ACORN out of Ohio

I saw this last night, but didn't get a chance to post about, so my apologies if this is old news to some....but even if it is, it bears repeating: ACORN is out of Ohio's elections.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

ACORN, the liberal group notorious for allegedly trying to inflate voter rolls through fraudulent practices, has seen its last election in Ohio.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now will permanently surrender its Ohio business license by June1 as part of a legal settlement with the conservative Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, both sides said yesterday.

The original announcement of the lawsuit, with details about the case, is available here.

While the settlement is not public, ACORN will surrender its business license by June 1 and, according to Maurice Thompson, director of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, they will "cease to operate in Ohio and cease to support or enable other groups to do what they do."

ACORN, of course, claims they did nothing wrong and have already ceased operations in Ohio for 'other reasons,' though they don't explain what those 'other reasons' are. Some are speculating it has to do with the internal issues ACORN is having nationally, as well as cutbacks in their funds from the government.

And then others are wondering how long this will last. Will they reconstitute under another name and continue their operations, despite the agreement to not "support or enable other groups to do what they do"?

Who knows? But I believe that, despite what others claimed are 'good works' by this group, Ohio is better off without the myriad of problems they caused our elections system.

Connecting the acorns - er - dots

Jesse Hathaway has been doing some great work on his blog Athens Runaway lately and his latest post, "Acorns? In MY State Elections?" is no exception.

He rounds up some of the state goals of ACORN, the 'community organizing' group known for their voting fraud issues, which show the supposedly non-partisan group is, indeed, partisan.

And it takes a look at some public record requests pending in the Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's office, especially considering that an ACORN 'Project Vote' person served as a consultant to her last campaign.

I hope you'll read the entire post.

What you get for the money

With apologies to HGTV and their show of the same name, here's a terrific article about ACORN and what it does from fellow State of Ohio Blogger Alliance member Tom Blumer, who writes at BizzyBlog and NewsBusters.

As Tom explains, several news reports about the amount of work being done and people being served caught his attention. It started with this:

Every month more than two dozen people walk into ACORN's Cincinnati office on Central Avenue for help with avoiding foreclosure and finding financial aid programs.

Followed shortly by this:

Locally, that means about 20 clients a month will be turned away, said Amy Teitelman, the local and state director of ACORN.

And then this was found:

Six years later, in 1986, the organization created the ACORN Housing Corporation to "build and preserve housing assets." Since its inception, according to its Web site, the corporation has assisted more than 45,000 families to become first-time homeowners and has rehabbed more than 850 vacant or abandoned housing units.

As Tom writes:

Even if those totals were for only 5 years instead of 23, that would be 1.57 families per office per week (45,000 divided by 110 cities divided by 5 years divided by 52). It seems pretty obvious that the real number is a lot lower than 1.57. Again assuming only 5 years instead of 23, the rehabs are less than 1.6 per city per full year (850 divided by 110 divided by 5). Habitat for Humanity (this is a huge understatement) runs circles around that.

On a side note, I wondered just how much money ACORN had gotten during this time frame for the 45,000 families and 850 vacant homes, and found this reference:

One of its affiliates, ACORN Housing Corp., has received $53.6 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the last 15 years, $27.8 million during last year alone..."

But if you really want to know what you get for the money, Tom examines the number of tax returns ACORN helped people prepare. News reports about the IRS cutting off funding for this service all report that ACORN provided help on about 25,000 returns nationwide.

But the United Way of King County served 13,631 people, Tom says, "over half as many returns as ACORN did in the entire country, and provided their services for free."

What Tom doesn't address and what I could not find (at least, not in 20 minutes of Internet searching) was how much money the IRS was 'cancelling.' I find it strange that the news stories all mention how many people were supposedly served but never mention the dollar amounts ACORN had gotten.

Without this information, it's hard to know what you get for your money, but as Tom explains, there's still time to find out:

Local reporters ought to be all over this, assuming they're interested in digging for the truth instead of parroting ACORN's press releases and talking points. National reporters should be ashamed that they have ignored the obvious indications that ACORN's offices really accomplish very little of value on behalf of the poor people they allegedly serve.

