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twotap
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These clowns actually believe they have a constitutional right to our tax dollars.
Updated November 12, 2009
ACORN Sues Over 'Unconstitutional' Funding Cuts By Congress
by Joseph Abrams
, FOXNews.com
In an attempt to regain the millions in funding it lost in the wake of a hidden-camera scandal, ACORN is suing the federal government over congressional legislation that cut off funding to the community organizing group.
printemailshare recommend (50) Representatives for ACORN sued the federal government Thursday morning in an attempt to regain the millions of dollars in funding the community organizing group lost after filmmakers videotaped its workers offering advice on how to commit tax fraud and various other felonies.
The suit charges Congress with violating the Constitution when it passed legislation in September that specifically targeted ACORN to lose federal housing, education and transportation funds.
That qualifies the legislation as bills of attainder, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of ACORN. A bill of attainder punishes a person or group without the benefit of a trial, and is illegal under Article 1 of the Constitution.
Bills of attainder have traditionally been understood to have more serious legal consequences -- including the seizure of private property and even capital punishment -- than Congress' decision to withhold funds that are at its discretion to disseminate. Though members of Congress have accused ACORN of corruption, it is not clear how the exercise of its own prerogative is outside the bounds of legislative power.
Critics of the group in Congress blasted the lawsuit as a last-ditch effort to save the foundering organization's bottom line.
"ACORN's baseless lawsuit is the first public acknowledgement we've seen from ACORN of just how desperate they are to use any mechanism available to subsidize an organization that is teetering on bankruptcy and financial insolvency," said Kurt Bardella, spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Congress began cracking down on its funding to ACORN after its employees were secretly videotaped in a number of cities offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute to lie to the IRS and acquire illegal home loans.
Footage showed staffers advising the "pimp" and "prostitute" on how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 "very young" girls from El Salvador that the pair said they wanted to bring to the country to work as child prostitutes. The videos set off a firestorm in Congress.
ACORN pledged an internal inquiry and fired the staffers who were caught on tape, but it was only the latest of many legal troubles for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
State investigators raided ACORN offices in Louisiana last week, seizing computer hard drives and documents in a probe of alleged embezzlement and tax fraud. Staffers in multiple states have been accused of committing voter registration fraud.
Congress took the "prostitute" videos as clear evidence of systematic problems within ACORN and voted with bipartisan support in the House and Senate to freeze funding for the group in appropriations bills in September.
Thursday's lawsuit claims that Congress violated the right to due process enshrined in the Fifth Amendment -- declaring the group guilty of a crime and punishing its members without completing an investigation within the Department of Justice or the IRS.
"It's not the job of Congress to be the judge, jury, and executioner," said Jules Lobel, an attorney representing the Center for Constitutional Rights.
"We have due process in this country, and our Constitution forbids lawmakers from singling out a person or group for punishment without a fair investigation and trial."
The lawsuit itself singles out three defendants -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Director of the Office of Management and the Budget Peter Orszag, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.
The three were responsible for facilitating the defunding of ACORN by Congress, according to attorneys for the Center for Constitutional Rights.
ACORN claims it has been badly hurt by the congressional actions, and has had to fire workers and close some of its 1,200 branches around the country.
Though it remains unclear precisely how much money the national organization was receiving from federal sources and aid programs, a lawyer pressing the suit said ACORN has already lost an amount "in the millions" since the freeze took effect. |
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"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:15 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Acorn is a multinational conglomerate that has its own unions, pr agencies, radio stations etc. Cutting off their public money is long overdue. |
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Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:22 pm |
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1pissedoffguy
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| ACORN should be totally shoved away from the teat of the US taxpayer! Little scumbags! Rights to someone else's money? SCREW THAT!! and those women on that video where that girl and guy pose as pimp and hooker shows just how them ACORN people think. Immoral pieces of crap! No qualms about bringing young girls to work as sex workers, we just want to make you sure ya all can get away with it they were saying , and making sure ya all get all the tax breaks we can find for you. So nothing is immoral or wrong for the workers of ACORN, they are just out to f over the bulk of American peoples. We have to many people thinking they are owed something because they were born here. Here is a big thought for you folks, the "government" doesn't give you squat, they take ( by force of law) money from other folks struggling to make thier own lives good and hand it over to you entitlement minded jerks! So next time you head off to squeeze out another brat that that neighbor who goes to work everyday may just resent your lazy ass.I am on the working person's side, so watch it ACORN people, we all may just tell you where to get off at . |
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Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:12 am |
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ConcernedCitizen
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The lawyers out there please correct me if I am wrong. I believe "due process of the law" was talking about your rights under criminal prosecution.
