WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases. The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
The action came as the group is suffering from bad publicity after a duo of conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp released hidden-camera videos in which ACORN employees in Baltimore gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. Two other videos, aired frequently on media outlets such as the Fox News Channel, depict similar situations in ACORN offices in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.
The Senate's move would mean that ACORN would not be able to win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages and for fair housing education and outreach.
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said that ACORN has received $53 million in taxpayer funds since 1994 and that the group was eligible for a wider set of funding in the pending legislation, which funds housing and transportation programs.
Just last week, the Census Bureau severed its ties with ACORN, saying it does not want the group's help in outreach efforts on the decennial count.
In recent months, Republicans have become increasingly critical of the census' ties with ACORN. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a massive voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some employees were accused of submitting false registration forms with names such as "Mickey Mouse."
Just last week, prosecutors in Miami-Dade County, Fla., arrested 11 people for falsifying hundreds of voter applications during a registration drive last year. ACORN tipped the authorities off to the problem.
On the hidden camera controversy, ACORN says it has fired the employees involved but has lashed out at Fox for pumping up the scandal. In a statement, Bertha Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer, said the tapes had been doctored and violated Maryland's wiretapping laws. She promised to sue Fox.
I'm with you on Obama and Acorn connections. Just because they are linked doesn't mean Obama is knowledgeable about illegal activities. Acorn is a black eye when it comes to liberal groups but not the president in-particular.
Obama's campaign did give the money (I believe 800 grand) for get out the vote campaigns.
I believe Obama's supporters (members of his staff) are also some of the people who were giving Acorn federal money for the up coming census.
What Obama hasn't done is teach those who run Acorn to be corrupt beyond belief.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- ACORN filed suit Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland, against two filmmakers who secretly recorded videos embarrassing to the agency, claiming the pair violated state law by recording their conversations without permission of the employees involved. The videos have sparked controversy over ACORN, already under fire amid election fraud claims.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the further distribution of the videos.
The recordings represented "clear violations of Maryland law that were intended to inflict maximum damage to the reputation of ACORN," the community organizer's attorney, Arthur Schwartz, said. "Unfortunately, they succeeded."
Defendants James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute seeking advice on setting up a brothel with underage girls from El Salvador, recorded the videos in Baltimore and three other cities.
Breitbart.com, registered to Washington Times conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart, is a co-defendant in the lawsuit. Contacted by CNN, Breitbart had no comment on the suit. O'Keefe and Giles did not respond to requests for comment.
The tapes show ACORN employees suggesting or condoning a series of illicit actions. The two Baltimore employees -- Shera Williams and Tonja Thompson, who were fired -- are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Don't Miss
* ACORN announces new training, review * ACORN workers allegedly advise on prostitution
"Although we do not condone what our former employees did, no matter how entrapped they were, we are also committed to our 500,000 members that we will hold the defendants civilly and criminally responsible for their violations of Maryland laws and for the damages inflicted upon ACORN's reputation," said Bertha Lewis, the organization's chief organizer.
ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- said O'Keefe and Giles also attempted to capture similar videos at ACORN offices in other cities but failed.
T
In addition, the organization announced a hiring freeze, new training programs and an internal investigation in the wake of the video controversy.
A leading liberal Democrat in the House blasted ACORN Wednesday and said he is urging the White House to withhold any federal funding for the group.
"I am very disappointed in the actions that were taken by members of ACORN," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement.
"I do not believe that ACORN's response has been adequate for an organization that has received public funding," he said.
Frank said he is urging the Obama administration to withhold any additional funding for ACORN "at least until there is very firm evidence that the abuses of which ACORN members have been guilty have not only ceased, but that procedures are in place to prevent them from happening again."
In a written statement issued Wednesday, ACORN took issue with Frank's criticism.
"While we greatly respect Rep. Barney Frank and have enjoyed the work we have shared over the years," the statement said, "ACORN disagrees with his position on the recent Congressional action to single out our organization and bar us from competing for federal grants."
