Saturday, September 19, 2009

Special Prosecutor for ACORN

Well, to follow up my previous piece (on the accession of Chicago machine-politics to the White House), Charles Lipson's new essay is a perfect accompaniment. See, "Independent Prosecutor for ACORN":

ACORN is in very deep, very public trouble, and the U.S. attorney general should appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate. What we know so far is due entirely to two amateur reporters, James E. O'Keefe III, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20, who managed to videotape a web of corrupt practices in ACORN offices. Dressed as a pimp and prostitute, O'Keefe and Giles walked into ACORN offices from New York to California and simply asked for business advice. ACORN officials were happy to provide it and were secretly recorded explaining exactly how to evade the law and scam the government. The tapes were riveting. Fox News rolled out a new one each night for a week, creating a firestorm of outrage and a burgeoning political scandal.

ACORN employees, without raising an eyebrow, much less calling the police, explained how the young sex workers could label themselves "performance artists," underreport their income, evade taxes, fraudulently buy a house to ply their trade, and, worst of all, import underage girls from Central America to use as child prostitutes. One ACORN employee helpfully explained that the teenagers would even be tax-deductible since they would be "dependents," living in the pimp's house. Some states, led by California, are saying they will investigate. But this is a national scandal and there ought to be a full-scale national inquiry. To ensure impartiality -- and the appearance of impartiality -- political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice should recuse themselves. This case demands an independent federal prosecutor ...

ACORN's close ties to the progressive movement and Democratic Party mean that there will be little public confidence if Holder decides not to pursue an ambitious investigation and ultimately prosecute.

Ironically, ACORN's chief executive officer, Bertha Lewis, strengthens the case for an independent prosecutor with her robust defense of the organization. FOX News, she says, is pursuing her group solely for political reasons. They oppose ACORN, she says, because it is associated with progressive politics, labor organizing and the Obama administration's health-care initiative. Unfortunately for ACORN, Lewis' charges also mean that if the Obama administration decides not to prosecute or to indict only low-level employees, the public will wonder if they are seeing a political defense by ACORN's friends, a coverup rather than a fair-minded, independent decision by the Justice Department.

More at the link.

See also, the Washington Post, "For ACORN, Video Is Only Latest Crisis."

Bonus: The Sundries Shack, "The ACORN Pimp-Slap of the Week."

Image Credit: Patriot Room.

3 comments:

  1. A special prosecutor might be a good idea. I just love James E. O'Keefe III, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20, but I fear they will be verbally smeared by the Left and I also fear for them physically. There is much hatred on the left for the undercover work they have done. I hope they have both legal and physical protection.

    Deborah F. Hamilton
    Right Truth
    http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Any prosecutor attached to the current administration will be pointless.

    James and Hannah are heros in my opinion.

    The only thing we can do is hope that the public image of ACORN is now so shattered that they will never get a majority vote from politicians because they are afriad of the fall out.

    Obama is not going to let ACORN be actually investigated and if his thugs will let the black panthers off after they had been convicted he will not do anything to ACORN.

    Just more examples of Obama's racism and re-distribution of the wealth in action.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rehire Inspector General Gerald Walpin to investigate ACORN.

    Inspector General Gerald Walpin who was fired by President Barack Obama found misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star. Johnson and a nonprofit education academy he founded ultimately agree to repay half of $847,000 in grants it had received from AmeriCorps.
    What ever happened to that investigation?

    ReplyDelete