ACORN Aims for 1 Million ‘Member Families’
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 1:47 PM
By: Dan Weil

The liberal activist group ACORN is trying to turn its negative publicity into a positive.

The group, formally known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, wants to double its membership to 1 million members next year, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

The group has turned into a punching bag for Republicans over the past few years. Just this month, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele accused the Obama administration of partnering with ACORN to rig the upcoming census in favor of Democrats.

In an ACORN voter registration drive during the 2008 election, 400,000, or about 30 percent, of the registrations proved to be faulty, and some were fraudulent. The activity triggered investigations in 13 states.

The Obama campaign denied that ACORN was involved with its own voter registration drives.

ACORN also had an embezzlement scandal last year involving the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, who was dumped by the group’s board.

Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s CEO says the GOP’s criticism has a plus side.

“We never expected the vehemence and the relentless attacks that we got,â€