But that was then…

On October 22 Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D, Calif) was sadly successful in getting an amendment passed in the House Financial Services Committee that would allow ACORN to become an official government actor in setting regulations for financial institutions.

You read that right. Rep. Waters thought it would be a great idea to give federal power to an organization that has repeatedly broken multiple state election laws in nearly every state in the union and an organization that has been guilty of covering up the embezzlement of nearly five million dollars of its own funds by one of its highest ranking members.

Republican Representative Spencer Bachus (R, Alabama) ranking Republican of the Financial Services Committee reported of Rep. Waters’ amendment to H.. 3126.

The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.

By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.

And here is the point. Many Congressmen have been heard to say that ACORN should be defunded. But without the voices of the voters back home, this temporary lapse in Congressional largess to ACORN will be just that, temporary.

As we can see with Maxine Waters slipping yet another payoff to ACORN into congressional rules, government cannot be trusted to hold the line against criminal enterprises like ACORN. And it isn’t just Congress we have to worry about. Democrats all across the country are looking for ways to give ACORN payoffs in the dead of night when the voters aren’t looking. And some Republicans that get large campaign donations from ACORN are not much different.

It takes the continued pressure from voters to keep our government officials honest. Your voice is needed to tell our politicians both at the state level and the federal level to dump ACORN.

The nature of the intertwined association between government and ACORN is why we ask that you join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

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According to McClatchy news, in the Democrat’s 2006 campaign book, in the “integrity” section, the Democratic leadership vowed that legislation would be posted online for 24 hours before consideration of the final versions of any bill. That promise coupled with their president’s claims that he’d post all bills online for five whole days — that’s 120 hours in case anyone’s counting — not to mention his now hoary claim that he’d put all debates on C-Span so that we the people could keep tabs on what Congress is doing, makes for a facade of a deep interest in government transparency. And facade it has turned out to be for all these promises have been completely forgotten now that Democrats have taken up the reins of power.

Obviously the campaign was “then” and having power is “now.” In the minds of Democrats, the two bear no relationship one to the other showing that campaign promises are so much wind and bombast never meant to be taken seriously. In other words, lies.

In keeping with the light speed at which Democrats are running away from transparency, we find few Congressional Dems supporting the Baird/Walden discharge petition. (I covered this issue last month, and earlier this month) This measure would institute a House rules change and require bills to be posted online for 72 hours before a floor vote.

Since last month Rep. Greg Walden (R, Ore.) has been trying to get the required 218 signatures among his House colleagues but he’s been stymied at the 182 Republicans and a small handful of Democrats that he started with. Speaker Pelosi has been warning her caucus not to sign the discharge petition that would put the new rule immediately into operation.

Every article I have seen on this matter uselessly brings up the fact that Republicans weren’t themselves much interested in any 72 hour transparency rule when they controlled the House in 2004 and earlier.

First of all, the Internet wasn’t nearly as integral then as now to the news cycle nor was it as widespread as a platform for public information. But even that aside, it is a meaningless point. Sure, maybe they weren’t for transparency then and are now only because they are out of power. But, who cares? The fact is, no matter who is in power this effort at government transparency is a good idea. No matter what party wants to hide behind arcane procedural rules to keep the public in the dark about what they are doing in Congress it’s a bad thing.

This bill could go a little way toward shedding light on our lawmakers. Brightly lit Democrats, Republicans out in the open… both are a good thing.

Urge your Congressman, especially if he is a Democrat, to sign the Walden discharge petition.

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U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R, Hinsdale, IL) introduced legislation last week intended to prevent misuse of federal housing counseling funds.

“It’s abundantly clear that ACORN and its affiliates cannot be trusted as a federally certified entity,” said Biggert, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. “Given the group’s clear links to illegal and inappropriate activities, how can we knowingly give them federal certification to divert precious resources from legitimate housing counselors working overtime to help struggling homeowners?”

For years federal funds have flowed into ACORN’s coffers for services given to low-income home buyers across the country. These services are intended to counsel low-income buyers on how to go about the mortgage process, to inform them of subsides and government services, and to assist the purchase.

