ACORN funding cut-off was unconstitutional, federal judge rules

U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon issued the preliminary injunction against the government, saying it’s in the public’s interest for the organization to continue receiving federal funding.

ACORN claimed in its lawsuit that Congress’ decision to cut off its funding was unconstitutional because it punitively targeted an individual organization.

Gershon said in her ruling that ACORN had raised a “fundamental issue of separation of powers. They have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative, process adjudicating guilt.”

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Nine days after there was an announcement that their group was going to be investigated? Yup, that’s right: ACORN. San Diego office - just before California AG Jerry Brown came to visit. Alas, if only somebody had had the foresight to wait for this sort of thing to happen, and retrieve the documents…

Oh. Right.

They didn’t shred, they didn’t redact, and they threw out people’s sensitive and personal information - including things like copies of Social Security cards, W-4 forms, and driver’s licenses. I’m not a lawyer, but apparently that’s grounds for legal action right there; document disposal requirements are very, very strict. Which is why the local ACORN branch is trying the novel ‘Oops, fall cleaning‘ excuse.

Which almost might be believable, except of course for the underage El Salvadoran illegal immigrant brothel thing.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

And threats don’t get more direct than this: either AG Holder starts investigating ACORN, or Breitbart dumps what he still has on the scene in time to make a difference in the 2010 elections.

And this message is to Attorney General Holder: I want you to know that we have more tapes, it’s not just ACORN, and we’re going to hold out until the next election cycle, or else if you want to do a clean investigation, we will give you the rest of what we have, we will comply with you, we will give you the documentation we have from countless ACORN whistleblowers who want to come forward but are fearful of this organization and the retribution that they fear that this is a dangerous organization.  So if you get into an investigation, we will give you the tapes; if you don’t give us the tapes, we will revisit these tapes come election time.

Italics in original. If this is a bluff… well.  Every time somebody thought that Andrew Breitbart has been bluffing on the ACORN scandal, he’s turned out not to be.  The latest one has Patterico almost gibbering in glee as he rakes the LA Times and James Rainey over the coals for their uncritical willingness to believe Lavelle Stewart; it doesn’t seem particularly safe to hope that this time is the time that Breitbart’s got nothing left.

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This week, the Senate votes on President Obama’s nomination of District Court Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit.  Because of Hamilton’s fundraising activities for ACORN, his leadership positions with the Indiana branch of the ACLU, his statements supporting judicial activism, and most importantly, his rulings putting liberal ideology above the rule of law, he is the first and only Obama circuit nominee to draw heated opposition.

There are many examples of Judge Hamilton’s tendency towards liberal judicial activism.  However, the most bizarre and controversial instance is Hamilton’s 2005 ruling prohibiting prayers that mention Jesus Christ in the Indiana House of Representatives, but allowing prayers that mention Allah.  While troubling in any context, the religious double standard in Hamilton’s ruling is particularly deserving of close scrutiny in light of Major Nidal Hasan’s recent shooting rampage at Fort Hood. 

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State investigators taking dozens of computers from ACORN office on Canal Street

Early last month, Caldwell’s office issued subpoenas for records from ACORN’s New Orleans office, where the organization — now moving its national headquarters to Washington — has long been based. …

In a statement, ACORN’s attorney Pamela Marple said the group was told the raid was ordered because of reports that workers loyal to Beth Butler, the recently fired head of ACORN’s Louisiana branch, had been taking computer data and other items out of the office.

“Over the last two months, ACORN has been cooperating with a variety of governmental entities across the country to provide requested information and documents,” Marple wrote. “We were told that the AG’s office has no criticisms of ACORN’s cooperative efforts, but rather that the warrant was issued because of concern that former local ACORN staff members had, and may intend in the future to remove or alter electronic documents.”

An ACORN official also said Caldwell’s investigators will copy the hard drives from ACORN’s computers and return them next week. The computers contain all payroll information for the national organization, the official said.

H/T dennism

Francis is far too busy helping candidate Angelo Maragos get elected today to post this stuff, so we’ll be updating these as we go along.  First one above the fold: if we’re blessed with a fair, clean election presence from the WFP/ACORN/Democrats, this will be the only one.  if not, updates will be under them.

Yes, expect to check back often.

