federal investigation of its for-profit company, Data and Field Services over claims it was using their company to skirt around the city’s stringent campaign finance laws.  In the end, the feds decided not to file any charges against WFP; however, the investigation resulted in the organization’s restructuring to create firewalls between the for-profit company from the rest of WFP.

Let’s also not forget the sordid story behind real estate mogul Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner.  The infamous Atlantic Yards project in NY is a multi-year long story of buyoffs, intimidation and corruption, not to mention the audacity of a massive land grab.  Bertha Lewis and the WFP, initially opposed to the land grab because of their concerns about the “gentrification” of Brooklyn, quickly turncoated on their Brooklyn neighbors as soon as Ratner offered Lewis a $1.5 million bailout and a 50/50 deal on housing in his future high-end condos.  (The Atlantic Yards Report is the go-to source on this never-ending saga).

Also a notable personality associated with the Working Families party you may recognize – White House Political Director Patrick Gaspard.  While the liberal media once did all it could to deny that Gaspard ever had any relation whatsoever to the corrupt WFP or ACORN, the truth is, the evidence says otherwise.

Harassment, intimidation, corruption, race baiting, union pandering, back-room deals.  That’s progressive, all right.

And so, Matt Damon, as we remember one of the voices of the Working Families Party,  I leave you with this final word.  Brought to you by none other than Client Number Nine.

“Progressive values.  That’s what the Working Families Party is all about:  Progressive values.”

Yeah, Matt.  Let’s keep that change alive.

The New York Times reported today that long-suffering Brooklyn homeowner Daniel Goldstein has finally been forced out by the state’s eminent domain abuse in the Atlantic Yards case. And the paper turned to ACORN chief Bertha Lewis for some gloating commentary:

Bertha Lewis, a housing advocate who supported the project, bid Mr. Goldstein “good riddance.”

“Low- and moderate-income people had to wait years for housing while he obstructed the Atlantic Yards project,” she said.

Of course, Lewis is much more than just a “housing advocate who supported the project,” she was the CEO of ACORN, a group that signed a contract with Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner “to publicly support the [Atlantic Yards] Project by, among other things, appearing with the Developer before the Public Parties, community organizations and the media as part of a coordinated effort to realize and advance the Project.” In return, Ratner pledged to include a certain amount of “affordable housing” in the project, units that ACORN stood to make a fortune from marketing and managing. As the New York Post reported, “Anita MonCrief, a former ACORN official-turned-whistleblower, estimates the anticipated deal could bring the group $5 million to $10 million annually over multiple years.”

And the money didn’t stop there.

In 2008 Ratner bailed ACORN out to the tune of $1.5 million dollars after the news broke that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from the group back in 2000 and the national leadership had covered the crime up for eight years. The financial fallout from that scandal threatened to ruin ACORN until Ratner stepped in with a $1 million load and a $500,000 grant. This desperately-needed cash kept ACORN alive and allowed it to keep providing cover for Ratner’s corporate welfare and eminent domain abuse.

So if it wasn’t for Bruce Ratner’s taxpayer-subsidized bribes and handouts, we would’ve bid good riddance to ACORN long ago. Apparently the New York Times didn’t think any of that context was important to the story.

Freddy’s in Brooklyn is a happening place that has been named one of the city’s best bars by the Village Voice, Esquire, and The New York Times.

Unfortunately, Freddy’s—and the surrounding neighborhood—is smack-dab in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards project, a multi-million-dollar, 22-acre development that is intended to create “an urban utopia” in the language of developer Bruce Ratner, and a new, publicly subsidized home to Ratner’s Nets, who currently play NBA basketball (if you can call it that) in New Jersey.

But don’t mistake Atlantic Yards as one more instance of the market-driven transformations for which New York is rightly famous. It’s actually the latest case of eminent domain abuse, where private property is seized by the state on dubious grounds and then immediately handed over to private interests for private gain.

