acorn 8

As the nation watches the events in New York's 23rd Congressional district unfold, an appropriate title for this story would be “How to squander money and alienate your base." After the Saturday withdrawal of Republican Dede Scozzfava, the GOP is reeling from a massive insurgency by its conservative base. Of course, the story got stranger as Erick Erickson

of Redstate reports

“Dede Scozzafava is throwing her support to the Democrat, Bill Owens.

"She and her husband are working with union activists to drive the vote up for the Democrat.

"The Republican Party spent $900,000.00 to help her and this is how she repays them.

"And Pete Sessions, Chairman of the NRCC, and Guy Harrison, Executive Director of the NRCC, still have their jobs and are failing to take responsibility for this disaster, instead blaming conservatives.”

In the GOP there are still some are shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong. The GOP nominated a “moderate” and if she happened to have big labor and ACORN ties, then so be it. For once, the elephant in the room was not the GOP but this blatant, illogical and damaging alliance it had formed with Scozzafava. As the Wall Street journal reports, this relationship would eventually set off a national chain of events:

“Saturday's decision by Republican Dede Scozzafava to drop out of tomorrow's special Congressional election in upstate New York is a potentially big political moment that could help to return the GOP to first principles—or could lead to internecine ruin. Much will depend on how GOP leaders and conservative activists respond.

"Picked by GOP elites without a primary and with a voting record to the left of many Albany Democrats, Ms. Scozzafava faced a revolt by local and national conservatives in favor of businessman Doug Hoffman, who was nominated on the Conservative Party line. The longtime GOP assemblywoman saw herself falling in the polls and yesterday endorsed Democratic lawyer Bill Owens, who could still win the GOP-leaning seat with a plurality.”

Republican liaisons with far left Democrats have already been detrimental to the conservative movement and Scozzafava's ties to ACORN and their “affiliated” Working Families Party was covered extensively in the blogosphere. Top Republicans chose to ignore the corruption right under their nose and to sell out their base by following the Left's mantra to elect “moderates”. These “moderates” tend to be leftists in Republican clothing. Kirsten Gillibrand is an example of a local “moderate” who abandoned her principles and base after being promoted from Congressperson to United States Senator. Republicans like Darrell Issa (who released a damning report on ACORN last July) backed Scozzafava while still pursing ACORN corruption.

In any partnership, there is compromise. Some compromise is acceptable, but fundamental values should not be compromised. When conservatives align themselves with polar opposites, it always seems that they are doing so because of race considerations or political expediency. During a panel discussion in which I participated on October 23, 2009, Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media asked why Republicans in the Bush administration approved ACORN funding.

John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, replied that Republicans acquiesced with the pretense that these organizations are doing good work and that race is a major factor behind that acquiescence.

While partisanship should not play a role in exposing corruption, when that corruption is rooted in the pay for play politics that tip heavily to the Left, partisanship cannot be ignored. Nonprofit groups have been allowed to run rampant with charitable donations that somehow elect Democrats. To stop this trend, conservatives must become creative and steer clear of situations like the one in the NY 23 with Scozzafava. If such situations are allowed to continue, others will succeed in dividing the GOP from the grassroots conservatives, and thus strengthening the left.

ACORN is a Democrat scandal and it is hard to separate one from the other. Corruption is the overriding theme and it comes mostly from the left. Another particularly odd pairing continues to be the radical reformers of ACORN and top Conservatives and Republicans. The ACORN 8, a group of former ACORN board members, have formed a Scozzafava-like partnership with the Republicans. In attempting to expose ACORN, some appear to have ignored key facts and overlooked a pattern of withholding key information to coincide with opportunistic timing aimed at aiding Democrats. An example of this is the complete removal of two longtime Obama ACORN cronies from a complaint filed with the United States Justice Department last January by the ACORN 8. Madeline Talbott is described by Stanley Kurtz of the National Review Online as “the woman who first drew Obama into an alliance with ACORN.” And Keith Kelleher is Talbott's husband, the Chief Organizer of SEIU Local 880 in Chicago.

