Back to Basics

ACORN changed its name, but continues to exist thanks to President Obama and the Democrats. Credit: NewswithViews

The already scandal-ridden Obama Justice Department is being accused of more misbehavior, according to a blog this week by a top “Inside the Beltway” watchdog group.

A Justice Department program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars each year to supposedly combat juvenile delinquency is now under fire for giving a leftist group nailed for rampant corruption in the past – the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN – taxpayers’ money that was fraudulently spent.

According to a report on the Judicial Watch blog, this is just the latest of several controversies for the DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) which has managed to maintain a significant budget through the years despite multiple allegations of cronyism.

During the George W. Bush Administration, the OJJDP was accused of giving money to politically-connected groups that didn’t necessarily meet the agency’s goals.

Now, the Justice Department’s own Inspector General released a report that exposes corruption surrounding a $138,130 grant that OJJDP awarded to an ACORN branch in New York City. The IG’s audit found that there were internal control weaknesses, unsupported grant expenditures, lack of contractor monitoring, weaknesses in budget management, inadequate grant reporting, unmet conditions and deficiencies with the program’s overall performance.The IG also describes the New York group as a “pass-through entity” for ACORN, the crooked nonprofit that’s raked in huge sums of taxpayer dollars over the years. In 2009, Congress actually passed a law (Defund ACORN Act) to ban federal funding for ACORN after a series of exposés about the group’s illegal activities, which include fraudulent voter registration drives and involvement in the housing market meltdown.

The group has close ties to President Barack Obama, who worked for ACORN as a “community organizer” in Chicago, prior to embarking on his political career.

Earlier this year a Judicial Watch probe found that the Obama Administration violated the ban on federal funding for ACORN by giving the beleaguered group nearly $80,000 to “combat housing and lending discrimination” against minorities.

After sorting through droves of government records, Judicial Watch investigators discovered that an ACORN affiliate in New Orleans, ACORN Housing Corporation Inc., got $79,819 as part of a larger $40 million allocation to “fair housing organizations” that educate the public and combat discrimination.

This year Judicial Watch also published a special report about the organization’s transformation into various spinoffs and affiliated groups. Amid a massive fraud scandal and a series of criminal probes, ACORN supposedly dismantled but the reality is that it simply changed its name.

For instance, under the rebranding New England United 4 Justice, ACORN has been one of the driving forces behind the movement to end economic segregation and social injustice in the U.S. culminating in the current Occupy Wall Street movement.

In fact, former Obama colleague and Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, was recently hired by Occupy Wall Street and he’s being paid by the groups funding the OWS protests, such as the Tides Foundation, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and George Soros’ front organizations.

While the cover story swallowed whole-cloth by many politicians, news organizations and Americans is that ACORN had disbanded following a number of scandals, an investigation by a Washington, D.C., watchdog reveals ACORN not only continues to exist but the group is planning to help prop-up and re-elect a failed president.

A young Barack teaching community activists about political organization and power. The classes were held by ACORN. Credit: NewswithViews

A public-interest group that investigates and fights government corruption, announced yesterday, August 24, that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain records related to the agency’s communications with Estelle Rogers, a former ACORN attorney currently serving as Director of Advocacy for the ACORN-connected organization Project Vote, President Obama’s former employer.

While President Barack Obama threatens the elderly with interruption of receiving Social Security checks in August due to the debt ceiling issue, his administration is giving taxpayer’s money to groups such as the corrupt ACORN and racist La Raza.

Young freelance journalist Hannah Giles, along with her partner James O'Keefe, blew the lid off the rampant corruption within ACORN, a group that once employed President Obama. Credit: Doug Giles

A public-interest group this week is accusing the Obama Administration of violating the ban on federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) by giving the famously corrupt group tens of thousands of dollars in grants to “combat housing and lending discrimination.”

Congress passed a law – Defund ACORN Act – in 2009 to stop the huge flow of taxpayer money that annually went to ACORN after a series of exposés about the left-wing group’s illegal activities.

Judicial Watch has been a leader in investigating ACORN by requesting public records and taking legal action to uncover details of its fraudulent voter registration drives, involvement in the housing market meltdown and its close ties to President Obama. In addition, young journalists Hannah Giles (daughter of talk show star Doug Giles) and James O’Keefe conducted an undercover operation that videotaped ACORN workers involved in unethical, even illegal, behavior.