Brunner's ties to ACORN run long and deep

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has been fighting the verification of voter registrations and denying that vote fraud exists in Ohio.

(For a complete story of the fiascos that have plagued Ohio under her months in office, you can search this blog - link on the left - for 'Brunner.')

Throughout the various court battles and the directives and the calls for investigations of Republicans, but not of ACORN, everyone wondered just why it was she was turning a blind eye to obvious problems.

Some speculated that it was because some of these groups were part of her advisers - but now the evidence is clear.

An investigation into ACORN's alleged fraudulent election activity revealed yesterday that one of the national directors, Karyn Gillette, may have collaborated with the Obama campaign to raise funds for the group's voter registration efforts.

So what does this have to do with Brunner? Gillette is identified on Jennifer Brunner's 2006 campaign website as a consultant. A blog entry by Brunner's husband Rick talks about that relationship, saying: "our candidate had gone earlier in the day to have some meetings and work out of Karyn Gillette's office." He also describes Gillette as "very helpful to the campaign."

According to campaign finance reports that were filed, Gillette was paid $21,250 by Brunner's campaign. She has a longtime history of serving as a fundraising consultant to Ohio Democrats.

An ACORN whistle blower testified in a Pennsylvania state court that "in November 2007 Project Vote development director Karyn Gillette told her she had direct contact with the Obama campaign and had obtained their donor lists." Project Vote is the voter registration arm of ACORN. (Wall Street Journal, 10/29/08)

But that's not all. Gillette is not Brunner's only tie to ACORN. Members of the group's voter registration arm, Project Vote, regularly advise Brunner on election strategy, previously serving on her Voter Rights Institute and even recently issuing a news release claiming credit for Brunner's directive banning challenges to suspected fraudulent voter registrations.

So our Secretary of State shares a campaign advisor with ACORN, takes direction from ACORN's voter registration arm, and refuses to verify over 200,000 mismatched registrations while claiming there is no voter fraud going on in Ohio...and that attention to such frivolous issues distracts her from doing her job.

And then there was more bad news for Brunner. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission announced on Wednesday that it intends to suspend SysTest Laboratories, the company hired by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to study Ohio's electronic voting system. (Read the USEAC release here.)

The commission said in a news release that the planned suspension is due to numerous non-conformities, including failure to create and validate test methods, improper documentation of testing and unqualified personnel.

Secretary Brunner spent $1.7 million to hire SysTest in September of 2007 for a comprehensive study of Ohio's electronic voting machines, which would later be called EVEREST. The Columbus Dispatch accused Brunner of "overreacting" to the report, arguing "the unfortunate consequence of the study is that conspiracy theorists will renew their claims that Ohio's elections are inherently untrustworthy. That's simply not the case." (Columbus Dispatch, "Don't rush to judgment," 12/16/2007)

Voters are already concerned about the validity of votes in Ohio. Maybe we should start worry about how to replace our Secretary of State.

ACORN owes millions in taxes

Townhall.com is reporting that ACORN owes millions in taxes and has numerous liens as a result. Tell me again why this organization gets federal funds?????

"An intrepid researcher has discovered more than 200 tax liens totaling more than $3.7 million have been filed by the government against the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now for unpaid taxes since the late eighties.

A tax lien is issued when a person or organization fails to pay taxes and that tax debt is considered seriously delinquent. A lien is only issued after the government makes several unsuccessful attempts to collect the debt.

The conservative-leaning Capital Research Center’s Matthew Vadum found a staggering number of liens listed against ACORN’s national headquarters at 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana while conducting an exhaustive investigation of ACORN's history and current activities.

“I took that address and plugged it into Nexis and did a public records search for tax liens,” Vadum said. “At least 230 tax liens corresponded to ACORN’s address and they were all from ACORN’s shadowy network of affiliates.”

The liens filed against ACORN and their associated groups come from the Internal Revenue Service and government officials in fifteen different states.

75 of the 230 tax liens appear to have been “released,” meaning the full debt was paid or a negotiated payment was made for the debt. The rest are outstanding. "

New wiki on ACORN

As you can tell from my link on the side, I'm a big fan of Ballotpedia.org and the information it provides on ballot issues across the nation.