Does Acorn think they are the Post Office, having guaranteed funding? Programs are constantly being funded and nonfunded. Programs that do not work out the way they were intended are cut. This is nothing new. Acorn, you did it to yourself. To blame it all on the employee, and say, "we did not condone it" is fine if you had an isolated occurrence here and there. But there are widespread convictions over several states and for various infractions, a pattern that shows endorsement or widespread corporate negligence. Either way it shows an organization out of control, not worthy of our tax dollars. A Congressman stated that with the number of convictions, the government could actually invoke the Rico Act and raid all the offices and confiscate computers and records. I have not seen that happen, but it would be interesting. |
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Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:35 pm |
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Domet
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I don't defend this lawsuit in the least, and I don't really have the time or interest in revisiting old arguments. Just wanted to say one thing, ConcernedCitizen - while I understand your reasoning, ACORN's GotV campaigns, while supported by the national body, were ran by localities. It isn't fair or correct to generalize to the entire entity of ACORN - dealing with voter registrations and lots of workers/people can obviously lead to quite a few mistakes, most of which have not thus far been proven in law to be linked to ACORN masterminding.
As to the article Twotap posted, absolutely true in their accusations of desperation. ACORN has successfully been persecuted in the media and by conservatives without real evidence, linking inductively reasoned arguments (read: logical fallacies) to the organization. That being said, even before the last year ACORN was floundering, loosing money and in general failing. I've been waiting to see it implode for some time now, and I am very genuinely curious what happens to it after that happens. Though I'm not one to freely speculate often, I think that the national organization failing will do much in allowing the local chapters a chance to find themselves again. ACORN National's pandering and policy decisions have hurt individual chapters and drained resources, leading to instances where a supposedly grass roots organization was more or less using people to push an agenda.
When ACORN transitioned from an organization which sought to help and work for the people it represented to one which used them as tools I believe they signed their own death certificate. |
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Lack of support for your assertions does not make you a sage, it just makes the rest of us doubt your reasoning skills. - Elias12, Flint Talk Poster |
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Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:56 pm |
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1pissedoffguy
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| Domet, dude, I am like really plesantly surprized that you are taking this attitude aout this whole ACORN thing. But from what I seen , the whole ACORN thing almost seemed to be made just for getting Obama elected, which it did. ACORN seems like a virus that was made to do one thing and once it got it done, sorts of self -destructs. The whole organization is made just to make this a Socialistic shithole so I am glad for it's death. It has never done anything that I get anything from , and I don't want something being forced from someone else either, and that is what groups like ACORN is all about. I don't want to see local chapters "find themselves again" ,,I want those dead as door nails too. My only regret is that ACORN was so useful to that guy named Obama getting elected. But then ol BUSHY II didnt do much to make the GOP seem intelligent or having good ideas. All these folks in the good ol USofA and all we get are crooks, smooth talkers and hucksters to run for office. We are screwed! |
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Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:27 pm |
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ConcernedCitizen
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[quote="Domet"]ACORN has successfully been persecuted in the media and by conservatives without real evidence, linking inductively reasoned arguments (read: logical fallacies) to the organization.quote]
Domet,
Though I do agree with some of what you said, it took more that just conservaties to stop the funding. It was a bipartisan effort.
The point I was trying to make is that any organization is responsible at least in part for its employees. Whether it was from lack of training, apathy or intentional sidestepping of rules and laws. ACORN has to ultimately be held accountable for that many infractions. That is why funding should be stopped. I know you are in general a supporter of ACORN, and have had issues with some of thier directions. But I am pleased that you are taking a step back and looking at this issue from a more neutral position.
If ACORN was staunchly doing what it was supposed to do and not getting into these "situations", I would probably support ACORN myself. But it is the numerous problems that justify cutting off its funds. |
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Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:00 pm |
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