Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

2011-11-02T04:29:40Z

DanKegel:

==Stale links==
What's the policy with stale links - should one replace them with archive.org links,
or with roughly equivalent still-working links? I went with the latter for my first update. --[[User:DanKegel|DanKegel]] 9:29, 1 November 2011 (PST)

==Giles and O'Keefe==
Why isn't their dishonest video editing mentioned anywhere in the article? You can't ignore their dishonesty just because they're conservative.--[[User:MacN|MacN]] 18:15, 10 February 2011 (EST)
:That is a leftist talking point by Media Matters. So congress defunded ACORN on a lie? Go peddle your liberalism elsewhere.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 18:36, 10 February 2011 (EST)
Yes, yes, anything that shows the right in a negative light is clearly just liberal lies. At least we openly admit when there's problems with some of the people on the same side of the political spectrum as us, for example Stalin. But none of you can ever do any harm, and you're all perfect. It wasn't uncovered to be a fake until long after the fact, and by then far too many people had stopped donating. The federal government, by the way, only provided 10% of their funding.--[[User:MacN|MacN]] 19:37, 10 February 2011 (EST)

::Nice sarcasm. You want to believe their innocent, they're not. Dishonest video editing? I mean that is such a lame excuse. I bet you believe Planned Parenthood and Shirley Sherrod are innocent because of dishonest conservative video editing. Do yourself a favor and quit being brainwashed by the DailyKos, Media Matters and Think Progress. --[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 21:17, 10 February 2011 (EST)

I noticed you didn't actually give any reason why they shouldn't be in the article. Or address anything I said. You'd be surprised how easily you can make someone out to be the bad guy when you have sufficient video of them. But then you'd probably know all about that, what with how much Fox you probably watch. And FYI, I don't read/watch any of those.--[[User:MacN|MacN]] 22:45, 10 February 2011 (EST)

:So where did you pick up your liberal talking points? ACORN is innocent, Fox is bad. I am not surprised by people caught using their own words on tape and then others dismissing. Crazy people saw the WTC towers struck live on TV but still claim it was an implosion that caused tower 7 to collapse. If you are not grounded in the truth, than you fall for anything. Your defense of ACORN shows your support for underage prostitution and you're ok with dozens of fraud convictions. Besides Bowbama is a big ACORN supporter so you feel justified in defending the group. Have you ever tried Wikipedia? They'll accept you liberalism with open arms. --[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 23:46, 10 February 2011 (EST)

Some strange reason, references does not show up. --'''Jpatt'''[[User:Jpatt| ]] 22:17, 8 October 2008 (EDT)
:Fixed :) [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 22:22, 8 October 2008 (EDT)

I'm not sure why we're getting so up in arms about this. It has little to no bearing on the actual election...they tried to register Mickey Mouse for crying out loud! Did ACORN actually think they might get away with it? Perhaps more disconcerting: Did we? I'll admit it isn't exactly upholding the moral code of this wonderful nation, but I don't think it was a serious ploy to create an army of voters that didn't exist for Sen. Obama. [[User:Acwellman|Acwellman]] 23:19, 15 October 2008 (EDT)

Hey, I removed a few sentences (regardless of whether or not anecdotal evidence supports them) from the above because they are not properly cited. They seemed to reflect opinion, not fact. [[User:Acwellman|Acwellman]] 23:22, 15 October 2008 (EDT)

== OK People ==

Here's the thing, DRamon. First of all, the way the sentence reads, it certainly implies that Obama won the election because of ACORN. If that's not what you are alleging, then change the sentence. If that is what you wanted to imply, then find a reference that claims 7.8 million votes were fake.

Secondly, you are claiming that you don't need a citation because the evidence is given in the rest of the article, but it's not. You are claiming that there were fradulant ''votes'' for Obama, and the article supplies evidence that there were fraudulant ''registrations''. You claim that if there were fake registrations there ''must'' have been fake votes, but that's not necessarily true. There is a huge jump between people putting down "Mickey Mouse" on a form so that their boss pays them 50 cents extra, and actually faking a "Mickey Mouse" ID and having someone vote. I don't know how it is where you live, but in Ohio, it's pretty hard to fake a vote without a much larger conspiracy. If there is a conspiracy, there should be some evidence of it. This evidence goes into the fact tag which I am about to put back in. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 11:52, 6 November 2008 (EST)

:the thing is, nobody would know if a fraudulent vote was made, since it would be counted. Any time there's news about fraudulent '''registration''' (not voter fraud), the report originally came from ACORN itself... otherwise nobody, not even the GOP, would know and complain about it. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdNgMKPV9xQ this]. Everything you heard about registration fraud has been reported, caught, and dealt with by ACORN already. These things are caught by voter registration elections offices and tossed out. Even then, these fake registered voters have to actually show up at a poll and present an ID and vote to actually pull off fraud. Then, if caught, its a felony with some huge consequence that nobody is willing to risk voting twice for...