Another example of the GOP ignoring the evidence in front of it involves investigative reporting by the National Legal and Policy Center, a group that "promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action." The NLPC uncovered more on ACORN's relationship with Scozzafava. The GOP seems quick to support organizations and people with strong ties to ACORN as long as they technically are not ACORN. Unfortunately for conservatives, the credibility being bestowed on such groups receives little scrutiny beyond the blogosphere and Fox News . Key ACORN opponents have formed relationships of convenience with little thought to the outcome. As the NLPC reports, even the unions are involved:

“The powerful New York City-based health care workers union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199, also has endorsed Owens. But common sense says that if Mrs. Scozzafava is elected, she effectively will have established a Republican congressional beachhead for ACORN, who would claim its 'bipartisanship.' It's not as if her own party will be against her. Top GOP members sending her checks include House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Virginia), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (California), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), and Rep. Peter King (N.Y.).

"How did leading Republicans, some of whom (like Boehner) have been ACORN's toughest critics, come to endorse a candidate with a history of endorsements by its main political front, the Working Families Party?" (emphasis mine).

Good question. In NY 23, the GOP candidate selecters chose to ignore the evidence of Scozzafava's ACORN tainted background. Just as the GOP and Fox have also ignored the clear statement on the ACORN 8's website which does not call for not for full truth, transparency and accountability by ACORN to the American people. Rather, as stated on the ACORN 8 website, they call for "truth, transparency and accountability within ACORN." Apparently in exposing ACORN it certainly does not hurt to have a black face to speak about ACORN corruption. The color of whistleblowers should not be important, but their message should be.

When groups like the ACORN 8 speak to conservatives and tell them that ACORN was a great organization that was “hijacked” by some who had sinister motives, it's believable if no one checks the facts. How can an organization whose founder remained in place for almost 40 years become hijacked? How can ACORN be reformed if the same longtime insiders are the new control group? This fiction must be exposed. Fox has been leading the way on exposing ACORN while other so called respected media outlets like the New York Times, finally admitted to having been continually scooped by Fox. But Fox needs to report all the facts to its viewers instead of promoting the ACORN 8 and wishful thinking.

As TV/Radio host Glenn Beck continues to expose the true subversive nature of ACORN, and Obama's radical roots, he contradicts many of the assertions made by this group of reformers. Though no one ever mentions the distortions on air, one has to wonder if Fox is doing its viewers a disservice by aligning themselves with groups who support Obama' s policy initiatives. As the conservative base mobilizes online, there is a disconnect between then and the so called leaders. The base sprung into action as a subsequent Glenn Beck boycott of advertisers begun by Van Jones and his organization Color of Change attempted to silence Beck and that same base is ready to fight as ACORN attempts to DeFox America.

Those outside of this boycott alliance spread the word on Twitter and Facebook about the Left's attempt to silence Beck, while the ACORN 8 remained largely silent on these issues and others that concern the very people they fundraise and ask to support their efforts. Like the $990,000 the Republicans spent on Scozzafava, conservatives are being asked to foot the bill for a partnership that was never ideologically aligned with theirs. As stated, such partnerships are rarely mutually beneficial for long. While the Left exploits the fears of conservatives on the issues of race, conservatives must be willing to fight back and respond to the blows instead of merely trying to deflect them.

After watching the ACORN prostitution stings, Americans do not see ACORN as serving a noble purpose and one has to wonder what people were doing on the ACORN board for years. Marcel Reid was active in ACORN for nine years and her story that the ACORN board was "ceremonial" does not excuse any board member. She claims to have noticed ACORN corruption only after the embezzlement scandal was publicly reported. As a former employee who started in October of 2005, I was already calling the folks at www.rottenacorn.com by May of 2007.

The question now is whether the GOP can overcome its fear of being labeled "racist" by the left and learn to respond to these attacks. Fear of that seems to be the tipping point for their ultimately disastrous relationships with liberals who wish to keep Democrats in power.

Until and unless we conservatives form our own groups and become more involved in the communities of color, we will find ourselves aligned with every group that sprouts from the ACORN seed. ACORN 8 professes to love ACORN and does not want to see it dismantled, just "reformed. " But ignoring the reality of the radical ACORN 8 potentially opens that door to other alliances with ACORN "insiders" who are willing to offer information in exchange for credibility and a chance to retaliate against the very control group that threw them out.

ACORN’s chief organizer and CEO Bertha Lewis appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ on May 29, 2009 to combat the growing criticism that ACORN is a criminal enterprise that is operating as an arm of the Democrats. Well, a watered down version of Bertha Lewis appeared, for those who are not familiar with her colorful character see Youtube. ACORN spokespersons have never had a problem lying on camera, but under oath is a different story (as witnessed by Karyn Gillette’s swift departure from a courtroom in Pennsylvania back in October of 2008). ACORN National spokesman Scott Levenson and other ACORN spokespersons have defended their actions and blamed rogue employees. During ‘The O’Reilly Factor’, Lewis asserted that she is in charge and that no criminal activity will be tolerated on her watch. Really.