Biggert noted that the IRS and the Census Bureau have already cut ties with ACORN and Biggert thinks that Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should do the same. “It’s the responsible thing to do,” Biggert said. “Those who go to a HUD-approval counselor for help with their personal finances shouldn’t have to question the integrity or political bias behind the advice they receive. Let’s let the inspector general do his job and shed some much-needed sunlight on how these public funds are being used.”

ACORN has received $53 million in direct federal funding since 1994, but this figure is likely not the full picture. ACORN has so many false front corporations, and off-shoot groups and agencies spawned from its main office that tracking all the federal money that has ended up going to ACORN and its subsidiaries is likely impossible to pinpoint.

Additionally, ACORN is thoroughly linked to numerous politicians and federal and state offices and programs, so fully excising ACORN is not a simple matter.

The nature of the intertwined association between government and ACORN is why we ask that you in Illinois to join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

(Cross posted at SayNoToACORN.com.)

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If CBS News has it right, the majority of in-home healthcare workers in Illinois voted not to join a union despite the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Governor Quinn’s best efforts to force the issue.

Earlier in the year, Governor Quinn signed Executive Order 09-15 that gave away the private information of every in-home healthcare worker in the state to several unions so that they might begin a campaign to cajole these workers into joining a union by calling them on the phone and visiting them at their homes.

In-home healthcare workers receive a stipend from the state in order to help them care for developmentally disabled or medically at risk family members.

Quinn’s EO gave these unions the right to fight over these in-home workers. The workers were asked to vote this week on whether they wanted to join the American Federation of State, County of Municipal Employees (AFSCME) or the SEIU, but more than half voted not to join any union at all, the third choice on the ballot.

Quinn planned to take away some of the money these workers received from the state and hand it to the unions as “dues” whether the workers agreed to join the union or not. It is not known if Quinn plans to carry through with this plan now that the majority of these workers turned down union representation.

If Illinois goes the route of several other states, the Governor will just declare these workers in a union no matter what they voted to do and begin taking their money for dues regardless. This is the sneaky route being taken in several states across the nation to unionizing millions of workers that neither are aware of, nor want union representation. It is also little else but a direct transfer of state money to union coffers.

Whatever the future holds for unionizing in-home healthcare workers in Illinois, this voting down of union interference in their lives is a first, but likely temporary, victory. Only political pressure against these unions can prevent further interference in the lives of Illinois’ in-home healthcare workers.

The nature of the intertwined association between government and ACORN is why we ask that you join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

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In an amusing case of the pot calling the kettle, Anna Burger, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told Representative Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) that the SEIU had dumped ACORN during a Sept. 30 hearing conducted by the House Financial Services Committee. Apparently Mrs. Burger felt that ACORN was too toxic for the SEIU to associate with.

Certainly it is quite amazing that the SEIU has taken the step to dump ACORN as a vendor. Groups such as SEIU rarely reassess associations preferring to stubbornly stick to their guns in most cases.

During the hearing, Rep. McHenry mentioned to Mrs. Burger that the U.S. Census Bureau, the IRS, and even Bank of America had cut ties with ACORN because of the community organizer’s declining credibility and apparent criminal activities. Burger replied, “SEIU has also cut all ties to ACORN.”

“We have. In Illinois, I believe that I’m correct, that the ACORN institution, the consumer protection, the community organization in Illinois cut its ties to ACORN two years ago and so in Illinois there was [sic] no ties in the last two years between any SEIU work and ACORN.”

SEIU records show that the union paid ACORN $1.4 million in 2008 for “Contracted Services (including services such as the Organizing Apprenticeship Program and Childcare Worker Organizing Campaigns).”

Representative McHenry was surprised by Burger’s claim, to say the least. Everyone else should be, too. If not surprised, then certainly skeptical. Certainly the SEIU might have stopped using ACORN itself, but as we saw in an earlier piece here, ACORN has many hundreds of front corporations, so assuring us that the SEIU has truly cut ties to ACORN is not something so easily taken at face value.

Of course it must be remembered that one of SEIU’s oldest union locals has long-standing ties with ACORN. SEIU Local 880 has been associated with ACORN since the 1980s. In fact, long-time ACORN operative Keith Kelleher is Local 880s headman.

Naturally, ACORN tried to help the SEIU out last April by quietly scrubbing from its website all mentions of its ties to the union. But removing a mention from a website and actually cutting ties are not one in the same.