:Also, by the same logic, we can say that the GOP folks who were arrested for fraudulent registration contributed to McCain's campaign, so you should add that to the statement too. xP [[User:Ema|Ema]] 12:04, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::HelpJazz, your statement is plumb wrong. DRamon's sentence implies nothing of the sort. For once, a 'fact' tag has been correctly applied to your words. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 12:06, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::''If that's not what you are alleging, then change the sentence.'' It's not what he's alleging. He has no reason to change the sentence - why don't '''you''' learn to read properly? [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 12:09, 6 November 2008 (EST)
::::Bugler, your comments are simply assertions which you can't prove and provide no imput to the discussion. How about instead of attacking me in some sad attempt to get me to leave the site and go back into my cesspit, you respond to the argument at hand. Whether or not he actually meant that ACORN ''won'' the election or ACORN supplied ''one vote'' in the election is inconsequential to the ''need'' for a citation, it just speaks to what the citation actually needs to say. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 12:15, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::::Someone needs a 2 day block to calm down and stop flinging imprecations... XD!!!
:::::if you're going to leave it there without citations, at least add that it aided McCain's campaign too... its not like they collected ONLY Obama votes... so obviously, ''logic'' dictates it helped McCain too! xD [[User:Ema|Ema]] 12:20, 6 November 2008 (EST)

My comments are not 'simply assertions' as HelpJazz inaccurately says; they are statements based on the simple truth of the matter. HelpJazz says that DRamon's sentence ''certainly implies that Obama won the election because of ACORN''. What DRamon actually says is this: ''Electoral fraud perpetrated by ACORN contributed to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential elections.'' If HelpJazz cannot see the difference between the two statements, he needs to go and take a course in elementary logic. I have already made these points, which makes HelpJazz's imprecations all the more mystifying. I can only assume that, as a fully-paid up member of the Bugler Bashing Club, the old red mist descends whenever he sees my name. He really ought to desist, for the sake of his blood pressure if nothing else. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 12:28, 6 November 2008 (EST)

:''HelpJazz, your statement is plumb wrong.'' That's an assertion backed up by ''DRamon's sentence implies nothing of the sort'', another assertion. ''It's not what he's alleging''. Another assertion. ''He has no reason to change the sentence''. Assertion. ''why don't '''you''' learn to read properly?'' Pretty much an assertion, and an ad hom to boot.

:Next, I have already stated that whichever meaning DRamon meant, it needs a citation. If he meant that ACORN contributed 1 or more votes fraudlently, as you read the sentence, then he needs a citation. If he meant that ACORN won the election for him, as I read the sentence, then he needs a citation. Do you see? It doesn't matter if I can't read, because it needs a citation.

:Thirdly let's address your claims that I'm ony doing this because you are invovled: clearly, you have a bit of a persecution complex. This started before you were involved, and I made my initial comments before you were involved, so clearly this isn't about you. Get over yourself. Stick to the relevant argument at hand. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 12:41, 6 November 2008 (EST)

:Oh, my! While of course for you to say that ''[Bugler is] attacking me in some sad attempt to get me to leave the site and go back into my cesspit'' is merely an objective statement of fact. What a funny little chap you are at times. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 12:49, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::So what? That has what to do with ACORN? [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 13:08, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::''So what?'' Dear me. You launch ad hom attacks, accuse me of doing so, and when I address the insulting remarks you make, you accuse me of changing the subject. HelpJazz, I hope you get good royalties - clearly you are the author of the Liberal Book of Tricks. Let me ''So What?'' you, my friend: what has your insulting and lying claim that I am trying to force you out of Conservapedia got to do with ACORN? [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 15:29, 6 November 2008 (EST)
::::Here it is in plain language: Bugler it is very obvious to me that the only reason you are here is because I commented. Instead of discussing the issue at hand, you turned it onto ''me''. Is that enough for you? If you want to discuss it further, ''go somewhere else''. This page is for discussing ACORN, not for discussing how I am on a single-man campaign (or, God forbid, part of an intricate conspiracy) to "bash" you for no reason which has yet to be put forth. If you have anything else to say about ''ACORN'', please say it. If not, then don't continue this discussion on this page. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 16:20, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::::I came here to help sort out a situiation between you and DRamon, who I felt was being treated unfairly. The points you were - and are - making lacked logical rigour. You have taken offence at my pointing this out and launched a series of personal attacks on me, while at the same time attempting to pretend that I am the one motivated by personal animus. You are starting to sound overwrought - if I were you, I should take a break, have a nice cup of tea, and try to calm down and move on. We all feel the strain of work from time to time, and I'm not blaming you for your outbursts, but you really need to take care of your own wellbeing. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 16:28, 6 November 2008 (EST)
::::::It's cute, Bugler, that you think you are working me up. Your patronizing tone is duly noted.
::::::Back on topic (finally!): your entire argument boils down to the assertion that my argument lacks "logical rigour". Do you care to explain this for my Liberal brain? I have already told you that it doesn't matter what my interpretation of the statement is, because either way a citation is needed. Where's the logical flaw in that? [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 16:41, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::::::Because it isn't. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 16:45, 6 November 2008 (EST)
::::::::It isn't what? If you aren't here to collaborate, can you just go somewhere else? I'm trying to work with you here. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 16:51, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::::::::I'm trying to be patient here, HelpJazz. A citation isn't needed. You may think it is, but you clearly aren't thinking too rationally at the moment. A citation isn't needed because the example you gave is erroneous. You wrote ''If he meant that ACORN contributed 1 or more votes fraudlently, as you read the sentence, then he needs a citation''. This doesn't need a citation because it is completely, transparently obvious that fraudulent votes obtained by this organisation were going to go totally or by overwhelming majority to Obama. Therefore one doesn't need a citation that Mr X. of Acacia Avenue voted fraudulently for Obama; the case is proven beyond reasonable doubt by the likelihood of the way the votes went. Enough. Finis. Fin. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 17:07, 6 November 2008 (EST)
::::::::::But ACORN also took votes for McCain, not just Obama... soooooo fraud works for both sides?? At least include mcCain's campaign! (I still think a 2 day block would be nice for mini trumpet boy... the way he stalks and insults editors is really disturbing if you check his contributions T_T) [[User:Ema|Ema]] 17:46, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:::::::::::
Bugler: It may be completely, transparently obvious ''right now'' that ACORN's fraudulent votes would have counted for Obama, but what about the long-term viability of this project? People reading this page don't just include those who are currently paying attention to the American election. What about teenagers who are not yet politically aware? Or people five years from now who won't remember all the specifics? Assume for a moment that you're a new user reading about ACORN for the first time when you see this page. Does it tell you everything you need to know and not rely on unsourced common knowledge? --[[User:WPalmer|WPalmer]] 18:00, 6 November 2008 (EST)
:As I said before, there is a difference between fraudulant ''registrations'' and fraudulant ''votes''. You can't simply make up a name and go vote. When I went to vote, they took my state-issued ID and compared it against the name I used to register. If you are alleging that, without a doubt, ACORN supplied fake IDs to homeless people and then, again without a doubt, at least one of them voted for Obama, then you need a citation. But you can't say that for certain. It is your ''opinion'' that ACORN ''probably'' helped Obama win, based on the tenuous relationship between Obama and ACORN, but you can't actually say with certainty that that is what happened. If you want to change the statement to "Given ACORN's affinity for Obama, had any of the fraudulant registrations resulted in fraudulant votes, they likely helped Obama win." But I suspect you don't like that statement, since it lacks a certain polemical knack. Or maybe we should do as Ema suggests, and just state as fact that ACORN contributed to McCain's votes as well? [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 19:43, 6 November 2008 (EST)
::I cannot say with '''absolute''' certainty, but I can say with certainty '''beyond reasonable doubt''' that illegal voting would have taken place, and that the balance of votes, even if some had been for McCain, would have been in favour of Obama. Surely the concept of 'beyond reasonable doubt' has some resonance? [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 11:15, 7 November 2008 (EST)
:::But where is the evidence? You must have evidence that makes you ''believe'' that illegal voting happened. The only evidence we have is that agents of ACORN, in an effort to make more money, put down fake names on their registration forms. And they got caught. There is simply zero evidence that (a) any of these registrations were made with the intention to actually use the votes and (b) ACORN took any efforts to falisify government identification, a necessary requirement to cast a false ballot. You believe beyond a reasonable doubt, but where is the testimony and the evidence that led you to this verdict? I have yet to seen Exibit A, and your case is entirely circumstantial. Activist judges maybe? [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 12:22, 7 November 2008 (EST)
::::Human nature, HelpJazz, the evidence of knowing what people are like in this troubled, Godforsaking world. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 12:58, 7 November 2008 (EST)
:::::In other words, you are just guessing. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 13:54, 7 November 2008 (EST)
::::::And God forbid that you should ever be on a jury, given your simplistic notions of 'proof'. Now get into your tank and buzz off. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 16:42, 7 November 2008 (EST)
:::::::Bugler, maybe it's differnt in the UK. I'll admit upfront that I don't know how the legal system works across the pond. However I'm pretty familiar with how it works in the US. My "simplistic notions of 'proof'" are held by the courts here in the States: you have to actually have evidence in order to be sure of something without a reasonable doubt. Circumstantial evidence will not lead to a conviction without testimony of an eye witness. I think ''you'' are the one with a simplistic notion here -- if you think it, it must be true. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 00:51, 9 November 2008 (EST)

