ACORN: Bogus "Voter Fraud Charges" Aim to Camouflage Voter Suppression

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Obama to amend report on $800,000 in spending

By David M. Brown

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Friday, August 22, 2008

Buzz up!

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.

An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in "get-out-the-vote" projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.

FEC spokeswoman Mary Brandenberger said it is not unusual for campaigns to amend reports, even regarding large sums of money.

But, said Blair Latoff, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee: "Barack Obama's failure to accurately report his campaign's financial records is an incredibly suspicious situation that appears to be an attempt to hide his campaign's interaction with a left-wing organization previously convicted of voter fraud. For a candidate who claims to be practicing 'new' politics, his FEC reports look an awful lot like the 'old-style' Chicago politics of yesterday."

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Barack Obama's Involvement with ACORN Unearthed, Missing Article Recovered

While Barack Obama's connection with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has not gone entirely unreported, it has not been fully explained. Most media background pieces simply note Obama's involvement in a 1995 lawsuit on behalf of ACORN. Obama's own website, as well as most major media, fail to reveal the full depth and extent of his relationship with the organization.

Attempts to hide evidence of Obama's involvement with ACORN have included wiping the web clean of potentially damaging articles that had appeared, and were previously publicly accessible. Unfortunately, those behind the attempted cover-up failed to realize that in today's day and age, nothing disappears forever. There also exists another layer of the web, the hidden web, which is full of information included in proprietary scholarly databases where these very same "missing" articles can be easily uncovered.

Obama's campaign website states:

Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.

Is that really a FACT, or just another lie? Let's take a look at a quote from a 2004 article - Case Study: Chicago- The Barack Obama Campaign - written by Toni Foulkes, a Chicago ACORN Leader, which was published in the journal Social Policy. Did we mention that Social Policy recently pulled this particular article from their website, while leaving links to all other articles up?

"Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them).

Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for STate Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends."

Not only does Foulkes boast of Obama's ACORN leadership training, but also makes it clear that Obama's post-law school organizing of "Project VOTE" in 1992 was undertaken in direct partnership with ACORN. The tie between Project VOTE and ACORN is also something that Obama and others have attempted to disprove in recent weeks as ACORN has come under fire for allegations of voter registration fraud.

As recently as March 2008, the Los Angeles Times also made reference to Barack Obama's involvement with ACORN:

"At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff." (LA Times, March 2, 2008)

All this information was easily pulled up with minimal time investment. It took less than thirty minutes to find, despite attempts by some to bury the truth. If I could find this with little effort, imagine what could be dug up with a serious, in-depth investigation. Scary, isn't it?

Nevertheless, Barack Obama's campaign website continues to lie and deny the truth about his involvement and association with ACORN. No matter how many times you say it, it does not make it true. The facts do not lie, Senator Obama. It's time to come clean and tell the truth, and it's time for the American people to demand it.

***Update: A person who left a comment on the story below (thank you) has notified us that the Obama website has changed. We have done a follow up story that can be read following this link Here is our follow up story:

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/7231 ***

Obama Campaign Involved in More Cover-Ups in ACORN Scandal

On Thursday we revealed the connection between Barack Obama and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), and uncovered a 2004 article that discussed his involvement with the organization which had recently been removed from the web. Today, the cover-ups continue and language on Obama's fightthesmears.com website has been altered in order to make it look like he has been telling the truth about his ACORN associations all along.

Fortunately, we and many others online know how to do a screen capture and how to use a little something called Google Cache.

As of yesterday, Fightthesmears.com stated:

Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.

Sometime on Friday, the website was altered, and the text was changed to state:

Fact: ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee.

The mere fact that his campaign has now changed the language of the site shows that they have conceded the fact that their original remark was a bold-face lie. As a lawyer Sen. Obama should know the importance of language.

The original statement implied that he had no working connection with ACORN, whereas the new statement now insists that he has never been employed or hired by ACORN.

It is good to see the truth finally come out now, but why were they trying to hide his association with ACORN, and what else is Obama lying to us about? Perhaps the biggest question now is how and why they got the Social Policy article stricken from most of the world wide web in the first.place. What are they trying to hide?

[IAMX 3,055]

A Dose of Reality on the ACORN Hysteria

By Zachary Roth

It's worth taking a moment to step back from the slew of charges leveled over the last week at ACORN, the community-organizing group that Republicans and the McCain campaign have been trying to turn into a bogeyman for fears about vote fraud (and, of course, tie to Barack Obama).

The GOP has accused ACORN of submitting fraudulent voter registration forms numbering in the hundreds or thousands, in battleground states including Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, and Missouri.

