Despite the best efforts by local organizer Glenn Burleigh to put a brave face on the panicked retreat of Democrats from anything to do with ACORN, the bad news keeps piling up.
1) The OMB has issued an order to cut all ties with ACORN and its progeny.
None of the funds made available by this joint resolution or any prior Act may be provided to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations.
That includes two major branches of SEIU, who in turn are also funded by other SEIU chapters. As has been noted by others, the OMB is a temporary order for this year and can be changed next year - but it's still a sign that the Obama administration considers ACORN tainted goods.
2) Dick Durbin files an amendment calling for an audit of ACORN and its affiliates.
Normally we'd laugh at the Illinois Senator pretending to be on the side of good government, but this amendment gives cover to everyone who supports ACORN. Durbin is pro-ACORN, but any audit, no matter who runs it, is going to find massive discrepancies between money funneled into the organization and money funneled out of the organization. They're terrible at keeping books, and most important, as Burleigh himself admits, they mix political and community work in the same people and paycheck. Even an audit by ACORN's biggest backers is going to raise more uncomfortable questions.
3) Take for example ACORN Housing in Louisiana, which took in hundreds of thousands of dollars, and yet seems to be having a problem explaining where it all went.
More than two years before an ersatz pimp and prostitute raised troubling questions about Acorn Housing Corp.’s financial advice, Louisiana officials criticized the organization’s bookkeeping as it denied the group tens of thousands of dollars from a potential $1.5 million state contract.
The office overseeing the contract recommended against rehiring Acorn Housing in part because it couldn’t document its work. The contract was designed to inform low-income residents about the Road Home program and help them apply for post-hurricane benefits.
4) Louisiana isn't the only place with a problem. ACORN HOUSING IN MISSOURI got $100,000 from Mayor Slay, then up and disappeared with nothing to show for it. In their wake, they left dozens of badly filed foreclosure papers, no documentation of how they spent that grant, and have been accused of using the money to fund political operations in federal court.
Where did the money for St Louis go to? Oh, we're going to find out.
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