EDITORIAL: Reid blocks ACORN probe - Opinion

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Sep. 25, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Reid blocks ACORN probe

Tracking abuse by political allies could be 'distracting'

ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- is stinking up Washington.

And this is far more significant than if a suspiciously large number of operatives for a purely "private" outfit had been found systematically bending and breaking the law, because ACORN receives and spends taxpayer money -- lots of it -- and had carried the imprimatur of official partnerships with the IRS, the Census Bureau ... the kind of "cred" that in the political world comes only from "who you know."

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Yes, ACORN has friends in high places -- friends who are still stonewalling attempts to trace where all that tax money went ... perhaps because they know who still has cookie crumbs all over their hands.

It didn't start with those undercover videos made by a couple of independent filmmakers posing as a prostitute and her pimp, visiting various ACORN offices around the country and getting helpful advice on how to hide their income and "qualify" for a tax-subsidized mortgage to set up a house of ill repute, declaring three of their dozen (albeit imaginary) underage illegal immigrant prostitutes as "dependents."

That was just a final shoe dropping loudly enough that the problem could no longer be ignored.

Here in Clark County, Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said last year he saw "rampant fraud in the 2,000 to 3,000 registrations ACORN turns in every week," with some 48 percent of those forms being "clearly fraudulent."

The Las Vegas headquarters of ACORN, "a Democrat-allied organization," was raided after being "accused of submitting multiple voter registrations with duplicate and false names," the Washington Times reported last fall. The outfit claimed it had registered to vote in Nevada, among others, the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

The raid "set off a skirmish over efforts to expand the electorate on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama," the Times reported.

Mr. Lomax noted ACORN had hired 59 inmates from a work-release program at a nearby prison and that some inmates who had been convicted of identity theft had been made supervisors. "That led some local wags to joke that at least ACORN was hiring specialists to do their work," reported John Fund at The Politico, last November.

ACORN's 2008 Las Vegas field director, Christopher Edwards, pleased guilty last spring to two gross misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit compensation for registration of voters, in a deal that saw him agree to testify against fellow defendants.

Fox News' Eric Shawn reported there were at least 11 investigations across the country involving thousands of potentially fraudulent ACORN forms. Yet none of this was sufficient to block President Obama and his congressional minions from upping federal subsidies to outfits such as Mr. Obama's former associates at ACORN from the mere millions to the billions of dollars in their "economic stimulus" bill last winter.

Only when presented with the undeniable evidence of the "pimp and ho" videotape did the IRS last week announce it would terminate ACORN's participation in the agency's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program -- shortly after the Census Bureau advised ACORN it could forget about helping with its decennial head count.

Smoke? Fire? Washington Democratic leaders have opted to just lay low and not smell nothin'.

Despite all this evidence and a request in writing by 28 GOP senators -- and despite the fact the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 on Sept. 14 to block ACORN from bidding for any more federal grant money -- "Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is refusing to hold a Senate hearing on ACORN's activities," the National Republican Senatorial Committee complained Wednesday.

Mr. Reid replied additional investigations might distract lawmakers from addressing more important matters, including health care and economic recovery.

"It's become increasingly clear that ACORN may have manipulated tens of thousands of ballots in last year's federal election -- an area where Congress has clear oversight responsibilities -- yet Harry Reid won't lift a finger," said NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh. "It's hard to see his latest roadblock as anything but another example of Harry Reid protecting his liberal allies in Washington while remaining out of touch with his constituents in Nevada."

That's a politically motivated shot, of course. Stripped of the gratuitous elbowing, however, the question does remain: Do Sen. Reid and congressional Democrats really believe that if they just ignore the big mess their pet bear has dumped in the middle of the room, it'll somehow stop stinking?

