Posted on 09/19/2009 5:50:06 AM PDT by Dacula
Former Mayor Henry Cisneros said Friday he accepted a request to serve on an advisory council for ACORN in order to help the community organizing group recently rocked by allegations of corruption.
Nevertheless, Cisneros, — who also was a secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton — said the national nonprofit's survival remains in doubt.
He argues, however, that ACORN's well-publicized mistakes don't negate its years of advocacy for low-income families.
“I do believe the work it has done over the years has been a good, solid attempt to level the playing field and bring poor people into some level of participation in our society, and Lord knows we need that,” he said. “So I hope the result is not the complete demise of the organization. I think the system works better when poor people have advocates at the table.”
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, runs voter-registration drives and provides low-income people with home-foreclosure advice, free tax preparation and other services.
This week, however, the organization was embarrassed by a hidden-camera video showing ACORN workers offering tax advice to people posing as pimps and prostitutes. Prior to this controversy, ACORN already found itself answering to allegations of voter-registration fraud in several states.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut off all federal funding to ACORN. Also, the Internal Revenue Service announced this week that it would review its tax-preparation agreements with the group.
Cisneros, who worked closely with ACORN on housing issues during his stint as HUD secretary, said ACORN representatives approached him “about six weeks ago” to help the organization deal with the voter-registration crisis. He added that his advisory role simply took on greater urgency this week with the emergence of the video.
“I think it's important for (ACORN) to change the conversation,” he said. “Their first instinct was to say, ‘This is unfair. This is an attack on minorities.' And while all that may be true, it's not a defense. You have to clean up your procedures and you cannot have this lax culture within the organization.”
Cisneros said the advisory council consists of “five or six people” and is attempting to recruit a prominent individual who can conduct a thorough review of ACORN.
“We're advising that they find someone who is regarded by the country as beyond reproach, a very high-level person, like a Sen. (George) Mitchell, who did this with baseball, or Warren Christopher, who weighed in after the riots in Los Angeles. Someone whose recommendations would be accepted.”
And Mussolini kept the trains running on time.
>> ACORN’s well-publicized mistakes don’t negate its years of advocacy for low-income families
Those years of advocacy led directly to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Oh yeah;
Their “years of advocacy” are really their years of extortion.
They are all Democrats.
After *one* undercover video. More are coming.
Well, Cisneros certainly knows how to hide money being paid to women conducting morally corrupt activities.
Jane Mayer, The Political Scene, “The Lover in Jail,” The New Yorker, November 30, 1998, p. 55
Considering the latest from ACORN, they’re a match made in heaven....err, hell....right?
>>>> Sen. (George) Mitchell .... or Warren Christopher ... Someone whose recommendations would be accepted.” <<<<<
The only sound recommendation is a RICO prosecution and RICO civil lawsuits.
Some people just don’t get it.Breitbart said on the Savage show last nite that he more damming video coming next week. And this is going to be the most explosive yet. He also implied he will not let up.Defend Acorn at your own risk. Now if someone can get Obama to bite the fun will really begin.
Cineros surely knows ho’s. He paid tens of thousands to his mistress when only earning $30,000 a year. He also lied to the FBI.
All that may be true? Just another pimp in the picture.
acorn closing parties anyone? i want to watch them crawl from their nests in defeat.
Trying to do damage control ! Too late, this genie is out of the bottle!
Just wait until next week. I hear it is going to get better.
One crook helping another crook
The country should regard no human being as being above reproach. We made that mistake with Cronkite and others.
Crooked Cisneros ping.
“Those years of advocacy led directly to the subprime mortgage crisis”
The ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM...
Nobody wants to talk about the ACORN-enabled widespread and massive Inner-City mortgage frauds, some involving 1,000 or more homes, inEVERY large and medium-sized city in America, that was the under-pinning for the SubPrime Mortgage Collapse.
And I cannot, for the life of me, figure out WHY this a verbotten topic!
said ACORN representatives approached him “about six weeks ago”
Oh they knew this was coming, with out a doubt.