== Needs a major rewrite ==

It reads like a mix between a pro-liberal view of the organization, and an unreadable hodgepodge of quotes and factoids.

Let's get down to brass tacks. What are there aims? How much of their aims have they succeeded in? Has anything they've done actually helped the people they say they were aiming to help? What harm have they down in the name of helping the poor? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 13:26, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

:Some good primary source material is at judicialwatch.org. [http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/sep/obama-tries-ditching-acorn][http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/may/judicial-watch-obtains-obama-commerce-department-documents-detailing-acorn-partnership] [[User:RobSmith|Rob Smith]] 16:46, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

2011-11-02T04:26:23Z

DanKegel: Link to newsmax.com for 24 Oct 2008 is broken; I retrieved it with archive.org, found that it directly quoted the New York Times article of the same day, so I added a reference to that.

[[File:ACORN.jpg|right]]
The '''Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now''' ('''ACORN''') was a [[left-wing]] activist group that described itself as ''"a non-profit, non-partisan social justice organization"'' <ref>[http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12342 ACORN website]</ref> geared to helping the poor achieve jobs and control over their communities. Founded in Arkansas in 1970, ACORN advocated higher minimum wages, access to affordable housing and increased voter registration in low-income communities, though many charge that they often focused on voter registration in swing political states like Ohio. On March 22, 2010, it announced that "it would close all its remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1" and try to resolve its outstanding debts.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/us/23acorn.html</ref>

ACORN has been a top target for conservatives because of its liberal agenda. Stanley Kurtz calls it "the largest radical group in America,"<ref name=kurtz-inside> [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI= Inside Obama’s Acorn: By their fruits ye shall know them] - Stanley Kurtz</ref>
working "to take over the system from within, rather than futilely try to overthrow it from without."<ref name=kurtz-inside-2> [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=&w=MQ== Kurtz, page 2]</ref>

ACORN was founded in 1970 by Wade Rathke, a veteran of the [[Maoist]] oriented [[Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS).

From 1992 to 2004, [[Barack Obama]] ran leadership training sessions<ref>[http://www.socialpolicy.org/index.php?id=838 Case Study: Chicago-The Barack Obama Campaign], By Toni Foulkes, ''Social Policy'', Winter 2003, Vol. 34, No. 2 Spring 2004, Vol. 34, No. 3.</ref> and served as an attorney for the group in Chicago. The group has been accused of dispensing advice on how to set up a prostitution ring involving more than a dozen underage illegal immigrant girls,<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/10/acorn.prostitution/ ACORN workers caught on tape allegedly advising on prostitution], ''[[CNN]]'', September 11, 2009.</ref> among other illegal activities.

ACORN was also been mired in the controversy connected with the collapse of mortgage giants [[Fannie Mae]] and [[Freddie Mac]] in the fall of 2008.