This week a JW probe uncovered that Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded a $79,819 grant to an ACORN reincarnation called Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA). Incredibly, the government’s federal expenditure website openly describes the recipient as ACORN Housing Corporation Inc. and lists the group’s New Orleans address at 1024 Elysian Fields.

The HUD announced award is more discreet, however. It lists the recipient of the $79,819 grant as Florida-based Affordable Housing Centers of America, even though it’s the same ACORN offshoot. In all, HUD awarded 108 “fair housing organizations” more than $40 million to educate the public and combat discrimination. The allocation represents a $13.2 million increase over last year’s allotment to end housing discrimination against minorities.

In addition to disregarding the ACORN funding ban, the grant is astounding because federal investigators have previously exposed fraud by the same ACORN/AHCOA affiliate. Last fall an audit by HUD’s inspector general found that it “inappropriately” spent more than $3.2 million in grants that were supposed to be used to eliminate lead poisoning in its housing program.

A separate investigation, also conducted by HUD’s Inspector General, determined that ACORN embezzled millions of dollars for “housing counseling” and destroyed documents to hide the fraud.

In that report, the IG reveals that the scope of ACORN’s money laundering is impossible to fully track, though it determined with certainty that HUD laws and policies were widely violated when ACORN spent big chunks of public funds to pay the lucrative salaries and “fringe benefits” of its employees.

Federal investigators have documented fraudulent activity on the part of ACORN Housing/ACHOA. For example, according to a September 21, 2010, HUD inspector general report, which notes that ACORN Housing is “now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America,” the organization misappropriated funds from a $3,252,399 federal grant.

Oh no! Now how will Mickey Mouse get registered to vote next year?

The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from ACORN, the activist group driven to ruin by scandal and financial woes, over being banned from getting federal funds.

The high court on Monday refused to review a federal court’s decision to uphold Congress’s ban on federal funds for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Congress cut off ACORN’s federal funding last year in response to allegations the group engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement and violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.

So if have some underage girls from El Salvador and need help setting up a prostitution ring and advice on avoiding the IRS, you’re screwed. Thanks a lot, SCOTUS!

A supervisor for the now defunct political advocacy group the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors in a case alleging that canvassers were illegally paid to register Nevada voters during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Amy Busefink, 28, pleaded no-contest in state court to two misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters. Her nolo contendere plea acknowledged the state had sufficient evidence for a conviction if the case went to trial.

Busefink is expected to get a slap on the wrist, according to critics of ACORN, with only one year of probation, a $1,000 fine and 100 hours of community service probable.

Last month, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri applauded reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had opened a criminal investigation into whether the left-wing advocacy group ACORN has violated federal election law by fostering and promoting a national program of voter registration fraud.

The Associated Press reported at the time that “the FBI is actively pursuing leads in the investigation of ACORN. Word of the investigation comes less than a week after Blunt joined Reps. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.), and Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in sending a letter to the Department of Justice urging it to act.”

Blunt, a former secretary of state in Missouri, joined other House leaders in urging the Bureau to “take all active and appropriate measures” to ensure the civil rights of legitimate voting Americans aren’t diluted by systemic voter fraud.

“I am proud to join three former secretaries of state now serving in Congress, as well as our ranking members on the Judiciary and Administration committees, in calling on the Justice Department to stand up in defense of the sanctity of Americans’ right to vote — and, as important, their right to be assured that vote counts,” said the Missouri congressman.

“News that the [Justice] Department has heeded that call and begun the process of unraveling ACORN’s widespread program of alleged voter registration fraud is a heartening development — and one all Americans ought to take notice of as they prepare to exercise their most basic civic duty next month,” said the GOP veteran.

“I want to applaud the Department of Justice for taking this important step, and associate myself with the efforts of Leader Boehner to ensure not one more dime of taxpayer money is diverted into the coffers of this organization until Justice completes its review and determines whether ACORN’s actions merit criminal prosecution,” said Rep. Blunt.

Obama’s spokespersons claim he had a limited relationship with ACORN. However, the record shows that “[Obama] says he is drawn to politics, despite its superficialities, as a means to advance his real passion and calling: community organization. …

When Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco hijacked the gavel assigned to the Speaker of the U.S. House in 2007, she made elaborate plans to save the Democrat party, the American people, America, and the entire world.

