Opinion
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The 'other ACORN story' is how little it does with your millions
By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
10/11/09 8:43 AM EDT
One of the over-looked angles on the growing ACORN national scandal is how little the far-left activist group actually does with the millions it receives from taxpayers, corporations, and foundations. The group says it provide lots of services for poor people, but a recent NewsBusters post by Tom Blumer exposes the hollow facts behind the claims.
Blumer compiled ACORN claims about its services from the group's web site and from various press accounts, then began applying some simple arithmetic. The results are quite revealing and raise more troubling questions about what ACORN does with its millions:
“Since its inception, according to its Web site, the corporation has assisted more than 45,000 families to become first-time homeowners and has rehabbed more than 850 vacant or abandoned housing units.
“What?
“Even if those totals were for only 5 years instead of 23, that would be 1.57 families per office per week (45,000 divided by 110 cities divided by 5 years divided by 52). It seems pretty obvious that the real number is a lot lower than 1.57. Again assuming only 5 years instead of 23, the rehabs are less than 1.6 per city per full year (850 divided by 110 divided by 5). Habitat for Humanity (this is a huge understatement) runs circles around that.
“Again, what in the world are these people doing all day?”
Blumer applies the same process to ACORN claims to provide tax-advice services and comes to a similar conclusion - what are these people doing all day?
You can read the rest of Blumer's analysis here.
There is hope that Congress will eventually focus some genuine investigative attention on ACORN, as several Ranking Minority Members of major House committees have asked federal department and agency heads for information on the extent of funding their organizations provide to the controversial far-left non-profit.
On the Homeland Security Committee's management, investigations and oversight subcommittee, for example, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-FL, has asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for "information on the distribution and oversight of the Department of Homeland Security's funding to ACORN and its affiliates." You can read the full letter, which was also signed by Rep. Peter King, R-NY, the top GOPer on the full Homeland security panel, here.
“There needs to be an immediate accounting of any funding ACORN is receiving from the Department of Homeland Security,” Bilirakis said in the letter. “Scarce homeland security resources should only be provided to reputable organizations that will strengthen our nation’s security, not wasted on those that won’t.”
Previously, Bilirakis questioned why the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded a grant of nearly $1 million from the Fire Prevention and Safety program to ACORN. After Bilirakis challenged the decision, FEMA officials backed off, saying they would not povide the funding to ACORN.
Last month, the Examiner's Barbara Hollingsworth reported on the utter lack of effectiveness of the fire grant program, based on a comprehensive mutliple regression analysis conducted by the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation.
The $800 million program is being continued by the Democratic majority in Congress despite the fact there is no evidence whatsoever that it has done anything to reduce the number of firemen injured or killed on the job, or reduced property damage resulting from fires.
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