ACORN employees offering advice to a
"pimp" and a "prostitute" on how to skirt the law.
FaxDC Exposed ACORN -
Minuteman Steve Goes On Site!
Alert: ACORN votes are nothing but 'cover'
U.S.
Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the U.S. House of
Representatives, is demanding a straight up-or-down vote on a bill dedicated
to removing ACORN from the list of recipients of federal largesse, or says
he'll force the issue.
And a key conservative vote, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says
unless there is such an action, it will mean the recent votes on that very
issue were nothing but "cover."
Filmmaker James O'Keefe and an associate, Hannah Giles, for the last week
have been posting undercover videos on the Big
Government.com
website, revealing the actions and attitudes of employees of ACORN, an
organization for whom President Obama once worked.
The
two posed as a pimp and prostitute and have asked questions about setting up
brothels, importing underage girls for prostitution and tax issues, largely
getting affirmative help from the ACORN employees, several of whom already
have been fired for their statements.
One of the undercover videos feature a woman identified as Tresa Kaelke at
an ACORN office in California:.
The result has been that the U.S. Census Bureau has cut ties to Acorn and
both houses of Congress have taken votes to halt
funding to the organization. The problem with that, Bachmann says, is that
the votes were on amendments to different bills and "still have far to go
before they reach the president's pen for signature into law."
Bachmann warns, "ACORN still remains eligible for billions of your tax
dollars."
"And don't think that the Democrats
won't try to strip the ACORN language from whatever bill finally makes it to
the White House," Bachmann continued. "These votes were their cover.
"They think that you'll be fooled into thinking that they've heard your
outrage and are abandoning their good buddy, ACORN."
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Boehner today called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to schedule an
immediate up-or-down vote on legislation to end all federal funding for
ACORN as a separate, stand-alone bill.
His demand comes just a day after the House adopted that as an amendment on
a 345-75 vote.
"Yesterday's
overwhelming bipartisan vote to defund ACORN represented critical progress
in our effort to sever this corrupt organization's ties to the federal
government, but it was only the beginning," he said. "Now that the House has
spoken in such resounding fashion, Speaker Pelosi should schedule an
up-or-down vote on the Defund ACORN Act without delay. This critical
priority should not be held hostage to a government takeover of student
lending.
"If the speaker refuses to act, I will file a discharge petition to force a
vote on this legislation. The sooner we can send the Defund ACORN Act as a
stand-alone bill to the Senate, which has already voted to deny federal
funds to this corrupt outfit, the sooner we can get it to the president's
desk," he said. "Every day we continue to allow ACORN access to federal
funding is another opportunity for this troubled organization to misuse and
abuse taxpayer dollars," Boehner said.
Bachmann noted that the Senate had had a similar vote just before the House.
But her spokeswoman, Debbee Keller, told WND that while the initial votes
look good, they don't actually mean much yet.
"There is one way that we can
immediately cut ACORN off from all federal programs and funding, and it's
going to take all of us pressuring President Obama to use the federal
suspension and debarment process to make it happen," Bachmann explained.
"This process is coordinated by the Office of Management and Budget at the
White House.
"Here's what the executive branch says about the process: 'The government
debarment and suspension procedures are
intended to prevent poor performance, waste, fraud and abuse in federal
procurement and nonprocurement actions. Debarment or suspension of an
organization, business or individual from doing business with the federal
government is not meant to be a punishment, but a procedure to ensure that
federally funded business is conducted legally with responsible persons,'"
Bachman explained.
"Sounds to me like there is ample evidence against ACORN to initiate and
execute this process, cutting them off from funding altogether!" she said.
"I've already written the administration to ask that the process be
invoked."
Bachmann
also is assembling a petition in opposition to ACORN.
Individual states also have started removing their subsidies to various
ACORN entities.
Bachman suggested that with the recent votes in Congress, the follow-up
should be "a thorough investigation by the IRS, DOJ, and Congress into
ACORN's years of shady activities and abuse of the law and public trust."
The newest video at
BigGovernment.com shows a worker appearing
willing to help smuggle underage girls into the U.S. for prostitution.
In addition, the
worker asks the undercover filmmaker's associate, posing as a prostitute,
"How much?
"How much you charge" the video
reveals ACORN worker Juan Carlos asking the "prostitute," played by Hannah
Giles, who was accompanying filmmaker James O'Keefe. The two have unveiled a
series of undercover videos from various ACORN offices across the United
States, revealing a willingness to help set up a brothel and other attitudes
that have prompted both houses of Congress to vote to discontinue federal
funding for the group.
"For her services?" the filmmaker responds.
"Well for the entire weekend…," his assistant starts.
"Are you gonna work for me…," says the ACORN employee.
"Are
you a potential client?" the filmmaker asks.
"No, no, no. I want to know what is it," the ACORN employee says.
The worker earlier told the pair he was a lawyer, went to school in Mexico
and suggests Tijuana as a shipping
point for the dozen underage Salvadoran girls they explain they expect to be
brought to the U.S. for prostitution.
WND has documented the long history that Obama has of interaction with the
organization.
It was a video from San Bernardino in which an ACORN worker boasted of
having shot her ex-husband. She also bragged she knows how to avoid
detection in running a brothel.
ACORN,
which has fired workers caught in several earlier compromising videos, has
alleged they are manipulated, and has threatened a lawsuit against the
filmmaker and websites, as well as Fox News, for the reports that show ACORN
workers advising on how to fake tax forms, set up a child prostitution
business and other issues. Giles, a 20-year-old college student and
political activist, originally came up with the idea for the undercover
project at the beginning of a summer internship she was doing in Washington,
D.C.
While jogging through part of D.C. she saw an ACORN facility, which piqued
her already existing interest in undercover investigative reporting. She
contacted O'Keefe, who was part of a series of undercover Planned Parenthood
reports, and pitched the idea to him.
The two funded their project completely, and traveled from Maryland, to
Washington, D.C., to New York to Southern
California to expose ACORN.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now describes itself
as a team of families "working together for social justice and stronger
communities," had been accused multiple times of voter fraud. (WND)
According to USASpending.gov,
a federal government Web site for tracking government grants, ACORN Housing
Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income
communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30. The Department of Housing
and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN between 2003
and 2006, as well as $1.6 million to ACORN affiliates.