Hers was, they said, living proof of the value of affirmative action in bringing qualified minorities and women into the halls of power in the U.S. Congress. Great things were seen for Pelosi and her historic ascension to immutable power.

With all of the charm and affection one would expect from a rattlesnake in heat, Madam Pelosi confidently promised a “New Day in America.” She promised complete eradication of the culture of corruption that Republicans had institutionalized in the House.

Her signature line, “Perhaps it will take a woman to clean the House,” seemed to be the new reality as the leftist from California took the reins of power.

The new Speaker immediately sought to flex her muscles in foreign policy as she ignored the wishes of Republican President George W. Bush and acted as a mediator of sorts between Israel and Syria.

Granny Diplomacy, Ala Nancy Pelosi, turned out to be a flop as Pelosi flubbed the simple transmission of a simple message between the parties, an inexcusable mistake that damn near set off a new middle-east war.

Pelosi’s promise of a “New Day in America” has indeed been fulfilled, although not in the manner that she anticipated.

As reported, in part, at the Washington Examiner (See reference), four years into the Pelosi Speaker gig, she is regarded with the same degree of affection as the BP oil spill.

That report, in part:

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s negative ratings have hit an all-time high in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. A full 50 percent of those surveyed have a somewhat or very negative impression of Pelosi, while just 22 percent have a somewhat or very positive impression of her.”

A new day in America, indeed!

The American electorate has finally caught on to the outrageous anti-American nature of Nancy Pelosi and her collaborative Marxists in the White House and Congress!

THAT IS TRULY A NEW DAY WORTH CELEBRATING WITH A ROARING REVOLUTION ON NOVEMBER 2!

Photoshop credit: Leo Alberti

My reporting on ACORN’s housing counseling grant rip-offs go back to April 2008, when I spotlighted the left-wing mortgage counseling racket. As bad as the ACORN/Obama alliance is, I’ve pointed out several times that this mess festered under the Bush administration and a GOP ruling majority. Now, GOP Rep. Daryl Issa announces today that the HUD Inspector General has concluded a probe of the ACORN/HUD counseling expenditures.

It’s every bit as bad as you expected, from missing documentation to suspicious money-shuffling and overbilling to multiple violations of regulations and grant requirements.

Here is the full report at HUD IG site.

Issa’s summary:

HUD Inspector General Exposes ACORN’s Failure to Comply with Federal Grant Requirements

Recommends ACORN Spin-Off Be Placed on ‘Inactive’ Status

WASHINGTON D.C. – In response to a September 16, 2009 request by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), Inspections and Evaluations Division of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released a report “detailing the results of its investigation of grant funds awarded under HUD’s Housing Counseling Program to ACORN Housing Corporation, Inc. (AHC) of Chicago, now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA).”

“For continued approval as a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and for future awards consideration, AHC (now operating as AHCOA) must bring its operations into full compliance with applicable laws, regulators, and policies governing HUD’s Housing Counseling Program,” the OIG’s report recommends. “The inability to fully support salary expenses allocated to the HUD grant raises serious concerns about the integrity of those charges, particularly given the millions of Federal and non-Federal dollars made available to AHC in FY 2008 and 2009. Further, services procured from ACORN “associated” organizations failed to meet the required tests of ‘open and free competition’. We recommend that HUD’s Office of Single Family Housing, Program Support Division consider placing AHCOA in ‘inactive’ status while its initiatives corrective actions to address the exceptions and recommendations in this report.”

“Any organization that applies for and accepts taxpayer dollars has a responsibility to act consistently with federal law,” said Issa. “It doesn’t matter if its ten dollars or ten thousand dollars, there is no acceptable amount of abuse or mismanagement that the federal government should tolerate when it comes to the taxpayer’s dollars.”

The OIG’s findings included:

* HUD has awarded ACORN more than $19 million in housing counseling grants since 1995.
* ACORN received $3,252,399 in housing counseling grants between 2008 and 2009. More than $2.544 million (nearly 80%) of the HUD grants were used to pay ACORN’s salaries.
* ACORN may have concealed fraud by destroying or failing to produce records.

o “A determination could not be made as to what activities the employees performed or which grant to charge for those activities.