In this case, the Empire State Development Corporation has designated the thriving area as blighted to facilitate the taking of privately owned houses and businesses without having to pay full market value. Ratner, whose partners in the venture include rapper Jay Z and the Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, stands to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars on the deal, all thanks to the brute force of the state.

This week, a Brooklyn Supreme Court ruling tossed out the eminent domain objections of residents and property owners who had held out for six years and Ratner plans to break ground on the site on March 11, if not before.

The workers and patrons of Freddy’s, however, are not going gentle into that good night. They’ve pledged to engage in civil disobedience and chain themselves to the bar when the bulldozers and wrecking balls come for their favorite haunt. A state sentator has even declared that she’ll lay down in front of the demolition machinery. The awful 2005 Supreme Court decision in Kelo, which held that governments can seize property to increase potential tax revenues, may have paved the way for Atlantic Yards, but Freddy’s is the next last stand in an ongoing battle against eminent domain abuse.

Produced by Dan Hayes, who conceived, shot, and edited the video; Damon Root, who researched the legal issues and did logistics; and Nick Gillespie, who co-wrote the piece and hosts.

Approximately 5 minutes.

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Read Reason’s archive on eminent domain.

Judge Nina Gershon imposed an injunction on the Congress to prevent it from cutting off funds, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit in Brooklyn federal court on behalf of ACORN.  That’s curious, given that ACORN is now headquartered in Washington, DC.  Not to mention the Congressional action, of course, occured in Washington, DC.

Brooklyn is home of ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis.  It’s also home to the Working Families Party, the political party co-founded by ACORN.  Brooklyn is also the district of Nadler, who runs on the Working Families ticket and has been the group’s most strident supporter in the Congress.

Back in October, the American Spectator’s Matthew Vadum revealed on BigGovernment that Nadler had contacted ACORN’s attorney Arthur Z. Schwartz to “discuss the group’s legal strategy.”

Is it possible Nadler could have told Schwartz something along the lines of, “have I got a federal court for you…!”  Is it?

The reality is, as with ACORN’s sham “independent” investigation and subsequent report, ACORN is calling on its friends and allies in its time of need and peril.  And man, are they delivering.

Bill Quigley, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, was quoted by Fox News as saying, ”It’s a resounding victory for ACORN.  I’d be surprised if the government decides to appeal.”

(The Center for Constitutional Rights, by the way, is headed up by Michael Ratner. Big Government readers may remember that Steve’s brother, Bruce, is a deep-pocketed real estate developer and sugar-daddy for ACORN.)

The Obama administration, headed by an ACORN alumni and filled with ACORN alumnus, of course, won’t appeal.  And don’t expect the ACORN-friendly Democrats in Congress to do much either.

One way or another ACORN will continue to find ways to latch back onto the taxpayers’ teat.  It clearly has enough friends in high places willing to help with that endeavor.

Real Estate Tycoon Bruce Ratner and ACORN's Bertha Lewis

To get his way, Ratner turned to his buddies in big government, specifically the Empire State Development Corporation, a controversial state agency with the power to bypass zoning laws and seize private property via eminent domain. In other words, this is a classic case of eminent domain abuse. Ratner isn’t building a bridge or a tunnel or any other legitimate public project that might justify the forceful taking of private property by the state. He wants to build a basketball arena, sell tickets to the games (not to mention broadcast rights, concessions, and luxury boxes), and collect a big fat profit.

So what in the world is ACORN, a self-described champion of “social and economic justice” and “low- and moderate-income people” doing in bed with a shady corporate powerbroker like Bruce Ratner? Let’s follow the money.

In May 2005, ACORN entered into a contract with Ratner “to publicly support the [Atlantic Yards] Project by, among other things, appearing with the Developer before the Public Parties, community organizations and the media as part of a coordinated effort to realize and advance the Project.” As ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis admitted to an interviewer from Regional Labor Review, ACORN provides Ratner with “political cover–let’s face it.”

