ACORN // Current

Former NYC top cop Bernard Kerik weighs in on Obama and his "terrorist ties"

So, a few weeks ago I went up to New Jersey to hang out with the man who was almost the head of Homeland Security, Bernard Kerik.... more

elmodernisto
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ACORN and Obama

40% of Acorn is federally funded - then why is this supposedly nonpartisan group openly endorsing Barack Obama for President? Just... more

spooly
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Fox News goes apoplectic over the success of working families and ACORN

ACORN is the nation's largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people, with over 400,000 member... more

BuddyP
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McCain campaign recommends sending criminal lawyers to swing states

John Danforth, former U.S. Senator and Co-Chair of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee, described the conduct of... more

Apocalipstick
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Justice Department Targets ACORN But Ignores GOP Voter Suppression

On the eve of the 2008 election, the Department leaks a FBI probe of ACORN but remains silent on widespread voter intimidation tactics.
Partisan considerations still appear to be contributing to the Department of Justice's actions when it comes to enforcing the nation's voting rights laws.

With Election Day less than two weeks away, proponents of more tightly regulating the voting process -- this time led by congressional Republicans -- have gotten their desired response from the nation's guardian of civil rights' laws: a FBI investigation into ACORN, the low-income advocacy coalition that registered 1.3 million new voters in 2008.

Last week, two FBI officials told reporters an ACORN investigation was underway, violating Department rules for disclosing information on cases that could impact an election. The Obama campaign's response was to ask the Attorney General to include that leak in a special prosecutors' investigation of the U.S. attorney firing scandal. No response to that request has been forthcoming.

But more disturbing to civil rights attorneys is the Department's silence on what voting rights lawyers say are myriad voter suppression tactics by partisans in the campaign's final weeks. These efforts include attempts by Republicans to disqualify legal voter registrations, unlawfully purge voters, threaten individual voters with polling place challenges, fabricate barriers to student voting and abuse prosecutorial authority by investigating 2008's early voters.

"Voter suppression is not new. But this year has brought heightened efforts to disenfranchise and intimidate voters," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, in a Wednesday press conference. "We've seen legal challenges to registered, valid voters in Ohio; Fear tactics threatening that mortgage foreclosures or unpaid bills will thwart your right to vote or may even result in arrest; and massive attempts to confuse voters through robo-calls, official looking web sites and e-mails. These are targeted and insidious attempts to suppress the vote, particularly in communities of color."

The Justice Department did not respond to requests to comment.

What is most striking about the voting rights lawyers' criticism of the Department is that the agency does not have to wait until Election Day to act. Under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, the Department can move to stop voter intimidation schemes without having to prove the motive behind those actions. This section of the law does not require the government show any intent by partisans to discriminate, the lawyers say. Instead, if the result is intimidation or suppression of minority voters, it can act.

"We really need the Justice Department to get out there and make a pronouncement, publicly, that voter intimidation and voter suppression will not be tolerated because it violates federal law," said Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center and a former Department Voting Section Chief. "We have asked the Attorney General to do this and thus far there has been a deafening silence."

"I think the Department's response to these issues, at best, is tepid, and at worst ignores what we think is a serious problem and their responsibility to address it," Henderson said. "The Department of Justice often argues that its jurisdiction is limited. But we think the interpretation that they have given to their jurisdiction is exceedingly narrow and it certainly ignores the larger responsibility to use the bully pulpit of the Attorney General to make clear that the Department will vigorously prosecute where possible, under federal law, any attempt to suppress the right of duly registered American citizens."
more@linkOn the eve of the 2008 election, the Department leaks a FBI probe of ACORN but remains silent on widespread voter intimidation... more

pokesmot
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5 responses

1 month ago

Here is what's happening!

Here's what's happening:

… In Philadelphia, fliers were distributed in a predominantly African American neighborhood which suggested that people with legal troubles or unpaid traffic violations will be arrested by undercover cops when they show up to vote.

…In Hamilton County, Ohio, Prosecutor Joe Deters - who is also the local chair of the McCain-Palin campaign - requested via subpoena personal information for 40% of voters who participated in same-day registration.

