Posted on 09/20/2009 6:14:20 PM PDT by Ebenezer
ACORN, a social justice organization with roots in [New Orleans], battles a string of scandals.
The announcement stuck to a wall outside the entrance to ACORN's local office in the 2600 block of Canal Street quietly signals the trouble afoot.
In English and Spanish, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now tells walk-up clients that ACORN's housing office has shut itself down for two weeks to immerse itself "in an intensive training program."
The sign is a symptom of a tumultuous week in the history of a controversial poor people's social justice movement -- one founded by a New Orleanian and based in the city for most of its nearly 40-year history.
But not for much longer.
In the wake of an embezzlement scandal last fall that ousted founder Wade Rathke, ACORN officials said their new leadership is transferring national headquarters to Washington, D.C.
The five-story building that houses ACORN on Canal Street, with another on Elysian Fields Avenue, is for sale.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Looks like Jindal’s overtures to start an investigation made them decide to get the heck out of Dodge.
They’ll probably get a new name and keep on rigging voter rolls.
Without federal funds they can’t stay in business. Be forewarned they will re-emerge under another name and get congressional dollars from same that recently denied further funding.
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We must track this like hawks.
1- Don't talk out loud to pimps and prostitutes.
2- Don't talk out loud to illegal alien smugglers.
3- Don't talk out loud to anyone.
4- Cavity search them for cameras and microphones.
5- Resume business as usual.
We could get lost in letters of all the 300 or so organizations that are ACORNs.
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Let’s roll...
Uh huh. I'd bet that every Staples and Office Depot within ten miles of this place sold out of paper shredders this week.
It has hundreds of front groups. Keep a watch on that office and see what opens there. Might have thee xact employees and doing the exact same things.
Granted the left wing socialists will continue to fund, but we need to hold our elected officials accountable for tax dollar funding
Yes...must maintain our vigilance!
ACORN officials said their new leadership is transferring national headquarters to Washington, D.C. (to be close to dear leader, Pres. Big Ears)
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All 290+ ?
290+ ACORN Organizations Track To The Same Addresses In New Orleans
“The local group hasn’t been tarnished,” said Pam Dashiell with the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement. Her group partners with ACORN, and she has concerns too.
ACORN leaders said the controversy will have no effect on what happens in New Orleans.
http://www.wdsu.com/news/20992411/detail.html
Louisiana governor bans state contracts with ACORN -Shreveport Times
Jindal issues order halting state funds - Monroe News Star
Jindal issues order ending funding to ACORN - WWL
City Contracts with ACORN as state and feds pull funds - FOX 8 News WVUE-TV
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New York ACORN Front Group Based in New Orleans Gets Taxpayer Money
Wed, 09/09/2009
One of the defining hallmarks of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is its propensity for using front organizations to advance its goals. The New Orleans-based nonprofit organization has fully 360 subsidiary and adjunct groups. Lately, one of its affiliates, a misleadingly-named nonprofit entity called New York Agency for Community Affairs, Inc. (NYACA), has been at the center of attention. A recent probe by a consortium of New York City newspapers shows NYACA thus far in this year alone has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York state and local taxpayers for political campaign services. In many cases, the lawmakers who earmarked the funds had been locked in close re-election campaigns that used NYACA volunteers. It’s no small wonder that NYACA and ACORN overlap to the point of being nearly indistinguishable.
According to its mission statement, NYACA was founded “to provide a vehicle for grassroots community organizations to increase their capacity to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income communities.” The group’s avowed purpose is assisting homeowners facing foreclosure and renters seeking to buy a home. But in practice it is a cleverly-disguised conduit for ACORN to contribute money to left-of-center New York politicians in tight re-election races. “There seems to be some sort of relationship between these different organizations,” said Jill Manny, a New York University law professor and executive director of the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law, after reviewing NYACA tax records. That would be an understatement.
More...
Examining tax forms, lobbying records, campaign finance reports, and contracts, researchers found that in 2009, NYACA has received $175,000 from eight state senators, $240,500 from 10 state assemblymen, and $85,000 from four New York City Council members. For 2006, NYACA reported a little over $1.3 million in revenues, almost all from government. That same year, the group paid out nearly $1.2 million for “contractual services” to ACORN and another $67,000 in direct grants. And in 2007, NYACA received more than $730,000 in government support, sending $711,152 of that to ACORN.
Even more curiously, the New York Agency for Community Affairs isn’t based in New York at all, but at 2609 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, the same address as ACORN’s local affiliate there. What’s more, NYACA’s chief organizer is Jon Kest, younger brother of ACORN National Executive Director Steven Kest. Jon Kest also serves as chief organizer for the local ACORN chapter in New Orleans. As ACORN has its national headquarters in New Orleans (1024 Elysian Fields Avenue), it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to realize NYACA is an ACORN front. But NYACA isn’t entirely devoid of a New York connection: One of its employees is Bertha Lewis, head of ACORN’s New York City affiliate. And the Kests until a decade ago ran the New York City operation. That’s when Ms. Lewis assumed the reins. Even sports teams change their name if they move to another city. Apparently, ACORN affiliates don’t.
