A pimp, prostitute, underage human trafficking and now a self-professed murderer; what could be next for the embattled Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now?!?

Margaret Williams, Maryland ACORN board member and Sonja Merchant-Jones, Baltimore ACORN President both reported that the low level ACORN employees caught on tape in the Baltimore office were immediately terminated for behaving unprofessionally; but yet, senior staff members who assisted and concealed a million dollar Rathke embezzlement remain employed.

The ACORN 8 commends these board members’s decisive action, but find it extremely ironic since the board of directors do not actually control ACORN employees. According to ACORN’s by-laws that authority is exclusively exercised by the “Chief Organizer,” formerly Wade Rathke and now Bertha Lewis. This fundamental disconnect between an actual functioning board of directors and senior management is the true problem and real scandal within ACORN. It causes low-income members and staff to become mere pawns of senior management.

Ultimately, ACORN’s low-income workers are simply trying to meet and fulfill unreasonable membership quotas set by senior staff. This undue management pressure results in fraudulent voter registrations, tax assistance for “pimps and prostitutes” or worse. Poor governance and lack of accountability are the real problems. Voter fraud or rather voter registration fraud are just symptoms of a far greater problem. And that is the lack of meaningful control and accountability by the membership. So don’t fault poor workers – blame the board!

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Statement from Margaret Williams, Board Member, Maryland ACORN:

It is clear and not coincidence that FOX continues to attack and divide our nation along racial lines.  We believe our country is beyond this type of attack and call on all Americans to demand that FOX stop its racist coverage.

Statement from Margaret Williams, Board Member, Maryland ACORN –

From the Associated Press:

BALTIMORE (AP) – The nonprofit housing group ACORN has fired two employees at its Baltimore office who were seen on hidden-camera video giving advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman pretending to be a prostitute.

Fox News Channel broadcast excerpts from the video Thursday. Those excerpts showed a man and woman asking about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman’s income. An ACORN employee advises the woman to list her occupation as “performance artist.“

Maryland ACORN board member Margaret Williams says in a statement the employees “did not meet ACORN’s standards of professionalism.”

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