In exchange for this “political cover,” which has included large numbers of noisy ACORN members present at every Atlantic Yards public hearing, press conference, and media event–including an August 2006 event trumpeting “community support” for the project where Bertha Lewis acted as MC–Ratner pledged to include 2,250 units of “affordable housing” in the project. ACORN in turn plans to market these units, screen applicants, and oversee a housing lottery to fill the vacancies. And as the New York Post has learned, ACORN expects to make a fortune doing so. According to the Post, “Anita MonCrief, a former ACORN official-turned-whistleblower, estimates the anticipated deal could bring the group $5 million to $10 million annually over multiple years.” Not too shabby for providing Ratner with a little “political cover” while his allies in the government seize private property on his behalf.

And the cash doesn’t stop there. In May 2008, the news broke that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from the organization back in 2000. And as the New York Times reported, this crime had been “concealed by senior executives until a whistle-blower told a foundation leader about it in May.” That’s eight years of concealment by senior ACORN executives, a deeply disturbing scandal that scared away donors, dried up support, and, combined with ACORN’s notorious tax troubles, threatened to ruin the organization financially.

Thankfully for ACORN, Bruce Ratner was right there to bail them out. In September 2008, Ratner rescued his “political cover” with a $1 million loan and a $500,000 grant. This desperately-needed cash has allowed ACORN to continue providing bogus “community” support for Ratner’s corporate welfare agenda.

With New York’s highest court set to rule any day now on this shameless act of eminent domain abuse, the folks at ACORN must be getting a little nervous about all those millions they stand to lose. As Bertha Lewis recently told Crain’s New York Business, “I’ll fight to the death to get this project done.” Let’s hope the court spares her the trouble by striking down the Atlantic Yards–and severing ACORN’s lifeline to Bruce Ratner along with it.

Yesterday, I wrote about the curious connection that major Obama and ACORN supporter Bruce Ratner has to the Department of Justice – the very department that refuses to initiate a criminal trial of ACORN. It just so happens that Bruce Ratner’s brother, Michael Ratner, shares the terrorist coddling sympathies of Attorney General Eric Holder.  As Michelle Malkin documents, Holder not only pushed for the pardoning of actual terrorists in his last stint at DOJ, but he was also a senior partner at a law firm representing detainees at Guantanamo. While Michael Ratner has not represented Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he did represent a handful of terrorists and won them the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts under habeas corpus. This is just one of many legal “victories” that have paved the way for folks like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be tried in civilian court on our soil.

This particular example highlights the underlying notion that terrorists should be privy to the same rights as United States citizens. In this instance, President Obama did in fact exercise his discretion (if you can call it that) by allowing the trial to take place in civilian court.  Attorney Brian Levi serves as the Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.  As Levi noted today, “As a legal matter President Obama could very well also have tried these five detainees before military tribunals, as five others are…”

There is longstanding precedent for the use of military tribunals to deal with the difficult situation of unlawful combatants captured in a time of war.  As Arthur Herman wrote in Commentary, this is the original path the Department of Justice and the Bush administration sought:

The rules on Gitmo detention and on interrogation constituted a valiant attempt to deal with an unprecedented legal situation. The same was true of the system of military “commissions” or tribunals for trying suspects at Gitmo. Here the Justice Department largely followed the precedent of tribunals used by the American military during World War II, and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1942 decision Ex Parte Quirin.

As 9/11 victim relatives  Debra Burlingame and Tim Sumner lay out in a letter and petition to President Obama, and as anyone who has watched an episode of Law and Order can surmise, there are a host of thorny issues that could arise in the civilian trial of an unlawful military combatant. These detainees weren’t Mirandized. Secondly, their extended detention, a defense attorney could claim, was in violation of the assurance of a swift and speedy trial.  Furthermore, given that they were caught on a battlefield, the chain of evidence is not up to par with the (rightly) strict standards of our civilian courts.  Could their cases be dismissed outright? These are legitimate legal concerns raised with these cases.

