Grievances
Acorn
Our government's tangled web with ACORN
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Yeah. This is one thing you do so well is you connect the dots, and the dots are connecting between the federal government and ACORN. Very simply this is it: The federal government wrote a law called the Community Reinvestment Act. It demands that banks make loans to people who are poor credit risks. So that law was already passed.
GLENN: Okay. Now, that law actually was passed by Bill Clinton.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: That's right.
GLENN: And it was pushed by Barney Frank and I believe Senator Dodd was involved with that.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: That's right.
GLENN: All of the usual suspects were involved.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: All of the usual subjects including some Republicans that got behind this law. The Community Reinvestment Act. So that was already passed. Then what happened, the federal government hung a threat over these banks because banks didn't want to make loans to people who were poor credit risks. That's not they are there in the business to do. So as part of the demand from the federal government, what they said is if the banks fail to lower their lending standards, then the federal government would shut down their interstate bank branches and they would not allow banks to open new branches. So in other words, the federal government would essentially shut these banks down if they refuse to make bad loans to people who wouldn't be able to pay them back.
GLENN: Right.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: And what we found out, Glenn.
GLENN: Listen to this.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: And we're breaking this story on your radio show is that one way the banks could satisfy their requirement under the Community Reinvestment Act is they could partner with ACORN. So a bank could either make a cash donation to ACORN, they could give equipment donations or they could work with ACORN to provide these loans to people who are poor credit risks. One bank that did that was the Citizens Bank of Massachusetts. They put it in a partnership with ACORN. Minnesota Bank, Northeast Bank of Minnesota donated $2,000 to ACORN. New York Bank. We'll put all of this information up on our website at MicheleBachmann.com. But this is huge. Here you have the federal government demanding that banks lower their lending standards. And as a threat to these banks the federal government says we're putting you out of business unless you make these bad loans. But one way you can satisfy your Community Reinvestment Act rating, because you have to get a certain score, one way you could satisfy your score, give money to ACORN. Work with ACORN. You work with ACORN, you're good with us, says the federal government. This is so bad. But the dots are connecting.
GLENN: Let me ask you this. I notice here that you have banks, and see if we find any threads here. I notice that you have listed the banks that are doing this, that gave money or helped ACORN one way or another to satisfy their needs for the government. The banks that you point out, and my question is are there more: Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, and New York. Now, those are all the wildly out of control progressive states. Are there banks in other states that have done this?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Oh, yes, there are.
GLENN: Okay.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: And again that's because banks had to figure out some way to satisfy the federal government's demands and so if they, you know, if they were nervous about making loans to very to people with very shaky credit, one thing they could also do is give money to ACORN. So it's a form of payola. So the banks, in order to be in compliance with the federal government, would give payoff money, so to speak, to ACORN in order to stay in the good graces with the federal government. I mean, what else would you call that but a payola?
GLENN: No, it's corruption. So Michele, where does this go now from I mean, you're ringing the bell. But where does it go from here now?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: We have to demand an investigation. That's why I
GLENN: No, but Michele, God bless you. You know how I feel about you. But I'm so frustrated right now, and I know the American people are. We have been demanding an investigation.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: And we haven't gotten it.
GLENN: So just talk people down no, forget about other people. Talk me off the ledge. Talk me off the ledge.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: The number one way we can talk people off the ledge I think is take a page, a cue from Barney Frank. Over the weekend Barney Frank told a special interest group, if you want congress' attention, you melt the phone lines. You call them and you demand. And that's what I think your listeners need to do.
GLENN: They say here it is. This is David Brooks and all of these conservative blowhards that are losing their power now and see that, well, no, wait, Sarah Palin, she's not going through us, the gate keepers. Wait a minute, hold it. All of these old people who screwed this system up six ways to Sunday that are now losing their power now are saying that Rush Limbaugh and me and everybody else, we can't do anything but melt phones and nobody pays attention to that anymore; is that true?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Well, I think they are paying attention and that's why I'm telling everyone Monday through Friday from now until December 31st, call your member of congress. Call your senator and tell them, don't have the government take over healthcare, and would you please defund ACORN? Because this is another lie. ACORN has only been defunded until October 31st.
GLENN: Unbelievable.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: When it's Halloween and kids are out trick or treating.
GLENN: Unbelievable.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: The biggest trick is going to be played on the American people. When the clock strikes midnight, Glenn, on October 31st, the spigot turns back on for federal money flowing to ACORN. They were only defunded to this month. It's a huge CYA move on the part of congress and so that's why people need to get mad, get engaged. The tea parties were awesome, and it got more attention than the media wants you to believe. The 9/12 movement that you instigated was a bigger deal than anyone has been led to believe. But if we have to keep the pressure up and that's why your listeners have to melt the phone lines every day. When they wake up and comb their hair and take their vitamin, pick up their phone and call their two senators, call their member of congress. Say, look, I'm not going to stand for this. You do not have the government take over my healthcare and you defund ACORN. Have you figured this out? And then the next day you pick up the phone, you give the same message. Trust me, hardly anyone picks up the phone. Hardly anyone makes the phone calls. That's why the 9/12 movement has been so incredibly successful. Because for the first time the American people are engaged. But they can't just think the 9/12 movement was enough on September 12th. We have to make those phone calls now until the end of the year.