In any case, what we are seeing is the rats attempting to jump ACORN’s sinking ship. Would they be doing this if there wasn’t something real behind these controversies?

Illinoisans join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

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We’ve been reporting to you of the outrageous under-the-radar actions of Governor Pat Quinn and his Executive Order 9-15. This EO both handed the private information of Illinois citizens to unions and set up a payoff for his union supporters by automatically unionizing hundreds of Illinois home healthcare workers whether they want to be unionized or not.

Well, one mother is fighting back. Pam Harris serves as the primary care specialist for her developmentally disabled son and in so doing receives some helpful funds from the state for that purpose. When she found out that Quinn’s EO gave her personal information to several unions she was concerned. And when she later found out that she would have to pay dues to a union even if she didn’t want to join one she became incensed.

In a report on our local Fox affiliate, Harris said, “When my doorbell rings at eleven thirty Sunday morning and there’s two people in purple shirts, one from California, one from Virginia– nice enough young people– nice enough, but that’s an invasion of my privacy.”

Harris is sure that no union will benefit her.

Union contracts talk about suspension, probation, training, days off? It’s ridiculous, to draw a line from a Union to my own efforts to provide a meaningful life for my child.

Harris isn’t taking this lying down, though. She has decided to do a little organizing of her own, not for the unions, but against them. Harris has created her own mailing effort and has been gratified that several of her comrades in the in-home healthcare sector is helping out, supporting her efforts. She is sending the following flyer to Illinoisans that face similar situations.

Here is the video of Harris’ appearance on Fox:

Michelle Malkin has also written of this story and she points out that the State of Kansas is also seeing unions trying to do what is going on in Illinois.

Sadly, this whole incident is little else but a payoff by Pat Quinn to his union campaign contributors. And it is stark evidence of how intertwined the SEIU is in Illinois politics.

Illinoisans join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

(Cross posted at SayNoToACORN.com.)

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For a little further information on the cozy relationship between the Illinois State government in Springfield and the troubled Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the sort of corrupt bargain to which we are attempting to bring sunlight, we’ve done a little research into some of the funding distributed from our tax dollars to ACORN. In this case, we have some documents on funds given to ACORN for the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Predatory Lending Database Program (PLD) and related programs.

It isn’t just the taxpayer’s money given to ACORN that is at issue, to be sure. Not only do we see our tax dollars going to this organization that has so often been caught up in instances of criminal voter fraud across the country as well as a $5 million embezzlement controversy, but our state government has allowed this group to help it create government programs and policies, as well.

Why would the state turn to this often times criminal organization to help it create the PLD program? For the answer to that we turn to the 2008 Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan progress report.

The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) drew on the collective experience of these HUD-certified housing counseling agencies in drafting administrative rules and an application for funding under the PLD program. Several of these agencies have worked with IHDA in the past, and their experience, combined with that of IHDA and IDFPR, ensured a thoughtful, reasonable approach to implementation of the PLD Program.

(See image of Page 40 below)

So, the state agency charged with creating this PLD program went to groups like ACORN and asked them how to write the rules and create the legislation under which such groups would reap financial rewards. It is shades of the fox guarding the hen house.

Page 40 of the 2008 annual progress report referenced here shows that ACORN itself, along with more than a dozen other such groups, received $100,000 for this initial stage of the PLD program.

As time moved onward, Springfield doled out more and more of our tax dollars to ACORN and its subsidiaries. Records from the 2009 and 2010 budget bill, for instance shows thousands going into the PLD program. (Download .pdf of pages from the 2009 and 2010 budget reports)

Additionally, a web search of the website of the Illinois Secretary of State shows several ACORN agencies listed as approved and currently working with the state government. Listed are ACORN Housing Affordable Loans, LLC and the ACORN Housing Corporation of Illinois, and Louisiana. (See Screen Shots Below)

These relationships need to be investigated and a full reporting of them must be given to the people. How many different ACORN subsidiaries are receiving state finding and for what programs? How involved have these ACORN groups been in crafting the legislation and rules that affords them state funding? Which of our representatives have been responsible for giving ACORN this favorable treatment? What results have these programs afforded the citizens of the state?

