Posted on 10/14/2008 1:00:01 PM PDT by PajamaTruthMafia
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
WASHINGTON— In the wake of numerous reports of widespread election fraud by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter today to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting that the Department of Justice immediately launch a nationwide criminal probe into ACORN’s voter registration activities and investigate ACORN as a “criminal enterprise.”
In his letter, Sen. Cornyn, a former State Attorney General and Texas Supreme Court Justice, said, “Election fraud imposes a real cost on our system, beyond the obvious consequence of subverting a free and fair election. Fraudulent voter registration on this scale seriously strains state and local elections resources and distracts elections officials from preparing to conduct an orderly election. Of course, ACORN’s nationwide voter registration fraud provides an opportunity for individuals to vote who should not, or for some to vote more than once.”
Sen. Cornyn closed his letter highlighting the various aspects of federal law that may have been violated by ACORN and said “because the violations of federal voting laws by ACORN employees appear to be so widespread, ACORN and its affiliates should be investigated as a criminal enterprise.”
The full text of Senator Cornyn’s letter to the Attorney General today is below. In addition, a .pdf copy of the letter is available here: http://cornyn.senate.gov/doc_archive/Mukasey-ACORN-letter.pdf
The Honorable Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear General Mukasey:
I am increasingly concerned by reports of widespread election fraud by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”), which seem to emerge on a daily basis.
Specifically, I call your attention to state and local investigations into potentially hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications filed by ACORN in North Carolina, Ohio, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and my home state of Texas. In Harris County, Texas, which includes the City of Houston, election officials either rejected or discovered serious deficiencies with nearly 40 percent of the 27,000 registration cards filed by ACORN from January through July of this year.
Most recently, election officials in Lake County, Indiana, found more than 2,100 fraudulent voter registration applications that were filed at the deadline by ACORN. According to a CNN report, at least one of ACORN’s applications in Lake County attempted to register a dead man. In addition, The St. Petersburg Times (FL) reported today that Mickey Mouse tried to register to vote in Florida this summer. Although Orange County elections officials rejected his application, it is notable that Mickey Mouse’s application had an ACORN stamp on it. In addition, The [Raleigh, NC] News & Observer also reported today that ACORN conducted a voter drive that registered nearly 28,000 people in North Carolina. But according to local election officials some of the forms it filed had information that may have been copied from phone books.
Election fraud imposes a real cost on our system, beyond the obvious consequence of subverting a free and fair election. Fraudulent voter registration on this scale seriously strains state and local elections resources and distracts elections officials from preparing to conduct an orderly election. Of course, ACORN’s nationwide voter registration fraud provides an opportunity for individuals to vote who should not, or for some to vote more than once.
Given these allegations, as well as the well-documented fraud convictions in recent years of ACORN employees, I urge you to launch a nationwide criminal probe into ACORN’s voter registration activities. As you know, federal law prohibits an individual from (1) providing fraudulent voter registration information; (2) conspiring to encourage false registration or illegal voting; and (3) paying or offering to pay another individual for registering or voting. It is also a crime to knowingly procure or submit false, fictitious, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Finally, I must add that, because the violations of federal voting laws by ACORN employees appear to be so widespread, ACORN and its affiliates should be investigated as a criminal enterprise.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.
Still means we should be appreciative of his taking this step!
Its a start...but somebody please explain to me how this prevents a stolen election November 4th. I am pretty sure 0bama’s thugs already stole the nomination from Hillary.
Since there may be a statute of limitations on some Federal crimes, how about expanding the probe into Federal elections for the last few years to prosecute fraudulent voter registration and fraudulent voting.
Don’t give up. Never surrender. Never stop fighting.
Without lines of credit for businesses, you, me, and the USA would instantly fold. Lines of credit are how businesses operate.
The bailout sucked. The home owners should not be given anything. But some sort of bail out had to happen and happen quick. My company is in lock down mode and we are in the robust energy industry. Without lines of credit nothing moves forward.
I agree. There needs to be an immediate cease and desist order placed on ACORN, all the forms they have turned in need to be impounded, and their assets need to be frozen. The problem of fraud is so massive that only a strong national stand can be taken to restore any hope of a fair election.
Let no good act go unrewarded... or sumthin’.
I hear ya tho.
It won’t happen. The Bush administration won’t do it.
SEN CORNYN SEEKS NATIONWIDE CRIMINAL PROBE OF ACORN
Beautiful——FR threads can give him ALL the ammunition he needs.
GO GET ‘EM!
The GOP is playing this very well. Keep it up, Pubbies!!
DONATE TO ACORN---from their web site
Your Gift Makes Successful Homeownership Possible ACORN Housing is a nonprofit that helps low income families purchase and protect their homes. Please consider giving at our 'Sponsor' level of $50. ACORN Housing has partnered with Network for Good to securely process your online credit card donation via the Network for Good Donor Advised Fund. This transaction will appear on your credit card statement as "Network for Good".
DONATION FORM https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=4059
=========================================
MODUS OPERANDI L/E authorities need to determine whether ACORN colluded in multiple schemes, whether ACORN used ID theft in donation schemes for favored candidates. ACORN had at its disposal numerous names that could have been employed in various ID theft operations to fuether its political goals.
Moreover, ACORN may have solicited donors who are officers of publicly-held companies to manipulate publicly-reported earnings through a variety of devices designed to produce materially false and misleading financial results.
Authorities need to determine whether ACORN colluded with its donors---particularly donors who are officers of publicly-held companies-----in schemes that may have included (1) misusing corporate reserve accounts, (2) concealing losses, (3) inflating asset values, (4) improperly accounting for transactions, (5) deferring profits into reserve accounts, (6) improperly shifting capital funding to other projects to hide illegal payments to ACORN. ACORN donors may have fraudulently booked contributions as business expenses.
ACORN may have employed money-laundering schemes to evade the IRS, SEC, FEC and US banking laws. Classic money-laundering schemes work like this: ACORN might solicit a donor to write a check for say $150,000. ACORN would then deposit a percentage for itself, then illegally convert the remainder to another account----perhaps to a putative “consultant, administrative, or legal” account.
In the transaction, the donor’s money would be fraudulently converted, then redeposited offshore (in a friendly foreign bank), where the donor would have access to the funds out of sight of IRS, SEC, and US banking laws.
In another conversion scheme, ACORN might solicit donors to write checks for $50,000, then deposit the check into a subsidiary bank account labeled “legal or administration fees.” The bank would then illegally convert the monies and redeposit them into a campaign account (designated by ACORN) out of sight of the FEC.
Authorities need to determine whether ACORN and its corporate donors violated state and federal RICO statutes by participating in (1) securities fraud, (2) mail fraud (3) computer tampering (4)electronic fraud, (5) computer trespass, (6) theft, (7) accounting fraud, (8) co-opting donors into criminal acts, (9) failing to report wrongdoing (10) breach of fiduciary duty (11) receiving insider information, (12) filing false documents, (13) creating slush funds, (14) manipulating inventories, and, (15) improperly valuing assets.
Yeah, I remember reading how Washington at Valley Forge said, “Mother of God, it’s freezing! I’m outta here.”
Yes, and let me just add, "well, duh."
There’s always hope. The first step is somebody willing to take a stand against evil.
Yes, thank you.
I understand. But, if all of the Republicans who voted for the bailout were to come out in support of Cronyn here it might give them a little breathing room with their constituents.
Thank you, Senator Cornyn, for doing what is right. McCain needs to get Obama talking about this tomorrow night.
Where is that idiot Bush? Where the hell is the Federal Government???
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