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ACORN review: No illegality (Surprise!, Surprise!)
Politico ^ | December 7, 2009 | Jake Sherman

Posted on 12/07/2009 10:39:45 AM PST by jazusamo

An outside review of the beleaguered community group ACORN has found “serious management challenges,” but no pattern of illegal activity.

The review, commissioned by ACORN in the wake of a hidden video expose that showed a few of its employees appearing to offer tips on how to break the law, also largely absolved the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now’s current management, laying much of the blame on founder Wade Rathke for lax oversight and dangerously rapid growth.

Scott Harshbarger, the former Massachusetts attorney who led the inquiry for the Proskauer Rose law firm, found that ACORN is not subject to “basic, appropriate standards of governance and accountability” and suggested specific measures to help restore public confidence.

The review practically absolved ACORN employees caught up in the expose in which a few employees appeared to be offering advice on how to run a brothel.

It also suggested that ACORN should refocus its attention on community organizing, and away from other services. ACORN already announced it would cease offering free tax advice.

Harshbarger called the review “neither an epitaph nor an absolution for ACORN.”

ACORN’s chief executive officer, Bertha Lewis, called the recommendations “a roadmap,” but did not fully commit to following each of Harshbarger’s nine suggestions for reform.

Other recommendations include centralizing staffing, simplifying the organizational structure, continuing internal governance and ethics, recruiting an ethics investigator, hiring chief operation and financial officers, bolstering legal standing by eliminating “extraneous” ACORN entities, national monitoring of state and local affiliates and forming an advisory board.

Lewis acknowledged the review would not be enough to quiet critics about her organization’s tough year. ACORN, which is having financial problems, has also been caught up in voting registration troubles.

Additionally, ACORN is no longer eligible to receive much in the way of public funds this year, as Congress has approved an appropriations provision to cut federal funding. ACORN is suing in federal court in New York to get the provision overturned.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: acorn; acornscandals; bloggersandpersonal; circlejerk; coverup; criminalconspiracy; cultureofcorruption; democratscandals; harshbarger; mockinvestigation; pimpmyacorn; selfinvestigation
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1 posted on 12/07/2009 10:39:46 AM PST by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

Investigated myself and discovered that I didn’t do anything wrong.

Have a nice day. :D


2 posted on 12/07/2009 10:41:28 AM PST by Tzimisce (No thanks. We have enough government already. - The Tick)
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To: jazusamo

Chicago Style....lived there.. seen it.


3 posted on 12/07/2009 10:42:24 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannolis. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Tzimisce

What about the “document dump” in California where ACORN threw out records and memos (including items with personal information like Social Security numbers)?


4 posted on 12/07/2009 10:43:07 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Question authority!Who is the University of East Anglia to drive the 'Global Climate Change' agenda?)
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To: jazusamo

Massachusetts attorney - nothing illegal in ACORN?

Oh yea, I’ll believe him (or her).

NOT!


5 posted on 12/07/2009 10:43:28 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: jazusamo

Nothing to see move along!


6 posted on 12/07/2009 10:45:31 AM PST by ColdOne (ColdOne (vote them out!))
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To: Don Corleone

Very similar to the Obama campaign organization investigating itself and finding that they hadn’t violated any campaign funding laws ...


7 posted on 12/07/2009 10:45:34 AM PST by Jackson57
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To: jazusamo
Scott Harshbarger, the former Massachusetts attorney who led the inquiry for the Proskauer Rose law firm

Is that the Rose law firm that we know so well?

8 posted on 12/07/2009 10:47:15 AM PST by Liberal Bob (looneyleft.com)
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To: Don Corleone

Yep, and Holder will support these findings all the way.


9 posted on 12/07/2009 10:47:53 AM PST by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

And this will be accepted as the end of the story by the used to be American people.


10 posted on 12/07/2009 10:48:54 AM PST by dforest (Who is the real Jim Thompson? I am.)
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To: Liberal Bob

I believe the Rose Law Firm is in Arkansas.


11 posted on 12/07/2009 10:49:27 AM PST by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: Da Coyote

Is this the same DUmassachusetts resident who Kerry showed his military file to?


12 posted on 12/07/2009 10:52:37 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Question authority!Who is the University of East Anglia to drive the 'Global Climate Change' agenda?)
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To: jazusamo

In a related news story, Don Vito Corleone has announced that his investigation of his family has found “...no pattern of illegal activity.”


13 posted on 12/07/2009 10:54:50 AM PST by sima_yi ( Reporting live from the People's Republic of Boulder)
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To: jazusamo

This “investigation” was commissioned by ACORN and probably paid for with taxpayer money. It is totally fraudulent.

ACORN has received over $31 million dollars in direct taxpayer funding in recent years.

http://blog.heritage.org/2008/10/22/acorn-received-31-million-in-government-funding-since-1998/

The government has also supported ACORN when they extorted money from banks and financial institutions.
The government is still funding ACORN despite the MSM stories that it has stopped.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/28/acorn-receive-pending-federal-payments-justice-department-says/?test=latestnews

Our government is totally corrupt. They are wasting are money and funding ACORN thugs while the country is descending into bankruptcy.


14 posted on 12/07/2009 10:56:01 AM PST by detective
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To: Jet Jaguar

ACORN Ping!


15 posted on 12/07/2009 10:58:38 AM PST by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
Who every they are they covered their bases.

Top Employers of Contributors

Hillary Clinton

* D.L.A. Piper, law firm

* Cablevision, cable broadband services

* Kirkland & Ellis, law firm

* Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, law firm

* Proskauer Rose, law firm

* Perry Capital, hedge fund investments

* Credit Suisse, financial services

* Morgan Stanley, investment banker

* Cushman & Wakefield, real estate investments

* The Clinton Foundation

Barack Obama

* Lehman Brothers, investment banker

* Citadel Investment Group, hedge fund investments

* Goldman Sachs, investment banker

* J.P. Morgan Chase, investment banker

* Citigroup, financial services

* Morgan Stanley, investment banker

* Proskauer Rose, law firm

* Jones Day, law firm

* University of Chicago

* University of California

* Google, internet services

* SONY Pictures, media and entertainment

* 20th Century Fox, media and entertainment

16 posted on 12/07/2009 11:07:55 AM PST by Liberal Bob (looneyleft.com)
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To: Liberal Bob

Yes, I just took a quick look and they’re a huge firm. I didn’t see anything listed for Arkansas but I think it may be a possibility.


17 posted on 12/07/2009 11:12:50 AM PST by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: detective

And they have the nerve to complain about corruption in the Afghan government. Sheesh


18 posted on 12/07/2009 11:20:08 AM PST by Josephat
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To: Josephat

I knew they would get their funding back, they are key to Obama’s shinanigans, even if they just change their name and say there are a new organization the brown shirts will get there money, that is a given ...


19 posted on 12/07/2009 11:21:13 AM PST by Scythian
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To: jazusamo

OHHHH GOOO....G.
Now I can go to sleep SAFE, knowing EVERYTHING’S right with the WORLD!!


20 posted on 12/07/2009 11:22:09 AM PST by noah (noah)
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