6:26 AM: One of my [again, this is Francis writing - ML] campaign workers just went to vote. Sure enough: “Republican? Sorry sir, the voting machine is broken. You’ll have to fill out an affidavit ballot.” EXCEPT that affidavits are for people who assert their eligibility rather than having it proved by the presence of a signature in the registration book. He has to fill out an EMERGENCY ballot, not an affidavit. We dashed a person over there, chewed them out viciously, and they fixed the machine. We also howled at the opposition’s campaign manager who was brazenly doing some illegal electioneering. And we reamed out the cop whose job it is to prevent electioneering for being late to arrive.

It’s going to be a very long day.

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I think of the RedState community as my extended family, and I’m grateful to all of you for reading my past missives on markets and finance. I’ve been all but absent from the front page for months now, and I owe you an explanation.

First, my businesses have been performing very well this year, and being a CEO is time-consuming. Second, and more interesting to most of you, is that I’ve bitten the poisoned apple of electoral politics.

My wife, Paula Hostetter, was engaged as the campaign manager to Angelo Maragos, a young businessman who embarked on the seemingly quixotic task of running as a Republican for New York City Council. I got sucked in because a political campaign needs management-type people who can build a strong team quickly, and there I was.

I’m tremendously proud of Paula, who has run a tough, disciplined campaign against the longest possible odds (more on that in a moment). We definitely broke through the clutter to reach our voters. We ran a multi-dimensional campaign that was long on organization and strategy. I can tell you that the last few years of hanging around the assorted political junkies and professionals that comprise RedState’s contributor roster, gave us insights that paid off big-time.

I’d like to say that tomorrow the voters of western Queens will decide whether we made the sale. That’s where the picture gets complicated.

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[FURTHER UPDATE] Welcome, AoSHQ readers.  Note the petition below.

[UPDATE]: Thanks to Randy Mastro and our own Francis Cianfrocca - who will have a lot more to say about these races - here’s the petition cataloging said skulduggery; and you will not find it dull reading. (If you’re having trouble reading it, try here.)

It’s not that our opponents are geniuses at skulduggery.  It’s that they’re unaccustomed to being challenged on it.  When they do, they make mistakes:

A City Council hopeful won’t cough up documents related to whether the Working Families Party is scamming the campaign finance system — because the case could involve “criminal liability,” according to documents released yesterday.

The bombshell development was revealed at a court hearing where lawyers for the WFP and the campaign of Staten Island candidate Debi Rose tried to get a suit against them tossed.

Former Giuliani administration Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, the lawyer opposing the Rose campaign, called it an “extraordinary development.”

The suit itself - I’m working to get a copy of it sent to me - alleges that WFP (which is, of course, a front for ACORN) is violating campaign finance laws by having WFP front group Data and Field Services provide “canvassing and other services for [City Council candidate Debi] Rose in her primary campaign against [current Conservative candidate* Ken] Mitchell for which the firm received far less than the market value.”  In that context, trying to avoid financial disclosure on the grounds of possible self-incrimination is at the very least eyebrow-raising; which is why they tried to walk back on it before 24 hours had passed. It should also be noted that the Rose race in Staten Island is not the only one where this sort of thing went on; Queens City Council candidate James Van Bramer is likewise heavily involved with WFP/Data & Field Services, as this diary from the Daily Kos (of all places) makes clear.  I’m sure that his campaign is watching this case unfold with great interest.

The moral here?  Well, aside from the obvious one of “ACORN taints everything that it touches,” it’s this: one-party rule makes people stupid.  And stupid people make mistakes.  Keep that in mind the next time you’re trying to decide whether or not to fight City Hall.

Moe Lane

*Who is actually a Democrat.  Welcome to New York fusion politics.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

As most of us watch the special election in New York, we still have a Senate primary in California to deal with. It’s the same old story, though. There are two kinds of Republicans.

One kind celebrates big government and progressive control over America. Carly Fiorina, like Dede Scozzafava, is one of those:

While some of us are fighting hard against the Obama push to nationalize the Internet, Fiorina goes behind our backs and joins them, just as Scozzafava will work with ACORN and Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, Chuck DeVore knows the score and endorses Doug Hoffman.

There are two kinds of Republicans. Some are on our side. Some are more interested in the left. I know which I prefer to represent our party.

The email address alone is worth the laugh this email will bring you.

