The mainstream media is so in the tank for Barack Obama that only in the last few days has it begun to do some serious shoe-leather reporting and trace the connections between ACORN, Barack Obama, William Ayers, ACORN founder Wade Rathke and his embezzling brother Dale, the Weather Underground Organization, and the Democratic Party.
The MSM is still largely downplaying Americans' justifiable fears that ACORN is attempting to steal the election through massive voter fraud. As NewsBusters has exhaustively documented, MSM talking heads say: fears of voter fraud are overblown, ACORN is just an innocent community group, Obama never technically "worked" for ACORN because when he worked for Project Vote it was allegedly an independent organization (that's a fave of Seth Colter Walls at the Huffington Post), and so on.
Sometimes the MSM needs some help.
I wrote the paper, "ACORN: Who Funds the Weather Underground's Little Brother?" for the November issue of Capital Research Center's Foundation Watch newsletter.
Read it here or read on for a summary.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has become America's most prominent left-wing community group. Little-known until now, ACORN has played a major role in the subprime mortgage mess that has undermined Americans' support for free market problem-solving and set off a worldwide chain of financial troubles. It is also implicated in vote fraud schemes from coast to coast. ACORN aims to give America change that socialists can believe in - by any means necessary. It is deliberately organized to avoid scrutiny. But with an FBI probe underway and a racketeering lawsuit pending, it may finally have to answer for its many misdeeds.
And an excerpt:
ACORN's Interlocking Directorates
Understanding how ACORN activists hold key positions in the ACORN network is crucial to understand how ACORN operates.
The term "interlocking directorates" describes how individuals can serve as directors on multiple corporate boards. This practice is common in the ACORN family; it is widespread and lawful. But it raises questions about the quality and independence of board decision-making.
ACORN's interlocking directorates suggest that even though each ACORN affiliate may be legally separate, it is subject to centralized control. The ACORN network appears to be a "family" of organizations, embodying the ethos of community organizing, which stresses local action and decentralized authority. In fact, ACORN is tightly controlled from the top.
News of ACORN's embezzlement scandal has finally begun to stir debate over its structure and organization. Until recently, it's been hard to find public debate about ACORN or criticism of ACORN "chief organizer" Wade Rathke. Pablo Eisenberg, a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, has written that Rathke "sought to put the national organization in control of operations of the group's affiliates." ACORN bylaws gave Rathke "the power to appoint the head organizers of both local and state affiliates."
Eisenberg notes although local boards "technically had the authority to overrule his appointments, they rarely did, according to senior staff members," He added: "The decision to keep so much control over the affiliates seems at odds with Acorn's mission - its goal is to empower local people to fight their own battles - but some organizers agree with Mr. Rathke that it is important to centralize operations. They say only a unified network led by headquarters has the power and speed needed to wage successful national advocacy efforts." (Chronicle of Philanthropy op-ed, October 2, 2008)
And centralize Rathke did.
Capital Research Center discovered that the crowded house on Elysian Fields Avenue is owned by ACORN affiliate Elysian Fields Corp Inc. A filing with the Louisiana secretary of state's office reveals that Wade Rathke is the corporation's president and the ubiquitous Donna Pharr is its treasurer.
Ironically, ACORN and its affiliates, all reliable cheerleaders for higher taxes, are longtime tax deadbeats. A search of public records found more than 200 tax liens adding up to more than $3.7 million are associated with groups that share ACORN's address on Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans. The most recent lien, in the amount of $23,383, was filed by the IRS against an ACORN affiliate, American Workers Associates Inc., on September 9, 2008.
—Matthew Vadum is Editor of Organization Trends and Foundation Watch at the Capital Research Center.
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Comments Policy
It takes a long time to put
October 25, 2008 - 13:33 ET by Right2thePointIt takes a long time to put it all together but ACORN has a web of over 150 linked sub groups that create a perfect maze for money laundering and all sorts of other little games they want to play.
Without many knowing the direct linkage between the groups it allows them to astroturf any debate with their captive sub groups.
Smoke and Mirrors
October 25, 2008 - 13:47 ET by pbthinkerI'm beginning to believe that this organization has been specifically designed to accomplish this mission, i.e. getting Obama elected. They're overwhelming state election facilities with bogus applications, some of which are obvious, but they seem to be designed as a trick to take these officials eyes off the ball. How many false applications, getting through and being allowed to vote, would be a problem. Florida has already shown that 576 votes could have turned the 2000 election around. Gore and company tried really hard to steal them and couldn't get it done. Kerry didn't have an effective campaign to steal votes, so they didn't quite fit in 2004. NOw, it appears, the Democrats do not want to take any chances and they're pulling out all the stops. It seems that most of the fraudulent applications have been in battleground states, I'm sure by design, so what does that tell us?