GLENN: Michele?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: That's why Speaker Pelosi has made me her number one target to defeat next year. She wants me gone next year.
GLENN: I have to tell you something. I want you to pass this along to your friends in congress that are that stand by the Constitution and stand against corruption. And I think there are good Democrats and good Republicans. I think the Democrats are more afraid than Republicans are because they know who's got their party by the throat. But you tell them that I am currently in fact, I was just in the break, I was in the hallway talking about something that we're working on for next year and hopefully we'll be announcing here in the next month or so. You tell your friends in congress they haven't seen anything yet. You wait until next year. They haven't seen anything.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: They need to know that. And the best way they can know is by the American people getting a hold of their member of congress and saying this is it: You take orders from me; I don't take orders from you, and you do not pass healthcare and you defund ACORN and you do it now.
GLENN: Do you know, Michele, do you think that the people in congress have any sense to them of the trouble that they are in? I mean, you know, I've talked to a few reporters who are, you know, decent reporters and don't ever want anybody to know that I speak to them. But they're decent reporters that people think are, you know, in the bag for Obama or whatever and they say that the politicians are all saying, "Well, these people will go back to sleep again soon, these people will be off, you know, they're not going to they will be distracted by something else. The people don't have a long memory." You know, Lindsey Graham is running again I think in, what, 2014 is his next election? I don't think this guy has a chance of winning in 2014 because of what he's doing right now. The days of, you know, the elephant is supposed to have a good memory. An elephant never forgets, uh huh. They have forgotten for a long time. Forget about the stupid elephant. Americans who feel that their representatives have betrayed the Constitution or at least borderline betrayed the Constitution and sold our children into a lifetime of servitude, to be able to pay off the things that they are now buying up now, they are not going to be forgotten and they are not going to be forgiven.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Well, that's right because the new coalition that is coming together, literally that is a huge tent that is sewn together with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. The very parchment of those documents is the tent that we are coalescing against. Because what we recognize is as Americans we were given the most precious gift of any people of all time. And that was our declaration. And that was our Constitution. And in one year's time, in a stunning move, we've seen the federal government take over 30% of all private wealth produced in this country. One year ago 100% of private business profits were private. Today 30% of private business profits are owned or controlled by the federal government. If they get their way and take over healthcare
GLENN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. All of us are looking at each other saying, wow, I've never heard that stat. Where do you get that stat?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Oh, no, that's true. An, an economist from Arizona State University has calculated that since the inception of bailout nation, we have seen the federal government own or control 30% of private business profits.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: If the federal government lays claim to the private wealth produced in healthcare, Glenn, that's another 18%, or 48% of the private wealth. And if they lay claim through cap and trade, what Lindsey Graham is getting on board with, that's another 8%, or 56% of the private wealth produced in this country. That's stunning. That is stunning.
PAT: So just those two programs, the climate bill and the healthcare reform, which is another 18%, or another 26%?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: That would be 26%, or a total of. Because the federal government has already, Glenn, gotten control or ownership of 30% of the private wealth produced in this country. As if that wasn't bad enough, now this would be an additional 26%. At that point we are no longer a free market capitalist country. That's why people are nervous for a reason. People aren't crazy. They haven't been ginned up by talk show hosts. This is real. This is real what we're seeing in front of our eyes. And that's why I do believe that politicians are going to quake in their boots. And if they aren't, they better. They better.
GLENN: Are you willing, are you willing to lose your job and your reputation for standing up for what you believe in?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Well, of course. I always have been. I'm a former federal tax lawyer. My husband and I have raised five kids. We've raised 23 foster kids. We started a business. I had a really good life before I ever came to Washington D.C., and I left being at home with our family because I saw that my 23 foster kids and my five biological kids aren't going to have a chance, not a chance if the federal government goes down this road.
GLENN: Do you know, do you realize the carbon footprint of your family?
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Isn't it wonderful? Freedom lovers all, Glenn.
GLENN: Michele, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor, thank you so much.
CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Amen.
GLENN: We'll see you tonight. We're going to have Michele on. You need to see what she has broken about ACORN. This is disgusting. It is despicable. It is greed, corruption at the highest levels tonight on the Fox News Channel. Or if you'd like to see it on our website, she will be putting it there on, it's MicheleBachmann.com, and I think she said you could make a donation to help her keep Nancy Pelosi at bay.