The only sound recommendation is a RICO prosecution and RICO civil lawsuits.
Cisneros to ACORN: Get blued, screwed, and tattooed!
Maybe they can get Jimmah Carter to check out if racism played a role in the investigation....
PS. If you donate to United Way, you are supporting ACORN.
MORE EXPLOSIVE??????/
It’s amazing how long some of these scumbags stick around. Frank Zappa made fun of Cisneros back in 1985.
Those years of advocacy led directly to the subprime mortgage crisis.
You are right. We have all paid the price for ACORN's corruption.
Because the MEDIA won’t cover it??????
One crook helping another crook
Yep, you would think it would be smarter to hook up with an advisor who actually got away with it, rather than one who also was stupid enough to get caught. I think this may have more to do with spreading out the money before it gets called back.
Acorn is going down. Nobama won’t lift a finger because his handlers know ANY word in their defense will be perceived as a tie to Acorn. As a result, some at Acron could start screaming bloody murder that “dat bro was in on it too”.
You nailed him!
Don’t forget his deal for land for the Alamodome which resulting in the city have to put out huge dollars to clean up the contiminated site or his pink elephant shopping center inhabited by the homeless and drug addicts they had to tear down.
To a Marxist leveling the playing field means plowing up the rule of law.
>> And I cannot, for the life of me, figure out WHY this a verbotten topic!
If we had real journalists (instead of regime-backing propagandists), it wouldn’t be a verboten topic.
FReep mail me if you want on/off the list.
Tell you what Hank. I'll get down on my knees and thank ACORN every day that I am in Bangalore for doing their part in the destruction of the US economy that caused me to get laid off and my job moved to India.
I'm lucky. At least I'm being allowed to follow my job.
Something AMTRAK has never been able to do ...
For years I carried a driver's license with DUPLICATE stamped on top of it because the original had been lost in the mail. I feel so fortunate that the same group of people who cannot run a train or deliver mail will now be taking over health care. Sends shivers down my leg (or spine or something like that).
Citation please. I have a favorable opinion of United Way and I did not know that they are connected to ACORN.
I googled my local United Way and sure - there was ACORN. Check out the one in your area. You might be in for a surprise with the liberal organizations that get your donations.
A thief counseling thieves...makes sense.
kind of like asking Dracula to keep an eye on the blood bank.
I would not have asked if I could find any obvious connection and I temporarily live in the belly of the beast - near to Pelosi’s district.
Citation please.
Revitalization Resources
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Organization that fosters public policies, human service reforms and community supports to meet the needs of youth and families. Site includes information on the foundation’s Making Connections program, a ten-year investment aimed at improving outcomes for families and children in tough or isolated neighborhoods.
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute
Resources to identify, nurture, and mobilize community strengths. Some resources are free; others can be purchased.
Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN)
Site with resources for impacting issues like education, employment, housing, neighborhood safety and community reinvestment.
Center for the Study of Social Policy
Site that helps community builders set common agendas for change, influence public policy and practice and improve life for children and families.
Community Toolbox
Site with 6,000 pages of practical skill-building information on over 250 different topics. Topic sections include step-by-step instruction, examples, check-lists and related resources.
Enterprise Foundation
Site with resources geared toward Community Development Corporations (CDCs).The resources section includes how-to’s on housing, finance, child care, workforce and safety and interactive online tools, software, publications and videos.
I see no such link for the Silicon Valley United Way and looking at their report for the year where they list partners, ACORN is nowhere to be found.
I’m not going to ask for a link with evidence a third time. I think you’re a troll trying to smear an otherwise decent organization to discredit us.
I’ll call them on Monday and get back to you. It is possible that they refer to ACORN and don’t “fund” them - I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. It would seem odd that they would list an organization on their site - one that we have in town - and NOT fund them. But it’s possible. Do you have an ACORN in your community? It’s possible our local United Way mentions ACORN on their site, but don’t fund thelm. I’ll take down my tagline until I am sure...
link to the ACORN, Cisneros involvement in CRA, subprime mortgages etc.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=337991013188802
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.