Free Republic

Officials with the revamped ACORN office in New York -- operating as New York Communities for Change -- have fired staff, shredded reams of documents and told workers to blame disgruntled ex-employees for leaking information in an effort to explain away a FoxNews.com report last week on the group’s involvement in Occupy Wall Street protests, according to sources. NYCC also is installing surveillance cameras and recording devices at its Brooklyn offices, removing or packing away supplies bearing the name ACORN and handing out photos of Fox News staff with a stern warning not to talk to the media, the sources...

EXCLUSIVE: ACORN Playing Behind Scenes Role in 'Occupy' Movement By Jana Winter Published October 26, 2011 | FoxNews.com The former New York office for ACORN, the disbanded community activist group, is playing a key role in the self-proclaimed “leaderless” Occupy Wall Street movement, organizing “guerrilla” protest events and hiring door-to-door canvassers to collect money under the banner of various causes while spending it on protest-related activities, sources tell FoxNews.com. The former director of New York ACORN, Jon Kest, and his top aides are now busy working at protest events for New York Communities for Change (NYCC). That organization was created...

As the remnants of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now regroup in order to bring chaos to the 2012 election cycle, ACORN’s renamed New York chapter is teeming with activity. The successor organization, called New York Communities for Change (NYCC), operates out of the same office on Nevins Street in Brooklyn that is home to ACORN and its partisan arm, the socialist Working Families Party of New York. Longtime ACORN leader Jon Kest is executive director of NYCC. Kest is the brother of Steve Kest, former executive director of ACORN, who has joined fellow radical community organizer Van...

It’s like being in the middle of a “tsunami” or an “avalanche” — or maybe both at the same time. That’s how Arthur Schwartz described his experience as general counsel of ACORN amid the recent right-wing attacks and congressional caving that are bringing the national community-organizing network to its knees. In an interview with The Villager last week, Schwartz, a prominent New York City labor attorney and longtime member of Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village, where he lives with his family, painted a dire picture of ACORN. Speaking in his office in the Unite Here! headquarters building at 26th...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Andrew Breitbart's Big Government will hold a press conference featuring James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, the two daring young journalists who, posing as a "pimp" and "prostitute," exposed massive corruption within ACORN's offices throughout the country. The Press Conference will be held at the National Press Club of Washington, DC on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. After suing Breitbart.com, Mr. O'Keefe and Ms. Giles in Maryland over the release of the Baltimore tapes, ACORN has issued public statements denying any wrongdoing in its Philadelphia office and lying about what happened there. Mr. O'Keefe...

An internal review by the board of directors of the community organization ACORN determined that the amount allegedly embezzled from the community organization was $5 million, well more than the previously reported amount of nearly $1 million, according to a new subpoena in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Caldwell. The subpoena, released this afternoon, says, "It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds." ACORN Chief Executive Officer Lewis said the new accusation about the embezzlement is "completely false." She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have...

A top-ranking Republican lawmaker is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). In a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and obtained by The Hill on Monday, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) argues that President Barack Obama’s political ties to the scandal-plagued community-activist group and its affiliates will “taint” any potential Justice Department investigations. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not announced whether it has launched a probe of ACORN, but Smith said any such investigation could be compromised. “I am very concerned that the president’s previous...

NEW ORLEANS — An internal review at Acorn, the embattled community organizing group, revealed that its founder’s brother had embezzled $5 million from the group, five times more than the amount disclosed, according to a subpoena served Monday by the Louisiana attorney general. But the organization’s chief executive denied that any internal review had revealed that figure.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- An internal review by ACORN's board of directors found that $5 million was embezzled from the community organization, far more than the previously reported amount of $1 million, according to documents released Monday. The new amount was reported in a subpoena from the investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported. It is unclear if the money was taken from state, federal or private funds, according to the subpoena. ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new embezzlement allegation is "completely false." She said she would comment further after she and...

An internal review by ACORN's board of directors found that $5 million was embezzled from the community organization, far more than a previously reported sum of $1 million, according to documents from the Louisiana attorney general's office.

$5 Million Embezzlement Report 'Completely False,' ACORN CEO Says In a speech to the National Press Club, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis called embezzlement allegations "completely false" and defended the group's management and mission. FOXNews.com Tuesday, October 06, 2009 ACORN's embattled CEO emphatically disputed on Tuesday a report by the organization's board of directors that $5 million was embezzled from the group, calling it "completely false." Bertha Lewis said the $5 million figure came from two former "disgruntled" directors who had since been voted off the organization's board. Lewis spoke after the internal review by ACORN's board was revealed to have...