For background, Lewis assumed control over the organization, that is, became Chief Organizer after it was revealed that ACORN’s founder Wade Rathke had covered up the embezzlement of almost $1 million dollars by his brother Dale, ACORN’s longtime chief financial organizer. The embezzlement occurred around December of 2000 and was reported by the New York Times

American loves a comeback story, we extend olive branches to celebrities accused of horrible acts and repeated fits of bad judgment. The accused usually wage a PR campaign to restore their now blighted image. I like to refer to this as the celebrity rehab tour, Paris Hilton kissed and held little black children, other stars have attended rehab, jail (or both) and even taken anger management and sensitivity classes. The Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), has taken a slightly different but no less interesting approach Denial. In a February 2008 Huffington Post article, Bertha Lewis, CEO and Chief Organizer of ACORN, laid out the groundwork for ACORN's 2009 Foreclosure campaign.  

It is not hyperbole to say that the foreclosure crisis lies at the very heart of the broader economic collapse. The glut of foreclosed properties on the market forced housing prices into a tailspin, and banks loaded up with mortgage-backed securities and complex derivatives, unable to value or sell these assets, stopped lending to each other and the credit markets froze up, triggering the broader economic morass. A broad and successful economic recovery is impossible without directly addressing the record foreclosure rate that lies at its heart. ...However, since the crisis hit, the response has been a patchwork of voluntary, half-baked, and disjointed policies topped off with a $350 billion give-away to the companies that created this mess in the first place. Given the urgency of the crisis and the lack of attention paid to the families bearing the brunt of the economic meltdown, ACORN is taking its foreclosure campaign to a new level of militancy. 

It seems that ACORN has decided to overlook some key facts in the information that Ms. Lewis lays out. Most importantly, the sale of Golden West/World Savings to Wachovia and the maturity of billions of dollars worth of debt. Secondly, how were the Sandlers able to run unchecked in an era when ACORN became famous for taking banks to task for their dirty misdeeds. A 2006 report called The Monetary Impact of ACORN Campaigns:A Ten Year Retrospective, 1995-2004 by Lisa Ranghelli demonstrates that this new campaign is actually ACORN's standard operating procedure with a new package. 

Beginning in 2000 ACORN ran an aggressive national campaign to combat predatory lending practices by Household Finance, one of the nations largest subprime lenders. One outcome of that campaign was ACORNs victory in a class-action settlement with Household that was valued for the court at $150 million in payout to borrowers, including $72 million allocated for a Foreclosure Avoidance Program (FAP) and $3 million for the Fresh Start Program. As part of the settlement, Household also agreed to end the sale of financed credit insurance and other similar products, stop deceptive sales practices that included hiding points, fees, or prepayment penalties charged on a loan, and end billing practices which encouraged borrowers to fall behind on their high-rate second loans.

The Foreclosure Avoidance Program, which modifies loans that were unaffordable to borrowers, is already making a difference in homeowners lives since ACORN won the settlement. 

Certainly the Sandlers pick a pay loans would fall under the same categories as the above stated grievances with Household. Maybe the answer lies in a 2006 memo sent by Zach Polett, Project Vote Executive director and director of ACORN Political Operations. The memo: Proposed Process for Developing a 5-Year ACORN Political Business Plan explains the need for the creation of a business plan:  

Both to focus the strategic thinking of our political work and to put ourselves in position to attempt to raise the funds to support an ambitious, multi-year political program that grows out of ACORNs base and strengths, I believe we need a serious, well-argued business plan. On the fundraising side, places we will want to share this business plan include the millionaires club (Democracy Alliance), the billionaires (Sandlers, Soros, etc.), friends and opinion leaders in the voter engagement world (e.g., Frank Smith, John Podesta), SEIU, the voter participation foundations, etc....A key element of and argument for our plan why ACORN? is that ACORNs model and history of building ongoing, multi-issue, geographically-based, politically-engaged membership organizations, plus the large organizing staff and organizing culture that ACORN brings, mean that ACORN is the perfect entity to build the kind of long-term, permanent electoral capacity that progressives need to take back power in America.