From: alan@acorn.org
Subject: AlterNet: 8 Reasons Fox Is Not a News Organization
Date: October 25, 2009 7:42:16 PM EDT
To: Erick-Woods Erickson

This story has been forwarded to you from
http://www.alternet.org by alan@acorn.org

Fox “News” = Republican/rightwing Views

————————————-
8 Reasons Fox Is Not a News Organization
http://www.alternet.org/media/143456

PR for the GOP? Yes. Platform for right-wing hatemongers? Definitely. But a news organization? Definitely not.
————————————-

(Via Atlas Shrugs) For the next time somebody tells you that Democrat/ACORN/WFP election registration fraud does not equal election fraud, feel free to point this story coming from Troy, New York, where the one led seamlessly to the other.  Feel free to also point out that it doesn’t take all that much to flip some races:

Thirty-eight forged or fraudulent ballots have been thrown out — enough votes, an election official admits, to likely have tipped the city council and county elections in November to the Democrats. Candidates would have been able to run both on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines in two weeks, and that could have given the Democrats the general election.

A special prosecutor is investigating the case and criminal charges are possible. New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Lynch ruled that there were “significant election law violations that have compromised the rights of numerous voters and the integrity of the election process.”

[Bolding mine.]

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As Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan seeks a promotion to the US Senate, she has to expect a few questions about her past dealings with ACORN. After all, the Secretary of State ‘administers all statewide elections for both candidates and issues,’ as well as promulgates rules and guidelines, handles ballots and pollworkers, and generally oversees everything having to do with elections in the state.

When a group like ACORN racks up more than a dozen convictions in the state, and submits tens of thousands of questionable or false voter registration forms, you have to expect that the Secretary of State is going to have the chance to explain what she did to fight corruption.

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Over the weekend, an unpaid ACORN volunteer in New Orleans expressed her desire to see a little more evidence of the Hope’n'Change she voted for when President Obama visits the city, however briefly, on Thursday.

Since it’s hard to fire an unpaid volunteer, the Big Wigs from HQ showed up on Tuesday and sacked Beth Butler, longtime executive director of Louisiana ACORN.

But there might be more to the story. Pass the popcorn.

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The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that LA Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, a Democrat, is on ACORN, as we say, like gravy on rice.

ACORN embezzlement was $5 million, La. attorney general says

The organization, until recently headquartered in New Orleans, had tried to keep the details of an embezzlement quiet. The embezzler, Dale Rathke, was the one-time bookkeeper for the organization. His brother, Wade Rathke, was President of ACORN International at the time, and saw to it that the unpleasantness was handled when he and “a donor” repaid $1 million of Dale’s improper credit card charges.

Now, however, AG Caldwell is following up on an ACORN internal report that the embezzlement was closer to $5 million.

Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has been conducting an investigation of ACORN since June. He issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to former ACORN International President Wade Rathke and his brother Dale Rathke, who kept the group’s books. Those subpoenas were focused on possible ACORN violations for non-payment of employee withholding taxes, obstructing justice and violating the Employee Retirement Security Act. No charges have been made. …

“Current high-ranking members of ACORN have publicly acknowledged that embezzlement did in fact occur, but the exact amount of the embezzlement was unknown until it was recently acknowledged in a board of directors meeting on Oct. 17, 2008, by Bertha Lewis and Liz Wolf that an internal review had determined that the amount embezzled was $5 million, ” the new subpoena says.

The subpoena says, “It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds.”

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I am told by liberal friends and colleagues that conservatives like me vastly overrate the significance of organizations such as ACORN. I wonder what those friends would say if a conservative entity was found to have prepared documents like this one:

A “Power Plan” document begins: “Oklahoma ACORN has been virtually non-existent since its glory days in Tulsa, over 20 years ago. 2007 is Year Zero.”

It continues with a five-year plan to obtain “power”:

“Therefore, the route to power is twofold: First, build powerful city organizations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa that can control these municipalities. Second, become an influential organization by shaping a handful of strategic legislative districts that, by themselves, can change who controls the state legislature.”

“(W)e will be seen as the force that is making Oklahoma a progressive state in the way that it was 100 years ago.”

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In a disappointing sign that the House Republican Leadership has not earned and does not deserve to retake the majority in the House of Representatives, a bunch of people are confirming for me today that the House GOP has decided to sign on with ACORN and endorse Dede Scozzafava in NY-23.

As I reported the other day, Scozzafava has repeatedly been backed by ACORN in state legislative elections in New York. Scozzafava maintains a voting record the Working Families Party, ACORN’s political arm, supports.

Likewise, Scozzafava has serious issues on the personal front. To top it all off, Scozzafava would have voted for TARP, the bailouts, the stimulus, etc.

