Prosecute ACORN With RICO Immediately, Save Our Elections

Across the political spectrum, millions of Americans have become aware of an urgent, compelling need for a federal investigation into the widespread, systematic fraud the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is committing as part of its nationwide drive to register “voters” (often ineligible non-citizens) for this national election. Since it now become apparent the presidential election and many other hotly contested races across the country could be decided by fraudulent voting, in less than two weeks, authorities must move quickly.

Federal authorities must immediately launch – and publicly announce – a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)[i] investigation into ACORN and its voter-registration operations, conducting simultaneous raids of ACORN’s front organizations in multiple states where voter fraud has been observed and documented. Involved could be hundreds of thousands, or more, falsified votes. It is critical that citizens call state and federal authorities to demand immediate action, especially the Department of Justice and your territorial State’s Attorney.[ii]

ACORN is the largest radical group in America, with 400,000 dues-paying member families and 1,200 chapters in over a hundred U.S. cities, operating in at least 38 states.[iii] But incredibly, all of ACORN's power is directed by a single family, the Rathkes.[iv]

ACORN employees have broken many state laws, some already netting convictions.[v] State election fraud appears coordinated and paid for by ACORN leaders. The purpose of this fraud is transparently to create pools of illegal ballots. Notable is an obvious central coordination of these activities, spreading across the nation. The idea that many states would simultaneously, yet coincidentally create the same pattern of voter fraud crime, via a single entity, is nonsensical.

This type scenario is exactly why RICO was created. Such sprawling, masterminded, nationalized crimes overwhelm any one state, which have no means to take on massive crime syndicates, or address criminal activity outside their territory. If ACORN is doing such planned interstate fraud, and by way -- misusing funds, they are operating as a de-facto interstate crime syndicate, defrauding donors and the Government, and misusing fees to perpetrate crime. So RICO clearly applies to ACORN. (SCOTUS has also ruled legitimate businesses also fall under RICO (Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co[vi])).

Department of Justice guidelines, in their Criminal Resource Manual (USAM 9-110.000),[vii] say RICO cases should be select, but great latitude exists to choose cases meritoriously. The USAM (9-110.310) says if 1 of 7 reasons exist for a RICO prosecution, it should be launched.[viii] Virtually all of these rules apply to the ACORN case, but one compelling reason to launch one is the alarming, emerging pattern of coordinated, widespread fraud. RICO allows combining many crimes in separate states as a whole. Seeing ACORN as one major problem of many parts, as opposed to many smaller state crimes is key. Further, the manual encourages taking on cases...“in which the federal government has a significant interest.” (USAM 9-110.000)[ix] Is there a greater conceivable Government interest than making presidential and senatorial elections safe, and not discredited or overturned by fraudulent ballots?

RICO is codified as Chapter 96, Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968.[x] It was originally drafted to eradicate organized crime, but allows prosecution of groups satisfying four basic criteria: (i) An enterprise; (ii) affecting interstate commerce, (iii) creating a crime pattern, (iv) via at least two acts of racketeering (USAM 9-110.000).[xi] Racketeering is a pattern of crime created through at least two predicate crimes, over ten years. There are 35 RICO predicate crimes,[xii] and RICO does not require any mens rea (intent to conspire) beyond that necessary for the predicate acts.[xiii]

RICO prohibits using income from a pattern of racketeering activity used to acquire an interest in enterprises affecting interstate commerce, or conducting/participating in an enterprise affecting interstate commerce through a pattern of racketeering activity, or conspiring to participate in any of these activities. RICO's purpose is to remove organized crime from the legitimate business community. (USC §1962)[xiv]

RICO provides criminal sanctions, including prison terms up to 20 years, and forfeiture of racketeer derived gain. It authorizes courts to issue restraining orders prior to conviction to prevent transfer of potentially forfeitable property.[xv] RICO prosecutions need not focus on economic crimes.[xvi]

ACORN, as an enterprise registering potential voters across America with paid staff, affects interstate commerce. Employees of ACORN racketeered by perpetrating fraud via theft of money sent to ACORN for legal activity. Predicate laws violated include fraud via theft of funds. ACORN thereby engaged in mail fraud (USC §1341)[xvii] and wire fraud (USC §1343)[xviii], by stealing donations, Government financial aid, and contracted payments, misusing them for purposely dishonest, fraudulent activity. ACORN employees may also have committed other RICO predicate crimes, such as money laundering, embezzlement, interstate transportation of stolen property, etc.

