ACORN agrees to leave Ohio

Published: March. 11, 2010 at 1:48 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 11 (UPI) -- The community organizing group ACORN has agreed to give up its license to do business in Ohio as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by a conservative group.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now became a lightning rod during the 2008 presidential campaign, with conservatives charging the group's registration drives sucked up thousands of ineligible voters or others who were encouraged to register multiple times.

Maurice Thompson, the lawyer representing the Buckeye Institute's 1851 Institute for Constitutional Law, said Wednesday most details of the settlement are sealed, The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday.

"They will surrender their business license by June 1 and cease to operate in Ohio and cease to support or enable other groups to do what they do," Thompson said.

Alphonse Gerhardstein, ACORN's lawyer, said the group is no longer operating in Ohio. He said the settlement includes no financial payments.

The Buckeye Institute filed the suit on behalf of two residents of Warren County in southwest Ohio just before the 2008 election. Since then, ACORN has been hit by a sting by a conservative activist who posed as a pimp to seek advice on tax evasion from several of the group's offices.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/03/ ... 268333292/