Creative bookkeeping explains why ACORN saw fit to add an organizational layer in the form of New York Agency for Community Affairs. NYACA is registered as a “public charity,” which exempts it from paying certain state and local taxes, and equally importantly, prohibits it from engaging in or supporting political activity. ACORN, on the other hand, is a “social welfare organization” - that is, authorized to conduct certain political campaign operations using public as well as private funds. ACORN in fact has received large sums of money from the Working Families Party (WFP), an entity founded by none other than Steven Kest in 1998 to move the Democratic Party leftward (Note: Under New York State election law, a party may “cross-endorse” candidates of other parties). The WFP describes itself as a coalition founded by ACORN, the Communications Workers of America and the United Auto Workers.
As ACORN Engaged In Political Work, Affiliate Received Taxpayer Money
Millions of government dollars sent to group in ACORN offices, then sent to ACORN
A non-profit organization which has affiliates providing campaign-related services for political candidates has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money in recent years, allocated in many cases by some of the same lawmakers on whose campaigns the group worked.
The earmarks have been directed to the New York Agency for Community Affairs (NYACA), which is located at the same office as ACORN and its various political arms.
NYACA received $175,000 from eight state senators this year, $240,500 from 10 Assembly members and $85,000 from four Council members.
Several of those legislators received backing from ACORN in current or previous political campaigns in the form of canvassing and other field work when facing contested races.
NYACA and ACORN.
“The organizations share staff and office space,” said Mariana Davenport, the executive director of NYACA, in an email, adding that, “Although many of the NYACA board members are also members of ACORN, ACORN has no authority to direct NYACA.”
Davenport, herself an ACORN employee, wrote that the organization she heads has no independent payroll and acts simply as a “fiscal sponsor” for taxpayer funding meant for ACORN’s foreclosure prevention efforts and homebuyers’ assistance programs, among other initiatives.
Davenport explained, “when NYACA receives a grant, it enters into a contract/grant agreement with ACORN which sets out the parameters of all work and strictly requires that all work complies with section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue code,” adding that, “the fiscal sponsor and its board serve to provide independent oversight to ensure contractors or sub-grantees use funding strictly for permissible purposes.”
The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, for example, has paid both Data and Field Services, the for-profit arm of the Working Families Party, and “ACORN Associates” tens of thousands of dollars for campaign-related services as recently as last year.
Elected Officials Who Funded NYACA:
In addition Perkins and Krueger, the state senators who have funded NYACA are: Eric Schneiderman, Velmanette Montgomery, Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Hiram Monserrate, Kevin Parker, Diane Savino, Eric Adams and John Sampson.
In addition to Palma, the Council members who have funded NYACA are: Bill de Blasio, Melissa Mark-Viverito and James Sanders.
The Assembly members who have funded NYACA are: Sheldon Silver, William Boyland, Adam Clayton Powell IV, Hakeem Jeffries, Vivian Cook, Audrey Pheffer, Annette Robinson, Richard Gottfried, Nick Perry and Darryl Towns. Aurelia Greene, now the deputy Bronx borough president, also funded the group while in the Assembly.
http://www.cityhallnews.com/news/132/ARTICLE/2116/2009-09-02.html
Issa Concludes ACORN Is a Racket
Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Wed, 07/29/2009
On Thursday, July 23, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released an 88-page report, “Is ACORN Intentionally Structured as a Criminal Enterprise?” The answer to this question: affirmative. Issa pulled no punches. “It is outrageous that ACORN will be rewarded for its criminal acts by taxpayer money in the stimulus and is being asked to help with the U.S. census,” he remarked at a news conference. “This report shines a light on clear criminal conduct and it is abundantly clear that they (ACORN and its affiliates) cannot and should not be trusted with taxpayer dollars.” Issa amplified his view as a guest on Fox News Channel’s “Glenn Beck Show,” denouncing the group’s “pattern of loose financial accounting and no firewalls.”
ACORN’s extensive taxpayer subsidies alone merit a high degree of scrutiny. Over the last 15 years, the federal government has provided $53 million to this organization and its complex network of affiliates. And this money pales before what’s coming down the pike. As the committee report notes, ACORN is eligible to receive up to $8.5 billion in federal stimulus funds in the coming fiscal year, especially through programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In other words, it’s not hard to see why many of the group’s critics see ACORN as an adjunct of the Obama administration. President Obama, after all, himself began as a community organizer.
Yet even if ACORN had never received a penny of government money, it should be investigated anyway. That’s because in organizational structure and operating style, ACORN strongly resembles a racketeering enterprise. The opening three paragraphs of the report’s executive summary set the tone:
http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2009/07/29/house-oversight-committee-concludes-acorn-racket
I wouldn't be surprised if ACORN has a branch office in Havana.
My question to ACORN is: What the heck have you done for New Orleans?
Yes. I wrote my senator (Shelby) and in his reply he noted that the organization I called ACORN is now named COI. So....they know about the change.
OMG!
I wouldn’t be surprised at anything anymore.
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