Posted on 12/08/2009 3:32:07 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
The outside legal expert hired by ACORN is declaring no laws were broken by workers caught in those infamous videos offering advice to a phony pimp and hooker.
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger wrote in the report: While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff; in fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers.
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, predictably, was pleased with the report
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
So the federal funds they are getting means this is the moral high road the Obama Administration is taking departing from the wretched and depraved Bush days?
WOW. I never saw that one coming. ;-)
The undersigned State Board delegates and National Board members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) file this criminal complaint against ACORN Staff and Executive Board members for fraud, embezzlement, conspiracy and concealment, and criminal civil rights violations. Additionally, since there has already been the public admission that a felony was committed, it is also possible that other federal offenses have also been committed including but not limited to;
Title 18 U.S.C. §1341, Mail Fraud,
18 U.S.C.§1001, Presenting a False Document to an Agent of the United States Government;
18 U.S.C.§1027 False statements and concealment of facts in relation to documents required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and other possible offenses including civiland/or criminal RICO violations.
18 U.S.C. §§1961-68 (RICO Act)
18 U.S.C. §1001 (False Statements to Agents of the U.S. Government),
18 U.S.C. §1341 (Mail Fraud),
18 U.S.C. §1027 (ERISA Violations),
18 U.S.C. §241 (Conspiracy Against Civil Rights).
Finally, the complainants contend that full investigations of a RICO conspiracy under 18U.S.C. §1962(c) are warranted because they assert that (1) the defendant persons (2) were employed by or associated with an enterprise (3) that engaged in or affected interstate commerce and that (4) the defendant persons operated or managed the enterprise (5) through a pattern (6) of racketeering activity, and (7) the complaints were injured in its business or property by reason of the pattern of racketeering activity.
Thus, the complainants feel that a formal RICO investigationis also warranted. 1. The Alleged Offense:The Complainants hereby allege a violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §241 Conspiracy Against Constitutional Rights which prohibits in relevant part, two or more persons (from conspiring) to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same . . . See, 18 U.S.C. §241.
BACKGROUND ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is acommunity-based advocacy organization founded in 1970. ACORN became part of the story of the 2008 presidential election as news reports and allegations surfaced against ACORN in a number of states. These complaints refer primarily to alleged irregularities with voter registrationdrives conducted by the organization. (National Review Online: Inside Obama's ACORN, May 29, 2008.) But also included significant embezzlement and concealment by Senior Staff and Executive Committee members.
ACORN registered as a non-profit corporation with the Secretary of State in Louisiana in 1977. Its Charter Organization ID is 04700320X. According to its corporate filings, ACORN's principle place of business is New Orleans, Louisiana, and approximately 294 related entitiesand related non-profits are also located at this place of business. ACORN is not registered as a tax-exempt organization.
ACORN's top three officers are President Maude Hurd of Dorchester, MA, Vice President Maria Polanco of Brooklyn, NY, and Secretary Maxine A. Nelson of Pine Bluff, AR. (Bertha Lewis recently became ACORN CEO) Maxine A. Nelson is also the director of Project Vote.
Citizens Consulting, Inc. (CCI) provides bookkeeping, human resource and financial management services exclusively for ACORN and related entities. All of CCIs clients reside at ACORN office locations, utilize common management and staff. CCI is the financial nerve center for ACORN and it affiliated organizations which houses the corporate books and records for all ACORN entities.
ACORN Structure ACORN was founded by Wade Rathke, an activist on issues of labor unions and lowincome workers, and Gary Delgado, an activist on issues of race and social justice. It has national headquarters in New York, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan social justice organization. In 2003,
ACORN opened operations in 20 new cities, including 5 state capitals. The group claims about 350,000 members across the country. (Wall Street Journal: Obama and ACORN, October 14, 2008).
Since 1970, ACORN has grown to more than 400,000 member families, organized in 1,200 neighborhood chapters in 110 citiesacross the U.S. and in cities in Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Argentina and India.
ACORN Funding--Government grants: According to an October 8, 2008 article in the New York Post, 40% of ACORN'soperations are funded through grants it receives from various governmental entities. (New York Post: The Pro-Barack Vote-Fraud Drive, Michelle Malkin, Oct. 8, 2008)
Grants have been issued to ACORN by the Dept of Housing and Urban Development, which gave $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as well as $1.6 million to ACORN affiliates. The Environmental Protection Agency gave a $100,000 grant to ACORN in 2004 for a Louisiana Justice Project, which removed lead from the homes of low income families. The Justice Department also gave a grant to ACORN in 2005 for a juvenile delinquency program. (NPR: ACORN's Money Tree Has Many Branches, October 15, 2008). --
SNIP--24 pp
SOURCE http://www.acorn-8.net/PDFs/USAttComp.pdf
“we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff; in fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers.
Of course not NUm NUt. They did not return, nor did they fill out applications for loans. Just checking out the “0”s shop keepers ability and willingness to help out one of their own!
Have you heard the one about the pimp, prostitute, politician and the community organizer? Well, thanks to San Diego private investigator Derrick Roach, Californians are not laughing at what is turning into a political nightmare for California Attorney General Jerry Brown and ACORN. On Tuesday, November 24, Attorney General Brown appeared on KABCs Peter Tilden Show after it was revealed that some 20,000 documents had been thrown into a National City dumpster by ACORN employees.
