As negotiations over Congress's emergency rescue bill continued this week, repeated rumors leaked out that the Democrats were trying to funnel money to a hyper-partisan organization involved in criminal voter fraud.
I'm speaking of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - known by its acronym, ACORN.
Although ACORN was cut from the final legislation, it's important to understand this organization and its long history with, of all people, Barack Obama. And it's important to see how partisan this emergency legislation has become.
As the week progressed, reports were constantly emerging of the sticking points preventing a final agreement. One of these reputed points of contention was whether 20 percent of the profit proceedings for asset sales in the future would go to what is called the Housing Trust Fund, subsidizing certain groups for ostensibly nonpartisan activity. One of these groups that this trust supports is ACORN.
ACORN has often been in the news since 2004. Officially, they work to register voters and support housing.
In reality, everyone in public life knows that they are hardcore supporters for the Democratic Party, and employ bare-knuckle tactics. Their organization is plagued by repeated investigations of voter fraud and other crimes.
In Ohio, where as secretary of state I oversaw elections for eight years, ACORN has been busy. One ACORN man in Reynoldsburg was indicted on two felony counts of voter fraud, and another was indicted in Columbus. Other such problems surfaced in Cuyahoga County, where criminal investigations are ongoing.
It's not just Ohio.
ACORN personnel are facing criminal charges in over a dozen states. In Washington state, for example, seven ACORN leaders had felony charges filed against them for voter fraud.
And there's an unexpected twist. One of the organizations accused of pushing banks into making many of the unwise loans at the heart of the current crisis is ...ACORN.
Now that's ironic. An organization that possibly contributed to our current financial profits is now being considered to make money off of it. And by "money," I'm referring to your tax money. Twice already this year Congress has funneled money to ACORN.
Some report that February's economic stimulus included funds for ACORN, as did the bill to help people struggling with mortgages passed this April.
What deserves closer scrutiny is Barack Obama's history with ACORN. Obama cites Saul Alinsky, a self-acknowledged radical who advocated extreme acts to achieve social goals, as one of his inspirations.
ACORN follows the Saul Alinsky model. After Obama graduated from Harvard, he went to work for ACORN in Chicago. Mr. Obama then became a trainer for ACORN, teaching others how to employ ACORN tactics in voter registration drives.
This ACORN involvement coincides with the increasing partisanship of this situation.
Congressional Democrats, and specifically Mr. Obama, are now saying that the problem underlying all this is "deregulation," pushed by the Republicans.
There are two fundamental flaws with this allegation.
• First, this is not deregulation. This is not the private sector. Fannie and Freddie are government creations, that pay their executives millions of dollars but are shielded with your tax money from suffering the downside risk of the market. Engaged in racetrack-style financing, they must be strictly controlled. Deregulation is about keeping government from hobbling the private sector and hamstringing its ingenuity and productivity.
Deregulation does not apply.
• Second, Republicans have tried to rein in Fannie and Freddie. Republican attempts to reform them in 1999 failed.
In 2003, when Alan Greenspan testified about how Fannie and Freddie's loose practices could endanger our financial system, it was Democrat Barney Frank who said these institutions were fundamentally sound, and should be more aggressive in getting loans to low-income people. In 2005, a Republican reform passed the Senate Banking Committee on a party-line vote, only to be blocked by Democrats from passing the full Senate. And in 2006 when John McCain spoke on the Senate floor of the need to reform Fannie and Freddie immediately, Democrats (including Barack Obama) would not respond.
• You can also see where Fannie and Freddie look for protection by where they direct their money. Public records show that the top two recipients of Fannie/Freddie campaign contributions are Sens. Chris Dodd and Barack Obama, taking $165,000 and $126,000, respectively. Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, and Mr. Obama, who says he's going to remedy the whole situation.
It suddenly seems so clear why Democrats want ACORN to get some of the taxpayers' money. I have unapologetically criticized Republicans, some by name, for out-of-control spending, lack of accountability, and other inexcusable actions that have tarnished the GOP and disserved the nation. And there are other issues that are either both parties' fault, or no one's fault.
But here, the Democrats are squarely to blame.
They have resisted all attempts at reforming Fannie and Freddie, and pushed those organizations to become ever more reckless in their policies. This made the investments on Wall Street carrying those tainted mortgages go from bad to worse, and now we're in a crisis and on the verge of a meltdown.
This is inexcusable. And if independent voters figure this out, their outrage over this situation will suddenly be directed against the party that pushed these disastrous policies. So Democrats want ACORN to get as much funding as possible, because they might need some new votes in their column on Election Day.
