ACORN doing its thing: Will Taxpayers Keep Funding Them?

By Clarice Feldman

Reports continue that as in previous elections ACORNS's fraudulent voter registrations continue unabated:

Two suspicious Seminole County voter registration cards became a flash point Wednesday in the Republican effort to suggest the community group [Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now]ACORN is committing fraud in its historic Florida get-out-the vote efforts. (snip)

The Republican National Committee, though, levelled the accusation and blasted the housing and wage advocacy group in a nationwide conference call with reporters, saying this wasn't an isolated incident.

In Orange County, ACORN staffers submitted multiple, duplicate registrations on behalf of six separate voters this summer. One individual had 21 duplicate applications. Election Supervisor Bill Cowles and his staff protested, noting in a June memo that ACORN had been submitting sloppy forms as well. (snip)

ACORN has signed up 135,000 new Florida voters since January in just three counties: Orange, Broward and Miami-Dade.

That's a fifth of all new voters. More than 58 percent are Democrats, who now outnumber Republicans by almost 500,000 voters -- providing Barack Obama a potentially crucial edge in the neck-and-neck race in Florida.

ACORN's voter-registration drives have come under fire from Republicans for being sloppy and allegedly fraudulent in North Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico and Colorado, said Republican National Committee chief legal counsel Scott Cairncross.

Last night Senator Lindsay Graham said on Greta that in the proposed bailout a huge sum had been proposed for ACORN, which in addition to its role in vote fraud has been a prime mover in the benighted drive to get financing for home purchasers who would not qualify under existing lending practices.

The housing bailout which was just signed into law provides millions of dollars for ACORN as well as for La Raza, a key player in advocating for legalization of illegal immigrants.

ACORN's history warrants a full fledged criminal investigation, not millions more of federal funds in this emergency bailout:

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- James Terry, Chief Public Advocate for the Consumers Rights League, today testified at a joint House Administration and House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on "Federal, State and Local Efforts to Prepare for the General 2008 Election," where he highlighted "corruption at every level of ACORN including embezzlement, cover-ups, misuse of taxpayer funds and voter fraud." An excerpt of his testimony follows:

James Terry, Chief Public Advocate, Consumers Rights League:

"ACORN routinely says it will clean up its act. Yet, given its decade-long history of voter fraud, embezzlement, and misuses of taxpayer funds, ACORN's pattern of fraud can no longer be dismissed as a series of 'unfortunate events.'

"The problem of voter registration fraud raises serious questions for this committee, and the Consumers Rights League appreciates that the right questions are being asked.

"Here are the most important questions right now: We know about the thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registration cards turned in by ACORN and caught by officials. But given the size of ACORN's efforts and the fact that the abuses appear to be systemic, we believe it is fair to question how many more fraudulent registrations have not been discovered, Furthermore, as this mega organization with a decades long history of violating the law is turned to get out the vote efforts, we believe it is fair to question how many fraudulent registrations may lead to fraudulent votes or what other activities they are willing to undertake to influence the election.

"These are serious questions, especially in light of recent election results which show that a just few votes can change the outcome of an election, the course of our country and the course of history.

"While we do not presume to tell this committee how to address this problem, we respectfully submit that our nation's election system is facing a concerted campaign that raises serious issues that merit the committee's oversight and attention."