Doug Hoffman, the conservative candidate, would caucus with the Republicans. He is endorsed by Fred Thompson, the Club For Growth, and conservatives across the nation. Scozzafava was encouraged by the Democrats to run as a Democrat.

That the GOP would support a candidate who is more aligned with the Democrats on core issues than the GOP signals the GOP is in this to win at any cost, damn the principles. It is exactly that attitude that caused voters to send the GOP packing.

Republican Presidential contenders like Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin should charge up to New York and support Doug Hoffman — he may not have an “R” next to his name, but he is a better representative of the party of Lincoln and Reagan than Dede Scozzafava could ever hope to be.

And Hoffman can win.

I don’t know why the MSNBC folks keep having Brian on. Every time he gets on there he makes them look foolish.

Yet again, he delivers a knock out performance. And special thanks to him for doing it. I’ve got my family visiting and had to bail and pass off to him. I’m glad I did. I would not have been as good.

Since you probably haven’t seen it, since it was on MSNBC, here it is now in a place where more people are likely to see it:

Matthew Vadum had precisely the same reaction that I did when I read the Ben Smith Politico article that published ACORN founder Wade Rathke’s denial that White House Director Political Director Patrick Gaspard was affiliated with his group: Umm.  No.  It’s not Ben’s fault - this is all deliberately designed to be confusing - but there are a clear set of links.  It goes like this:

First, ACORN has long been known to have The Working Families Party as one of its front organizations.  As Discover the Networks notes:

Currently composed of some 30,000 members, the Working Families Party (WFP) is a front group for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). WFP functions as a political party in New York State and Connecticut, promoting ACORN-friendly candidates. Unlike conventional political parties, WFP charges its members dues — about $60 per year — a policy characteristic of ACORN and its affiliates.

According to the party’s website, WFP is a coalition founded jointly by ACORN, the Communications Workers of America, and the United Automobile Workers. However, ACORN clearly dominates the coalition. New York ACORN leader Steven Kest was the moving force in forming the party, and WFP headquarters are located at the same address as ACORN’s national office, at 88 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.

Second, as Matthew Vedum reported, the link between Gaspard and the WFP is clear: he himself identified with the political party.

Third, as I mentioned earlier today, Gaspard is continuing to assist the WFP in local elections.

The Working Families Party and its secretive private company are apparently not alone in helping out Bill de Blasio’s campaign behind the scenes.

De Blasio, who is a candidate in the four-way Democratic primary for public advocate, has also has been getting a helping hand from Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director, and from the deputy director of the New York State Democratic Committee.

So. ACORN = WFP = Patrick Gaspard. Wade Rathke’s sudden performance to the contrary.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Last week we showed how Barack Obama is connected to ACORN by his White House Political Director, Patrick Gaspard.

The Missouri blog 24thstate.com has built on those ties and has a look at Sara Howard, Russ Carnahan’s spokesgal. Howard and Gaspard both worked for Americans Coming Together (”ACT”) in 2004. In that year, ACT sent out a sensational, hate filled political flier showing white men spraying black people with fire hoses in the sixties. The ACT flier claimed Republicans were trying to intimidate blacks into not voting.

Turns out the printer of the flier, along with Gaspard and Howard, is in the rolodex.

But the Editor of 24thstate.com brought to my attention another name on the list I had missed — another White House worker and one in a critical position to tie ACORN and the SEIU into the White House and entire Executive Branch.

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The defenders of Association of Community Organizations (ACORN) are desperate and they have called upon their friends in Congress to deploy a last ditch effort to preserve the millions of your tax dollars given to ACORN every year.  Big Government web site broke the ACORN scandal showing video of two journalists posing as a prostitute and pimp requesting help to hide assets from the IRS in Baltimore, New York City and Washington, DC.  The Congress responded by passing legislation to stop federal monies from going to ACORN and, in response, liberal Members of Congress have called upon the research arm of Congress to declare that this attempt to defund ACORN as being unconstitutional.

Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) and Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) have both passed separate Amendments in the House and the Senate to defund the ACORN with overwhelming bipartisan support in the wake of the scandal.  The left responded by requesting a report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), claiming that legislation defunding ACORN may be unconstitutional as a Bill of Attainder.  The goal of the left is to use this constitutional argument to stall legislation before it reaches President Obama’s desk.  Hans Von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation has written a response to the CRS report titled “Defunding ACORN: Necessary and Proper, and Certainly Constitutional” where he argues that defunding ACORN “certainly is not a bill of attainder.”

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