ACORN president Bertha Lewis....
"Dat whitey Ratke embezzled $5 mill from ACORN
and wuz eatn' lobstah and cavair at Cote Basque."
"All's I got wuz chitlin's, pig's feet, collard greens, and dis orange dashiki."
" Course dere's all my numbered accounts in Zimbabwe."
ACORN/ SEIU's man in the Obama White House is longtime operative Patrick Gaspard. He holds the title of White House political affairs director, the same title Karl Rove held in President Bush's White House. He's the President’s fixer and the man who gets ACORN projects and money. Gaspard once worked for ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis.
Patrick Gaspard’s brother Michael Gaspard works for The Advance Group....ACORN’s registered lobbying organization and also with ACORN’s national spokesman Bertha Lewis. Michael apparently keeps a lower profile than his brother. He does not appear on lobbyist disclosures for The Advance Group NY State. Nonetheless, he works there. Ms. Lewis’s contacts list confirms Michael Gaspard’s employment there.
ACORN Shaun Donovan. Mr. Donovan is HUD Secy. Before that, Mr. Donovan was NYC Commissioner of Dept of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)---where Donovan worked on affordable housing initiatives----projects right up ACORN’s alley. (*see more below)
ACORN Karine Jean-Pierre is WH liaison for Dept of Labor (headed by latino agitator Hilda Solis). Karine once worked for John Edwards (vertical or horizontal?). She left there to work for Cong Anthony Weiner, then became Barack Obama’s regional political director.
ACORNS EVERYWHERE 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 it’s 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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* OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEARLY $73 MILLION IN COUNSELING GRANTS (2014 campaign money laundering?)
HUD ^ | 12/23/10 | Lamar Wooley
FR Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2010 12:29:37 PM by illiac
WASHINGTON – In an effort to help families find decent housing and to prevent future foreclosures, the Obama Administration today announced nearly $73 million in housing counseling grants to more than 500 national, regional and local organizations. As a result of the funding announced today, hundreds of thousands of households will have a greater opportunity to find housing or keep the homes they have because of the housing counseling and counseling training grants awarded today by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.
The grants announced today represent a $13 million, or 22 percent increase over last year’s funding level. In announcing the grant awards, Donovan said HUD-approved housing counseling agencies are a critical part of the nation’s housing recovery.
"These organizations are on the front lines of helping families who are desperate to remain in their homes," said Donovan. "Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we support these agencies that are working with struggling families on a one-to-one basis to manage their money, navigate the home buying process, and secure their financial futures." Housing counseling grants will assist families in becoming first-time homeowners and remaining homeowners after their purchase.
HUD-approved counseling agencies not only provide home ownership counseling, but also offer financial literacy training to renters and homeless individuals and families. "Now, more than ever, it is crucial that Americans better understand how to manage their money, navigate the homebuying process, and secure their financial future." said Donovan. "This critical funding will help counseling organizations continue to assist families in making more informed choices before they purchase a home and counsel families facing foreclosure."
Nearly $68 million will support the direct provision of housing counseling services by 24 national and regional organizations, 5 multi-state organizations, and 484 state and local housing counseling agencies.
In addition, HUD is awarding more than $5 million to three national organizations to train approximately 4,500 counselors who will receive the instruction and certification necessary to effectively assist families with their housing needs.
National and regional agencies distribute much of HUD’s housing counseling grant funding to community-based grassroots organizations that provide advice and guidance to low- and moderate-income families seeking to improve their housing conditions.
In addition, these larger organizations help improve the quality of housing counseling services and enhance coordination among other counseling providers.
Counseling agencies will use $9.5 million to help assist senior citizens seeking reverse mortgages or Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM). These agencies will provide counseling for the rapidly growing number of elderly homeowners who seek to convert equity in their homes into income that can be used to pay for home improvements, medical costs, and other living expenses. The organizations that provide housing counseling services help people become or remain homeowners or find rental housing, and assist homeless persons in finding the transitional housing they need to move toward a permanent place to live. Grant recipients also help home buyers and homeowners realistically evaluate their readiness for a home purchase, understand their financing and down payment options, and navigate what can be an extremely confusing and difficult process.
In addition, grantees help combat predatory lending by helping unwary borrowers review their loan documentation, and avoid potential mortgage scams, unreasonably high interest rates, inflated appraisals, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in a loss of equity, increased debt, default, and even foreclosure.
Likewise, foreclosure prevention counseling helps homeowners facing delinquency or default employ strategies, including expense reduction, negotiation with lenders and loan servicers, and loss mitigation, to avoid foreclosure. With foreclosures at critical levels nationwide, these services are more important than ever. HUD awards annual grants under the housing counseling program through a competitive process. Organizations that apply for grants must be HUD-approved and are subject to performance reviews to maintain their HUD-approved status.