But the most important point that's getting lost in the Fox-generated hysteria is that, according to voting experts, even when fraudulent voter registration forms are submitted, they virtually never lead to fraudulent votes being cast. Richard Hasen, a law professor at Loyola and an authority on voting law, wrote in a 2007 op-ed published last year in the Dallas Morning News and noted recently by TPM, that "the idea of massive polling-place fraud (through the use of inflated voter rolls) is inherently incredible," because of the sheer logistical challenges it would require to carry out on a large scale.

In many states, ACORN is required by law to turn in all the forms it collects, though the law differs from state to law, according to experts.

ACORN has consistently said that it flags suspicious forms for election officials. Indeed, in Nevada where last week an ACORN office was raided in an investigation headed by the Secretary of State, ACORN was already cooperating with authorities.

According to a statement from the group which has not been disputed by state officials, in July, ACORN set up a meeting with county elections officials and the Secretary of State's office to urge them to take action on information ACORN had provided. Since then, "ACORN has provided officials with copies and--in some cases--second copies of many of the personnel records and the 'problem card packages' and cover sheets with which we originally identified the problem cards."

It's also worth noting that similar allegations were made against ACORN in the last few election cycles, and several investigations were conducted, none of which found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Many of these were conducted by US attorneys, who were pressured by GOP political figures to investigate the issue, then fired after they failed to come up with sufficient evidence.

So as the GOP campaign to make an issue out of ACORN continues -- and we'll be keeping you posted as it does -- remember that the number of fraudulent votes that will be cast in November as a result of the group's voter-registration activities is close to zero. But the number of valid voters who could potentially have obstacles placed in their way of voting, as a result of the Republican campaign, is far larger.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...n_the_acorn.php

Indeed. All blowing hot air unless they can show fake votes are being cast.

The rest is merely smear bullshit like the Ayers and pastor thing.

Given the success in two previous elections of knocking voters off the rolls, and having a clear intent to do it again, GOP members who "contest votes" are clearly doing it to get Democrats knocked off the polls, and are aiming at urban college areas or areas laden with minorities, as before.

Edited October 14, 2008 by SRVT

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Here's Johnny hanging at an ACORN sponsored event just two years ago.

[IAMX 3,055]

Here's Johnny hanging at an ACORN sponsored event just two years ago.

He was a POW of ACORN's terrorist activities.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Here's Johnny hanging at an ACORN sponsored event just two years ago.

He was a POW of ACORN's terrorist activities.

I don't see the shackles.

[IAMX 3,055]

Here's Johnny hanging at an ACORN sponsored event just two years ago.

He was a POW of ACORN's terrorist activities.

I don't see the shackles.

It's around his right wrist, and somewhere inside that blob under his chin.

The black guy's hands are tied together as well!

This is clearly a hostage situation.

[justashooter 430]

Bogus "Voter Fraud Charges" Aim to Camouflage Voter Suppression

bogus fraudulent voters aim to camouflage legitimate voter intent.

[HAL 9000 96]

When voter intent equals voter suppression, let us know. Unless, of course- when the suppressors are themselves voters.

[symbiosis 0]

CNN did a piece on Indiana recently. It was interesting to note how the network failed to mention racist and partisan remarks made by the Secretary of State just a year ago. And then to hear that his office had sampled the ACORN ballots, decided they were mostly bogus and set them aside "to work on legitimate ballots." It very much smacks of a set up and anyone that can't see it is a dolt or deliberately disingenuous. It's a virtual repeat of Florida in 2000, except the GOP has launched a nationwide campaign. They may not succeed, but they will TRY to steal this election (again!):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rokita

In April 2007, Rokita was discussing how 90 percent of African Americans vote Democratic, after which he asked, "How can that be? Ninety to 10. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?" Four days after making those remarks, he apologized.

[justashooter 430]

GOP steal it? that's rich.

haven't heard of any republican cats or dead people registered yet.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

In April 2007, Rokita was discussing how 90 percent of African Americans vote Democratic, after which he asked, "How can that be? Ninety to 10. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?" Four days after making those remarks, he apologized.

He had a good point. Too bad he apologized.

[IAMX 3,055]

In April 2007, Rokita was discussing how 90 percent of African Americans vote Democratic, after which he asked, "How can that be? Ninety to 10. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?" Four days after making those remarks, he apologized.

He had a good point. Too bad he apologized.

He likely realized what a stupid comment that was, comparing slavery to a friggen vote. Too bad you're a bit behind him.

[zqt3344 21]

The only voter suppression I see is my freedoms and liberties along with the rest of the legally registered voters in the USA! Get real, this is total scam operation by ACORN and will be shut down and needs to be yanked from any federal funding, what a total waste of taxpayer money. I cannot believe the level of crime you advocate, how disgusting, what do you think this is, America a third world country, is that what you want? Pathetic how you try to spin Ovomit's ties to a criminal group.

