Stimulus bill funds ACORN despite its history of corruption
By Kristen Lopez Eastlick, OpEd Contributor
- 2/8/09

KEY DATA:
* ACORN could receive up to $4 billion under the economic stimulus legislation approved by the House of Representatives.
* ACORN has received an estimated $53 million in government funds since its founding in 1970.
* ACORN is under investigation in at least 14 states in connection with allegations of voter registration fraud in the 2008 campaign.

TAKE HOME:

ACORN claims to represent low-income workers but does not pay its own employees the minimum wage and in 1995 sued California for an exemption from its minimum wage requirement.

A multi-million dollar liberal non-profit activist conglomerate reportedly under federal investigation may get a big piece of the economic recovery stimulus pie now under consideration by Congress.

It’s the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – the infamous ACORN.

That’s right. ACORN, the activist group that has been implicated in voter fraud and registration deception in at least 14 states may get the financial bailout it needs to pull off another round of schemes in the next election season.

Last fall, nearly every time ACORN was in the news the group’s credibility was -- rightfully and appropriately -- questioned. In the final weeks leading to the election, twice as many voters held a negative view of the group than a positive view.

But now that ACORN is receding from public view, it’s apparently counting on the economic crisis and its friends in Congress to refill its coffers with up to $4 billion in aid.

Many people are already familiar with ACORN’s dubious pretension as a get-out-the-vote organization. It’s alleged that of the 1.3 million registration cards it “got out to voteâ€