ACORN out of the Census business

[Tim L]

Looks like the Census Bureau gave them the boot.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/11/census-bureau-severs-ties-acorn/

The Census Director has sent a letter to the National Headquarters of ACORN notifying the group that the Census Bureau is severing all ties with the community organizing group for all work having to do with the 2010 census.

"Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts," read a letter from Census Director Robert M. Groves to the president of ACORN.

"Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership," the letter said.

The news follows the firing Friday of two more ACORN employees after new hidden-camera footage showed workers for the group advising a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute how to subvert the law.

Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) reacted to the news Friday night, applauding the decision by the Census Bureau.

"ACORN had no business working on the Census.  ACORN’s partisan election efforts and its involvement in criminal conduct rightly disqualified it from working on the non-partisan mission of the Census to accurately and honestly count the U.S. population," Rep. Issa said.

ACORN had previously been tapped to help with low level data gathering for the 2010 census. A copy of the director's letter has been sent to Congress and relevant committees, as well as ACORN.

Two more ACORN workers were fired Friday after a second video surfaced, this time showing staff members in the community organizers' Washington office offering to help the undercover man and woman acquire illegal home loans that would help them set up a brothel.

Those firings came less than 24 hours after another pair of ACORN officials, from the group's Baltimore office, were canned for instructing the "pimp" and "prostitute" how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 "very young" girls from El Salvador that pair said they wanted to import to work as child prostitutes.

Both of the encounters were videotaped on a hidden camera wielded by 25-year-old independent filmmaker James O'Keefe, posing as the pimp — tapes that have ignited calls for investigations of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The group's leaders said Friday they were "appalled and angry" at what their staffers had done, but insisted the videos were part of a political "smear" campaign and not representative of the institution as a whole.

"But that does not excuse the behavior of the employees," wrote ACORN's president Alton Bennet and executive director Mike Shea. "We have fired them and are initiating an internal review of practices and reminding all staff of their obligation to uphold the highest legal and ethical standards."

O'Keefe, the filmmaker who exposed ACORN's employees, was accompanied by 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as a prostitute. On a videotape of their visit to ACORN's Washington's office, they are seen receiving guidance to establish the woman as the sole proprietor of a bogus company to mask the nature of her business.

"She's not going to put on (the loan application) that she's doing prostitution ... she doesn't have to," a now-fired ACORN staffer says. "You don't have to sit back and tell people what you do."
Related StoriesACORN Officials Videotaped Telling 'Pimp,' 'Prostitute' How to Lie to IRS

[Monkeyleg]

How exactly is it a "smear campaign" when your employees are caught on camera on two separate occasions advising people on how to do something illegal?

Is it possible that O'Keefe went to these particular ACORN employees because the employees are known to be open to helping people open brothels, or did he choose the employees at random? Either way, it's pretty hard for ACORN to claim they were smeared.

Is it possible that there will be more focus on Obama's relationship with ACORN?

[Tim L]

How exactly is it a "smear campaign" when your employees are caught on camera on two separate occasions advising people on how to do something illegal?

well, you see it's like this.  The WHITE man had the camera and was setting up the BLACK ladies ..... 

On second thought I haven't a CLUE how they came up with that conclusion.

Oh, what a headache.  I just read some posts over on DU about it.  It appears that some think the ACORN employees were also actors planted months in advance.   I need an aspirin.

[Standing Wolf]

Oh, heck. They'll be back. They're community organizers, too, you know.

[seeker_two]

Oh, heck. They'll be back. They're community organizers Obama's brown-shirts, too, you know.

Fixed for historical accuracy.... 

[KD5NRH]

Oh, heck. They'll be back.

"Back" assumes they're actually leaving.  Realistically, I have my doubts that the "severing of ties" is anything more than a "severing of visible ties."

[longeyes]

ACORN is the Beast with many heads--and many names. 

For the Obama gov't to sever ties with ACORN is about as unthinkable as Obama performing self-amputation.  He made his political bones with those folks and identifies with them and their ends to the marrow.

[Gewehr98]

Did Seeker_Two really just Godwin the thread? 

[seeker_two]

Did Seeker_Two really just Godwin the thread? 

You just knew someone was going to eventually....I'm just getting it out of the way now.... 

[Perd Hapley]

Oh, come on Gew.  Don't be such a Godwin Nazi.  :) 

[Silver Bullet]

Oh, heck. They'll be back. They're community organizers,Firefly purplebellies too, you know.

Fixed, for historical accuracy !

[Silver Bullet]

barry:  235 days down, 1226 to go.  Will the Republic survive ?   

[Boomhauer]

barry:  235 days down, 1226 to go.  Will the Republic survive ?  

Look at it this way: if the Republic falls, then at least ACORN will be there to help you become the best pimp you can be!

[Silver Bullet]

Ahhh ! 

Okay, then.

[Waitone]

The horse Obama rode to the White House was ACORN. 

You expect him to throw it under the bus now that it has been shown to have dirty skirts?  Not hardly.  Obama will distance himself (publicly) but maintain cordial relations as well as funneling money.

