ACORNwatch.org http://acornwatch.org Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:06:41 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1847&Itemid=97 Fox News CHICAGO —  The once mighty community activist group ACORN says it's folding. National ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan says the organization's board decided to close remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1 because of falling revenues. Some other national operations will continue operating for at least several weeks before shutting for good.Scandal enveloped the organization six months ago when video footage emerged showing ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.Several big affiliates, including ACORN New York and California, broke away this year and changed their names in a bid to ditch the tarnished image of their parent organization and restore funding that ran dry in the wake of the video scandal.To read more, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589768,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589768,00.html) Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:37:34 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1848&Itemid=97 Fox News CHICAGO —  The once mighty community activist group ACORN says it's folding. National ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan says the organization's board decided to close remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1 because of falling revenues. Some other national operations will continue operating for at least several weeks before shutting for good.Scandal enveloped the organization six months ago when video footage emerged showing ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.Several big affiliates, including ACORN New York and California, broke away this year and changed their names in a bid to ditch the tarnished image of their parent organization and restore funding that ran dry in the wake of the video scandal.To read more, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589768,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589768,00.html) Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:37:34 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1849&Itemid=97 Fox News CHICAGO —  The once mighty community activist group ACORN says it's folding. National ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan says the organization's board decided to close remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1 because of falling revenues. Some other national operations will continue operating for at least several weeks before shutting for good.Scandal enveloped the organization six months ago when video footage emerged showing ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.Several big affiliates, including ACORN New York and California, broke away this year and changed their names in a bid to ditch the tarnished image of their parent organization and restore funding that ran dry in the wake of the video scandal.To read more, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589768,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589768,00.html) Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:37:34 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1846&Itemid=81 MADISON — Wisconsin residents applying for a driver’s license would be automatically registered to vote under a Democratic-backed election reform bill released Thursday.Automatically registering people to vote when they get a driver’s license would put the burden on the state, instead of the applicant, to ensure the process is completed. That differs from the federal motor voter law which makes voters responsible for registering when they obtain a driver’s license.Wisconsin is exempt from the federal motor voter law because it allows voters to register at the polls.Continue reading here:  http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/state-and-regional/wi/article_9cdbf2ce-3320-11df-a8bb-001cc4c03286.html (http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/state-and-regional/wi/article_9cdbf2ce-3320-11df-a8bb-001cc4c03286.html) Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:10:16 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1845&Itemid=64 TROY — City Democrats are calling for the resignation of their party chairman, claiming that he has done nothing to support them in recent years and is a poor leader.A letter was sent to city Democratic chairman Frank LaPosta this week which criticized his work in the position and called for his resignation within seven days.Two copies of the letter, one signed by six members of the City Council and another signed by six Democratic committee members, were delivered Tuesday by the council’s recently-appointed confidential assistant, Anthony Renna.Continue reading here:   http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/03/19/news/doc4ba300ba11573832061710.txt (http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/03/19/news/doc4ba300ba11573832061710.txt) Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:06:25 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1844&Itemid=97  BALTIMORE — The community organizing group Acorn (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/association_of_community_organizations_for_reform_now_acorn/index.html?inline=nyt-org), battered politically from the right and suffering from mismanagement along with a severe loss of government and other funds, is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, officials of the group said Friday. Acorn is holding a teleconference this weekend to discuss plans for a bankruptcy filing, two officials of the group said. They asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the news media. Over the last six months, at least 15 of the group’s 30 state chapters have disbanded and have no plans of re-forming, Acorn officials said. The California and New York chapters, two of the largest, have severed their ties to the national group and have independently reconstituted themselves with new names. Several other state groups are also re-forming outside the Acorn umbrella, and will not be affected if the national organization files for bankruptcy. This week, the Maryland chapter announced that it would not reopen its offices, which were shuttered in September in the wake of a widely publicized series of video recordings made by two conservative... Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:37:58 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1843&Itemid=97 By MICHAEL TARM (AP) – 2 hours ago CHICAGO — Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal. The letters A, C, O, R and N are coming off office doors from New York to California. Business cards are being reprinted. New signs with new names are popping up in front of offices. The breakaways are trying to shed the scandal that emerged six months ago when videos showed some ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. But while their names are different, most groups have kept the same offices and staff. That, critics say, means the groups really haven't started anew and severed all ties to ACORN, which faced accusations of mismanagement and rampant voter registration fraud well before the video brouhaha sent even longtime Democratic backers scattering. Even the national office of ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, doesn't... Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:53:18 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1842&Itemid=79 WASHINGTON, --The public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailing federal investigations into the alleged corrupt activities of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The documents reference serious allegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by ACORN as well as the Obama administration's decision to shut down a criminal investigation without filing criminal charges. The documents include background information on two specific complaints filed in October 2008 by Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges, Republican Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, respectively, during the 2008 election season. According to Corelli, on August 1, 2008, her office received 1,200 ACORN voter registration cards from the Secretary of State's office. Over 300 of these cards were rejected because of "duplicates, underage, illegible and invalid addresses," which "put a tremendous strain on our office staff and caused endless work hours at taxpayers' expense." Corelli claimed the total cost of the extra work caused by ACORN corruption was $20,000. Likewise, Borges contended that: "The organization ACORN during the... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:16:30 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1841&Itemid=64 NEW YORK — A federal judge who found it unconstitutional that Congress tried to cut funding to the activist group ACORN has rejected a government request to change her mind and has ordered government agencies to make it clear the funding isn't blocked. In a written ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon made permanent her conclusion last year that the cutoff of funding was unconstitutional. She ordered all federal agencies to put the word out about it. The Brooklyn judge said ACORN was punished by Congress without the enactment of administrative processes to decide if money had been handled inappropriately. She said the harm to ACORN's reputation continues because the government never rescinded its advice to withhold funding after it was distributed to "hundreds, if not thousands, of recipients." ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, describes itself as an advocate for low-income and minority home buyers and residents. Critics of the group say it has engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement and has violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities. Last year,... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:43 +0100 http://acornwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1840&Itemid=96 The nation's largest provider of voting equipment will unwind its acquisition last year of its principal rival as part of an antitrust settlement with Maryland and eight other states, the Department of Justice announced.Election Systems & Software completed its purchase of Premier Election Solutions Inc., formerly Diebold Inc. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/diebold-incorporated-ORCRP004540.topic), six days before bids were due for the installation of a new optical scan voting system in Maryland. The acquisition limited the state to contracting with the Omaha, Neb., giant or continuing with its current system, according to the office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. The state chose to continue with the current system.Election Systems & Software agreed to divest itself of all the assets it acquired in the September 2009 purchase of Premier, which was then the second-largest provider of voting equipment in the country. Gansler said in a statement that the settlement will restore balance in the marketplace, and that Maryland will enjoy the benefits of competition when it seeks vendors to install voting machines after this year. ES&S and Premier had accounted for more than 70 percent of voting equipment systems in the nation.The state's history with Premier stretches back for years and includes an $8.5 million... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:10:25 +0100