The actual threat to New York City that high value detainees bring is even more frightening. The security and logistics necessary to bring these people to New York and secure them there are both expensive and risky. If only we had a special place where we could keep these guys safely away from American cities and citizens, away from terrorist stunts to release them, and still give them three square Halal meals a day, a copy of the Koran, art classes and inter-cell block soccer leagues.  Oh wait…we do, but the President is closing it.

I have the solution. Perhaps Bruce Ratner is willing to donate a portion of his real estate empire to house Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his buddies in New York.  Maybe he could come up with another eminent domain-stimulus-ACORN scheme where he doesn’t even have to pay as much for it or where he could even turn a profit?  Now that’s a win-win-win!

In all seriousness, what’s a concerned citizen to do?  As with any policy concern, you can call your elected officials to respectfully register your opinion. Then you can sign the petition headed for President Obama’s desk.

What’s Holder’s hold-up?  One major factor of course is that ACORN serves as a taxpayer-funded Democrat army.  As with unions, it behooves Democrats to ignore corruption amongst the ranks of the powerful forces that elect them. What appears on the surface to be mere political payback for a job well done is in fact much more insidious.  One family’s involvement with ACORN and the Obama administration is of particular interest and elucidates the complicated web of connections and cash behind ACORN and this President.

Meet the Ratners.

Bruce Ratner is a New York real estate developer who has given thousands of dollars to Democrats including President Obama.  His philanthropy also includes having bailed out ACORN with $1.5 million to pay off their embezzlement debt, a decision he stands by despite ACORN’s recent prostitution scandal and a Congressional report detailing the systemic criminal elements in the organization.

As of late, Mr. Ratner has spent thousands lobbying the Obama administration for stimulus funds for an affordable housing / basketball arena boondoggle called Atlantic Yards.  Oh yeah, Ratner owns the Nets who will occupy the new stadium should he have his way.  In addition to paying back Mr. Ratner for his generous support over the years, the stimulus funds would benefit, you guessed it, ACORN! What’s more, the project would be seizing property from the very poor ACORN and liberals claims to represent by invocation of the extremely controversial doctrine of “eminent domain.”

With important supporters like these counting on the Obama administration’s stimulus Ponzi scheme, how could the DOJ initiate a criminal investigation of ACORN? To do a thorough investigation would put not only their moocher grassroots force in peril, but campaign funding as well. Moreover, given Democrats’ ties and vested interest in ACORN, the integrity of any internal investigation would be questionable at best.

Far left politicking and activism runs in the family. Bruce’s brother Michael Ratner is a human rights attorney and the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights.  Michael shares some odd sympathies with Eric Holder. He represented Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees in the lawsuit where they gained the right to legally contest their detention.  Michael’s other contributions to society include books like The Prosecution of Donald Rumsfeld: A Prosecution by Book and a book on guerilla terrorist Che Guevara. Ratner is a vocal critic of the Justice Department and a proponent of political prosecutions – of Bush officials, not Obama officials of course.

Bruce’s other brother, Ronald Ratner, along with many other family members, is an executive at Forest City Enterprises – the parent firm of Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Ratner Companies lobbying for the aforementioned Atlantic Yards boondoggle. It just so happens that Ronald’s son, Matthew Ratner, worked for Obama for America.  Today, Matthew enjoys a position in the Obama administration. Can you guess where?  The good ole’ U.S. Department of Justice.

In this post-partisan age, only a cynic would imply that this appointment and Bruce Ratner’s business plans might constitute conflicts of interest for DOJ, ACORN, or the White House. Shameless stimulus panhandling and money magic tricks aside, one job this administration can and should “create” is that of a special prosecutor to conduct a fair, unbiased, transparent review of the complex workings of ACORN.