Newt Gingrich: The real ACORN scandal: Its enablers
By: Newt Gingrich
Examiner Columnist
September 18, 2009
It's hard to know who should be more embarrassed by the revelations about the radical group ACORN, the mainstream media or the politicians who have funneled taxpayer dollars to the group for years.
It took two amateur twentysomething filmmakers to do what ABC, NBC and CBS couldn't or wouldn't: Expose an ongoing, taxpayer-funded criminal enterprise.
These intrepid filmmakers have now supplied video of four Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now offices providing detailed instructions on how to defraud the government in furtherance of child prostitution and human trafficking. So far, ACORN staffers in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York and San Diego have been caught on tape "community organizing" for what they thought was a prostitute and her pimp.
Like I said, it took two kids to expose the scam, but it took a whole lot of liberal politicians to support it over the years. So congratulations to the 345 members of the House who voted to defund ACORN yesterday. But there's more work yet to do.
What's most shameful for Washington about this whole sordid affair is that this is not ACORN's first documented violation of the law.
ACORN has a long history of engaging in voter fraud. Seventy ACORN staffers in 12 states have been convicted of voter registration fraud by adding such notables as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to the voter rolls.
And the reason ACORN has continued to receive taxpayer funding despite these convictions - it has received federal funding totaling $54 million since 1994 - is the politicians its "community organizing activities" have served. Although it exists on paper to connect low-income families with affordable housing and social services, ACORN is in fact the political dirty tricks muscle of liberal Democrats.
Operating under a variety of names and both tax-exempt and non-tax-exempt legal structures, ACORN, according to a recent House report, engages in "a criminal conspiracy ... to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American public."
Here's how the deal works: Liberal politicians ensure that ACORN continues to receive federal grants through agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development and, in turn, ACORN turns out shock troops to support liberal programs and candidates.
Before yesterday's historic vote, no fewer than seven amendments that would have prohibited or conditioned the receipt of federal funds by ACORN were defeated by the majority Democrats in the House in the past year. In one case, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said that "the powers that be" in the Democratic-controlled House had put a stop to an investigation of the group.
The excuse offered by ACORN's remaining defenders is essentially this: Sure, the tapes are reprehensible, but otherwise, ACORN does good work in poor communities. This excuse is unconvincing when used by defenders of the terrorist group Hamas and it's unconvincing here. Americans can no longer allow Washington to turn a blind eye - much less fund - an organization that uses the suffering of our most vulnerable citizens as a cover for its illegal and illicit activities.
So kudos, once again, to the House for cutting off funding of this group. But just defunding ACORN isn't enough. Americans deserve to know exactly what laws have been bent and broken and which politicians have benefited.
Republicans should propose and Democrats should support a thorough, independent, investigation of ACORN's octopuslike structure, including all of its associations with organized labor and its sources of federal funding. The books of its various associated groups and subsidiaries should be meticulously audited.
What's more, Attorney General Eric Holder should follow the lead of at least 14 states and start a federal investigation of ACORN. If Democrats want the American people to believe they're serious about their denunciations of the group's behavior, they will support such an investigation.
Thanks to two courageous young filmmakers, it's no longer possible for liberals and their allies in the media, to cry "vast right-wing conspiracy!" in response to damning revelations about ACORN. The evidence is right there, in living color. If Democrats aren't embarrassed enough to do something about it, I have no doubt the American people will.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has published 19 books, including 10 fiction and nonfiction best-sellers. He is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation and chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future. For more information, see newt.org. His exclusive column for The Examiner appears Fridays.
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