…In Montgomery County, Virginia, a registrar issued a memo giving incorrect and intimidating information to students at Virginia Tech University about the consequences of registering to vote, including possible loss of financial aid and tax dependence status.

…In Ontario, California, the owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters was arrested on suspicion of voter registration fraud after dozens of voters reported that the firm tricked them into registering with the GOP by asking them to sign a petition they believed to be aimed at toughening penalties against child molesters.

Our commercial highlights these attacks - educating voters about what suppression looks like - and asks the McCain campaign to stop the suppression happening on his behalf. As you can see, this is happening all over the country. We need your help to fight back and ensure that all the voters ACORN helped register can cast a ballot and have that ballot counted. Please contribute what you can - any amount helps.

Nothing is more important to the fabric of our democracy than protecting the rights of American voters. Senator McCain should instead join us in trying to make it easier for voters to exercise their rights, by calling for measures such as extending early voting hours, to facilitate the greatest possible participation in this historic election.

One more thing - please know that we are so grateful and honored by your support today. It's good to know that you and so many others are doing as much as you can during this final week. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer

Jon Kest, Executive DirectorHere's what's happening: … In Philadelphia, fliers were distributed in a predominantly African American... more

pokesmot
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15 responses

1 month ago

Biden Laughs at News Anchor's Bias

A Florida news anchor poses ridiculous, uniformed questions to Joe Biden. He scoffs at her ignorance.

klaing
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23 responses

1 month ago

One nation under debt

Danny Schechter: We need to stop all foreclosures. Part 2 In part two of our interview with Danny Schechter, Danny provides... more

Vierotchka
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17 responses

1 month ago

Acorn Overblown Scandal

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms, including some with fictional names like Mickey Mouse and others for voters who are already registered.

Based on the information that has come to light so far, the charges appear to be wildly overblown - and intended to hobble Acorn's efforts.

The group concedes that some of its hired canvassers have turned in tainted forms, although they say the ones with phony names constitute no more than 1 percent of the total turned in. The group also says it reviews all of the registration forms that come in. Before delivering the forms to elections offices, its supervisors flag any that appear to have problems.

According to Acorn, most of the forms that are now causing controversy are ones that it flagged and that unsympathetic election officials then publicized.

Acorn's critics charge that it is creating phony registrations that ineligible voters could use to cast ballots or that a single voter could use to vote multiple times.

Acorn needs to provide more precise figures about problem forms and needs to do a better job of choosing its canvassers.

But for all of the McCain campaign's manufactured fury about vote theft (and similar claims from the Republican Party over the years) there is virtually no evidence - anywhere in the country, going back many elections - of people showing up at the polls and voting when they are not entitled to.

Meanwhile, Republicans aren't saying anything about another more serious voter-registration scandal: the fact that about one-third of eligible voters are not registered. The racial gaps are significant and particularly disturbing. According to a study by Project Vote, a voting-rights group, in 2006, 71 percent of eligible whites were registered, compared with 61 percent of blacks, 54 percent of Latinos and 49 percent of Asian-Americans.

Follow the link to read more...In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid... more

mcristina
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1 month ago

The truth about ACORN

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has been attacking ACORN, a widely respected voter registration organization, claiming ACORN... more

Future_America
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19 responses

1 month ago

Countdown: McCain Delivered Keynote for ACORN in 2006

MSNBC's Countdown breaks down ACORN ties to Obama/McCain

pigmonkey
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0 responses

1 month ago

Colbert:on ACORN (VIDEO)

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert reported Tuesday on the looming menace of ACORN and the dire threat it poses of Mickey Mouse... more

pigmonkey
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11 responses

1 month ago

Dead goldfish gets voter registration material

CHICAGO - The only "agent of change" Princess ever supported was the person who freshened the water in her fishbowl. So election officials in Chicago's northern suburbs want to know why voter registration material was sent to the dead goldfish.

"I am just stunned at the level of people compromising the integrity of the voting process," said Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, a Republican, who said she has spotted problems with nearly 1,000 voter registrations this year.