 ACORN, the Sandler's, Soros and John Podesta? It seems like a right wing fantasy, but their it is in ACORN's own words. Podesta ran the Sandler and Soros funded Center for American Progress and the Obama transition team leader. During a December 2006 Year End/Year beginning ACORN staff meeting in New Orleans, Podesta traveled there to speak to staff in a December 15 2006 session entitled: Preparing for Power: The Next Cycle?Very interesting title and I am sure ACORN will state that it is a coincidence. Podesta also seemed to not only be yet another ACORN/Sandler link but also a go to guy for finance. In a management conference call dated March 20, 2006 it states that:

"WFP Ballot Line: Chris Entrikin to get sigs in SC and hiring an operative to help with it. OR the committee is not going to the ballot in 06. In WA Clare C meeting with honchos to see if going to ballot in 06. MA. Fundraising problems. AFSCME wants to block endorsement by state Fed. We did briefing w/John Podesta to help drum up $$. No word yet."

As ACORN began to prepare for power, they set the stage with a series of moves like breaking into foreclosed homes, looked good on TV, but had other ramifications, Zach Polett in a memo to ACORN Political Operations senior staff outlined these initiatives: 

RE: Thinking Ahead: Potential Political Operations Priorities & Projects 2007 2008In addition, the November 7th election shook up America electorally, creating a range of exciting opportunities for ACORN and its growing membership. By the voters rejecting the dismal record of the Bush administration, giving control of both Houses of Congress to the Democrats for the first time since 1994, and switching party control in a number of governors mansions and state legislatures, we have the opportunity to work on a range of issues at both the state and federal levels that would have been dead-on-arrival just a few weeks ago...

Sounds great and very beneficial to the poor right, but another internal document goes on to state "Electoral plans redistricting and holding congress and 2010 Gubernatorial races (47)...Senate in 2010c Questions about getting to 60 in 2008. So 2010 becomes an additional push for more seats. "Obviously preparing for power was not meant for the poor, but for the Democrats that are currently in office with the dubious help of ACORN and generous donations from the Sandlers. To some it may appear that the Sandler's donated more than just their money, but also structural support to ACORN and the Democratic Party. Besides site training by staff for ACORN, according to ACORN insiders, the Sandler funded Pro Publica referred the Advance Group to ACORN for crisis PR. Pro Publica has also been accused by some of managing the news.The phrase preparing for power resonates not only with ACORN and the Sandlers, but also with the events that I testified about and reported to the New York times in 2008. In September of 2007, I prepared a listing of all of the Chicago area donors in anticipation of a fundraising trip by either Karyn Gillette (Project Vote Development Director) or Zach Polett. Sometime after this fundraising trip, as I have testified in court, ACORN received the Obama donor list. In addition to this, Zach Polett gave a pep talk to staff at a retreat in November of 2007, and mentioned that he had the opportunity to supervise Barack Obama and that ACORN produces leaders and gets results.ACORN's results appear to be one sided in nature with direct benefit going to their strategic partnerships, the Sandler's, who have not returned calls for comment, could be held liable in the same way that ACORN attacked Household Finance. Lisa Ranghelli in her reports details how

... ACORN was directly influential in the successful pursuit of a multi-state lawsuit against Household by Attorneys General in every state, resulting in a settlement of $484 million in direct compensation to borrowers. During the Household campaign, ACORN also helped hundreds of borrowers in several states get thousands of dollars back from Household in fees, credit insurance, significant loan modifications, and in some cases refinances into better loans.

Good job ACORN, I already have my sign made, when are we going to the Sandlers home? Will ACORN assist the Attorney General in their probe of the Sandlers? California seems to be the point of origin for a great deal of these loans, and this week as Rep. Barbara Lee canceled an appearance at an ACORN awards ceremony (amidst the threat of an ACORN 8 protest), how many other California politicians will come to the aid of their constituents (!cough! Nancy Pelosi). Bertha Lewis was contacted directly for a comment for the conclusion of this series, she declined to comment, but her Huffington Post piece clearly outlines ACORN's position.

ACORN's campaign is working to put the human faces of foreclosure victims front and center while escalating the campaign tactics to include civil disobedience aimed at keeping people from losing their homes. Everything is on the table: disruption of sales, disruption of banking business, even refusing to be evicted or moving families back into their foreclosed homes. The urgency of the crisis demands no less.

