ACORN flap has a local angle

Border-crossing tips dispensed on video

By Matthew T. Hall
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. September 17, 2009

NATIONAL CITY — A duo posing as a prostitute and a pimp who secretly recorded themselves getting financial advice from the community-organizing group ACORN in various cities conducted a similar operation in National City in July, an ACORN spokesman confirmed yesterday.

A 37-second clip aired last night on Fox News showed someone identified as an ACORN employee in San Diego answering questions about how to get people across the U.S.-Mexico border. A second, 15-second clip showed the same ACORN employee asking the woman how much her services cost.

Sean Hannity, the Fox News personality who aired the footage last night, called the actions crimes, but local ACORN spokesman David Lagstein said the employee's comments in the video were taken “completely out of context.â€