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COMPLAINT January 7, 2009 IN RE: ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS FOR REFORM NOW Karen Inman, Marcel Reid, Coya Mobley, Robert Smith, Adrianna Jones, Yvonne Stafford, Louis Davisand Fannie Brown, et. al.Complainants vs. Defendants Wade Rathke, Dale Rathke, Steven Kest, Jon Kest, Mike Shea, Zach Pollett, Helene O’Brien, Amy Schur, Liz Wolf, Beth Butler, Mildred Brown, Maud Hurd, Alton Bennett, Bertha Lewis, Beth Kingsley andother unknown individuals. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COMPLAINT (excerpt) The undersigned State Board delegates and National Board members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”) file this criminal complaint againstACORN Staff and Executive Board...

The organization can no longer be effective in achieving its goal of social justice and stronger communities. ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- touts itself as "the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities." And perhaps it is. But ACORN can no longer be effective at achieving its goals. The organization is so mired in scandal it will never recover. Let's look at the most recent events. According to a report in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, a subpoena issued in an investigation of ACORN by...

CORN wants people to register to vote – as long as they’re Democrats. Republican registrations go into the trash. Here is a first-hand account of how it happens. In February 2008, Fathiyyah Muhammad of Jacksonville, Florida, heard that ACORN was paying people three dollars for each voter they could register. ACORN paid her three dollars for each voter she registered, but Fatiyyah Muhammad says that the group threw out her votes and fired her when she brought them registrations of Republican voters. Fathiyyah Muhammad voted for Obama. “I’m a Republican,” she says, “and this was the first time that I...

"Using the controversy over ACORN as a case study, this report illustrates the way the media help set the agenda for public debate, and frame the way that debate is shaped. It describes how 'opinion entrepreneurs' (primarily business and conservative groups and individuals) set the story in motion as early as 2006, how the "conservative echo chamber" orchestrated its anti-ACORN campaign in 2008, how the McCain-Palin campaign picked it up, and how the mainstream media reported these allegations without investigating their truth or falsity. As a result, the relatively little-known community organization became the subject of a major news story...

The Working Families Party that is organizing a bus tour protest this Saturday at the homes of AIG employees has deep ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire leftist financier George Soros and the radical group ACORN.A 2005 article by Richard Poe published at Discover the Networks details the connections:The Working Families Party (WFP) is a front group for the radical cult ACORN. It functions as a political party in New York State and Connecticut, promoting ACORN-friendly candidates. Unlike conventional political parties, WFP charges its members dues – about $60 per year – a policy characteristic of ACORN and...

Eric N. Gioia, a city councilman from Queens and a candidate for public advocate, was in a great mood Tuesday as he walked to his car after voting in the Democratic primary. Until he spotted a lone young man who stood on the sidewalk, holding a stack of fliers. “See him?” said Mr. Gioia, his face darkening. “He’s from the Working Families Party.” Much to the chagrin of candidates like Mr. Gioia, the still relatively little-known 10-year-old party had dispatched a small army in the weeks before the primary, selling voters on its candidates in the mayoral, City Council, public...

The Working Families Party and local Democratic Party Officials are at the center of a massive voter fraud scandal in Troy, NY. According to the Times Union: Dozens of forged and fraudulent absentee ballots from people registered to vote on the Working Families Party line were filed in the Sept. 15 primary elections in Troy. Documents at the county Board of Elections show the fraudulent ballots were handled by or prepared on behalf of various elected officials and leaders and operatives for the Democratic and Working Families parties. There may be as many as 50 absentee ballots that were forged,...

Average of just $1,486 per month for offices, one check for rent written to “401 K PMTs”Edward-Isaac Dovere by Edward-Isaac Dovere eidovere@cityhallnews.comUPDATE:Harry Zlokower, spokesperson for ISJ Management, called to confirm that the company is indeed the owner of the property at 2 Nevins Street, with Flatbush Fulton Realty Associates its subsidiary.However, Zlokower said, “Working Families Party is not a tenant of ISJ Management,” adding, “ISJ management has no knowledge of the Working Families Party. They assume it’s a sub-lease.”Zlokower also confirmed that ACORN is a tenant of ISJ Management, paying money directly to the property owner.Responding from the Working Families...

The Working Families Party was the big winner in this year's Democratic primary elections - having backed the winning candidates in both the public advocate's race and the contest for city controller. That's not good for mainstream Democrats, and it is not good for New Yorkers. As liberals, we recognize the value of left-wing advocates pushing against corporate interests. The WFP has played a useful role in helping to win an increase in the minimum wage and in rolling back tax breaks for luxury development. But as "liberals with sanity," we see danger when narrow agendas overwhelm the public good....