The ACORN 8 has filed civil RICO charges in DC, NY and LA as well as 12 other states, from coast to coast, ACORN 8 offices have sprung up in die hard ACORN country and the response has been denial and the casting call from ACORN National for more protesters and more puff press releases. ACORN refuses to deal with its demons, it would rather pretend that they are not there. It is now up to Eric Holder and the Obama Justice Department to review the evidence presented and call their bluff.

I have been following the on going ACORN debacle very closely, and for anyone growing up in an underprivileged situation you value the most basic of life's virtues. The most highly regarded one being honesty. When you live hand to mouth you expect that if you work hard 40 hours a week you will be paid for that work. You do not expect for someone to to tell how sorry they are that you have worked so hard , and then not be paid. Also they're sorry for the fact that you were counting on the money to pay your rent, buy groceries, and provide child care for your children. Well in a since that's exactly what ACORN has done. The self proclaimed voice of the disenfranchised, have used a most overlooked commodity in America : "Poverty." A natural resource that is in abundance not only due to the current financial strain that our country is suffering from; but also due to the systematic exploitation of those who are less fortunate than the ones who control the means to provide assistance  to the poor , that they so desperately need.

ACORN has not only exploited those in our country's most destitute neighborhoods. i.e. (Washington D.C.,and New Orleans), but they have instituted the tactics of using what some would consider the cream of the crop of these poverty stricken areas to speak for them. What better way to show that you're for the people then to use the people.

This is nothing more than Non profit-ography:the use of the socially and economically deprived to provoke emotional connectivity to non-profit based upon "leaders" within the organization being of the same social and economic background. By using this most overlooked resource, they acquired a Fortune 500 size profit base. And where has this money gone one might ask? Well as of lately straight into the pockets of the founding members. Obviously it seems to be the purpose of the new "progressive" social non profits.

The exploitation of poverty for any means - not just fiduciary - is unacceptable,especially when using those exact same people who are suffering from this systematic disease. To rein in the forgotten in society, those who feel they are being lead by someone who has suffered the same plights in life and understands them. Most members feel like they have found a haven of some sorts – unfortunately for them, the shelter was made of straw.

“I feel like I am being organized to believe that Wade is bad everyone else is good. Now this new group is taking over and I am supposed to believe what they are saying.” -ACORN Board Member Monday, August 11, 2008

During the 2008 elections the general public got their first real look at community organizing. The topic seemed to spring up out of nowhere after the often repeated comments of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's remarks. This scrutiny allowed a glimpse into a world that mostly operates on the edges of society and likes to stay that way. Wikipedia reviews the different types of community organizers and ACORN is mentioned right after this entry:

“Grassroots organizing builds community groups from scratch, developing new leadership where none existed and organizing the unorganized. It is a values based process where people are brought together to act in the interest of their communities and the common good. It is a strategy that revitalizes communities and allows the individuals to participate and incite social change. It empowers the people directly involved and impacted by the issues being addressed.”

Community organizers spend long hours helping others, they open their hearts and really believe in what they are working towards. If ACORN were a case study of how this model can go horribly wrong, it would begin by looking at the current management situation. According to notes taken at the August, 11 2008 meeting titled Rebuilding ACORN’s Social Impact one attendee puts it this way:

“ACORN was built on issues coming from the bottom up and now it is coming from the top down. It isn’t clear where are projects are coming from. The staff have goals and the members have goals. ACORN was developed by the founders that these things would come from the bottom up. We have gotten away from that. We have to be trained that people do grow pass the speed bump, some people are still there, and that’s okay. We can work it out.”

When issues come from the top down there appears to be a disconnect between what the people want and what ACORN's staff want. The members in the organization are treated like extras in great “street theater” performances and ACORN manipulates their minority and low income members like puppets. Participants at this August 11th meeting were broken into groups and the feedback confirms the very issues that ACORN so vehemently denies in the press.

Group Five Feedback

• Theoretical structure of ACORN is sound but the actual way we do things is the problem.

• We need to figure out how to capture the people we registered to vote and get them more involved and to be dues paying members.

• In the past we made decisions based on financial need and not necessarily what the members wanted.

• Need to be more accountable to members and Be more focused on what is important to them.

• There isn’t just one way to fix things, we have to identify people who are doing good and the people are who aren’t and move from there.

