Republicans go After ACORN...Again: ACORN SEIU Intertwined

A new U.S. House report adds fresh fodder to the already existing documents incriminating ACORN for "thousands of fraudulent voter registrations" across the U.S.. It ties ACORN and SEIU - substantially intertwined and joined at the hip. It shows conclusively that ACORN's part in the housing meltdown was instrumental in thousands losing their home, but by design, infamously lucrative for ACORN. You'll notice Project Vote is mentioned in the House Committee report. See a video about Barack Obama and Project Vote below.

Obama Teaching Project Vote

In September 2009, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-AC) and Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) announced a bill to deny federal funding to ACORN corruption. The legislation passed, ACORN sued in Federal District Court and won an injunction against the U.S. Government until the case is heard. According to the report dated February 18, 2010, you and I were forced to rush to the aid of this corrupt bunch - as a check was cut for funding already underway:

According to the Louisiana Department of Justice, ACORN is nearing financial bankruptcy, as most of its donors have cut ties with the corporation. However, under Judge Gershon’s decision, ACORN will continue to receive taxpayer dollars from the Federal Government. In other words, the American people will have BAILED OUT ACORN.

But now, a new round of fresh documents released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is renewing the fight against the Democrats strongest allies on the streets of America - ACORN operatives.

The Republicans' latest report contains documents that they say confirms previous findings that ACORN is responsible for thousands of fraudulent voter registrations across the country and has used taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda.

"Committee investigators have identified hundreds of ACORN bank accounts, shell organizations incorporated under different sections of the Internal Revenue code, and even an ACORN controlled accounting firm (Citizens Consulting Inc.) that helps ACORN obscure the true use of charitable donations and taxpayer funds," reads the report, titled "Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies."

"Documents and testimony from ACORN whistleblowers reveal that ACORN activities -- despite contentions that they are intended to help the poor -- fulfill a more self-serving and political purpose for ACORN."

The first report in the the summer of 2009 explained the following:

...how ACORN used a complex organizational structure of overlapping nonprofit community initiatives and political lobbying activities to conceal the partisan political use of taxpayer and private monies originally designated for the public benefit. The report found there was no real separation between ACORN and its affiliates. ACORN is a single corrupt corporate enterprise composed of a series of holding companies and subsidiaries that are financially and operationally dependent upon the main corporation.

The new report "Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies" adds new evidence confirming the previous finds, as well as a "closer examination of ACORN's financial transactions and fundraising that shows the organization to be a "political machine."

Committee investigators have identified hundreds of ACORN bank accounts, shell organizations incorporated under different sections of the internal revenue code, and even an ACORN controlled accounting firm (Citizens Consulting Inc.) that helps ACORN obscure the true use of charitable donations and taxpayer funds. Documents and testimony from ACORN whistleblowers reveal that ACORN activities – despite contentions that they are intended to help the poor – fulfill a more self-serving and political purpose for ACORN. ACORN is well aware of the legal problems its political activities create as its own attorneys have acknowledged and outlined the potential for criminal and civil violations in private documents for senior ACORN officials. 

Since release of the first report, Committee staff met with insiders from both ACORN and the Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”) in addition to obtaining and reviewing documents from virtually every state, including California, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The new report makes four crucial findings:

1) Criminal conspiracy - names ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, Executive Director Steven Kest, and Political Operation Director Zach Polett.

2) Pattern of corruption common to all ACORN affiliates called "Muscle for the Money," or or using non-profit corporations for electioneering activities; strategies to threaten corporations and banks into brokering deals for ACORN's financial benefit - thus the "muscle."

SEIU and Project Vote [see video below] used litigation to force demands from government officials. ACORN, through Project Vote, threatened State Secretary of State offices with lawsuits, thus forcing political compromises at the expense of taxpayers. 

This charge makes it clear that SEIU and ACORN "are substantially intertwined - ACORN taking the lead, sEIU the willing accomplice, and both allegedly engaged in fraudulent activities. ACORN has received $5.6M from SEIU, and according to this report, despite SEIU's objections, they have "never cut ties to ACORN.

3) The ACORN corporation is responsible for thousands of fraudulent voter registrations throughout the U.S.

Responses from various state election offices show that ACORN’s late filings of voter registration cards and the sheer amount of fraudulent cards obstructed election administration efforts in many states. Fraudulent voter registrations are not isolated incidents; they reflect ACORN’s criminal motive to compromise the system of free and fair elections promised in the Constitution of the United States.

4) ACORN contributed to the risky lending that led to the financial collapse. The following is the story of the infamous Community Reinvestment Act. Reps. Barney Frank, Maxine Waters and Senator Chris Dodd should be behind bars:

ACORN drafted language to loosen underwriting standards and decrease down payments in the housing industry, paving the way for the high rate of subprime loans millions of Americans eventually defaulted on.

ACORN used provisions in the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 that allowed community groups to challenge bank mergers and acquisitions if a bank did not adequately invest in its own community. These challenges, which featured ACORN's standard intimidation tactics, successfully forced banks to make lending agreements with ACORN Housing. If banks refused ACORN’s demands, they jeopardized approval of mergers in a timely manner. ACORN Housing moved to become a conventional service provider for the loans. ACORN reaped profits from over a billion dollars in loans to low- income neighborhoods. Because of the policies and financial instruments developed, in part through ACORN’s lobbying activities, borrowers eventually defaulted on the loans. The end result was the bursting of the housing bubble.

ACORN Housing received a total of $39,925,620.13 from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., CitiBank, HSBC, CapitalOne, and SunTrust. These lenders and banks also provided ACORN with grants, address and bank account information of at-risk homeowners so ACORN could provide free counseling services. Instead, ACORN used the address and bank account information to target struggling Americans who would be signed up as dues-paying members of ACORN. ACORN’s membership recruiting brought in $48 million a year for ACORN—a boon for their Muscle for Money program. 

Click here to read the pdf report, courtesy FOXNews.





Barack Obama Leads Project Vote