Vote early, vote often, dead peeps count too!

ACORN. Sigh.

So this may seem like an outdated post. After all, who’s paying attention to these yahoos at this point in the game?

Answer: I am.

Do not underestimate the power of these radical incompetents. They are organized, motivated, and well funded (thank you U.S. taxpayers). (And I will preface by saying, sorry, this will be lengthy. For the ADD impaired, pop your meds now if you plan on reading!)

Background: ACORN holds itself out as a nonpartisan organization designed to garner voter registration and working with the poor. Technically they aren't 501(c ) (3) but their subsidiary Project Vote is. Ultimately these are the same outfit and the legal and political ramification of these two entities working in tandem should be devastating. But we live in a political climate where submitting false voter registrations is right if it is just and giving broshakes to tyrannical dictators is a perfectly acceptable form of salutation, so.....

We’ve all heard the jokes about these people: that they registered the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys, that their employees flip through the phonebook to collect fake names for voter registrations, even that some of their temporary workers have exchanged crack cocaine for false voter registrations. And of course those of us that were paying attention know that Uhhbama worked with one of ACORNS subsidiaries, Project Vote. Of course he denied ever being associated with them. I supposed I’d kick their sorry asses to the curb if I were him too.

I’m raising this because there wasn’t a lot of press given to the testimony of Heather Heidelbaugh back on March 19, 2009 to the Judiciary Committee. Heidelbaugh is an attorney that serves on the Executive Committee of the Republican Lawyer’s Association. Heidelbaugh has filed numerous injunctions against ACORN in Pennsylvania for alleged submissions of fraudulent voter registrations. The bulk of her testimony to the Committee was on one individual, Anita Moncrief. Moncrief was a worker from ACORN that later turned whistleblower. Moncrief, for many will not be seen as credible as she was fired from ACORN for impermissible use of a company credit card. I think that the credibility issue is a fair. However, as I read the testimony that Moncrief gave under oath to Ms. Heidelbaugh, what struck me was how much firsthand knowledge she had of ACORN. Furthermore, Moncrief still supports ACORN. She seems to have a functioning brain cell to notice their shenanigans. She went on record to say, "I'm testifying because I want the truth out. Honestly, a lot of people think I have a vendetta, but even after I left ACORN, I was still trying to be involved in the act because I believe the local offices do a lot of good. ...So I don't think ACORN is a bad organization. I feel like they have gotten into areas that was not--that they weren't meant to be. And because we're in these other areas-we're losing focus of what's really wrong with these communities. I don't want ACORN to go away, I just want it to go back to where it's supposed to be." I want to hit some of the highlights of Moncrief's testimony to Heidelbaugh:

• Moncrief had been a confidential informant for several months to a New York Times reporter, Stephanie Strom. Strom had written six articles about ACORN with the help of Moncrief's input from July 9, 2008 to October 21, 2008. Moncrief (who is a Democrat and supporter of Obama) told Strom that the Obama Presidential Campaign sent its donor list to Karen Gillette of the DC ACORN office. They asked Moncrief to reach out to these donors (by law, these were "maxed-out" donors. The Obama camp could no longer solicit them for donations). Upon learning this information, Storm told Moncrief that the editors of the Times wanted her to "kill the story" because it was a "game changer". (shocking!)
  
• Moncrief then points out with specificity the inner workings of ACORN and its subsidiary Project Vote (which is considered a sister organization). Ultimately there's very little difference between these two organizations. Both are considered political organizations with the same goals... being nonpartisan and electing the best candidate of course! Uh huh. To blur the lines even further, several employees worked for both organizations. Basically this entire outfit top to bottom and bottom to top is an epic disaster.


• Moncrief did testify that the entire purpose of the voter registration efforts was to get more members. And of course more members = more money. The more cards you completed, the more money one would receive. After all, why pay someone minimum wage if they turn in three cards for the entire day when you can pay them per card and they can submit the entire Cowboys roster. Sounds like a nice job if you can get it. Especially if you're a felon a several of their employees seem to be (my snark, not hers!)