The press would be all over this if ACORN was a Republican front organization. We know how they've behaved this election, something less than stellar. My guess is we'll eventually know the truth about ACORN, I'm also sure it will be long after this election.
Democrats: Stuck on Stupid since 2000.
They existed long before
October 25, 2008 - 20:03 ET by GrannyGrump42They existed long before Obama rose to prominence. I think the whole thing is to get Bill Ayers and his buddies to where they're the power behind the throne. Sound far-fetched? Read Zombie's investigation then think again:
http://www.zombietime.com/prairie_fire/
My guess is we'll eventually know the truth about ACORN,
October 26, 2008 - 17:12 ET by jeffroThe republicans have been trying to find out about them for a long time. The firing of AG's scandal is directly related to Rove trying to get something, Anything on this group. All to no avail. Every election they claim vote fraud, Just like the dem's call election fraud. The difference is that they never see Mickey Mouse or Jimmy John come in to vote, because they Don't Exist. Where as there HAS been convictions of Republicans for bad stuff. In Ohio and other places. This year you are wasting your time and resources on this again when you should really focus on things you are sure to get a concensus on. Your erratic flailing around for anything that will stick looks So desperate it's not even funny anymore. Just my two cents. California Republican Arrested for Voter Fraud | PEEK | AlterNet
Laws said the YPM staffer
October 27, 2008 - 05:39 ET by Dan The Man 2Laws said the YPM staffer who instructed her to identify herself on a
petition as a Republican assured her that it was a formality, and that
her registration would not be changed. Later, a card showed up in the
mail saying she had joined the GOP. "I said, 'No, no, no. That's not right,' " Laws said
And some people will believe anything and sign their life away without reading what they sign. Mostly Dims, especially those that will vote for Obama who don't look at the facts or realize they are signing their rights away.
In addition does it matter if you are registered Rep or Dim? What matters is who you vote for.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
If ACORN bites the dust as
October 25, 2008 - 14:51 ET by bigtimerIf ACORN bites the dust as they should, plus plenty of people should be behind bars in this enemy within racket....the leftists will just have another one at the ready to pop up...
btw...your last paragraph about the tax liens...very interesting indeed, yet this same leftist party/group are going after Joe the Plumber with a vengeance.
The msm will remain as silent as possible about all this corruption with the dem party and Obama's ties ect..but they will tear a regular hard working guy to shreds if he dare ask a very important question...that showed the world that Obama is a pure socialist...to put it mildly.
The msm has been disgraceful...as usual...with the exception of Fox...they have done great work...Thank God.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
These interlocking directorates remind me of something
October 25, 2008 - 15:01 ET by JeffWeimerThe Church of Scientology. Look up how they have organized themselves starting with www.xenu.net. No this isn't a threadjack or an ad for the anti-scientology crowd. It's just that ACORN's operations and recent activities (the spokesman tsk-tsking on the news) reminds me SO strongly of their modus operandi.
Obama could not win without the media
October 25, 2008 - 15:55 ET by ZachJonesIsHomeWill America
follow a course steeped in ideology tempered by history or will she follow a
course steeped mainly in ideology? “Nine-tenths
of wisdom is being wise in time. “ Theodore Roosevelt - Please consider: Americans Might Want To Heed the Admonitions of The Past
Regarding Election at -http://zachjonesishome.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/americans-might-want-to-heed-the-admonitions-of-the-past-regarding-election/
zachjonesishome.wordpress.com
Zombie has just done a
October 25, 2008 - 20:02 ET by GrannyGrump42Zombie has just done a magnificent job of providing originals of Ayers' Weather Underground writing, and comparing it to where Ayers is today:
http://www.zombietim...
You MUST check this out!
400,000 ACORN registrations rejected
October 26, 2008 - 17:32 ET by Anchor89From today's Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122495396715269535.html
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- or Acorn -- the troubled left-wing activist group, has new headaches. Last week Michael Slater, head of its Project Vote, admitted that some 400,000 of its claimed 1.3 million newly registered voters were rejected by election officials as either duplicates or fraudulent -- i.e. it doesn't sound as if Acorn's vaunted "quality control" efforts were all that effective.