1. Predicate Crimes: Proving the first step, one must show a “Pattern of racketeering activity,” with at least two acts of racketeering activity committed within ten years of each other for ACORN is easy (18 U.S.C.A. §1961(5))[xix]. There have already been many ACORN violations across the U.S. of RICO predicate crimes in the last ten years, including felony election law violations.[xx]

Consider the shocking recent case of Freddie Johnson, 19 of Cleveland, Ohio who admits filling out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period, according to a NY Post story filed October 10, 2008, done “...at the behest of the left-leaning ACORN.” Johnson said ACORN would “...bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up.”[xxi]

The money and cigarettes given Johnson were stolen from ACORN funds to bribe his vote. This is the predicate crime of mail fraud or wire fraud, since the money used would have been wired or mailed to ACORN. Fraud (18 USC §1341) is defined as “...devising any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses.”[xxii] Wire Fraud (18 USC §1343) is defined as using an interstate wire communications facilities in carrying out a scheme to defraud[xxiii]; whereas Mail Fraud (18 U.S.C. §1341)[xxiv] is using the United States mails in carrying out a scheme to defraud.

ACORN receives donations via mail and its website interface; Government largess via U.S. mail, and contractual payments, such as the Obama Campaign's almost $1 million fee[xxv], by mail or wire. If the monies were received in one state and driven to another with the intent to misuse them for petty bribe of potential vote-falsifiers, it would be the predicate crime of Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property. This has a threshold amount of $5,000 to trigger the crime.[xxvi]

Another ACORN fraud case from Washington state caused Secretary of State Sam Reed called, “the worst case of voter-registration fraud in the history of the state of Washington,” resulting in 2,000 fraudulent voter registration cards submitted by ACORN during a 2007 voter registration drive.[xxvii] This again qualifies as Mail or Wire Fraud, as funds meant to pay for legal work were diverted to underwrite fraud.

-- Misuse of Government Funds: Government funds underwrite ACORN fraud.[xxviii] Rep. John Boehner (R OH) asked the Government de-fund Acorn, since they gave the Albuquerque, New Mexico ACORN office $349,253 in federal tax dollars since 1998.[xxix] The NM GOP discovered 28 persons voted illegally in Albuquerque during the June 2008 Democratic primary by absentee ballot registered by ACORN.[xxx] Again, such activities are prima facie examples of mail and wire fraud, and a serious misuse of public funds.

-- Misuse of Charitable Donations: Further, ACORN misuses charitable donation. It receives funding from many charities, such as those run by the Catholic Church. One source wrote, “ACORN annually receives about 5% of Catholic Campaign for Human Development grants.”[xxxi] The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has suspended support of ACORN in 2008 because of fraud.[xxxii] The CCHD was slated to give 40 ACORN affiliates nationwide $1.13 million in grants for the funding cycle that started July 1, 2008. The grants were canceled after word of Dale Rathke's embezzlement leaked out.[xxxiii] ACORN gets much funding from like charities.