The documents were thrown out in advance of state investigators arriving at the local ACORN office to conduct an investigation resulting from national media attention.
ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera was videotaped giving advice to two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute regarding underage prostitution and human smuggling. Without admitting any wrongdoing ACORN terminated Mr. Vera, or so they said. Documents provided to BigGovernment.com show that Mr. Vera was not terminated but was simply laid off, implying that Mr. Vera is also eligible for rehire. (The document also notes that Mr. Vera was laid off due to restructuring related to videotaping incident.) (Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
What was found in the San Diego ACORN document dump ?
>> the inner workings of ACORN in California,
>> sensitive personal information of ACORN employees, members, clients,
>> SS nos, drivers license numbers, immigration records, and tax returns,
>> ACORNs entire political agenda laid bare,
>> thousands upon thousands of documents revealing the depth of ACORN's corrupt political machine,
>> ACORN's disturbing ties to public employee labor unions, to radical leftist groups,
>> could expose those politicians in cahoots with ACORN.
Q. Are there laws governing how discards of personal info should be handled? ACORN dumped sensitive personal information on ACORN employees, members, clients---SS nos, drivers license numbers, immigration records, and tax returns
A. California has had a personal information destruction law since January 1, 2001. Businesses must destroy, or arrange for destruction of, all records w/ personal information that they no longer wish to retain.
LINK TO LAW HERE http://www.taxnewsandtips.com/ab_2246_bill.pdf
More info here: http://www.calshredding.com/laws.php (BigGovernment.com blogger's post)
ACORN also trashed applications for public assistance. Could be they were engaged in govt fraud......making fraudulent applications for Food Stamps using different identities, then selling the food stamps on the street. San Ysidro supermarkets should account for who is using foodstamps.
ACORN's San Diego office is a border down. An applicant could live in Tijuana and have a PO Box across the Border in San Ysidro 15 minutes south of San Diego. They could ride the US gravy train and collect Welfare, Food Stamps, SSI, Medicaid, Healthy Families subsidies, UI, Workman's Comp, SS# checks and EITC refunds under several identities.....and actually live in Tijuana, Mexico.
They could be (1) American Citizens living in Tijuana, (2) Mexican Citizens with a Green Card, or, (3) illegal aliens who get friends or relatives to pick up benefit checks and/or foodstamps. (BigGovernment.com blogger's post)
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Senate Finance Committee Study
ACORN comprises a mind-boggling 94 different affiliates, that amounts to "a big shell game," a biting Senate Finance Committee study shows.
The study, by the staff of Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, reveals four ACORN charity groups give more than half their revenue to taxable entities that engage in "impermissible lobbying and political activity."
ACORN and its subsidiaries for decades have moved taxpayer money into their own pockets and into the left-wing Marxist machine.
Sen Charles Grassley's documents show leaders of ACORN community groups transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money-----meant for the poor---- to parts of the group that have political (and sometimes profit-making) missions.
Sen Grassley's documents indicate that ACORN's tax-exempt groups----along with its tangled web of allied organizations---- used more than half their charitable and public money in 2006 to pay other ACORN affiliates.
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Republican blasts ACORN reprieve
Political Intelligence | November 27, 2009 | Foon Rhee
FR Posted 11/28/2009 by yoe
A top House Republican today blasted a (ruling by the Justice Department) that allows the Obama administration to pay ACORN for services provided under contracts signed before Congress passed a law banning the community advocacy group from receiving taxpayers money. Republicans have been on the warpath against ACORN since its voter registration efforts came under scrutiny during the 2008 presidential campaign.
After conservative activists, who posed as a prostitute and pimp, released videos appearing to show ACORN staffers advising them how to skirt the law, Democrats joined in the outrage, leading to the congressional funding ban that Obama signed on Oct. 1. Since 1994, ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has received about $53 million in federal aid, much of it in grants to help poor people obtain affordable housing.
The Justice Department asked whether the funding ban applied to prior contracts. In a ruling first reported by the New York Times, a department lawyer said the payments under prior contracts should continue because the language of the law did not expressly wipe them out. (Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I’m shocked. Poor ACORN has been falsely accused. We shouldn’t have believed those videos. All those videos, in all those locations.
"Ok Bertha, but your huge ass scares me!"
You scare the bejeebers out of me ....
What do you expect from the worse Attorney General in Massachusetts history? Nothing to see here folks MOVE ON!
I just went down to vote for the Senate replacement for Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts).
The woman that checked me off on the voter rolls, three times tried to talk me out of the ballot I requested — Republican — I am not a Republican (I’m registered as “Unenrolled” — no party affiliation) — but I’ll be damned if I vote for any of the socialists scrambling to replace “the Swimmer.”
I asked her if she thought I was brain-dead and incapable of making a decision — I was pissed — she finally relented and handed me the ballot I requested.
Since when is the defendant supposed to be prosecution, judge and jury? If a conservative group this, the screaming from the other side would be deafening
ACORN: Our review of ourselves finds that we are better than even we believed. At this time we’d like to thank ourselves for a diligent effort and close the inquiry.
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