Thread: Legal Troubles Force ACORN's Lewis Out of Party Post

Legal Troubles Force ACORN’s Lewis out of Party Post

by Mark Impomeni

02/18/2010

It has been a bad couple of years for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. The controversial community group has been under tremendous legal pressure since the 2008 presidential campaign revealed fraudulent voter registration efforts by representatives of the group, sparking criminal investigations in more than a dozen states. As ACORN’s relationship to then presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama became public, even more scrutiny was trained on the organization. And last year’s sting of ACORN offices by undercover investigative reporters James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles exposed the group to national ridicule.

Now, an ongoing lawsuit and possible criminal investigations on the local and federal levels in New York may have convinced ACORN’s chief organizer, Bertha Lewis, to step down from her position as founding co-chair of the group’s political arm, the Working Families Party.

A little noticed lawsuit, filed in Staten Island Supreme Court by former New York City Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro on behalf of five voters in last year’s New York City Council elections, has drawn interest from both the Staten Island District Attorney and the United States Attorney for New York.

The suit alleges that the Working Families Party used its in-house campaign management and services firm to provide discount services to a successful Democratic City Council candidate, thereby giving her an unfair advantage over her opponents. The discounted services could qualify as illegal in-kind contributions, running afoul of federal and state election laws.

The firm, Data and Field Services, was the subject of a three part investigative report by City Hall News, a local political newspaper. City Hall’s report revealed a highly intertwined and complex relationship between ACORN affiliated organizations, including the Working Families Party and Data and Field Services. The report revealed that among other potentially nefarious connections, the two organizations share employees, office space, and client lists. This close coordination between the political party, a non-profit group, and the for-profit management firm raises serious questions about the use of funds by both organizations and the candidates they support and endorse.

City Hall’s report formed the basis for the allegations brought in Mastro’s lawsuit. But the trial has uncovered more potential legal problems for the Working Families Party, problems that may be leading right up to ACORN Chief Lewis.

Last month, on the first day of testimony in the trial, the former campaign treasurer for newly elected City Council Member Debi Rose indicated under direct questioning that affidavits he signed in connection with a New York State Campaign Finance Board inquiry into the relationship between the Working Families Party and Data and Field Services may not have been his own. “[The affidavit] was part of the documents the campaign gave me to sign,â€

GOOD RIDDENCE!!!! NOT ONLY LEWIS BUT THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION IS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION, JUST LIKE THE SEIU, AFSCME, LA RAZA, SPLC, ACLU -- EVERY ONE OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED UNDER RICO AND SHUT DOWN!!!!!!!

Oh, Happy Day!
But then I start to worry about them replacing this crook with another crook.

Originally Posted by American-ized

GOOD RIDDENCE!!!! NOT ONLY LEWIS BUT THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION IS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION, JUST LIKE THE SEIU, AFSCME, LA RAZA, SPLC, ACLU -- EVERY ONE OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED UNDER RICO AND SHUT DOWN!!!!!!!

I agree. How do you get the ball rolling to get the federal government to do anything? All of this endorsement by public officials of amnesty legislation should be investigated, also. My city's officials recently announced they would lobby for the DREAM act.