• Furthermore, despite their repeated lies that there is no quota system, Moncrief calls bullshit on that. She stated on record that if canvassers didn't turn in at least 20 cards per day that canvassers would be fired. Many times these people were fired at the end of the day and never paid for the work they did complete. What a stellar testament to helping out the working poor wouldn't you say?


• She then goes on to describe what can only constitute a clusterfuck of unqualified degenerates running the show--at the national and local level.
  They knew the quality of hires was downright abysmal. Eh, worry about that later I suppose.


• They talked about "quality control". Basically that was the extent of the "quality control" talk. As long as it took me to type this, that was the amount of discussion that was spent on that particular topic.


• Training. Her words, "sink or swim" mentality. They had to sign a piece of paper saying they had read and understood the fraud policies and the ramifications of submitting a fraudulent registration. One follow-up I have on this: how many of these part-timers can actually even understand said ramifications, let alone read? Okay moving on...


• Actually as a follow-up, it seems that Commander-in-Chief Uhhbama learned from these folks about throwing people to the wolves. According to Moncrief, ACORN never took any blame for the failure to train employees who didn't ask the right questions when talking to potential registrants. And when there was actual investigative journalism being done that uncovered some of these false registrations, ACORN had a talking point: "oh that's just an isolated incident and individual. It's a lone individual working outside the scope of his/her employment and that ACORN would prosecute that employee to the fullest extent possible". Sort of like "Oh, that's Joe just being Joe!"


• Keep your lunch down with this next statistic: ACORN knew their canvassers were turning in duplicate registrations. Moncrief stated she knew that they were striving for a 40% accuracy rate. Outstanding.


• Diversion tactics. Moncrief said ACORN was very skilled in diverting attention away from any negative press with fraudulent registration cards or absentee ballots. Workers were told to respond by saying that the real problem was that those raising the complaints in essence really don't want African Americans and other minority groups to vote. They are most skilled at playing the race card.


• Political considerations. ACORN would choose which state Project Vote would push its voter registrations drive. These were only done in battleground states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Colorado) and states that had contested Congressional seats. So I guess poor people only live in those few states?? Hmmm....


• The Muscle for Money Program: There were two programs here: One official-one unofficial. The official program is a marketing entity known as Citizens Services, Inc. (CSI). It’s nothing more than an organization that prices the overall cost to register a voter and drive a voter to the polls. So it’s basically for GOTV. Back in 2008, The Obama Campaign reported in FEC schedules that it had paid $800,000 for “sound and lightening equipment” to CSI. That’s pretty comical considering CSI doesn’t possess any sound and lightening equipment. Moncrief testified that CSI would hire a canvasser to get, say 50 people to the polls. If they couldn’t get them to the polls by bus or other means of transportation, the would make sure they were handed an absentee ballot. I’m thinking that the sound and lighting that Obama said CSI was providing was the strobe lights and amps in the pimp rides and hummers used to get these folks to the polls perhaps? The second part of this “Money for Muscle Program”, the unofficial program was nothing more than a shaming ploy used to corporate officers. ACORN hopped in bed with the SEIU on this plan of attack. They would basically harass CEO’s at their homes and protest corporate functions. It was nothing short of extortion to buy new computers and other ACORN administrative functions. They targeted H&R Block, Sherwin Williams, Jackson Hewitt and Money Mart.

And for those that argue that this group is miniscule and inconsequential, please remove head from sphincter stat! You don't want to get sepsis of the brain!

Just yesterday, Teleprompter Jesus signed into the law the Brown Shirt bill. This in essence will give $5.7 billion in aid to over 250,000 volunteers across the country. Translations: these crackpipes (literaly!) aren't going anywhere anytime soon thanks to That One.

And God help us all if this happens.