Opinion
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ACORN could be fined $2,000 for missing PAC financial report
By: Kevin Mooney
Commentary Staff Writer
08/05/09 5:53 PM EDT
Campaign finance officials could fine the Washington D.C. Political Action Committee (PAC) for the Association of Community Activists for Reform Now (ACORN)’s up to $2,000 for its failure to observe the deadline for filing a report on receipts and expenditures, according to a hearing notice.
ACORN submitted an affidavit with a copy of the delayed report in lieu of sending representatives to appear in person on July 27 for a scheduled hearing, Wesley Williams, the public affairs manager for the Office of Campaign Finance D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics said. The D.C. ACORN (PAC) failed to observe a January 31, 2009 deadline for filing the report, the hearing notice shows.
“The hearing officer will determine whether or not ACORN will be fined,” Williams said. “There is no firm deadline but it should take about 30 days or so for a final decision. It is permissible to submit an affidavit in lieu of appearing in person but it is always better to respond to questions face to face.”
Civil penalties provide that a PAC could be fined the equivalent of $50.00 per day times the number of days late with the maximum penalty set at $2,000.00
The hearing notice was addressed to Ronald Sykes, the treasurer for ACORN’s D.C. (PAC), but he told The Examiner that he has been locked out of exercising any control over finances by ACORN’s national organization. He declined to attend the July 27 hearing as a way forcing an investigation into the national organization’s finances. Sykes also said ACORN has used the Citizens Consulting Inc. (CCI) affiliate to maintain centralized control at the expense of local members.
“ACORN would just send us reports for the PAC after they had already spent the money,” Sykes said. “But the board for the PAC was not voting on and approving these expenditures, this is not how it’s supposed to be done. When I became the treasurer I asked for information so I could reconcile the books and find out who had been spending the money because the local board I was on was not approving any of this. That’s why I did not want to sign off on any reports. There was no accountability.”
Sykes is now active with ACORN 8, a whistleblower group, that was formed in response to an embezzlement scandal involving Dale Rathke, the brother of Wade Rathke, who founded ACORN. Dale embezzled over $1 million from ACORN, while working for CCI, according to court documents. Sykes and other ACORN 8 members have called for further investigation into ACORN’s finances.
The report ACORN submitted to the D.C. campaign office shows total expenditures of $97.97 dollars and total cash on hand of $1,123.86 for the reporting period that ranged from August 1, 2008 to Jan 31, 2009.
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