They've added a page on ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the organization, it's background, it's connections and the impact they have on elections. This is especially timely in light of the issues we're facing with them in Ohio, including a RICO action against ACORN.

Buckeye vs. ACORN

Gov. Sarah Palin at her rally in West Chester, Ohio today:

"In this election, especially here in Ohio, you're going to be asked to choose between a candidate who will not disavow a group committing voter fraud and a leader who will not tolerate it. This group needs to learn that you, here in Ohio, you won't let them turn the Buckeye state into the ACORN state."

Video

RICO action filed against ACORN

This press release just in:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Maurice Thompson, (614) 224-4422
Tuesday, October 14, 2008


BUCKEYE INSTITUTE FILES STATE RICO ACTION AGAINST ACORN

Think Tank Represents Two Warren County Voters

COLUMBUS – The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based think tank, today filed a state RICO action against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on behalf of two Warren County voters. The action filed in Warren County Court of Common Pleas alleges ACORN has engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity that amounts to organized crime. It seeks ACORN’s dissolution as a legal entity, the revocation of any licenses in Ohio, and an injunction against fraudulent voter registration and other illegal activities.

Plaintiffs Jennifer Miller of Mason, Ohio and Kimberly Grant of Loveland, allege that ACORN's actions deprive them of the right to participate in an honest and effective elections process. They allege fraudulent voter registrations submitted by ACORN dilute the votes of legally registered voters.

“The right to cast a vote that is not diluted by fraudulent votes is a fundamental individual right,” Buckeye Institute President David Hansen said.

“ACORN appears to be recklessly disregarding Ohio laws and adding thousands of fraudulent voters to the state’s roles in the process,” Maurice Thompson, Director of the Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law said. “Such voter fraud erodes the value of legally cast votes,” he added.

In the complaint, Thompson cites an accumulation of evidence showing numerous instances of admitted fraud by ACORN employees, as well as individuals solicited by ACORN.

“In light of its hiring, training and compensation practices, ACORN should have known its conduct would cause fraud,” Thompson said. “It also should know that its conduct will cause fraud in the future.”

In addition, the complaint cites conduct by ACORN in Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

A full copy of the complaint is available online at http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/acorn.pdf.

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, together with its 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, is a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to individual liberty, economic freedom, personal responsibility and limited government in Ohio.

Why Federal Court ruling on voter registration is so important

The Help American Vote Act was supposed to address various concerns by the public to ensure the sanctity of the voting process. In Ohio, we have a state law that closely mirrors HAVA. The most critical aspect of the voter registration process is to ensure that each person who is eligible to vote gets to do so. That also includes ensuring that people who are NOT eligible to vote do NOT do so.

One aspect of both the federal and state laws is to verify all voter registration cards not just against the voter database in the state, but also against an outside database, like the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration.

This outside verification does several things. It confirms that such a person with a particular social security number does, in fact, exist, and it verifies that the person is a resident of the state.

Implicit in the outside verification is the notification that any discrepancies in the verification process are communicated back to the individual boards of elections for them to follow up on the lack of identity confirmation.

If the outside data base is not checked, any person can provide a fake name and give any four numbers as the last four digits of a Social Security number, get registered and then vote. So long as no one else used the same name and same four numbers in another county, there would be no indication that this particular voter was eligible to cast a ballot.

The same person could then go to another polling location and do the same thing, thus voting more than once, or twice, or however many times they wanted.

There is a check to the process in that all voter registrants are supposed to be mailed a card by the local board of election to ensure it is a valid address. But all that requires is one or two people in various locations to agree to have their address used for this purpose. When the post card arrives, they just throw it away. This is especially easy to do with college and apartment addresses. So long as the BOE postcard is not returned, there is nothing to indicate the fraudulent nature of the registration.

Now, if Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner follows the law, which she hasn't been doing, and checks these names and SS numbers against either the BMV or SS databases, the fact that these names and numbers don't exist would show up. Furthermore, if she then notifies the local BOEs, they can attempt to contact the person to gather more information - or, hold the registration and set aside the ballot until the identity can be confirmed.

If the identity cannot be confirmed, the ballot does not get counted, then a fraudulent vote will not have been cast.

