An ACORN by any other name
The discredited radical organization ACORN recently announced that it was shutting down. If you believe that I've got a government-run health care rationing scheme for sale:
This April Fools' Day, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) announced that all ACORN and ACORN affiliates would be shutting down operations. This after the ACORN parent entity, ACORN International, announced in June of 2009 that it was changing its name to "Community Organizations International."
The second item is true, the first is a lie.
The 2009 re-branding of the ACORN name was a premeditated attempt by the organization to elude ongoing FBI and state Attorneys General investigations and criminal prosecutions for a variety of illegal activities including voter fraud, misappropriation of funds, and tax fraud. However, it is too late to use re-branding as a way to run away from the ACORN name.
The U.S. House of Representatives' Issa Report (also published on April 1, 2010) described the activities of ACORN's management as: "A shell game designed to conceal illegal activities, to use tax payer and tax exempt dollars for partisan purposes, and to distract investigators."
The report indicates that the so-called shutting down of ACORN is also nothing more than a way to distract and dupe investigators.
Name game
Why is "shutting down" such a bald-faced lie? ACORN has a lot to lose. To better understand just how much, City Journal's Sol Stern and Manhattan Institute's Steven Malanga published concise analyses of ACORN's tarnished history and wealth.
From its 1970 genesis in Arkansas, ACORN grew into a shady behemoth that operated in more than 100 cities with a national budget of $40 million. It boasted 120,000 dues-paying members, two radio stations, a housing corporation, a law office, and affiliate relationships with a host of local union shops.
Bilking taxpayers and strong-arming businesses is very lucrative and no matter what ACORN says, they are not going to give all that up. No way. They will re-brand, lie low for a while, and then it's business as usual.
ACORN re-branding guide
Matthew Vadum, long a thorn in the side of ACORN, has provided a handy guide to the name changes that are coming or have already been applied to ACORN affiliates. Keep a sharp eye on these new monikers, especially with ACORN's proclivity for voter fraud and the congressional and state elections that are slated for this November:
Major ACORN Affiliates -- National
ACORN -- Community Organizations International
ACORN Housing Corp. Inc. -- Affordable Housing Centers of America Inc.
Project Vote -- Hasn't changed its name yet
American Institute for Social Justice -- Hasn't changed its name yet
ACORN Institute -- Hasn't changed its name yet
ACORN State Chapters
AR: Arkansas Community Organizations
CA: Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
CT, MA, RI: New England United for Justice
LA: A Community Voice
MN: Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change
MO: Missourians Organizing for Reform & Empowerment (MORE)
NY: New York Communities for Change
PA One: Pennsylvania Neighborhoods for Social Justice
PA Two: Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change
TX: Texas Organizing Project
WA: Organization United for Reform (OUR) Washington
Yet to rebrand
AZ CO DE DC FL MD MI NV NJ NM NC OH SC TN
According to Vadum, sources within ACORN itself have already confirmed to him that the exercise is a hoax. ACORN intends to keep a low profile and then re-emerge in a year or two under a new name, the sources affirm.
Duping America
Nathan Henderson-James, director of ACORN's online campaigns, explained how the group intends to trick the public into believing it has gone away. A dozen state chapters reincorporated to seem like new, independent organizations will soon spring up to carry on ACORN's business, he wrote recently in a secret post on Townhouse, an invitation-only discussion forum run by Matt Stoller, senior policy adviser to unhinged Florida Democrat Representative Alan Grayson:
"There will be a dozen or more organizations launched on the state level by staff who used to work for ACORN and leaders who developed their skills as ACORN members," Henderson-James wrote.
And in yet another despicable act perpetrated by the Obama regime, the fiscal floodgates have reopened for ACORN despite a congressional ban on funding.
Ask Obama
In a March 16 memo, Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag quietly ordered federal agencies to resume funding the group. The memo came a week after liberal federal judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York made permanent her temporary injunction prohibiting Congress from cutting off funding for ACORN.
The memo also came despite the fact that the Department of Justice is planning to appeal Gershon's ruling and seek a stay pending appeal. It's unclear why the Obama Administration isn't doing the responsible thing and waiting for the case to work its way through the judicial system.
Oh wait ... perhaps it is.
Hype and Chains.
background:
ACORN's Nutty Regime for Cities
Acorn Squash
Barack Obama's Involvement with ACORN
The ISSA Report: ACORN Rebranding
Tracking ACORN's Rebranding: A Handy Updated Guide