The group goes on to address the need to “Stop Wade-isms, redefine what organizing means, stop selling things to members with talking points and manipulation.” August 11, 2008 is when this meeting occurred and ACORN has received much attention since then, but certain facts remain unreported. Almost six months after this meeting, Texas ACORN members were harassed by an ACORN organizer, who had to be physically removed from the meeting. As member Roslyn Dodge puts it:

FT. WORTH CITYWIDE MEETING HELD FRIDAY 1/30/08 WAS ATTENDED BY ACORN DUES PAYING MEMBERS AND ACORN 8 MEMBERS. FT.WORTH PRESIDENT, ROBERT SMITH INFORMED MEMBERS OF THE WRIT MANDEMUS, FILING OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AND ACORN 8'S EFFORTS TO REFORM ACORN.

ONE FT. WORTH MEMBERS ASKED WHY SHOULD THEY CONTINUE PAYING DUES AND CCI IS NO LONGER PAYING THEIR RENT/PHONE BILL........ THIS IS THE RETILITION OF THE DALLAS HEAD ORGANIZER , FIRED BY THE FT. WORTH BOARD IN 2008. FT. WORTH MEMBERS ARE PAYING THE RENT OUT OF POCKET.........THEY ARE COMMITTED TO THE COMMUNITY NEEDS WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.

THE MEETING RESULTED TO MEMBERS GETTIG FIRED UP ABOUT THE NEED TO REFORM. THEY SIGNED ON PETITION TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS OF ACORN 8 TO REFORM ACORN.

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE MEETING WAS THE INTRUSION OF ONE ACORN STAFFERS, FORMER FT. WORTH MEMBER, DERRICK RICHARDSON. HE SHOUTED STATEMENTS TO ROBERT SMITH, SAYING, " WE KNOW YOU ARE THE WHISTLEBLOWER" AND "YOU CAN NOT HAVE AN ACORN MEETING WITHOUT A ACORN ORGANIZER" . BEFORE HE WAS ESCORTED OUT THE MEETING BY SECURITY, HE STATED HE HAD THE RIGHT TO BE AT THE MEETING BECAUSE HE IS A MEMBER AND STAFF PERSON. BEFORE LEAVING THE ROOM MR. RICHARDSON SNAPED PICTURES OF MEMBERS.

At what point does ACORN, an organization that wants to bring power to communities, relinquish control? ACORN members are being told that organizers have to be present or they can not meet, does this violate their first Amendments rights? Organizers attend meetings in order to guide the members on the wishes of national staff, and encourages them to risk arrest or miss work for agendas that are clearly financial in nature. Case in point is the Sherwin-Williams campaign. The notes below are from a December 2006 report:

TAKING ON THE ISSUE OF LEAD PAINT & THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY

Our members care a great deal about this issue. Considered one of the most significant environmental health hazards affecting children in the U.S, many of our members have family or friends who are dealing with effects of lead paint poisoning. And over the last year or so, with legal actions against the paint industry finally getting somewhere, there has appeared an opening that may provide a way to pro actively deal with the problem once and for all.

Going into ’06 we were up to 14 ACORN cities receiving funds from HUD to work on lead paint issue. The internal discussion was that a number of cities would be doing local lead campaigns, and therefore layering on a national demand/campaign made particular sense. We would be building a base in a number of cities, raising money with the HUD funds as leverage, and winning local campaigns against landlords and cities. The national campaign would raise the profile of our work and might lead to resources to grow our work. ....

We knew going into this campaign that we faced a particular challenge in the current environment. They can settle with ACORN, but still haven’t gotten rid of their biggest problem – the city and state lawsuits. Over the last 6 months our primary strategy has been to demonstrate to Sherwin-Williams that ACORN has the capacity to compound their legal problems, primarily by getting more cities and states to sue. While right now there is a chance that the company’s legal problems will grow significantly, ACORN’s work could almost ensure that this would be the case. So, deal with ACORN to take out that factor, and they might hope to beat back the worst of what could come.

Sherwin-Williams hasn’t wanted to deal, so we now either give up or make good on our threat. The problem is, while we can get more state lawsuits moving, and these very well may lead to the homes in our neighborhoods being made lead safe, securing the final victory is in the hands of the AG’s and how do we benefit organizationally?

Luck would have it that the major CA lawsuit against the paint industry is being handled by the same law firm handling our Wells Fargo case – and they want to work together on the lead case. Over the last month we have been able to convince several major CA cities and school districts to join the lawsuit. In a potentially important precedent for our role in these types of cases, we are in the final stages of negotiating a seat for ALERT (ACORN Law for Education, Representation & Training) on the legal team for the case, which puts us at the table - and in the settlement negotiations.”