You know what, I have to tell you we have to stand by those and, you know, you may think Michele Bachmann is one of those; you may not. It doesn't matter to me what party they are. We must understand that this system, this progressive, corrupt system has money at their disposal of biblical proportions and anyone who stands up against them will be destroyed and they will do everything they can to destroy them. If you find a politician that is standing up, you dig deep. You've got our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Bartlett calls for probe of ACORN over videos
Census Bureau cuts ties with group; Md. recording might be illegal
By Justin Fenton | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
September 12, 2009
A Maryland congressman called for an investigation of ACORN after a second video surfaced that appeared to show its employees offering tax advice for criminal activities, but city prosecutors say the surreptitious recordings themselves might have violated state law.
Meanwhile, the Census Bureau said it was severing ties with the organization, which also has been the target of complaints about fraudulent voter registration.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has been under fire since Thursday, when a hidden-camera video shot in its Baltimore office surfaced. The video shows a man and woman posing as a pimp and a prostitute asking two apparently unwitting ACORN employees for advice on skirting tax and other laws.
Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia A. Jessamy said allegations of tax fraud would fall under federal jurisdiction, but the apparently secret taping, or spreading it online, could represent a violation of the state's two-party consent laws for recording conversations. A spokesman said it would take a formal complaint to trigger an investigation. Baltimore police said late Friday that no such complaint had been filed.
The two part-time ACORN employees were fired Thursday. On Friday, a second video surfaced depicting a similar scenario at the organization's Washington office.
ACORN officials have condemned the videos as part of a smear campaign but acknowledged that the employees acted inappropriately. The organization said it was conducting an internal review.
Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a Western Maryland Republican, said Congress should investigate the organization.
"Absolutely, there should be a congressional investigation since we now have a very apparent pattern of improper activities by ACORN," he said. "However, it's up to the Democratic majority to determine whether or not Congress will hold oversight hearings to justify any future taxpayer funding of ACORN."
ACORN, which provides services to the needy, emerged as a target of Republicans during the 2008 presidential campaign, when it was accused of submitting fraudulent voter registration cards in several states. Although officially nonpartisan, the organization tends to serve communities that traditionally vote Democratic.
Earlier this week, police in Florida began arresting 11 ACORN canvassers on charges of falsifying hundreds of voter applications during a registration drive last year. Authorities were acting on a tip from the organization itself.
In splitting with ACORN, Census Director Robert Groves sought to tamp down GOP concerns that the organization would taint the 2010 head count.
"It is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts," Groves wrote in a letter obtained by the Associated Press.
A spokeswoman for Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said his office had received many e-mails and phone calls from people concerned about the apparent promotion of tax fraud and child abuse shown in the Baltimore video, but she said that any potential violations appeared to fall out of its jurisdiction. Representatives of the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and state Comptroller Peter Franchot said they knew about the videos but would not comment on whether they would investigate.
Maryland law requires all parties to consent to electronic recordings.
Joseph Murtha, a Lutherville attorney who represented Linda Tripp when she was charged with secretly recording conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, said prosecutors rarely pursue such charges. Charges against Tripp were dropped.
The key, Murtha said, is whether those being recorded have an expectation of privacy. Murtha said the Baltimore ACORN employees were acting on behalf of an agency and in their official capacity, with more than one person present and with a meeting room door open. "I think it would be a hard sell to prove that they had a legitimate expectation of privacy," he said.
In the videos, posted on BigGovernment.com, a man and woman ask how to account for their income on tax forms and how to buy a house to use as a brothel.
The filmmakers, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, have said they were shocked that they were not turned away. ACORN officials say similar attempts were unsuccessful in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where employees called police.
ACORN officials said Friday that they were "appalled and angry" to see the video of two Washington employees offering advice on how to operate an illegal enterprise and keep it hidden from the government. But they also stressed that the employees did not break any laws, saying "no loan documents were signed or submitted, no bank loans were arranged, no new business was established."
Baltimore Sun reporter Paul West and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Acorn Accused of Organized Criminal Activities
A new congressional report accuses ACORN, the radical left-wing activist group, of organized criminal activities. The report, called “Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?”, comes from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The ranking member on the committee, Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), appeared on the Glenn Beck Program on Fox News Thursday to discuss the report. (video below)
The report contains information about the ACORN network’s interlocking directorates, various unethical activities, and the fact that despite its mounting legal problems, ACORN remains eligible for $8.5 billion in federal funds this year.
Here’s a brief quote from the 88-page report:
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has repeatedly and deliberately engaged in systemic fraud. Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American electorate.
Emerging accounts of widespread deceit and corruption raise the need for a criminal investigation of ACORN. By intentionally blurring the legal distinctions between 361 tax-exempt and non-exempt entities, ACORN diverts taxpayer and tax-exempt monies into partisan political activities. Since 1994, more than $53 million in federal funds have been pumped into ACORN, and under the Obama administration, ACORN stands to receive a whopping $8.5 billion in available stimulus funds.
Operationally, ACORN is a shell game played in 120 cities, 43 states and the District of Columbia through a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators. Structurally, ACORN is a chess game in which senior management is shielded from accountability by multiple layers of volunteers and compensated employees who serve as pawns to take the fall for every bad act.
References:PDF: Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?