==History==
[[File:ACORN banner.jpg|right|250px]]
ACORN was founded by organizers of [[Saul Alinsky]]'s Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) <ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15363 Obama, ACORN, and the churches] SperoNews, October 7, 2008</ref>.

George Wiley's community organization, National Welfare Rights Organization, forged an army of tens of thousands of single minority mothers. His aim: to flood the welfare system with so many clients that it would burst, creating a crisis that, he believed, would force a radical restructuring of [[America]]’s unjust capitalist economy. The flooding succeeded beyond Wiley’s wildest dreams. Wiley then sent one of his young lieutenants, Wade Rathke, to Little Rock, Arkansas, to launch a new community-organizing group: ACORN. At that time, ACORN stood for the Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now. Rathke expanded it into a national organization replacing Arkansas with Association. Their ''People's Platform'' reads, “We will continue our fight . . . until we have shared the wealth, until we have won our freedom . . . . We have nothing to show for the work of our hand, the tax of our labor.” <ref>[http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_acorns_nutty_regime.html ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities] City-journal.org, 2003</ref>

In 2008, a lawsuit filed in August by two board members accuses ACORN founder and former chief organizer Wade Rathke of either concealing or failing to properly report that his brother Dale embezzled around $948,000 from [[New Orleans]]-based ACORN and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000. <ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/acorn_missing_money/2008/10/17/141481.html Missing ACORN Funds Spark Lawsuit, Power Struggle] AP, October 17, 2008</ref>

ACORN currently considers itself the nation’s largest community organization. It is a partner of the [[liberal]] coalition [[America Votes]]. <ref>[http://www.americavotes.org/site/partner_summaries/ America Votes - Partners]</ref> American Votes is a coalition member of the [[Shadow Party]]. <ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.com Discover The Networks]</ref>

==Ties==
===Barack Obama===
Liberal lawyer Sandy Newman founded Project Vote, a 501(c)(3) organization, to register voters in welfare offices and unemployment lines with the explicit goal of turning back the Reagan revolution. Newman hired Obama in 1992 to lead Project Vote efforts in [[Illinois]]. The effort's motto: "It's a Power Thing." Under Obama's leadership, he trained ACORN members in Chicago. According to ACORN, Obama trained its [[Chicago]] members in leadership seminars; in turn, ACORN volunteers worked on his campaigns. Obama also sat on the boards of the Woods Fund (with [[William Ayers]]) and the Joyce Foundation, both of which poured money into ACORN’s coffers. In 1996, Project Vote's tax returns show it paid ACORN more than $4.6 million for campaign services and Citizens Services more than $779,000 for legal and administrative services. <ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/10/obama-camp-downplays-ACORN-payments/ Obama camp downplays ACORN payments] Washington Times, October 10, 2008</ref>

Federal Election Commission reports show ACORN-affiliated Citizens Services Inc. got $832,598 from the Obama campaign for get-out-the-vote work during the primaries. <ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/10/obama-camp-downplays-ACORN-payments/ Obama camp downplays ACORN payments] Washington Times, October 10, 2008</ref>

Tom DeLay writing for the Washington Times says "Organizations like [[America Votes]] and ACORN are so closely tied to Democrat politics that they might as well be arms of the party apparatus." <ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/05/the-democrats-shadow-party/ DELAY: The Democrats' Shadow Party] Washington Times, November 5, 2008</ref>

===2010 United States census===
In March 2009, it was disclosed that ACORN would play a role in the 2010 [[census]]. This raised several concerns regarding ACORN's past history of voter fraud and, along with oversight of the census being moved to White House Chief of Staff [[Rahm Emanuel]], raised questions about the fate of the census' historic non-partisan nature.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/17/lawmakers-concerned-role-acorn-census/</ref>

After a video surfaced showing ACORN members trying to cheat the IRS, the Census Bureau decided to cancel their involvement with the 2010 Census count. It is reported that the group will still receive funds from the government branch Housing & Urban Development.

==Causes==
===Campaign to establish a "living wage"===

According to [[Steven Malanga]], a contributing editor at ''[[City Journal]]'', the "[[living wage]]" is the group's most successful local issue.<ref name=squash/>

However, Stanley Kurtz argues that, "Unfortunately, instead of helping workers, Acorn’s [[living-wage]] campaigns drive businesses out of the very neighborhoods where jobs are needed most."<ref name=kurtz-inside />

"Though Acorn touts living-wage laws as a way to lift the [[working poor]] into the [[middle class]], the vast body of academic work on [[wage laws]] shows that they end up hurting the poor by forcing businesses to eliminate some [[low-wage jobs]]. Acorn's own leadership understands this principle perfectly. When California regulators sued Acorn for not paying its own workers the minimum wage, Acorn argued that this would endanger its mission—because it would have to hire fewer workers."<ref name=squash>[http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-acorn_squash.htm Manhattan Institute]]</ref>

===Consumer advocacy===
Acorn now operates in more than 100 cities with a national budget of $37 million. <ref>[http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-acorn_squash.htm Acorn Squash] WSJ, August 26, 2006</ref> Also, chapters in 700 poor neighborhoods with dues-paying members exceeding 120,000. <ref>[http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_acorns_nutty_regime.html ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities] City-journal.org, 2003</ref> Despite what is stated on its official website (''"To maintain independence, ACORN does not accept government funding and is not tax exempt"'' [http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12342]), this left-wing [[liberal]] group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers under the guise of consumer advocacy and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote the welfare state and undermine capitalism and self-reliance. The rest of its' money coming from left-wing heavyweights like billionaire [[George Soros]] and the [[Democracy Alliance]].<ref>[http://www.nypost.com/seven/10082008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_pro_barack_vote_fraud_drive_132618.htm?page=0 THE PRO-BARACK VOTE-FRAUD DRIVE] NY Post, October 8, 2008</ref>