I don't care how ACORN tries to paint or spin this, it is quite clear that they are willing to leave some lead in the homes of poor minorities in order to get some type of monetary settlement for the organization. ACORN is playing with the lives of our children and using their parents as pawns in an elaborate shakedown scheme that - in this case - seems to be aided by a law firm. To do this they need members to go out and “perform” by protesting and disrupting meetings. Most organizers do this in order to intimidate the target into settling, and some members do not have a clue as to what is really going on.

Another example of the duplicity lies in ACORN's push to pass this stimulus bill. ACORN members have been bursting into housing meetings all month to stop foreclosures but what they do not know is that this PLAY was written in 2006 and that ACORN stood by and let its members suffer until the time was right. According to a report released in December of 2006:

“In 2006 we saw the cracks begin to form in the subprime mortgage market with foreclosures on the rise and hundreds of billions of dollars in ARMs resetting. All signs indicate that in 2007 things will be even worse and the system could rupture. We need to be right there when it does.”

ACORN contributed to the current crisis through its constant shakedown of banks and mortgage companies and when they realized that the jig was up, they began a plan to use members once again to make money for their political activities. ACORN has not mentioned the 5.2 billion dollars to its members and the protests are carefully planned performances for the media.

The ultra liberal, ACORN loving, Huffington Post wrote a glorious piece on Bertha Lewis, chief sheep herder, as she pulls one over (yet, again) on her trusting members:

“For three weeks now ACORN members have been aggressively pursuing a campaign to pass a bold, progressive Economic Recovery package in the new Congress. Working closely with allies like US Action, AFSCME, and the larger Americans United for Change coalition, ACORN members are taking a major role in building the coalition to pass this recovery package, and to create the context for it to be both stronger and more directly responsive to the situation facing working families across this country.”

ACORN has a track record of abusing its members and these actions are no different. The action alert posted here does not let on what ACORN's true stake in this bill is and that omission is significant. But of course, this is par for the norm in ACORN as their own notes illustrate:

“Notes from West Regional Meeting 8/15/08, Los Angeles

A lot of questions to be examined…why are we doing certain programs and services that are either not really needed by our members as a major demand and which do not really build us membership. Politics and 3rd party politics remains important and is underestimated in Bertha’s view.

Too many HOs (head organizers) and other staff do not treat or respect members properly, poor training, and modeling of Wade’s way of treating people poorly and in an abusive way, not respecting process or opinions.”

Amazingly this attitude also extends to African American staff members as well. A participant at the Monday, August 11, 2008 meeting show how much he cares about his workers of color.

“As a Political Director in my area I have to invest into the personal lives of the AA(African American) people on my staff. I show them the big picture and I stay on them to make sure they get it together. “

If this paternalistic attitude is not enough, yet another staff member at the meeting noted that:

“We bring in predominately White suburban organizers. We don’t hire out of the neighborhoods that we help. It puts off people in the community who can’t relate to the organizer. We need technical training and get people email addresses. Some Black people don’t know how to use email."

At least one staff member noted the challenges facing African American staff:

"As an HO I shouldn’t have to loan my staff money, checks are late, they are operating on a margin. YEYB(Year End/Year Begining, held in New Orleans every year) near Christmas, end of a pay period, at the ritziest hotel in town. You ask people to live on air and free water. It is disrespectful. We set up all these barriers and expect them to do the job. If you bring in people from the community, there family demands go up, ACORN doesn’t recognize it. They put the burden on people in ACORN who can pay a few bills or who have a credit card. The poor people in the organization can’t move ahead cause they are poor and can’t afford to move up in the organization."

...We send people out without the resources to do the work. We shouldn’t. People waiting on checks and still coming to work. It seems purposeful that it is being done to AA people whether it is or is not.

This Rebuilding ACORN's Social impact meeting was attended by staff, leadership and board members, these were not disgruntled employees saying this, but the very people now snapping pictures and threatening members.

Money will always win in the battle between member interests and ACORN management decisions, or as ACORN' own lawyer Steve Bachman put it in a December 2006 report:

“In 2006 we settled out the Liberty Tax case. We were unable to secure support for suing various of our right wing enemies. Year 2007 may see us involved in some productive class action litigation”

All evidence will be posted this week and will be available for review or download. Honestly, I do not know how any Senator in good conscience can vote to fund an organization that is defrauding it poorest constituents.