Two other ACORN employees also were fired after O'Keefe, Giles and co-defendant Breitbart.com released the videos.
ACORN for some time has been in the cross-hairs of conservatives, who have repeatedly pushed for voter registration fraud investigations against the organization. advertisement
At least 11 states already had been investigating ACORN for alleged voter registration fraud stemming from the general election in 2008. Most of the allegations concern fraudulent forms submitted by temporary ACORN employees hired to register voters in poor and minority areas. None of the allegations relate to fraudulent voting.
ACORN itself initiated an investigation in Florida that resulted earlier this month in 11 arrests for fraudulent voter registration.
***Gordon, I really didn't think you could be this stOOpid, but you exceeded my expectations. Wussy. Manziel, see Josh Gordon. Dumbass.***
ACORN would have been better served to let this go and hope it died... keeping it in the news is not in their best interest because in the end, nobody is going to care if the videotapers were in the right or not, just gives more and more chances to show the video...
All that said, I'm glad they are doing it... ACORN is a very shady organization and I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a lot more to expose.
My understanding is that Acorns funding has been cut off... is that correct.
If it has, or if it's being threatened, then that could be the reason they feel the need to fight this.
My understanding is this, Acorn is disavowing any knowledge of any wrong doing, saying that these folks in Baltimore went "rogue" on them.. I supposed that could be true.
So if that's the case, I understand fighting it.
What I don't get is entrappment.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
It wasn't one ACORN office it was several. While they may went "rogue" and it isn't agency policy to condone the illegal trafficking of human beings for the sex industry let alone minors, it shows to me the kinds of people that come to work for ACORN.
Who in their right mind, if they have a mind, thinks it's okay to traffic in underage girls?
Don't the local chapters screen their workers? Don't they have standards of professionalism? The face of ACORN is the lady behind the desk, or in the video of the lady in California--one who admits to killing her husband.
Quote: My understanding is that Acorns funding has been cut off... is that correct.
You might be thinking of this.
Quote: ACORN SCANDAL: IRS cuts ties with group mired in controversy
The Internal Revenue Service terminated its relationship with ACORN after its employees were shown on videotape advising people posing as a pimp and prostitute how to cheat on their taxes.
The agency said in a statement Wednesday that it decided to end its relationship with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now so taxpayers can "have trust in our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program partners."
Actually, no, I don't think I heard anything about the IRS cutting ties with them.
My understanding is that either thier funding has been cut off or is being threatened...
I'd have to do some research for the exact number, but I think I read that Acorn Received $54 million from the Government over the last 10 years or so.
Seems like a ton of money for a group that can't screen and oversee thier folks better than that..
Honestly,, if I'm in charge of Acorn, and I see that things like this can cut off funding, I'm making damn sure it isn't happening or if it is, it's getting fixed in a hurry.
Hell, I'd even send out people to do the same thing. I'd run sting operations all the time. And I"d let them know it's coming at some point, unannounced.. And that they should be prepared and always,,, ALWAYS, do the right thing.
But that's just what I'd do. apparently, whoever is in charge, didn't see it that way.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
So someone explain it again, how did they trap anyone.
the issue was the videotapers didn't use actual pimps trying to start a real underage brothel of illegal aliens. if they would have, then there would be no recourse by ACORN against them.
Quote: A but I think I read that Acorn Received $54 million from the Government over the last 10 years or so.
Ah, I bet it's a ton more than that.... just last week or so I read that some federal agency had given them $990,000 or so JUST TO CHECK OUT AND HELP THE POOR PEOPLE in New Orleans to make sure they had smoke detecters.
And the paragraph reads: "FEMA awarded $997,402 to ACORN in New Orleans on Sept. 4 as part of its Fire Prevention and Safety Grants program. The group plans to use the money to assess fire safety in the homes of low and moderate-income families and hand out smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and other fire prevention gear, ACORN's Brennan Griffin said."
I mean, that's $1 million right there - for 1 city. I bet the amount acorn got from the gov't. over 10 years is closer to billions.
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