[Sindawe]

Baltimore state's attonery is contemplating file charges againsts those who so wontanly exposed ACORN's corruption smeared ACORN's good name.

The activist group ACORN has fired two employees of its Baltimore office who were seen on hidden-camera video giving advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute.

Fox News broadcast excerpts Thursday from the video. The man and woman ask about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. An ACORN employee advises the woman to list her occupation as "performance artist."

Maryland ACORN board member Margaret Williams says in a statement that the employees "did not meet ACORN's standards of professionalism."

ACORN spokeswoman Sonja Merchant-Jones told WBAL-TV  that she believes the video may have been altered to make the organization look bad.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH WBAL-TV VIDEO.

The statement also says the video was an "attempt to smear ACORN" and that undercover teams attempted similar stunts in at least three other ACORN offices.

Williams said no tax returns were filed and no assistance was provided.

The Baltimore city state's attorney is considering prosecuting those responsible for taping the ACORN employees on charges that they violated Maryland's wiretap laws.

STATEMENT OF STATE’S ATTORNEYS OFFICE FOR BALTIMORE CITY RELATIVE TO THE ALLEGED BALTIMORE ACORN INCIDENT

 

          Baltimore, MD – September 11, 2009 – We have received inquiries from citizens and the media asking whether the Baltimore City State’s Attorneys Office would initiate a criminal investigation for acts allegedly committed at ACORN offices located in Baltimore.  The only information received in reference to this alleged criminal behavior was a YouTube video.  Upon review by this office, the video appears to be incomplete.  In addition, the audio portion could possibly have been obtained in violation of Maryland Law, Annotated Code of Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article §10-402, which requires two party consent.

 

          If it is determined that the audio portion now being heard on YouTube was illegally obtained, it is also illegal under Maryland Law to willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said audio.  The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable up to 5 years.



The Maryland state prosecutor's office went after Linda Tripp in the 1990s on two wiretap charges. Tripp was accused of illegally taping a phone conversation with Monica Lewinsky about her relationship with then-President Bill Clinton and disclosing the conversation to Newsweek. Prosecutors decided to drop the case when Lewinsky's testimony was suppressed.


The video was shot by film maker James O'Keefe, who posed as a pimp who said he was going to run for Congress.  The video also featured a 20 year old woman who posed as a woman named "Kenya."

The video appears  both on You Tube and on the Web site of Andrew Breitbart, a columnist for the Washington Times and Drudge Report.





In the video, O'Keefe and the woman tell the ACORN staff that they are smuggling teenage girls from El Salvador to work as prostitutes.  The ACORN staff tells them to list the girls as dependents,  on tax returns.

The ACORN staff member tells the pair to train the girls to "keep their mouths shut" about what was taking place.

Republicans have criticized ACORN for campaigning for Barack Obama.  The group has also been accused of committing voter registration fraud. 

ACORN 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."

ACORN has said only a handful of employees submitted false registration forms and did so in a bid to boost their pay.

Today, on WBAL's Shari Elliker Show, Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King called for a congressional investigation into the group, which he says received federal money to support its efforts to help the poor.

Also today, ACORN has fired two workers in their Washington office who were seen on hidden-camera footage giving loan advice to a man posing as a law school student and a woman pretending to be his prostitute girlfriend.

Fox News Channel aired parts of the video and posted it online Friday. It shows a man and woman at the group's Washington office, asking for help in buying a house for her prostitution business. The employees advise her to tell banks that she's a consultant with her own company. They also tell the supposed law student he could buy the house, but to avoid going there because of his political ambitions.

In a statement, ACORN's president of housing and executive director say there will be an internal review.




SOURCE: http://wbal.com/apps/news/templates/story.aspx?articleid=35357&zoneid=2

Hmmm...  A desire to punush those who expose corruption, silence opposing opinions, and force the extraction of bodily fluids from the innocent then charge those same innocents with obstruction of justice when the state's agents suspicions are proven to be groundless.

Thank the Gods that we live in a free country and at least agents of the state are not going around killing its subjects cats and dogs.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

not sure about md but in some states there is no reasonable expectation of privacy when commiting a crime

[Ben]

83-7. Even both my liberal Calif Senators voted yes. Former presidential candidate McCain didn't bother to vote. Remarkable what a couple of kids and a camera can do. God Bless America. :)

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/14/senate-votes-on-johanns-amendment-to-cut-off-acorn-housing-funds/

[Boomhauer]

NNNIIIIIICCCCCEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Now, will it pass?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Buh bye.

 

[AZRedhawk44]

Excellent.

[Perd Hapley]

Yet similar activism against Planned Parenthood has not produced such dramatic results.  I guess statutory rape is not something Congress cares about. 

[Strings]

Ok... at the risk of igniting a debate: how does Planned Parenthood equate to statuatory rape?

[S. Williamson]

Ok... at the risk of igniting a debate: how does Planned Parenthood equate to statuatory rape?

Planned Parenthood : statutory rape :: Muhammed Ali : Anti-lock brakes

[Strings]

The wiretapping and recording laws vary from state to state, unfortunately.

Thankfully, Wisconsin is a "one party consent" state...