===Support for gun control and illegal immigration===
ACORN legally intervened in an unsuccessful attempt to defend Jersey City, [[New Jersey]]'s local [[gun control]] ordinance, which was struck down December 13, 2006 in New Jersey state court as a violation of state law pre-empting stronger local gun ordinances.<ref>http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1166448999875 "N.J. Judge Voids City's Gun Control Law", Charles Toutant, ''New Jersey Law Journal'', December 20, 2006</ref>

ACORN has held frequent rallies in support of amnesty for [[illegal immigrants]] and against enforcement-only bills for dealing with the illegal immigration problem. According to their official website they list four demands on immigration, the first of which is "A path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States" (in other words, amnesty).<ref>http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=16966 ACORN official website position on illegal immigration</ref>

===Hostility to big businesses===
ACORN opts for undisguised [[authoritarian]] [[socialism]], as when it proposes that “large companies which desire to leave the community” be forced to obtain “an exit visa from the community board signifying that the company has adequately compensated all its employees and the community at large for losses due to relocation." ACORN promotes ideas like “sustainable development,” which would limit the growth of suburbs—so businesses and individuals can’t flee just beyond the city limits.

One of ACORN's highest targets is big businesses, dubbing them, “irresponsible.” This means any financial institutions that supposedly hinder the minority poor from getting the capital needed for home buying and business start-ups.<ref>[http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_acorns_nutty_regime.html ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities] City-journal.org, 2003</ref> ACORN strongarms financial institutions into to providing risky loans to the undeserving. In 1998, Acorn activists disrupted Federal Reserve hearings on the proposed Citicorp merger with Travelers and then later protested Citigroup's acquisition of Associates First Capital Corp. Eventually Citigroup signed an agreement to provide mortgages through Acorn counseling centers, including home loans to undocumented aliens in California. <ref>[http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-acorn_squash.htm Acorn Squash] Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2006</ref> They protest and picket banks mergers until they are paid off. The banks see it as the cost of doing business.

One of Acorn's real intentions is to help its public-sector union allies. ACORN argues for the "Living-wage." By artificially raising the cost of outsourcing until it is just as costly as work done by government employees, "the living-wage undercuts the incentive to privatize." This is a tactic used against Wal-Mart preventing the opening of stores in low-income Chicago neighborhoods. ACORN's living-wage campaign is more likely to benefit unions than the poor. <ref>[http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-acorn_squash.htm Acorn Squash] Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2006</ref> A standing joke within the [[community organizing]] movement is that ACORN stands for Advance Communism Or Receive Nothing.

{{quotation|One is hard-pressed to find in the organization's many antipoverty initiatives any programs that address social dysfunctions like illegitimacy and single parenthood. Instead, as Acorn's executive director, Steven Kest, said several years ago, "We are more focused on [[corporate responsibility|irresponsible behavior]] in the corporate sector. I don't think [illegitimacy] comes anywhere close to the irresponsible behavior of people running the largest businesses in this country."<ref name=squash/> }}

==Connections to the subprime mortgage crisis==
:''Main article : [[Financial crisis of 2008]]''
In 1991 ACORN took over the House Banking Committee room for two days to protest efforts to scale back the Community Redevelopment Act (CRA). ACORN was the driving force behind a 1995 regulatory revision pushed through by the [[Clinton Administration]] that greatly expanded the CRA and laid the groundwork for the [[Fannie Mae]], [[Freddie Mac]] borne [[financial crisis of 2008]]. [[Barack Obama]] was the attorney representing ACORN in this effort. With this new authority, ACORN used its subsidiary, ACORN Housing, to promote subprime loans more aggressively. As a ''[[New York Post]]'' article describes it:

:"A 1995 strengthening of the Community Reinvestment Act required banks to find ways to provide mortgages to their poorer communities. It also let community activists intervene at yearly bank reviews, shaking the banks down for large pots of money.

:Banks that got poor reviews were punished; some saw their merger plans frustrated; others faced direct legal challenges by the Justice Department. [http://www.nypost.com/seven/02052008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_real_scandal_243911.htm?page=0]

Flexible lending programs expanded even though they had higher default rates than loans with traditional standards. On the Web, you can still find CRA loans available via ACORN with "100 percent financing . . . no credit scores . . . undocumented income . . . even if you don't report it on your tax returns." Credit counseling is required, of course.

Ironically, an enthusiastic Fannie Mae Foundation report singled out one paragon of nondiscriminatory lending, which worked with community activists and followed "the most flexible underwriting criteria permitted." That lender's $1 billion commitment to low-income loans in 1992 had grown to $80 billion by 1999 and $600 billion by early 2003. [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjRjYzE0YmQxNzU4MDJjYWE5MjIzMTMxMmNhZWQ1MTA=&w=MQ==]

The lender they were speaking of was [[Countrywide]], which specialized in subprime lending and had a working relationship with ACORN. [http://www.inman.com/news/2008/02/1/countrywide-acorn-partner-foreclosure-prevention]

''Investor's Business Daily'' added:

:"The revisions also allowed for the first time the securitization of CRA-regulated loans containing subprime mortgages. The changes came as radical "housing rights" groups led by ACORN lobbied for such loans. ACORN at the time was represented by a young public-interest lawyer in Chicago by the name of Barack Obama." [http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?threadid=787698]

Since these loans were to be underwritten by the government sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the implicit government guarantee of those loans absolved lenders, mortgage bundlers and investors of any concern over the obvious risk. As Bloomberg reported: "It is a classic case of socializing the risk while privatizing the profit." [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0]

==Scandals==
===Prostitution===
ACORN tried to help elect Obama in 2008, but nearly a third of the 1.3 million voters it registered were rejected as fraudulent.