Illinoisans, join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

Page 40 of the 2008 Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan Progress Report

Screen Shots of Illinois Secretary of State Authorized Corporations Listings

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Many states have ways to look up the businesses, organizations and people with whom the state does business. Illinois has such a service on the Secretary of State’s website.

In Illinois there is a way to search the folks the state does business with on a page titled Corporate/LLC Search / Certificate of Good Standing. There you can input the name of a corporation or LLC and find out the address of its offices, its registered manager’s name, etc.

Sadly, this feature is not easy to use. The problem is you have to know the actual name of the corporation you are looking for. Of course, if you don’t really know what you are looking for you just cannot find anything useful.

The problem with the Illinois search system is that groups like ACORN register hundreds of different shell corporations to hide behind. They register them to their workers and their directors and then they offer them to government as a vendor or organization for the state’s use. Naturally, state funds flow like water into ACORN’s coffers as a result.

Other states have easier ways to search their state records. In the state of Louisiana, for instance, one can search by a person’s name. On the Louisiana site you are not limited to the name of the corporation like you are in Illinois so it is a bit easier to find vendors and corporations that are approved to work with the state. (Louisiana mainpage, or go to the search only page)

On the Louisiana site I typed in the name of ACORN founder Wade Rathke to see what corporations and LLCs he had registered with the state. I also tried Dale Rathke, his embezzler brother, to see what he had registered with the state. The results are amazing.

What I found were dozens of different shell corporations registered to Wade and Dale Rathke all of which have the potential of reaping thousands of dollars from the state of Louisiana. The same thing is happening in every state of the union and it isn’t just Wade and Dale doing this. ACORN employees at all levels are doing this in order to hide the fact that they are registering ACORN agencies.

Louisiana List (all registered to New Orleans):

RATHKE, STEPHEN WADE

Agent of “UNITED LABOR ORGANIZATIONS”
President of “TEXAS UNITED CITY-COUNTY EMPLOYEES, INC.”
President of “BALTIMORE ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.”
President of “WORKING FAMILIES ASSOCIATION, INC.”
Member of “COALITION FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN , L.L.C.”
President of “CHIEF ORGANIZER FUND, INC.”
Director of “CHIEF ORGANIZER FUND, INC.”
President of “ACORN INTERNATIONAL, INC.”
President of “WAL-MART ALLIANCE FOR REFORM NOW, INC.”
President of “AFFILIATED MEDIA FOUNDATION MOVEMENT, INC.”
Director of “UNITED LABOR ORGANIZATIONS”
Vice-President of “METRO TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, INC.”
Affiliated with “ELYSIAN FIELDS PARTNERSHIP”
Director of “PARENT TEACHER GROUP OF CHINCHUBA SCHOOL, INC.”
President of “GREENWELL SPRINGS CORPORATION”
President of “BROAD STREET CORPORATION, INC.”
President of “SIXTH AVENUE CORPORATION”
President of “FIFTEENTH STREET CORPORATION”
Director of “FIFTEENTH STREET CORPORATION”
President of “ACORN BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION, INC.”
President of “ACORN FUND, INC.”
President of “HOUSTON ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.”
Director of “HOUSTON ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.”
Director of “AUSTIN ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.”
Treasurer of “AUSTIN ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.”
President of “MONTANA RADIO NETWORK, INC.”
Director of “MONTANA RADIO NETWORK, INC.”
President of “PHOENIX ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.”
Agent of “PARENT TEACHER GROUP OF CHINCHUBA SCHOOL, INC.”

RATHKE, DALE

Treasurer of “ACORN MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, INC.”
Secretary/Treasurer of “METRO TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, INC.”
Affiliated with “ELYSIAN FIELDS PARTNERSHIP”
Director of “ COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION, INC.”
Secretary of “ASSOCIATED REGIONAL MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS, INC.”
Secretary/Treasurer of “SIXTH AVENUE CORPORATION”
Secretary of “MASSACHUSETTS ACORN HOUSING CORPORATION”
Director of “CRESCENT CITY BROADCASTING CORPORATION”
Treasurer of “CRESCENT CITY BROADCASTING CORPORATION”
Secretary of “SHREVEPORT COMMUNITY TELEVISION, INC.”
Secretary of “LOUISIANA ACORN FAIR HOUSING, INC.”
Agent of “MASSACHUSETTS ACORN HOUSING CORPORATION”

You can be sure to find a similar list of corporations registered in Illinois and every other state. These registered entities are really shell corporations of ACORN.