Some reasons why may be exposed next week in a lawsuit filed by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania in state court. The Web site PolitickerPA reports that Anita Moncrief, an Acorn worker in Washington D.C. from 2005 to 2008, will testify that the group engaged in "minimal to nonexistent" checking of its voter registration work during her time with Project Vote.
The Republican suit, filed by Pittsburgh attorney Heather Heidelbaugh, demands that the Pennsylvania Secretary of State follow federal law requiring that first-time voters using an absentee ballot show some form of identification. It also seeks to have Acorn turn over its voter registration lists, identify registrants who signed up fraudulently and instruct them not to vote
OBAMA TIES TO ACORN
October 26, 2008 - 17:46 ET by john5750Obama's ties to ACORN
Obama Paid ACORN $800,000 Via Their "Front Group." "For starters, Obama paid ACORN, which has endorsed him for president, $800,000 to register new voters, payments his campaign failed to accurately report. (They were disguised in his FEC disclosure as payments to a front group called Citizen Services Inc. for "advance work.")" (Editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" Investor’s Business Daily, 10/8/08)
Obama Was ACORN’s Lawyer. "The next year, 1993, Obama joined the civil-rights law firm Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, where he sued the state of Illinois on behalf of ACORN to implement the federal "Motor Voter" law, which the GOP governor at the time refused to do. Then-Gov. Jim Edgar argued, presciently, that the Clinton law would invite voter fraud." (Editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" Investor’s Business Daily, 10/8/08)
Obama and ACORN, Fellow Travelers. "ACORN attracted Barack Obama in his youthful community organizing days. Madeline Talbott hired him to train her staff -- the very people who would later descend on Chicago’s banks as CRA shakedown artists. The Democratic nominee later funneled money to the group through the Woods Fund, on whose board he sat, and through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, ditto. Obama was not just sympathetic -- he was an ACORN fellow traveler." (Mona Charen, "ACORN, Obama, And The Mortgage Mess," Real Clear Politics, 9/30/08)
Obama Trained ACORN Staff. "Several community organizers and Altgeld Gardens tenants confirmed Johnson was working on asbestos but said Obama organized residents to act. ‘He got people to vote with their feet’ on the issue, organizer Madeleine Talbot said. At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff." (Letta Tayler and Keith Herbert, "Obama Forged Path As Chicago Community Organizer," Los Angeles Times, 3/2/08)
ACORN’s Political Action Committee Endorsed Obama. "ACORN’s Political Action Committee, ACORN Votes, announced Feb. 21 that it had endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President." (ACORN, "ACORN’s Political Action Committee Endorses Obama," Press Release, 2/21/08)
Obama Praised ACORN For Being A Good Ally. "When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education. Senator Obama said, ‘I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That’s what I did for three and half years before I went to law school. That’s the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work." (Barack Obama 2008 Website, Accessed 10/8/08)
"Obama Worked As Executive Director Of ACORN’s Voter-Registration Arm, Project Vote." "What’s more, Obama worked as executive director of ACORN’s voter-registration arm, Project Vote, in 1992. Joined by two other community organizers on Chicago’s South Side, Obama conducted the voter-registration drive that helped elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the Senate that year." (Editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" Investor’s Business Daily, 10/8/08)
McCAIN-PALIN 2008 and HILLARY-ANYBODY 2012
OBAMA MONEY LAUNDERING THRU ACORN
October 26, 2008 - 17:50 ET by john5750OBAMA USES ACORN FOR ELECTION FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING
But laundering payments to ACORN through a front company, in a conspiracy to defraud the FEC is a crime.
Another glaring oddity is Stage, Lighting and Sound (SLS) %u2013 also a service never previously reported as a CSI offering. Obama made two payments for SLS to CSI within two days of each other.
These payments were the largest checks made for "concerts" throughout the entire campaign calendar. CSI received $310,000 followed by $160,000 two days later. Two days after that, CSI got a $98,000 check for Travel/Lodging. Two weeks after that another $74,000 was paid to CSI for SLS. Two weeks later, $18,000 for Polling was reported, followed by another $18,000 for SLS the following day.
All of the above payments went to a company that admits they provide none of the above services.
There are numerous federal offenses that may have been committed by the Obama campaign. A complaint to the FEC is being prepared and could be filed soon.
McCAIN-PALIN 2008 and HILLARY-ANYBODY 2012