In the midst of controversy surrounding an ongoing series of videos exposing behavior from ACORN staffers, which CEO Bertha Lewis has now described as "indefensible," the community activist group has suspended operations nationwide and initiated an internal investigation by board members inclding John Podesta. Lewis stated "we will go to whatever lengths necessary to reestablish the public trust."
Although ACORN initially attempted to deflect criticism by claiming that employees' willingness to assist undercover investigators posing as a pimp and prostitute in various crimes were isolated and atypical, as more videos were released and even some prominent Democratic lawmakers began to demand an end to federal funding and a Congressional investigation, it became clear that merely firing the workers involved would not address concerns over problems which appear to be systemic in the organization.
ACORN's most vocal critics are already describing the internal investigation as another "ruse" designed to deflect serious external investigation and likely to just continue the pattern of shifting blame to employees to avoid accountability for the organization as a whole. Mathew Vadum of American Spectator suggested that ACORN would use the investigation as "a smokescreen and throw lower-level employees to the wolves."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Christine
ACORN Take Four, and in my neck of the woods, California! Dave, I like your book choice. LOL
2 - Lumpy
About damn time!
3 - Lumpy
About damn time!
4 - Dr Dreadful
"as more videos were released..."
More videos?
Surely you've heard by now that the San Bernardino one is a phony. The woman was winding them up.
5 - Lumpy
He San bernardino one Still looks bad so maybe she should have shut up'
6 - Arch Conservative
Now that Acorn has been exposed we should all be on the lookout come November 2010 for a new community organizer group called Walnut that's turning in voter registration forms daily by the thousand.
7 - Baronius
Oh, so that's what a community organizer does!
8 - El Bicho
If you've seen the San Berdoo video, it's rather obvious the lady is stringing them along. Makes O'Keefe look like a buffoon
9 - Chuck
ACORN = Corruption
10 - Arch Conservative
Well el..you may think the lady in that video made Okeefe look like a buffoon but congress just voted to suspend funding for Acorn and it's pretty much do to O'keefe's videos.
Gee who got the better of this whole thing.....hmmmm
O'keffe F-ed them in the A and I'm loving every second of it!
11 - Jordan Richardson
Would this even be news if ACORN primarily registered Republican voters instead of Democrat voters? The only reason Conservatives single out this group is because they "advance a liberal agenda."
What about the overall legality of making the videos in the first place? Didn't they violate state laws that require two-party consent?
The fact of the matter is that Conservatives are in such an all-fire hurry to pick up anything and everything on a group that registers Dem voters that they're willing to do anything, including breaking state law, to make it happen. While there may be corruption within ACORN (there is, let's face facts), there is corruption within almost every single organization on the planet at some level. ACORN sincerely needs to investigate this and the federal funding needs to stop immediately, but let's be realistic and honest about the motivations behind such an alarmingly huge spotlight.
Besides, tax evasion techniques aren't for poor people. Save that shit for the wealthy investors, Wall Street whores and politicians.
12 - Jordan Richardson
Gee who got the better of this whole thing.....hmmmm
Who? No, really. Who got anything out of this?
13 - Arch Conservative
When you can show the world footage of employees of the moral majority, the 700 club, bob jone suniversity or some other conservative organization offering their services to aid and abet child prostitution or tax evasion then we'll talk...as it is the fact that you find these videos being made without both parties consent more upsetting than the whole child prostitution thing is upsetting J-man
14 - Dave Nalle
Arch, in fact, where there were opportunities videos have been used to expose corrupt people on the right, but it's almost always isolated individuals, not a large nationwide organization like ACORN.
And Jordan, if this were a conservative organization I'd be just as concerned about corruption. I'd love to see a similar expose of the American Family Association or another megachurch. I think Robert Tipton has a new church, maybe we can catch him praying over checks again or something.
It's not about rich or poor or white or black or conservative or liberal, it's about abuse of the rights of people of all persuasions and the misappropriation of our federal tax dollars. If there's a partisan issue here, it's that a clearly partisan group which also happens to be hideously corrupt and mismanaged is being underwritten with tax dollars taken from citizens who don't agree with it politically.
Would you like it if YOUR tax dollars were used to fund a right to life group or a gay conversion ministry?
Dave
15 - Jordan Richardson
he fact that you find these videos being made without both parties consent more upsetting than the whole child prostitution thing is upsetting J-man
Um, A-Man, I asked a question about the legality of making the tapes. Who said I was "upset" by anything?
I'd love to see a similar expose of the American Family Association or another megachurch.
I'll stop thinking this is political when you're on their asses as much as you're on ACORN's.
Would you like it if YOUR tax dollars were used to fund a right to life group or a gay conversion ministry?
What part of my comment made you think that you needed to ask this question at all? Was it the part where I said federal funding to ACORN needs to stop?
16 - Jordan Richardson
Dave, can you confirm that ACORN has been receiving federal funding since 1994?
17 - Clavos
I'll stop thinking this is political when you're on their asses as much as you're on ACORN's.
There's something wrong with being political? Isn't this the "Politics" section of BC?
Mayhap you meant "partisan," Jordan.
Yer welcome...