Illinoisans, join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

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I was part of a small number of bloggers and Internet writers invited to speak with Representative Joe Wilson (R, SC) Friday afternoon. Rep. Wilson wanted to alert us all to a resolution that would provide that all bills that go through the House of Representatives would be posted on the Internet for 72 hours prior to any possibility of a floor vote.

The Resolution is House Res. 554, amending the Rules of the House to require legislation and conference reports to be available on the Internet 72 hours before consideration. If this resolution is approved by the members of the House, all bills — including H.R. 3200, the House Healthcare bill — will be placed on the Internet for all to see for three days before the bill can be voted on.

In an email on this issue Wilson said, “Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have continually rushed major legislation to a vote to ensure little to no public scrutiny. If we succeed, Americans can finally separate fact from fiction.”

Under normal procedures, a resolution introduced must first go to a conference committee of one sort or another. But the House has a way to force a bill to skip the committee process and go right to the floor for a vote. As Representative Wilson explained the process is called a “discharge petition.”

What’s really important is the discharge petition. At the front of the House you’ll see every now and then we’ll be up there signing a little book and that’s a discharge petition. If 218 people (Representatives) sign the petition, this is a way to skip the committee process and bring the bill to the floor. With 218 signatures, this would force the speaker to bring the resolution to the floor.

“This is a great opportunity,” Wilson told me, “for the blogging community to contact all Democrats, all Republicans and urge them to sign the discharge petition.”

This particular petition is known as the Greg Walden discharge petition named after Representative Greg Walden (R, Oregon) who is sponsoring the petition.

Currently, 178 members of the House have already signed the petition and we all need to contact our Representatives to have them sign that petition. (The Clerk of the House has a webpage with all the signatories to the petition at http://clerk.house.gov/111/lrc/pd/petitions/Dis6.htm currently posted.)

CNSNews’ Fred Lucas asked Rep. Wilson if he were the “right person” to become the face of this petition drive due to the recent “animosity” that Democrats have for Wilson. Wilson reminded us all that “a few years ago” he was voted the second friendliest member of Congress. Wilson was also gratified that even recently he has been characterized as a good friend by some members of Congress even after his actions at Obama’s speech.

I have in the past two weeks had a number of members of Congress and even at press conferences introduced me — and I think they meant it — as my good friend. Sometimes, you know, they don’t mean it.

Thus far it looks like five Democrats have signed the Walden discharge petition. Democratic Reps. Walt Minnick (Idaho), Brian Baird (Wash), Dan Boren (Okla.), Parker Griffith (Ala.) and Gene Taylor (Miss.) have signed.

This is certainly a non-partisan issue. Who could be against all bills being placed on line for 72 hours before a vote? “We’re also backing up what President Obama said during the campaign last year,” Wilson said.

Wilson also reminded us all that the president himself advocated for such an idea. “President Obama indicated that he would not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”

“So what we’re doing should not be considered as partisan, it shouldn’t be considered as a slap to the president because it’s not, it’s actually less than even what he campaign on,” Wilson said.

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Via Michelle Malkin:

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a Senior Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has posted a video and petition opposing the transfers of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the United States. He’s also sponsoring an amendment, S.Amdt.1559, to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010 (S.1390), which prohibits the transfer of detainees from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to any facility in the United States. From Sen. Inhofe’s office:

“By more than a 3 to 1 margin, Americans are opposed to detainees being transferred to their home states. And to date, the views of the American people have not changed,” Inhofe said. “Regardless, the administration is committed to fulfilling its political campaign promise to close GITMO, even though President Obama has yet to visit the facility for himself.

“Right now we have an opportunity to stop the President from bringing terrorists to American soil. My amendment will do just that, but I need you to weigh in. By signing this petition, you are telling the Senate and the President that it is unacceptable to house terrorists in your home states. I will make sure that my Senate Colleagues see these petitions and that they are aware of your opposition before they vote on this very important legislation.”

SIGN THE PETITION HERE!

The Corner has more.

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