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  1. #1
    Senior Member florgal's Avatar
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    ACORN Announces Reforms After 'Pimp,' 'Prostitute' Videos

    ACORN Announces Reforms After 'Pimp,' 'Prostitute' Videos

    Wednesday, September 16, 2009

    DEVELOPING: ACORN said Wednesday it will stop any "new intakes" — essentially closing its doors to new clients — until it completes an internal investigation prompted by the release of four hidden-camera videos showing workers advising a fake pimp and prostitute to lie to get loans for a brothel.

    "As a result of the indefensible action of a handful of our employees, I am, in consultation with ACORN's Executive Committee, immediately ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN's service programs until completion of an independent review," ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said in a statement released Wednesday. "I have also communicated with ACORN's independent Advisory Council, and they will assist ACORN in naming an independent auditor and investigator to conduct a thorough review of all of the organizations relevant systems and processes."

    Lewis said that independent auditor would be named no later than Friday and would make recommendations directly to her, as well as the full ACORN board.

    "We enter this process with a commitment that all recommendations will be implemented," Lewis' statement continued.

    Undercover videos shot by independent filmmaker James O'Keefe and partner Hannah Giles at four ACORN offices — Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Brooklyn, N.Y., and San Bernadino, Calif. — led to the firing of four employees and the launch of a criminal investigation by the Kings County District Attorney's Office.

    The U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with the group last week in the wake of the controversy and the Senate voted 83-7 on Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, meaning the organization would not be able to win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages and for fair housing education and outreach.

    "We have all been deeply disturbed by what we've seen in some of these videos," Lewis' statement continued. "I must say, on behalf of ACORN's Board and our Advisory Council, that we will go to whatever lengths necessary to reestablish the public trust. For nearly forty years, ACORN has given voice to communities, and gotten results. Right now, our nearly 500,000 member are working their hearts out for quality, affordable healthcare for every American and to help stop the foreclosure crisis. We must get this process right, so the good work can go forward."
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    * ACORN Officials Videotaped Telling 'Pimp,' 'Prostitute' How to Lie to IRS

    A fourth video by O'Keefe and Giles, which first appeared on BigGovernment.com, surfaced Tuesday, depicting an ACORN staffer in California assisting the couple in their quest to obtain housing for their illegal sex business.

    Much like in their previous undercover stings, O'Keefe, 25, and Giles, 20, who posed as a prostitute named "Eden," were given assistance on Aug. 17 from a staffer at ACORN's office in San Bernardino on how to avoid detection by law enforcement. The couple even tell ACORN staffer Tresa Kaelke — who admits on the videotape to previously having sex for money — that they plan on bringing in 12 girls from El Salvador to work in a home they hope to acquire via the community organization.

    "We're bringing these girls from overseas, but we are going to take a cut of the profit and intend to use the profit from the tricks the girls perform to fund my political campaign and the advertising," O'Keefe tells Kaelke, adding that it'll fund at least 50 percent of his planned run as a Democratic congressional candidate.

    Kaelke, who told the couple that she once worked as a paid escort herself, at one point admits she was unqualified to counsel but stops well short of reporting O'Keefe and Giles to authorities.

    "You know you are breaking the law if you have these girls in your care and they're minors," Kaelke said on the videotape, which was provided by O'Keefe and can be viewed on BigGovernment.com. " … If I didn't know better, and I don't, but I would think this is a total setup."

    ACORN issued a statement late Tueday saying that Kaelke, indeed, suspected she was being set up and only responded as she did to play along with the obviously fake pimp and prostitute.

    "She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios," ACORN said in a statement, adding that Kaelke thought O'Keefe and Giles were not believable.

    “Somewhat entertaining, but they weren't even good actors. I didn’t know what to make of them," Kaelke said, according to ACORN's statement. "They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me ... saying the most outrageous things with a straight face.â€

  2. #2
    Senior Member alamb's Avatar
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    Congress NEEDS to investigate!

  3. #3
    Senior Member florgal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by alamb
    Congress NEEDS to investigate!
    Yes, congress needs to investigate. That's why we must hammer them until they do. And in the meantime, ALL ACORN funding must end!

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    no, Independant Board of people with no ties to any politicians need to investigate with the power to see EVERYTHING.
    and if Acorn does not help, the congress can step in, or courts can step in and Force ACORN into cooperating.

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    The way ACORN has arranged itself, there are so many affiliates that receive funding from them and contributed to the parent organization. The organizational chart of this will probably be stunning.
    And so they got thrown out of working for the Census and have housing funds denied, there are a couple hundred more affiliates, subsidiaries, or what have you, that are probably still getting tax dollars for their "good works".
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