Voter fraud is, in one sense, the worst crime against democracy. The sole means of democratically choosing leaders is through voting. Every voter gets an equal vote. Every citizen who is a law-abiding adult has an equal voice in who will govern us. Our vote is sacred. Those engaging in voter fraud are in one sense no different than who intimidated voters at the polls in years past. Voter fraud may not be attended by the suffering that accompanied the beatings and water hoses of those days, but the assault on democracy is no less real.
ACORN is a discredited organization, and far too many of its leaders and workers have been prosecuted for felonies against democracy. The idea that a single dime of taxpayer money would ever go to such a group is an outrage.
And Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them.
Ken Blackwell is the Ronald Reagan distinguished fellow for public policy at the Buckeye Institute in Columbus.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, October 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Kirk
Could ACORN be signing up the homeless and the dead? No, you say...well, they won't let there be ANY monitoring by the citizenry this year (look it up on YOUTUBE, where you can also see them signing up the homeless, if not the dead)...however, it's okay for the "media" to monitor things...but, wait, who are the media in love with? The whole darned thing is rigged...Obama makes HRC look like the greatest patriot EVER, by comparison. Sickening!
Posted: Saturday, October 04, 2008
Article comment by:
Elizabeth Ferrari
Ken Blackwell? Really? The Ken Blackwell that tried to disenfranchise voters because of the paper weight of their reg forms? Really? That one?!
The one that under equipped selected blue precincts in Ohio? That Ken Blackwell?
"Ken Blackwell" is a national catch phrase for election fraud, and his allegations of vote fraud have no credible nonpartisan supporters. The only thing slightly more incredible (and more laughable) is that he gives seminars on Business Ethics. Not this time, Ken!
Posted: Saturday, October 04, 2008
Article comment by:
Andrew O.
Excellent piece! But there's an additional connection missing from this write up, having to do with the Obama campaign funneling $800,000 to ACORN through "Citizen Services, Inc.". Such funding would point to a (financial) link between the Obama campaign and the voter fraud efforts of ACORN.
Posted: Saturday, October 04, 2008
Article comment by:
Leticia Harris
Thank you Mr. Blackwell for your honesty. My question is what is the Republican party doing to stop this?
Posted: Saturday, October 04, 2008
Article comment by:
Patricia Tharp
There is more than an ACORN falling if these links are true.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/03/fbi-raids-office-of-obama-ally-in-illinois/
http://www.secureputer.com/obamadeniedsecurityclearance/
The United States cannot afford to be a sleeping Giant again, WAKE UP AMERICA
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
Article comment by:
djaymick
Thank you for your excellent piece. I'm glad there are a few "true journalists" left in this world. For the rest of the media that turns a blind eye to the facts in order to follow a candidate is only a "preacher". One who leads by blind faith.
It's hard to believe that only a year ago, our biggest issue in the US was illegal immigrants. The American people wanted a fence built and illegal immigrants to be forced to leave. The reason that the citizens of the US (over 70%) wanted these changes was because they were stealing our jobs and they were breaking the law. When it was pointed out, at that time, that some illegal aliens may have voted, sent outrage to all citizens.
When we finally find out one of the culprits, the media looks the other way. We may be Republican and Democrat, but there have been some big issues in the US that a majority of us agree on - securing our borders, drilling for oil, etc. For the media to hold this information from the media is an injustice to all US citizens.
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
Article comment by:
Vee
I am delighted to have discovered you, Mr. Blackwell, as another voice of reason. I feel like I could be reading Tom Sowell.
Thank you for writing what you know of ACORN and the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mess.
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
Article comment by:
Static
Tom is being obtuse, probably on purpose. This whole crisis hinges on Fannie and Freddie, this is not even in dispute. These other banks you cite including the investment houses were commingled with Fannie and Freddie. With groups like ACORN and the Federal government pressuring banks using the CRA rating into issuing bad loans to low income people this house of cards was eventually going to fall of its own weight.
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
Article comment by:
jhimmi
Fannie and Freddie are far larger than any other single financial institution. The billions of dollars worth of MSB's (mortgage backed securities) that they issued, that everyone assumed were Grade A investments, poisoned the well for everyone.
And, because of derivatives and credit swaps, the billions of dollars of pure fraud perpetrated by Freddie and Fannie in reality represent trillions of dollars of debt, spread out among financial institutions (and individuals) all over the world.
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
Article comment by:
Tom
Interesting points and very educational. Quick questions: are there any other banks failing right now other than Freddie and Fannie? This seems like a smoke screen to distract people from AIG, Lehman Bros, Bear Stearns, WaMu, etc. Was Frank single handedly forcing all of these banks into risky loans? Those are definitely private institutions right? Is all $700bn going to Freddie and Fannie?
