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House panel makes ACORN eligible to share regulatory authority

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
10/27/09 5:53 PM EDT

Besides giving advice on avoiding taxes and fraudulently getting home loans for brothels featuring 13-year-old Salvadoran girls illegally smuggled into this country, ACORN officials could soon be helping regulate your local bank, thanks to an amendment adopted by Rep. Barney Frank's House Financial Services Committee.

The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, and provided that five slots on the oversight board for the proposed new Consumer Financial Protection Agency be reserved for representatives of "consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages."

Waters is among ACORN's longest and most faithful congressional supporters, and her amendment reads like it might well have been written for her by an ACORNer, or a staffer formerly associated with the controversial community organization.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-AL, the Ranking Minority Member on the Frank Committee, says there is a whopping potential conflict of interest as a result of the amendment:

"By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market."

You can view the votes of individual members of the Frank Committee on the Waters amendment here.

You can read the full Bachus statement on the Waters amendment here.

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Reader Comments

All comments on this page are subject to our Terms of Use and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Examiner or its staff. Comment box is limited to 250 words.

Rocky

Oct 27, 2009

Rep Frank thinks he can put ACORN in this position and the American people are going to stand around and watch while he perverts our country. Rep Waters has been voted in by gangs in California from the beginning. These two are trying to make America over in their image. This is typical of DC, filled with perverts and people that hate white people that are now running things.

NightFire

Oct 28, 2009

An affiliate of ACORN is still listed as a federally approved charity, just like Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity....

Mike

Oct 28, 2009

This is sickening.

Maine Mariner

Oct 28, 2009

This is a total shocker...Waters and Frank... no ethics, no morality....right from the morality cesspool of the US House of Reps.

flacracker

Oct 28, 2009

Pardon me for repeating myself, but the inmates are now running the institution. Heaven help us.

ssquared

Oct 28, 2009

Thuroughly nauseating ammendment by Waters and Frank's committee.
This demonstrates Congress' utter disdain for ethics, the law and the voters.....and hopefully the beginning of the end for a lot of political careers as voters finally say "Enough is enough!" to these dirty rotten scoundrals.

Mad Monica

Oct 28, 2009

Like I've said all along, that defunding vote won't last. We'll find ACORN running the census along with everything else by the time Obama's run is done. And that run, if ACORN and the left have anything to say about it, will be looooong indeed.

Big-K

Oct 28, 2009

Until I see criminal charges other than a few misguided employees who should be fired all I see against Accorn are the same noise started by the birthers, right wing nuts, tea baggers and the No Republican party.

coerciveutopian

Oct 28, 2009

Blackwater: Murder and $55M in fraud
LokheedMartin: $68M in 11 fraud cases
Northrop Gurmman: $500M in 9 fraud cases
ArmorGroup: prostitution
DynCorp: Child prostitution
KBR: killed 16 US troops through shoddy workmanship, gang-raped an employee, exposed hundreds of soldiers to toxic chemicals.

Wheres the outrage from Republicans over these companies?

bobc

Oct 28, 2009

My God! As immoral as Frank & Waters are, how could they do this?

ACORN is just like the Mob...when they entered banks and plopped down on the floors demanding home loans....is nothing more than blackmail....now why are our tax dollars given without our consent, to this gang?

Jose Garcia

Oct 28, 2009

Wasn't the Honorable Rep. Waters the politician who told the oil companies that she would favor a government takeover of the oil companies????...P.S...Hey Mr. coerciveutopian,put the bong down and point fingers at the Dems also...They are just as money hungry as any corrupt Repubs are...Maybe more so...

MrLouis

Oct 28, 2009

Ah! The excuse I was looking for to have them done away with. Be seeing YOU!

Jimmy62

Oct 29, 2009

coerciveutopian, you are nuts if you don't think there are just as many Dem hands getting money from those companies you list. Many of us may lean right, but are disgusted with both parties. However, we are also not saying that Lockheed should be able to regulate financial companies. That's what you are saying about ACORN. What expertise do they have to bring to the table? Absolutely none, except how to hide prostitution income from the IRS.

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House panel makes ACORN eligible to share regulatory authority

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
10/27/09 5:53 PM EDT