18 - Glenn Contrarian
Jordan -
Y'know, so far I've challenged Dave Nalle, Arch-con, and Doug to show me even ONE fraudulent vote cast due to the efforts of that small minority of ACORN workers who did the fraudulent voter registration. I also said that for every single fraudulent vote they found that can be traced to ACORN, I'd show 1000 voters who were wrongfully disenfranchised by Republican and conservative efforts.
You know what? Not one of them took me up on it...even though I'm giving them 1000-1 odds in their favor! Not one of them has shown even ONE fraudulent vote cast because of ACORN!
But when it comes to the investigation, frankly, I'm glad to see it and I hope that they work side-by-side with federal investigators. That way, any REAL corruption can be found and rooted out...or if there is not enough corruption found to bring charges (Whitewater comes to mind), we can put this idiocy behind us (and listen to the conservatives claim that the Feds were ordered to leave ACORN alone).
19 - Jordan Richardson
The problem I have with this being made into a political (a: of, pertaining to, or concerned with politics or b: of, pertaining to, or connected with a political party) matter is that it isn't. It is ultimately a criminal matter, were we to take the accounts at face value.
Now when politics entered the fray here, the sloppiness of eager politicians, pundits and so-called activists came into play with it. Instead of a federal investigation, we have a couple of video tapes that won't prove anything in a court of law. I also question the legality of at least one of the tapes. It's ridiculously easy for ACORN (or any group) to explain away the video tape as a bad apple or as a hoax or as creative editing or anything of the sort. It's also easy for them to have the entire thing tossed out altogether and for them to counterattack if one of the tapes wasn't obtained legally.
In their rush to crucify ACORN, the Right is essentially botching the job with their exuberance. It is about making a political point, for them, not the pursuit of what they believe to be a criminal enterprise. If anyone seriously believed that this organization supported child prostitution and other such heinous activities, to pursue it in such a clusterfucked way is simply irresponsible.
A federal investigation, with hands-off from all political opportunists, is the only way to proceed to determine the truth. But I think this issue has been so tainted by right-wing zealots out for blood that any truth will be inevitably twisted to the left or the right. ACORN can play the victim of a Conservative conspiracy to nab a group drumming up Democratic votes, giving them a unique way out.
In other words, the Republicans fucked this up by getting involved on any meaningful public and political level. It is a criminal matter, if the claims are true, and politics of any kind should not play a role in the final analysis.
20 - El Bicho
Jordan, you forget many people would rather win at any cost in this most civil of civil wars taking place. They muckrake and cause distractions and delays and then feign wonderment at why nothing gets done.
Their ideals failed at the ballot box, so they have no other way to fight than scorched earth. Are we really supposed to believe the firing of Van Jones accomplished anything? Boo hoo, he called Repubs names. Ooh, he's a Marxist. He questioned what happened on 9/11. So that disqualifies him from helping create new jobs? Find me one unemployed person who is better off because of it.
21 - Dave Nalle
Dave, can you confirm that ACORN has been receiving federal funding since 1994?
Well, I never claimed that they had been receiving federal funding since 1994, but Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Rep. John Boehner of Ohio have each issued detailed reports on ACORN funding and where it comes from and how much of it is federal money received either directly or indirectly. There's an overview on FoxNews or I suggest you go look up the reports.
Dave
22 - Dave Nalle
I'll stop thinking this is political when you're on their asses as much as you're on ACORN's.
Jordan, go back through my past articles. There are 664 of them. I only had time to review the last half or so. In that set of 300 articles, here's how often I addressed various top topics:
Criticized Ron Paul 8
Pro-Immigration 5
Pro-Gay Marriage Articles 4
Articles Explicitly Critical of Religious Right 4
Supported Ron Paul 3
Criticized Congressional Spending 3
Criticized Bush on FISA and PATRIOT Act 3
Criticized ACORN 2
So I think you need to reconsider the main thrust of my articles here. This ACORN article is straight facts and links and my previous one was the first critical article on ACORN I've written in about 200 articles. It's hardly a point of obsession for me.
Dave
23 - Dave Nalle
The problem I have with this being made into a political (a: of, pertaining to, or concerned with politics or b: of, pertaining to, or connected with a political party) matter is that it isn't. It is ultimately a criminal matter, were we to take the accounts at face value.
I agree. A RICO investigation should have been started long, long ago. The problem is that nothing was done for so long that the fact that nothing was being done made the issue political, because the lack of investigation itself was fishy and aroused partisan anger.
Maybe now that investigations are starting things will move from the political realm to the realm of the courts and it will all be fine.
Dave
24 - Jordan Richardson
So you contend that you give as much time to similar organizations on the Right as you do to those on the Left and that you apply the same criticism to both sorts of organizations?
25 - Ruvy
I fail to see what the problem is here. An organization that is starting to stink in the public's er nose has suspended its operations to figure out what is going wrong. That is prudence and intelligent administration.
I would find it highly asmusing if ACORN decided to distance itself from its most famous "graduate", Barack Obama....
In my opinion, a criminal investigation of the bunch is called for - from top to bottom - simply because corruption tends to flow from top to bottom.
Naturally everyone is to be presumed innocent - until they prove themselves guilty....