From NBClosangeles.com:

When reached for comment, Amy Schur of ACORN’s state office, explained why the paperwork was in the trash.

“In early October, when our San Diego staff were doing an office clean-up in preparation for a major 10-station phone bank program being set up in our offices, it appears that included in the piles of garbage being thrown out may have been some documents containing private information,” Schur wrote in an e-mail to NBCSanDiego. “To the individuals whose paperwork was pulled out of the dumpster by this guy Derrick Roach – unsuccessful Republican candidate for State Rep in San Diego – we truly apologize. We will seek return of this information so that we may give proper notice of the compromising of the information as required by law.”

When asked about ACORN’s policy for disposing of sensitive documents, Schur said, “It is ACORN’s policy to shred documents with personal information at the point when they no longer need to be retained.” (more…)

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.”