In Sept. 2009 FOXNews showed videos from [[Andrew Breitbart]] of ACORN workers in several cities, including New York, Baltimore and Washington, giving advice to two conservative undercover investigators who posed as a prostitute and her pimp and said that they wanted to buy a house and run it as a brothel with underage teenage girls smuggled in from Central America. Happy to help, ACORN staffers gave practical advice on how to evade taxes and conceal the nature of the illegal business. The result was Congress voted to defund the group, the Census cancelled their contract and now ACORN is on the verge of bankruptcy. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/20/report-acorn-verge-bankruptcy/?test=latestnews Report: ACORN on the Verge of Bankruptcy, FOX News, March 20, 2010]</ref>

===Voter Fraud===
ACORN tactics are starting to reveal a pattern of unethical behavior across the country and they have been implicated in voter fraud schemes in [[Missouri]], [[Ohio]] and at least 12 other states. The group’s [[vandalism]] on electoral integrity is systemic.

====Past Issues====
* The Wall Street Journal noted: “In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead [[voters]] and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a [[congressional]] hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained ACORN’s practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier.” Acorn workers have been convicted of fraud in Wisconsin and Colorado. <ref>http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189</ref>

* In March, [[Philadelphia]] elections officials accused the nonprofit advocacy group of filing fraudulent voter registrations in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary.

* In July, ACORN settled the largest case of voter fraud in the history of [[Washington]] State. Seven ACORN workers had submitted nearly 2,000 bogus voter registration forms. According to case records, they flipped through phone books for names to use on the forms, including “Leon Spinks,” “Frekkie Magoal” and “Fruto Boy Crispila.” Three ACORN election hoaxers pleaded guilty in October.

* In 2004, ACORN registered illegal immigrant Nuradin Abdi. He was the suspected Ohio shopping mall bomb plotter from Somalia, according to the Columbus Dispatch. <ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/minutemen_illegal_voting/2008/10/30/145903.html Minutemen Muster Nationally to Foil Illegal Voting] NewsMax, October 30, 2008</ref>

====2008 Presidential Elections====
When ACORN is questioned regarding their tactics, they reply with an attack of their own, voter suppression. Teresa James, an attorney for ACORN affiliate Project Vote says, "they don't have the resources," to catch all fraud. However, ACORN has the money to air commercials nationwide. In it, blaming racism and vote suppression, not ACORN. <ref>[http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/122345478771640.xml&coll=2 Voter-registration can't be totally fraud-free, group says], Plain Dealer, October 08, 2008</ref>

It was believed that ACORN has helped register over 1.27 million people nationwide. Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote, told the [[New York Times]] that the real number of newly registered [[voters]] is closer to 450,000. About 400,000 registrations were rejected by election officials for a variety of reasons including fraud. <ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/acorn_numbers_exaggerated/2008/10/24/143773.html ACORN Numbers Vastly Exaggerated] NewsMax, October 24, 2008</ref> <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24acorn.html Group’s Tally of New Voters Was Vastly Overstated] New York Times, October 24, 2008</ref>

* [[Nevada]] officials raided ACORN's [[Las Vegas]] office after election authorities accused the group of submitting multiple voter registrations with fake and duplicate names. Among the bogus monikers: names of former [[Dallas Cowboys]] players.

* Lake County, Ind., election officials this month rejected thousands of registration forms ACORN had turned in from its drives. On a conference call yesterday, [[GOP]] officials noted that up to 11,000 of the applications were no good - tying up election officials and jeopardizing the voting rights of untold victims whose identities may have been stolen. At least 2,100 of the applications turned in were rejected.<ref>http://www.capitalresearch.org/blog/?p=1443</ref>

* ACORN vote canvassers had pulled names and addresses from phone books and forged signatures. According to a local paper (the Northwest [[Indiana]] and Illinois Times), "Large numbers of voter registration forms bore signatures all in the same apparent handwriting style" and "apparently the organization's canvassers broke rules to meet ACORN-set voter registration quotas to get paid." The fake registrants include dead people and underage kids. Also, there were 5000 more voter registrations in Indiana than voters.

* [[Milwaukee]], Wisc., officials discovered at least seven felons employed as voter-registration workers for ACORN and another affiliated group. (State law bans felons from such work.) They also uncovered a raft of problematic voter-registration cards. The state GOP accuses the group of trying to get dead, imprisoned or imaginary people on the voter rolls. Fraud has plagued ACORN's Milwaukee chapter since the last election cycle. 26 ACORN workers are facing criminal investigations.

* In [[Florida]], in Orange County alone, ACORN workers turned in multiple, copycat forms for six separate voters over the summer. The Miami Herald reports: "One individual had 21 duplicate applications."

* In Ohio, large numbers of homeless people got free van and bus rides to register. Shelby Holliday, a reporter for Palestra.net, filmed ACORN shuttling in some prospects. Homeless including felons were registered with an undocumented temporary address. <ref>[http://www.nypost.com/seven/10082008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_pro_barack_vote_fraud_drive_132618.htm?page=0 THE PRO-BARACK VOTE-FRAUD DRIVE] NY Post, October 8, 2008</ref> Also, Christopher Barkley claimed that they were hounded by the community-activist group ACORN to register to vote several times, even though they made it clear they'd already signed up. He had registered to vote "10 to 15" times after canvassers for ACORN relentlessly pursued him and others. A subpoenaed voter of Cuyahoga County, Freddie Johnson, 19, filled out registration cards 72 times over 18 months <ref>[http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092008/news/politics/nuts__132771.htm NUTS!
HOW ACORN GOT ME INTO VOTE SCAM] NY Post</ref> On October 14, 2008, the Buckeye Institute filed a RICO suit against ACORN for vote fraud.<ref>http://www.capitalresearch.org/blog/?p=1502</ref>

