by Kerry Thomas
September 17, 2009
During the 2008 Presidential election America was
introduced to the Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now, commonly known as ACORN. We’ve
learned that members and employees of that organization and it’s more than 230 affiliated
organizations have been investigated and charged with numerous crimes across
the country ranging from voter registration fraud to financial mismanagement
and embezzlement.
Recently investigative journalists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles
have come forward with undercover videotaped interviews, posted on biggovernment.com, which they conducted in
ACORN offices in Baltimore, Washington, New York, San Bernadino and San Diego.
In these investigations the journalists posed as
a pimp and a prostitute. ACORN members explained
to the journalists how they could go about obtaining funding to buy a house
that they would then use as a brothel, and how to claim underage teenage
prostitutes as tax dependents. One
ACORN member even went so far as to offer to assist the journalists in bringing
teenage illegal aliens into the country to work as prostitutes. Another ACORN member revealed how she killed
her husband.
In light of these reports linking ACORN to potentially
criminal activity, on September 14 the U.S. Senate passed Senate Amendment
2355 to H.R.
3288 (the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act of 2010), prohibiting the use of federal funds to fund the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) by a vote of 83-7
(roll
call vote 275).
Now the question comes before the U.S. House of
Representatives. H.R.
3571, the Defund ACORN Act, has been introduced by House
Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to stop
federal funding of ACORN once and for all.
This legislation would prohibit the federal government from
awarding contracts, grants, or other agreements to, providing any other federal
funds to ACORN.
As of September 17, this legislation already
had 144
co-sponsors.
Additionally, a letter
signed by 130 House Republicans has been sent to President Obama, asking him to
take action to publicly disclose and terminate all taxpayer funding of ACORN.
House
Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Ways & Means Committee Ranking
Member Dave Camp (R-MI) have urged the IRS to end
any referrals to ACORN offices for tax preparation consultations.
The Census
Bureau has announced it will end
its partnership with ACORN in conducting the 2010 Census.
An analysis of federal
data by Republican Leader Boehner’s staff determined that just 73 ACORN-affiliated
organizations have received more than $53 million in direct funding from the
federal government since 1994, and has likely received substantially more
indirectly through states and localities that receive federal block grants.
ACORN-affiliated
organizations are currently eligible to receive more than $8.5 Billion in
federal taxpayer funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
It’s time
to act. It’s time to contact your Congressman. Tell them it’s time to sever ACORN’s umbilical
cord to the U.S. Taxpayer. Do not pass
go. Do not collect $8.5 Billion.
UPDATE: On September 17 H.R.
3571, the Defund ACORN Act, was adopted as part of H.R. 3221,
the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. The House voted 345-75 to pass the
legislation (roll call
vote 718).