Bogus "Voter Fraud Charges" Aim to Camouflage Voter Suppression

October 10, 2008

ACORN has just completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in U.S. history. We helped 1.3 million low-income, minority and young voters across the country register to vote.

Unfortunately, just as in 2006, that success in bringing people into the democratic process, have been greeted with unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate.

After a similar spate of charges against ACORN in 2006, we learned that then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had fired Republican U.S. Attorneys because they refused to prosecute ACORN and other voter assistance groups on trumped up fraud charges. This was the heart of the U.S. Attorney-gate scandal that led Karl Rove, Gonzales and other top Department of Justice officials to resign. Because the press didn’t catch on until long after the election, it was part of a successful strategy to create an unfounded specter of voter fraud and to suppress voting.

Key Facts:

1. In order to help 1.3 million people register to vote, we hired more than 13,000 registration assistance workers. As with any business or agency that operates at this scale, there are always some people who want to get paid without really doing the job, or who aim to defraud their employer. Any large department store will have some workers who shoplift.

2. Any large voter registration operation will have a small percentage of workers who turn in bogus registration forms, Their goal clearly is not to cast a fraudulent vote. It is simply to defraud their employer, ACORN, by getting a paycheck without earning it. ACORN is the victim of this fraud – not the perpetrator.

3. In nearly every case that has been reported , it was ACORN that discovered the bad forms, and called them to the attention of election authorities, putting the forms in a package that identified them in writing as suspicious, encouraging election officials to investigate, and offering to help with prosecutions. We are required by law to turn in all forms, but instead of just turning them in and figuring that it is the responsibility of the board of elections to figure out which are valid, we spend millions of dollars verifying that forms are valid, and then separate out those that are suspicious.

4. This has nothing to do with “voter fraud” – nothing at all to do with anyone trying to cast an extra vote. There has never been a single reported instance in which bogus registration forms have led to anyone voting improperly. To do that, they would have to show up at the polls, prove their identity as all first-time registrants must, and risk jail. The people who turned in these forms did so not because they wanted an extra vote, but because they didn’t care enough to make sure eligible people got to vote at all.

5. When a department store calls the police to report a shoplifting employee, no one says the department store is guilty of consumer fraud. But for some reason, when ACORN turns voter registration workers over to the authorities for filling out bogus forms, it gets accused of “voter fraud.” This is a classic case of blaming the victim; indeed, these charges are outrageous, libelous, and often politically motivated.

6. Similar attacks were launched against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. The bogus charges were at the heart of the U.S. Attorney-gate scandal that led to the resignations of Karl Rove, Attorney General Ablerto Gonzales and other top Justice Department Officials. It turned out that it was the charges that were fraudulent, and that they were part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression. Republican U.S. Attorneys David Iglesias (NM), Todd Graves (MO), and John McKay (WA) all were fired primarily because they refused to prosecute similar bogus charges of “voter fraud.” Another U.S. Attorney, Bradley Schlozman, who did politicize prosecutions against former ACORN canvassers, was forced to acknowledge under cross examination by the Senate Judiciary Committee that ACORN was the victim of fraud by its employees and ACORN had caught the employees and had identified them to law enforcement.

7. The goals of the people orchestrating these attacks are to distract ACORN from helping people vote and to justify massive voter suppression. That’s the real voter fraud; the noise about a small fraction of the forms ACORN has turned in is meant to get the press and public take their eyes off the real threat, while those hurling the charges are stealing people’s right to vote in broad daylight. They have already tried to prevent Ohio from registering voters at its early voting sites. In Michigan, they planned to use foreclosure notices to challenge thousands of voters. And if this year is like past years, they are preparing to use this so-called voter fraud to justify massive challenges to voters in minority precincts on Election Day.

The Details:

Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.

Fact: ACORN flags in writing incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in,. Unfortunately, some of these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards. In many cases, we can actually prove that these are the same cards we called to their attention.

Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card . ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.

Fact: No criminal charges related to voter registration have ever been brought against ACORN or partner organizations. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes — evidence which in most cases WE called to the attention of authorities

Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN’s good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.

Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered

ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves.

http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22383&tx_ttnews[backPid]=12340&cHash=ef14f35f55

[Jack and Barbara 0]

About The Consumers Rights League:

The Consumers Rights League is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to protecting consumer choice and access to the marketplace. Through investigative analysis, CRL produces quality research that thoroughly documents the real-world choices and challenges consumers face and reports on the benefits enjoyed by an overwhelming majority of consumers. Learn more about CRL's mission at www.consumersrightsleague.org .

SOURCE Consumers Rights League

http://www.consumersrightsleague.org

Using a statement from CRL stating that it is a "non-partisan educational organization" from its own website as proof of it being non-partisan is somewhat illogical. There are other sources out there that paint CRL as a lobbying group for the credit card industry which may refute this article altogether as anything but credible.