* In [[Pennsylvania]], The Allegheny County district attorney said Thursday that criminal charges could result from nearly 100 fraudulent voter registrations submitted in the Pittsburgh area. <ref>[http://obamaacorn.com/acorn-may-face-new-charges-in-pa-update-video-added-hotair/ ACORN may face new charges in PA] ObamaAcorn.com, October 10, 2008</ref>

* In [[Michigan]], Oakland County election officials found more than 33,000 duplicate registrations, about two-thirds of new applications since August and ACORN canvassers submitted most of those applications. <ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/10/obama-camp-downplays-ACORN-payments/?page=2 Obama camp downplays ACORN payments] Washington Times, October 10, 2008</ref>

* Evidence has surfaced that ACORN and Barack Obama are intimately linked. The article, “Case Study: Chicago-The Barack Obama Campaign,” which appeared in the Winter 2003-Spring 2004 issue of Social Policy magazine, was written by ACORN organizer Toni Foulkes. The full article is available [http://www.capitalresearch.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/chicago-the-barack-obama-campaign.pdf here].

*The [[New York Times]] admitted in May 2009, that prior to the presidential election it killed a story involving corruption allegations with Acorn that might have hurt the Obama presidential campaign. The admission came from a column by Clark Hoyt, where he describe the allegations against the Obama campaign and Acorn as "nonsense." <ref>[http://spectator.org/blog/2009/05/18/new-york-times-finally-admits New York Times Finally Admits It Spiked Obama/ACORN Corruption Story]. The American Spectator May 18, 2009</ref>

===Embezzlement===
A group of dissident members has been seeking a federal investigation of ACORN for alleged criminal violations stemming from an embezzlement scheme that has rocked the organization since 2008. They call themselves The Acorn 8. On January 7, 2009, they released a 24-page document demanding federal investigators to look into fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy charges, and criminal civil rights violations in relation to the embezzlement of around $1 million from the accounts and an alleged cover-up of the theft for nearly a decade. This stems from a dispute within ACORN since disclosure in June that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN co-founder and former Chief Organizer Wade Rathke, embezzled $948,000. <ref> [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_606173.html Ousted ACORN members seek federal criminal investigation]Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 8, 2009 </ref>

ACORN 8 members, however, have claimed the embezzlement is a sign of a deeper problems within the organization. They created a counter website to address the disputes they have with ACORN. <ref> [http://www.acorn-8.net/ Acorn 8 website] </ref> Marcel Reid, who is the D.C. Acorn Chair and member of the Acorn 8, has gone on [[Fox News]] to explain her story along with others. <ref> [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520671,00.html Twists and Turns of ACORN's Finances]Fox News, May 18, 2009 </ref> <ref> [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519834,00.html Former ACORN Board Members Speak Out]Fox News, May 11, 2009 </ref>

Anita MonCrief has been one of the most outspoken former employees of ACORN. MonCrief testified in court that the Obama campaign had given ACORN their donor list and coordinated funding with them. <ref> [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122533169940482893.html An Acorn Whistleblower Testifies in Court] </ref> The New York Times had been investigating MonCrief's claims during the 2008 campaign, but when MonCrief offered to supply the Times with a copy of the Obama campaign's donor list, the Times killed the story. <ref> [http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/05/023580.php Killing a Story: How It's Done]</ref> MonCrief has set up a blog <ref>[http://www.anitamoncrief.blogspot.com/ Anita MonCrief]</ref> and Twitter account <ref> [http://twitter.com/anitamoncrief @AnitaMonCrief] </ref> which she used to release internal ACORN documents to bloggers on May 21, 2009. <ref> [http://mitchellblatt.com/blog/2009/05/acorn-project-vote-registration An Inside Look at How ACORN Uses Project Vote Records to Register Members] </ref>

==Response==
===FBI Investigation===
By October 2008, the [[FBI]] has announced it planned to investigate the group. "It's a matter we take very seriously," FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton told the Associated Press. "It is against the law to register someone to vote who does not fall within the parameters to vote, or to put someone on there falsely." <ref>[http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37232 De-Fund ACORN, Republican Leader Insists] CNSNews, October 10, 2008</ref>

In March 2010, it was reported that the public interest group [[Judicial Watch]] had obtained documents from the FBI which provided information on the federal investigations into ACORN. Judicial Watch stated that the FBI documents "show serious allegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by ACORN."
<blockquote>
The documents include background information on two specific complaints filed in October 2008 by Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges, Republican Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, respectively, during the 2008 election season.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
According to Corelli, on August 1, 2008, her office received 1,200 ACORN voter registration cards from the Secretary of State’s office. Over 300 of these cards were rejected because of “duplicates, underage, illegible and invalid addresses,” which “put a tremendous strain on our office staff and caused endless work hours at taxpayers’ expense.”
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The documents include records related to a federal investigation of ACORN corruption in St. Louis, Missouri, involving 1,492 allegedly fraudulent voter registration cards submitted by Project Vote, a liberal non-profit organization affiliated with ACORN on voter registration drives, during the 2006 election season.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Likewise, Borges contended that: “The organization ACORN during the summer of 2008 conducted a registration drive which has produced over 100 rejections due to incomplete forms and individuals who are not citizens…” Among the examples cited by Borges was a seven-year old child who was registered to vote by ACORN through the use of a forged signature and a fake birth certificate claiming she was 27-years old.
</blockquote>

The Justice Department closed down the investigation in March 2009, stating that ACORN broke no laws, though it noted that ACORN had engaged in “questionable hiring and training practices.”<ref>www.judicialwatch.org, Judicial Watch News, March 11, 2010</ref>