-- Money Laundering: The possibility of money laundering has also surfaced. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) financial disclosure reports from earlier this year, between February 25th and May 17th the Obama campaign paid $832,598 to Citizens Services, Inc. (CSI), one of the nearly seventy not-for-profit companies registered at the ACORN New Orleans headquarters. [xxxiv] The fees paid were for services not available, so it cannot be a simple accounting error. .[xxxv] Since CSI’s directors are in ACORN leadership, and vice-versa, the different companies probably fail for improper formation. So a payment to CSI is arguably a payment to ACORN.[xxxvi]

The crime here is laundering of monetary instruments §1956. This is when a person purposely obscures the details of a financial transaction to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, or the ownership of funds to avoid the transaction from being reported as a requirement under State or Federal law. The punishment for this is forfeiture of the funds, a $10,000 fine, and possible prison time.[xxxvii]

As fifteen separate state investigations of ACORN happen simultaneously, there are too many ACORN fraud tales to relate. But interesting examples abound, such as the 7-year-old from Connecticut enrolled; bizarre faux-voters including "Fruto Boy Crispila,” “Jive Turkey,” “Mary Poppins”[xxxviii] and “Mickey Mouse;”[xxxix] over 3,000 fraudulent Missouri voter registration cards submitted in 2003;[xl] and an army of living-dead voters, being raised from the grave only during election season, in many precincts.[xli] Hard to top is "Princess Nudelman”, a deceased goldfish sent registration paperwork to her Chicago home earlier this year.[xlii]

The Ohio Secretary of State has admitted 200,000 irregular ballots exist, representing 1 in 3 new voter registrations being abnormal or faked. Overall, fifteen separate ACORN investigations have been launched in fifteen states, representing virtually every state where ACORN is highlighting a get-out-the-vote effort this election.[xliii]

ACORN's website claims it has signed up more than 1.3 million new voters, “the largest voter drive in history”.[xliv] If 33% of those are faked, that means 400,000 fraudulent voters are on the rolls, just this year alone. Bearing in mind past voter drives, ACORN could easily be responsible for millions of phantom voters. Such startling numbers call into question the results of every close election in America for the last 3 decades.[xlv] And, now that ACORN admits it has falsified even its own internal voter registration numbers, establishing intentional fraud, it is certain no claim of the group can be accepted with intense scrutiny.[xlvi] Further, this adds to the list of solid evidence against the group.

But predicate crimes are not even necessary any longer to trigger RICO. The Court in Salinas v U.S. Ruled, “There is no requirement of some overt act or specific act in the statute before us...It makes no difference that the substantive offense under subsection (c) requires two or more predicate acts.” This means an ongoing criminal conspiracy alone is enough to trigger RICO.[xlvii]

2. Pattern: In detecting RICO patterns, in H.J., Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., SCOTUS developed a "continuity plus relationship" test, which seeks similar type crimes in diverse states, connected back to the enterprise.[xlviii] With ACORN, signing up fraud-voter registrations is the recurring theme, as is the misuse of funds to underwrite the task. This step is therefore easily proved.[xlix]

3. Enterprise: For RICO, an “enterprise” must contain some structure distinct from the pattern of racketeering activity, and a common or shared purpose, and a continuity of structure or personnel.[l]

Since ACORN has been legally established for three decades as a voter-registration group, has a transparent and stable leadership, and breaks the same laws that govern its stated purpose, it is inconceivable that they would not be seen as running an enterprise, under RICO.[li]

4. Effect on Interstate Commerce: In RICO, an alleged racketeering activity must affect interstate commerce. But courts now allow a de minimis impact on interstate commerce, via "proof of a probable or potential impact." (United States v. Gray)[lii]

So proving ACORN's impact on interstate commerce, with their many employees, in many U.S. States, would be another easily proved aspect.

ACORN is a family business founded by Wade Rathke and run with help from his wife, children, and brother Dale Rathke. Dale is the “financial guru” of the organization, and signs for official documents for dozens of ACORN entities.[liii] This decision proved to be unfortunate since Dale embezzled a million dollars, which was discovered, and yet he was not prosecuted, but bizarrely allowed to stay on for a decade in positions of trust.[liv]

All ACORN affiliates officially brought in $37.5 million in 2006. But, this does not reflect other sources of income, and during election cycles income spikes.[lv] Total funding for ACORN is unknown, and the subject is highly complex, given its Byzantine structure. It must therefore be analyzed within the matrix of the other 75 ACORN affiliates. These are so closely related they use the same Louisiana address of 1024 Elysian Fields in New Orleans, [lvi] and all share a very small pool of directors. In fact, the entirety of ACORN is run by one family – the Rathkes.[lvii] Its budget is fed by unions dues, government grants, foundation gifts, member donations, and settlements agreements with targeted businesses.[lviii] For example, there is evidence Wal-Mart paid $5 million to ACORN as a “labor settlement.”[lix] But there is much internal contracting in ACORN. So, to give company a grant is to fund the rest, like a mother pig feeding and then passing nutrition to the piglets.