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Get Real wrote on October 05, 2009 01:35 AM: Vote the career politicians out along with the rest of the left wing Socialists and let's get this country back to work. Geez... just look at their backgrounds.. Attorneys, Political Science Majors, etc.. Do you really think they know anything about businesses that turn a profit? They pander to Special Interest groups for votes and special interest groups such as ACORN have buried this country into the ground. a conservative wrote on October 02, 2009 12:24 PM: Daschle Kennedy Reid Pelosi Obama 2 down, only 3 to go! a conservative wrote on October 02, 2009 12:01 PM: Hey folks, Harry has to protect ACORN. He needs all the fraudulent help he can get come election time. He's just like the rest of the scum in Washington. Time to clean house. crash1972 wrote on September 30, 2009 07:51 AM: The question should be do you want the lady's man or teh political savy Reid in office? They both have a lot of BS on their resume. I say change. Every incumbant must go. I would not vote for them. Now that would be change you can believe in. Until they are all out no real change from the people will take place. I will bem out of the office looking for my free health care, in my new government motors car, looking for my next tax payer funded home and maybe other benifits you pay for. Change me likes. Signed. Jose.. Dan wrote on September 30, 2009 06:10 AM: Corruption is corruption, regardless of the party affiliation. ACORN and Blackwater (and Halliburton) are all recipients of government largesse in exchange for doing someone else's dirty work. What we need, in terms of change, is a movement back to the Constitution and a movement toward personal responsibility. The Dems and the GOP are both rotten to the core. VOTE LIBERTARIAN IN 2010 and get rid of all the incumbents! American of Hispanic Heritage wrote on September 29, 2009 01:11 PM: We need to "peel the onion" when it comes to ACORN. ACORN was instrumental in promoting and "funding" the ILLEGAL ALIEN protest marches (signs, flags and organizational leaders); remember the tens of thousands of so-called HISPANICS (I am of hispanic heritage and I DIDN'T MARCH WITH THESE PEOPLE---THESE WERE ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS!) marching through the streets of Los Angles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc., etc. yelling "SI SE PUEDE" and demanding rights! On April 5, 2008, the Las Vegas Hispanic-owned Newspaper "EL MUNDO" ran a front page story of their coverage of a so-called "educational forum" regarding immigration and presented/sponsored by the UNLV School of Law AND THE OFFICE OF SENATOR HARRY REID and held at the offices of "Hermandad Mexicana" (The Mexican Brotherhood). The forum entitled "KNOW YOUR RIGHTS" was to INFORM "immigrants" of THEIR RIGHTS. Never mind the fact that these people are in this country ILLEGALLY, Senator Reid and his office want them to KNOW THEIR RIGHTS! How about our rights as AMERICANS, Senator Reid, to be represented by our elected officials INSTEAD of your office representing illegal aliens! Senator Reid, how much money and manpower has ACORN contributed to your election campaigns? It is time for Senator Reid to leave office and for Nevadans to be represented by a Senator who CARES AND LOVES this state and country! GOD BLESS AMERICA! J. H. wrote on September 29, 2009 09:01 AM: We shoould all go to Washington DC "The Work Free Drug Zone" and throw the stealing bastards out. I am all for a national tax revolt remember the Boston Tea Party Let's all go tax exempt ACORN can tell us how to do it. william mitchell wrote on September 28, 2009 03:23 PM: Indictments in 12-15 states, a criminal organization supported by tax payers,196 entities in one building, all exchanging money and support. Some non-profit, others who knows. How much money is ACORN eligible for in the 2009 Stimulas Package? $1 billion? $2 billion? More? I hope the people of Nevada recognize and understand who they are dealing with and ultimately replace Mr. Reid as their representative. jaci wrote on September 28, 2009 01:19 PM: I believe they should be forced to totally STOP working on health care and the economy until they get to the bottom of the problems at ACORN. If it turns out that any of them have "cookie crumbs" on their fingers, I, for one, don't want them shaping MY future. Robert Klusmeyer wrote on September 28, 2009 11:31 AM: Craig wrote on Sept 27 the following, it so fits that it bears repeating!! Thank GOD for the courage of Hannah Giles, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Greta, others at Fox News and on conservative talk radio for exposing the truth and sparking the greatest rally for american freedoms, end to government corruption in American history. AMEN to all of you who have spoken your heart at the Town Halls and Tea Parties around the country. GOD bless Glenn Beck and the 9-12 project. The mainstream (fringe)media is a left wing disgrace. We must end the axis of evil in our government and its tenticles of destruction. Throw out Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Tim Geithner, Rohm Emanuel, the radical CZARS and the other liberal bums in the admin, impeach Obama and Biden before our country is destroyed. WE THE PEOPLE have had enough of this Socialist CRAP. They should all be jailed for embezelling our money, freedoms, childrens' futures. The idiot liberals are the real racists. They can't handle truth, decency, the principles of GOD. They are the disease! WE THE PEOPLE must be the cure!! May the one true GOD bless the United States of America and you all!!! Read All Comments