===Inspector General report ===
A “preliminary” [[GAO]] report<ref>[http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10648r.pdf]</ref> proves that the now-defunct left-wing group [[ACORN]]'s decision to shut down was the result of “a [[Joe McCarthy|McCarthy]]-era style war against the poor and minorities,” says the group's former leader, Bertha Lewis.<ref>[http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0618/exclusive/]</ref> The report found ACORN affiliates received a stunning $40.4 million in taxpayer subsidies in 2005-2009 alone. Even the Justice Department (which is supposed to be investigating the group) funded the creation of the “ACORN Youth Union” to “provide youth leadership training” (indoctrinate public-school students) to win “specific improvements and policy changes”(lobby for the group's pet issues) “such as school funding” (higher taxes), etc.<ref>[http://cnsnews.com/news/article/68062]</ref> The IG report indicates that of the six major federal agencies GAO queried, only one has provided responses. “We did not independently assess the sufficiency of agencies' oversight activities,” states the report. The GAO added that 12 ACORN workers have pleaded guilty to voter registration fraud; unmentioned was that at least six more former ACORN workers are under indictment on similar charges.<ref>[http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_686567.html]</ref> Yet to investigated are charges ACORN engaged in violations of RICO through money-laundering of taxpayer funds designated for nonpartisan activities, engaged in partisan activities, or violated [[ERISA]] by shifting pension funds to conceal a million-dollar embezzlement perpetrated by ACORN founder Wade Rathke's brother. The report incorporates changes ACORN demanded.<ref>[http://www.capitalresearch.org/blog/2010/06/16/new-gao-report-on-acorn-is-compromised-acorns-lawyer-demanded-changes-and-he-got-them/ </ref>

===Civil Suit===
An Ohio civil suit filed by Buckeye Institute against ACORN and its Project Vote operation alleges that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is regularly advised by ACORN on election strategy, and deprives voters “of the right to participate in an honest and effective elections process.” <ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/brunner_acorn/2009/02/19/183402.html Senate Candidate Brunner is ACORN Loyalist] NewsMax, February 19, 2009</ref>

===Defunding===
Amid a widening probe into voter registration fraud by the liberal group, House Republican Leader [[John Boehner]] (R-Ohio) said “All federal funding to ACORN must be stopped.” <ref>[http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37232 De-Fund ACORN, Republican Leader Insists] CNSNews, October 10, 2008</ref> In addition, "..further evidence that this group cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers’ money. House [[Republicans]] took at stand recently to cut off funding to an ACORN slush fund created by their [Democratic] allies...but now more must be done.” The congressman's Web site notes that in the recently passed financial [[bailout]] package, Republicans “stripped out special-interest earmarks for trial lawyers, labor bosses and thinly-veiled political organizations like ACORN..." [http://www.gop.com/obamaacorntree/ RNC Fact Sheet]

Reeling from revelations of systematic fraud in both election registration and community development programs, ACORN saw both Houses of Congress vote to cut off federal funds in the "Defund ACORN Act," and the Census Bureau reject its help. Many states and cities are considering similar punishment. It shuttered 40% of its centers in cities including Chicago, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Omaha, and is not taking new clients in the centers that remain open in low-income neighborhoods.<ref> P.J. Huffstutter and Kate Linthicum, [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-acorn19-2009sep19,0,6183518.story "ACORN scaling back or shutting down in many cities," ''Los Angeles Times'' Sep. 19, 2009]</ref> In an effort to regain some support, it sued to have the "Defund ACORN Act" enjoined as an unconstitutional [[bill of attainder]]. On December 11, the district court ruled in favor of ACORN, citing the precedent of [[United States v. Lovett]] to say that Congress cannot "declare that a single, named organization is barred from all federal funding in the absence of a trial." <ref>[http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/judge-gershon-12-11-2009-pi-order.pdf ACORN v. United States, full opinion]</ref>

===Convictions===
So far in 2010, 15 ACORN members have been convicted of voter fraud across the country. <ref>[http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/23/the-voter-fraud-hall-of-shame-milwaukee-voter-fraud-conviction-makes-acorn%E2%80%99s-2010-total-at-least-15/ The voter fraud hall of shame: Milwaukee voter fraud conviction makes ACORN’s 2010 total at least 15, The Daily Caller, November 23, 2010]</ref>

===Name change===
Due to all the conservative press ACORN gets for fraud, Wade Rathke has approved changing their name to 'Community Organizations International'. <ref>[http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/ACORN-drops-tarnished-name-and-moves-to-silence-critics-48730537.html ACORN drops tarnished name and moves to silence critics] Washington Examiner, June 21, 2009</ref>

==ACORN successor groups==
ACORN the national organizational is now defunct. The group has split into regional organizations under different names shown below.

*Community Organizations International
*Texans Together Education Fund
*Health Care for America NOW!
*Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
*Voting Is Power
*Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas
*Communities Voting Together
*Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change
*Affordable Housing Centers of America, Inc.
*New England United For justice
*A Community Voice
*Communities United
*Minnesota Neighborhood's Organizing For Change
*Missourians Organizing For Reform and Empowerment
*New York Communities For Change
*Working Families Party
*Pennsylvania Neighborhoods For Social Justice
*Texas Organizing Project
*Organization United For Reform (Our) Washington
*American Institute For Social Justice

==Also See==
* [[SEIU]]
* [[New Party]]
* [[Front organization]]

==External Links==
* [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI= Inside Obama’s Acorn] National Review Online
* [http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_acorns_nutty_regime.html ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities] City-Journal
* [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/17/house-votes-strip-acorn-federal-funding/ House Votes to Strip ACORN of Federal Funding]
* [http://nutbusterz.org/ Nutbusterz.org]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Liberalism}}

[[Category: Liberal Organizations]]
[[Category: Corruption]]
[[Category: Deceit]]
[[Category:Featured articles]]