While ACORN's website claims they accept no Government coin, ACORN Housing gets 40% of its support from Uncle Sam.[lx] The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported former Arkansas ACORN chair Dorothy Perkins claimed the group is “run like a Jim Jones cult” where all funds ended up under Wade Rathke’s control, “never seen” by poorest people they theoretically represents.[lxi] ACORN's governing structure has lead to enormous public confusion. The group describes “leaders” who are simply powerless dues-paying members, while all organizers are paid staff controlled by Rathke and acolytes. [lxii] ACORN Housing receives 40% of its funds from Government grants, which is shared many other ACORN entities. [lxiii]

The foregoing doesn't even touch the immense wealth[lxiv] that ACORN could have received from the recent U.S. fiscal bailout bill.[lxv] Had the first bailout passed, some estimate ACORN would have collected billions, via the Housing Trust Fund codicil,[lxvi] tucked away in the text.[lxvii] Still, the just passed bailout still helps ACORN.[lxviii] More recent legislation aids them, as well.[lxix]

In the midst of ACORN’s widespread fraud, no new money should be handed over, especially since they lack any respectable accounting practices or fiscal transparency.[lxx] ACORN has received public, private, and contract monies which it has consistently misused for the life of its existence, and should be prosecuted for a RICO violation.

A crucial dynamic is how voter registration falsification morphs into voter fraud. Despite protests the two are not linked, realizing the link is not rocket science. Obviously, if one were fostering illegal voting, a falsified registration would be a golden road to this act, as happened in Indiana, not long ago, illuminated in the case Pabey v. Pastrick. Here, trial Judge Steven King said that voter fraud facilitating faked ballots in the 2003 East Chicago mayoral primary, “may be a ‘textbook’ example of the chicanery that can attend the absentee vote cast by mail.”[lxxi]

Falsified voter absentee registrations have been used myriad times to throw elections, as in the 1997 Miami mayoral race, where the results had to be overturned after 5,000 faked absentee ballots surfaced. [lxxii] Falsified registrations from the Motor Voter law in Indianapolis swelled the number of registered voters 40% above the number of potential voters, by 2004, tallying more than the entire population.[lxxiii]

The American Colonies broke with England over being denied voting, decried as, “No taxation without representation!”[lxxiv] America was the first to offer the franchise (legal right to vote) to all races, genders, and economic classes.[lxxv]

At the heart of America’s political vitality is the democratic “one-citizen, one-vote” rule that must not be tainted by vote-rigging, or vote dilution by faked ballots. Only through legitimate polling can a Government of the People, by the People be established. In fact, no democratic “freedom” exists without right to express a binding voice within the political process and choose leaders and laws. For instance, women and African Americans had their voices established through immense struggle, illustrating perpetual commitment to this conviction.[lxxvi]

Jean Jacques Rousseau, in Discourse on Political Economy, says that from the very act of voting the...“body receives its unity, its corporate self (son moi commun), its life and its will.”[lxxvii] This is inescapably true, as a political entity becomes democratic only while expressing its opinions and votes. John Locke[lxxviii] and Thomas Jefferson[lxxix] concur.

