Opinion
News media barred from ACORN meeting at Center for American Progress
By: Kevin Mooney
Commentary Staff Writer
05/28/09 1:41 PM EDT
Freedom of the press stopped at the door of the Center for American Progress earlier today when this reporter and a camera crew from Fox News were barred from covering a "briefing and discussion" meeting of left-wing advocacy groups worried about recent coverage of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN).
Brian Kettenring, an ACORN spokesman, refused to allow journalists to cover the meeting, which was slated to include representatives from 10 organizations.The featured speaker at the meeting was Bertha Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer and CEO.
A spokesman for CAP declined to say if the liberal think tank approved of the ACORN's spokesman barring journalists from covering the meeting.
Listed on an invitation to the meeting as sponsors were the Alliance for Justice, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, Common Cause, Fair Elections Legal Network, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, People for the American Way, and Project Vote.
“The conservative campaign against ACORN and its voter registration campaign continues unabated,” the meeting announcement said.“These attacks should be understood in historical context, but also as a pretext for an affirmative strategy to demobilize voters of color. Thursday’s presentation and discussion will feature a range of speakers laying out the facts, answering questions, and discussing how to advance both a concrete message and a transcendent policy approach.”
The meeting was apparently sparked by recent coverage in the Examiner and Fox News of the fact ACORN is under criminal investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud.
The Examiner and Fox have also covered allegations by members of the ACORN 8, a dissident group made up of present and former ACORN officers and members concerning financial, legal and management abuses.
The dissidents have raised numerous questions about ACORN's operations. They claim ACORN leaders use an affiliated group known as Citizens Consulting Inc. (CCI) to control the finances and activities of multiple allied organizations.
Tax documents examined by the Examiner indicate multiple links among ACORN, CCI and at least a dozen allied organizations at the state and national levels.
ACORN8 members have told the Examiner that “white liberals” in key ACORN leadership positions are responsible for questionable financial activities and illegal voter registration efforts that have generated internal dissent and widespread media coverage.
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