Beth Nudelman, who owned the fish, said Princess may have landed on a mailing list because the family once filled in the pet's name when they got a second phone line for a computer.

"There was no fraud involved," said Nudelman, a Democrat who supports Barack Obama. "This person is a dead fish."

The paperwork sent to a "Princess Nudelman" likely came from the "Women's Voices, Women Vote" project, which sent nearly 1 million mailings to Illinois households in August using a list that mistakenly included some pets, said Sarah Johnson, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit group that encourages single women to vote.

The mailing list, purchased from a vendor, included names from warranties, magazine subscriptions and other sources, Johnson said. The group attempted to screen out obvious pet names.

"Fido's not going to be left on there, but if a cat is named is Polly, she may be," Johnson said. Princess could be a person's name, she insisted. "I went to high school with two Princesses."

Fish is ineligible

Nudelman said the only address on the registration card was the Lake County clerk's office. She said she wrote election officials a humorous note explaining why the fish was ineligible to vote.

The Illinois mailing generated 63,500 returned voter applications, Johnson said. Applicants were instructed to fill in a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number so election officials would be able to validate their identity.

"We obviously don't want to add more work for any election official," Johnson said. "At the end of the day, our goal is same as theirs: To give as many people as possible the chance to make voices heard in our democracy."CHICAGO - The only "agent of change" Princess ever supported was the person who freshened the water in her fishbowl. So... more

samanthadian
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2 responses

1 month ago

ACORN Counters Right Wing Attacks

ACORN isn't the voter frauding spawn of the devil and Bill Ayers?

caseygane
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2 responses

1 month ago

Obama Canvasser Punched in the Face

A woman canvassing for Obama in Wisconsin was punched in the face by a man ranting about ACORN. The woman was part of a canvassing... more

SamuraiDave
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3 responses

1 month ago

Mark Winston Griffith: We Are Acorn

We are ACORN. The right wing attack on the community organizing group ACORN is a frontal assault on all of us who fight for social and economic justice. Look, ACORN may alienate many, even those on their left, by their style of organizing, but they are one of us, and we better close ranks around them, because the barrel of the right-wing attack gun is really focused on you and me.

Conservatives are charging that ACORN has been running voter registration fraud rings in states like Ohio and Nevada. I don't know what the facts on the ground in Ohio and Nevada are, but it's clear that the right wing has declared open season on ACORN and all that it stands for, no matter how many lies need to be told to do it. Have you heard the one about how ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act, the 1977 anti-red-lining law, actually forced banks to lower their lending criteria, which then led to the subprime crisis?

Implicated are those of us who used the CRA to get banks to own up to their obligations in disenfranchised neighborhoods, while fighting against subprime predatory lending. Most subprime lenders were not even covered by the CRA. And the suggestion that people of color and low income areas are inherently high risk and unworthy of credit, is patently racist.

And then there's the disparagement of community organizing and the depiction of ACORN as another un-american group linked to Barack Obama. John McCain said, "We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy"

Huh? The real fraud is the notion that organizing and registering people to vote represent anything other than the purest and most effective forms of democratic action.

ACORN has acknowledged its organizational missteps, like the recent embezzlement scandal that forced out their former head organizer. And if there was indeed wide-spread voter registration fraud, ACORN needs to address that aggressively. ACORN is a large and often unwieldy organization. It needs a better system of management and better control over the people who are representing them at all levels of the organization. I've talked to the current head of ACORN, Bertha Lewis, and she knows this.

ACORN routinely confronts powerful people and institutions and holds them accountable. The better job it does, the more it will be hunted down by those who don't like being publically shamed by low-income black and brown people demanding wage increases, fighting for affordable housing, trying to end predatory lending, or registering people in states that will determine the outcome of a historic general election.

As a progressive community, we have an obligation to call out ACORN on their stuff. But we also have an obligation to stick up for one of the most effective grassroots social justice organizations this nation has ever seen, an organization that stands on the frontlines everyday, taking body blows for all of us.

Mark Winston Griffith is a Senior Fellow, Economic Justice, at the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.We are ACORN. The right wing attack on the community organizing group ACORN is a frontal assault on all of us who fight for social... more