But if the Secretary of State wins her appeal of the Federal Court ruling, there will be no way to check any of this ... and groups like ACORN will continue to submit voter registrations that they admit are a fraud. The end result is that an election is stolen - because the safeguards in place to ensure the sanctity of the elections are intentionally ignored.

So why would Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner NOT want to do her job? And does this dereliction of duty rise to the standard of malfeasance for which she can be removed from office?

I would think so.

BREAKING: Federal Court says Ohio Secretary of State broke voter laws

A federal court ruled tonight that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner violated federal election laws by not taking adequate steps to validate the identity of newly registered voters.

The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith called the identification breakdown "a serious problem" and ordered Brunner to immediately comply with federal requirements to match voter registration data with the information in the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Social Security Administration databases. The court accused Brunner of failing to provide county election administrators with "an effective way to access and review mismatches." She immediately appealed the ruling.

For about two weeks, I'd been trying to verify that Brunner's office was actually comparing the new voter registrations to an outside source, either the BMV or the SS databases. My phone calls to the Secretary of State's office this week have not been returned.

Both Ohio law and the Help America Vote Act require that new voter registrations be compared to an outside, independent database in order to verify the identity of the voter. I'd been told that the connection between the Secretary of State's database and those outside agencies was either not operational or had been removed.

In light of ACORN's admission to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections that the group engages in fraudulent voter registration activity, the independent verification of identities by the SOS office is critical to ensuring a fair and honest election in Ohio.

Ohio ACORN officials "blamed the elections board for not scrutinizing ACORN's suspicious cards," claiming the group "can't be expected to catch everything."

ACORN is facing similar inquires in other Ohio counties as well as 10 other states. Members of the group's "voter-mobilization arm," Project Vote, regularly advise Brunner on election strategy, even recently issuing a news release that claims credit for Brunner's directive restricting challenges to suspected fraudulent voter registrations. Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama also has strong ties to ACORN, working previously as an attorney and "leadership trainer" for the group.

The Columbus Dispatch has their story on line, including quotes from the judge.

BREAKING: ACORN says it can't prevent voter registration fraud

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

A national voter-registration group admitted to Cuyahoga County election officials Tuesday that it cannot eliminate fraud from its operation.

The group blamed inefficiency and lack of resources for problems such as being unable to spot duplicate voter-registration cards or cards that may have been filled out by workers to make quotas.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has turned in at least 65,000 cards to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in the last year. The board has investigated potentially fraudulent cards since August.

The group has faced similar inquiries in other large Ohio counties. And Nevada state authorities recently raided ACORN's Las Vegas headquarters searching for evidence of fraud, according to the Associated Press.

Local representatives of the organization told Cuyahoga board members that they don't have the resources to identify fraudulent cards turned in by paid canvassers who are told to register low- and moderate-income voters.

Cuyahoga election workers flagged about 50 names on suspicious cards. The cards were to register the same names, raising the possibility that canvassers shared information when trying to make quotas.

"This is not something you can catch with your internal controls, apparently," said board member Sandy McNair at the meeting.

"Not perfectly, no," replied Mari Engelhardt, ACORN political director for Ohio.

Once stacks of registration cards are returned to ACORN offices, workers verify information by calling the phone number provided on the card, the board was told. If information is missing or ACORN identifies a suspicious card, it is given to the Board of Elections with a notice that it could be problematic.

ACORN workers who double-check cards can't be expected to remember names and addresses previously verified, said Teresa James, an attorney for Project Vote representing ACORN.

Engelhardt said supervisors sometimes fail to prevent different canvassers from attempting to register the same person.



"We do not have the resources to know if a particular card is fictitious," James said.

Voter-registration organizations cannot, by law, withhold registration cards from election boards. The groups are obligated to report potential errors, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner told The Plain Dealer.

Kris Harsh, ACORN's head Cleveland organizer, blamed the elections board for not scrutinizing ACORN's suspicious cards. He said the group can't be expected to catch everything.

"None of us have ever achieved perfection," Harsh said.

The elections board will continue its inquiry Monday, when it expects testimony from three people it will subpoena after a review of the ACORN investigation. The names appeared on multiple registration cards submitted by ACORN and other organizations.