ACORN Totally Vindicated of All Wrongdoing -- What Was That 'Scandal' All About?

[marmar]

AlterNet / By John Atlas

ACORN Totally Vindicated of All Wrongdoing -- What Was That 'Scandal' All About?
A preliminary probe by the U.S. GAO has found no evidence of mishandling the $40 million in federal money ACORN and affiliates received in recent years.

June 17, 2010 |


On Monday, June 14, a preliminary probe by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)of ACORN has found no evidence the association or related organizations mishandled the $40 million in federal money they received in recent years.

A review of grants by nine federal agencies found no problems with ACORN's grants. In my book Seeds of Change I document how ACORN, the largest most successful national anti poverty organization in America, was forced to close its door.

The GAO interviewed and obtained documentation from grant program managers and staff from nine agencies; NeighborWorks, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Department of Homeland Security and (DHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Most of the grants were for housing-related purposes during fiscal years 2005 through 2009.

The GAO, an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, is often called the "congressional watchdog." It investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

Nearly two dozen members of Congress requested an investigation after a series of complaints against ACORN and its affiliates. The complaints included an embezzlement matter, several cases of voter registration fraud, and the release of edited and misleading videotapes, secretly made by conservative activists that appeared to implicate ACORN workers in several offices facilitating prostitution. In fact the staff in most of ACORN's offices turned the pair away, reported the couple to the police, refused to provide them any aid, and in one case tried to convince the phony prostitute to get counseling. In no ACORN office did employees file any paperwork or do anything illegal on the duo's behalf. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/news/147248/acorn_totally_vindicated_of_all_wrongdoing_--_what_was_that_%27scandal%27_all_about/

[Demeter]

1. Defeating Free and Fair Elections, Also Ending Free Speech

the usual facsism.

[OnyxCollie]

16. Removing the pluralistic characteristic of democracy.

It's what totalitarians do.

[90-percent]

2. Injustice

This is one of the greatest injustices of our times. And this outcome is completely under the national radar. If Fox was truly fair and balanced they would be all over this. Presuming they practice fair and balanced journalism?

We are no longer capable of outrage as a nation over anything.

"They" can go off and do anything they want to us, and we all just let them.

At least there's no conservative in American public life that has the charisma and leadership of an Adolf Hitler to really take advantage of us.

Small consolation.

-90% Jimmy

[vi5]

3. The scandal was about democrats being spineless...

..and internalizing every republican Fox News criticism.

Yeah, the media is to blame for giving this bullshit coverage in the first place, but the democrats who voted to cut their funding are the biggest bunch of pathetic weasels.

[marmar]

4. "democrats who voted to cut their funding are the biggest bunch of pathetic weasels"

Agreed. It was a disgusting display of spinelessness.

[xchrom]

7. And that is perhaps the geatest triumph of Reagan. Nt

[burnsei sensei]

5. ACORN was an organization

whose advocacy for the poor and often voiceless was consistent.
This scandal was about silencing those who would broaden political discourse and those who believe that the workers and the poor are the majority in America.
Their concerns should drive policy, not those of a bunch of elitist pretenders.

[nxylas]

6. Yes, I did it

I looked on Free Republic to see whether there was any mention of this story (I'll save you the trouble: there wasn't).

[doc03]

8. The power of Faux Noise n/t

[disillusioned73]

9. Precisely..

it was ALL a faux news hit job and the major player is out and about working on his next "expose" - proudly proclaimind mind you.. I wonder if I broke into a Senetors office and attemted to bug it, if I'd be afforded the same leaneancy as a neo con is??

Doubt it..

[pscot]

10. kick

n/t

[glitch]

11. What's going to be done about it? Seems they've got a good case for damages. nt

[certainot]

12. call and tell it to your local limbaugh/hannity stations

without their months of uncontested attacks on acorn this wouldn't have gone anywhere and fox's efforts would have been laughed off.

instead, acorn and progressives had no idea the coordinated swiftboating acorn was getting on those 1000 radio stations, and they got away with it.

[certainot]

13. and complain to their local sponsors

for sponsoring the lies blasting from those radio stations.

acorn supporters should have been picketing those stations.

[last_texas_dem]

14. The veracity of the claims they were making never mattered

to Mr. O'Keefe and Miss Giles.

They and the other flying monkeys on the right couldn't deal with the presence of an organization that helped a bunch of poor people (gasp!) and black people (double gasp!), so they had to do what they had to do to bring them down, even if it meant deception.

And, of course, the "lib'rul media" unquestionably reported their garbage, and the spineless Dems in Congress bent over backwards to do the right's bidding. Amazing how little things change...

[sabrina 1]

15. I am sure we will be seeing wall-to-wall

media coverage of this information with an apology from them for the harm they did by NOT investigating this as they should have, with an in-depth look at the scum who are behind these smears, or at least as much coverage as was given to the criminal O'Keefe and his prostitute friend as well as the insane Breitbart. I know I saw them on CNN, Fox and everywhere else when they attacking ACORN with their phony videos.

I am sure we will also see the media question all members of Congress who unconstitutionally voted to defund ACORN.

It was an outrage that ordinary bloggers were able to do what our multi-million dollar media could not do. ACORN should sue every last one of them.

[midnight]

17. If two dozen member of congress can be hoodwinked by some pranksters/criminals,

who like to impersonate others, and fabricate different forms of chaos, we are in big trouble.