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Home Front: Politix
ACORN suffers 83-7 rebuke by US Senate
2009-09-15
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A poverty-rights group that has drawn the ire of conservatives suffered another setback in Washington on Monday when the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to deny it access to federal housing funds.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which helps poor people fight foreclosures and fix tax problems, has received more than $53 million in U.S. funds since 1994, but conservatives' charges of widespread fraud have begun to impact its reputation in the capital.

The Senate measure, which passed 83 to 7 in the Democratic-led chamber,
[the pro ACORN votes came from:

* Dick Durbin (D-IL)
* Roland Burris (D-IL)
* Robert Casey (D-PA)
* Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
* Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
* Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
* Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)]
was included in a must-pass spending bill that funds housing and transportation programs for the fiscal year that starts October 1.

The House of Representatives passed a similar spending bill without restrictions on ACORN. The House and Senate must resolved differences before a final measure can be sent to Obama to sign into law.

Republicans say ACORN engaged in widespread fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign when it launched a massive voter-registration drive in minority communities, which typically support Democrats and ended up voting overwhelmingly for President Barack Obama.

ACORN says less than 2 percent of its 1.3 million voter applications were fraudulent, stemming from canvassers who sought to boost the number of forms they turned in.
How would ACORN know? It's not as though they actually double checked.
Independent analysts say any actual impact on the election was negligible.
Again, mostly the applications weren't checked, as the piles of the things were dumped on the registration desks just before the deadline as a matter of principle. So nobody actually knows whether there was a significant impact.
The group has also suffered an embezzlement scandal involving the founder's brother.

ACORN more recently has been embarrassed by conservative activists who secretly taped employees in several cities giving tax advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute.

The group has fired several of those taped while denouncing the actions as a smear campaign.
So it is, and quite effective too, given that all the claims are verifiably true.
Posted by:lord garth

#17  Looks like the Senate had no choice on this one. Musta seen the pimp/prostitute video and ran for the hills.

They still have no cred with me.

A senate rebuke and $3.00 will buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Posted by: gorb   2009-09-15 23:45  

#16  We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph! - Governor William J. Le Petomane

File under Throwing the baby to the Wolves.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-09-15 17:03  

#15  McShame and Grahamnesty were together doing a town hall in SC.
Byrd is very ill.
Vitter probably wants to stay as far away from anything involving a prostitute as he can.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink   2009-09-15 13:14  

#14  McCain and Graham have the same views on amnesty as ACORN.
Posted by: charger   2009-09-15 13:12  

#13  Mebe Barry will eventually be called to testify either for or against his former employer. Rubbish, never mind.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-09-15 11:44  

#12  There is some buzz today that ACORN now faces a possible RICO type prosecution.
Posted by: lord garth   2009-09-15 11:01  

#11  An alternative reason for some of those Repubs not voting for it is that they may be seeking an even stronger cut to ACORN - there is, I think, a bill in the House that would do that.
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-09-15 09:49  

#10  No surprise McShame was absent.
Posted by: DarthVader   2009-09-15 09:28  

#9  Those that didn't vote could have been out of town. The Usual Suspects are the ones who voted No, though there would have been eight Nos if circumstances had been a little different.
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Posted by: ed   2009-09-15 09:08  

#8  A poverty-rights group...

Hey, I'll support that! People should have a right to be poor if they want to!
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-09-15 09:02  

#7  A poverty-rights group...

SPFFFFT! Hang on a sec, lemme wipe the coffee off this monitor...
Posted by: Parabellum   2009-09-15 08:26  

#6  Ok, the non-voting "D's" I sort of understand. But the "R's"...? Owes us a an EXPLANATION!
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-09-15 07:54  

#5  The members who didn't vote, according to the US Senate's official page:

Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Coburn (R-OK)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hutchison (R-TX)
McCain (R-AZ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie   2009-09-15 07:04  

#4  The real test is whether the House follows through as well. I doubt it will - Pelosi and others back ACORN heavily. But we'll see.
Posted by: lotp   2009-09-15 06:20  

#3  So much for Senator Gillibrand's 'conservative' Democrat farce.

I wonder if John Kerry voted?
Posted by: no mo uro   2009-09-15 05:45  

#2  It wouldn't surprise me if the dragging on were intentional, Besoeker. Turnabout being fair play and all that.
Posted by: trailing wife   2009-09-15 04:15  

#1  The long awaited fall of the Barry's Sturmabteilung...I hope. I'm still waiting for an overseas Mooslim connection to surface. This may drag on for a while, even with the recent revelations. The question of the Community Organizer in Chief signing it is yet another issue.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-09-15 03:41  

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