ACORN Tactics

Published February 11, 2009 5:00am ET



A selection of ACORN tactics:

* Disrupt government meetings, such as a closed session of the Chicago City Council, where ACORN members pushed over a metal detector and prevented aldermen from entering the chamber.

* Disrupt a bankers’ dinner with inflated rubber sharks and demonstrate in the lobbies of banks that refuse to attend a national ACORN-sponsored “bank summit.”

* Intimidate local officials by sending busloads of chanting supports to pay a “surprise visit.”

* Organize political demonstrations for favored candidates.

* Picket companies that refused to cooperate with ACORN, using a 12-foot inflated rat.

* Target local officials’ homes like that of former Baltimore mayor and now Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

* Threaten to sue banks for discrimination, then collect their “donations.” — Barbara Hollingsworth