Voter's rights are deeply rooted in the American psyche. When Abraham Lincoln's criticized the Dred Scott decision denying Blacks citizenship and voting, he restated American founding principles.[lxxx] The belief men and women deserve full enfranchisement was behind the War of Independence, the Civil War, and Civil Rights movement. After the Civil War, protection of voting was reaffirmed as Blacks were enfranchised via 14th and 15th Amendments[lxxxi]

Yet, the ACORN fraud threatens every single person's voting rights in the U.S; and so every other right is endangered, since the Government and Constitution could both be overturned in such a scenario. Said the Court on this, “The case of the political franchise of voting...is regarded as a fundamental political right, because (it is) preservative of all rights.” Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356.[lxxxii]

Likewise, in Reynolds v. Sims, the Court said, “Undeniably, the Constitution of the United States protects the right of all qualified citizens to vote, in state as well as in federal, elections. ...The right to vote can neither be denied outright...nor diluted by ballot box stuffing.”[lxxxiii] American law therefore says dilution of ballots by vote fraud is a rejection of an essential right of citizenship, actionable on its face, as a denial of the 1st, 5th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 19th Amendments, as well as the entire Constitution, in toto. [lxxxiv].

After the 2000 presidential election, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002,[lxxxv] showing our continued commitment to preserving the “one person, one vote” principle. Protection of the American franchise should be considered close to a spiritual mandate, and Theodore Hesburgh has observed, “voting is a civic sacrament.”[lxxxvi]

The Department of Justice can intervene in election fraud involving federal elections.”[lxxxvii] The current crisis is perhaps the worst case of voter fraud in U.S. History, spawned by ACORN. A suit just filed for a civil RICO claim (Miller/Grant v. ACORN) in Ohio claims, “By means of the pattern of corrupt activity described heretofore, Defendant ACORN has injured and/or threatens to injure the Plaintiffs and similarly-situated citizens by diluting and/or threatening to dilute their vote, depriving them or threatening to deprive them of their right to participate in an honest and fair electoral process, impairing or threatening to impair the Plaintiffs’ right to have government officials chosen and ballot measures approved or disapproved by means of a fair and accurate election process.”[lxxxviii]

If ACORN operates illegally, to masterminding massive interstate vote fraud, why won't the Government mount an immediate RICO case against them? Should a group run by one family, using State funds, operating as tax-exempt, be allowed to grievously wound our democratic process? What results if the Government does nothing as ACORN falsifies hundreds of thousands of votes? Finally, if a RICO case would arrest fraud by seizing suspect ballots, isn’t the federal Government grossly derelict of duty by not launching a case -- especially given foreseeable years of litigation, social unrest, loss of election legitimacy and possible upending of democracy?

Before us looms the gathering 2008 ACORN election fraud, designed to upend the presidential race. This is against U.S. state and Federal law. RICO can be used to remedy such interstate crimes. Therefore, it must be invoked to stymie this massive plot. All illegal ACORN ballots must be seized before any more are cast, before the race is forever tainted. If not, the election will be politically, legally and morally discredited by ballot dilution disenfranchisement. If the US DoJ cannot find within the RICO Act a bridge to justice in prosecuting ACORN, all Americans are at risk for a denial of all civil rights and the loss of our constitutional democratic republic.[lxxxix]

..all true... WHERE IS THE JUSTICE DEPT???

why aren’t they busting these illegal voters? why aren’t they fanning out to all the early polling places? is the bush admin getting so bored on their way out?

or have they just decided, in for a penny, in for a pound, now that we’re nationalizing the investment banks, let’s just go whole hog and help obama win?

BY MAIL:

Correspondence to the Department, including the Attorney General, may be sent to:

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

BY E-MAIL:

E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.

E-mails will be forwarded to the responsible Department of Justice component for appropriate handling. Before sending e-mail, please read our Privacy Policy for details about how we handle personal information.

If you know the specific organization or official you wish to contact, please indicate such in your message or check the Component Contact Information Page to contact them directly.

Please include your mailing address in the event that the Department replies via United States Postal Service.
To comment on the USDOJ Web site, please e-mail webmaster@usdoj.gov.

BY PHONE:

Department of Justice Main Switchboard - 202-514-2000

Office of the Attorney General - 202-353-1555

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.