Criticisms of ACORN

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Criticisms of ACORN centered around five main areas:

• How ACORN conducted its voter registration drives and allegations that the organization did not adequately supervise employees.^[1][2]
• Allegations that the organization might have violated federal tax laws.
• The assertion that the organization's tactics are confrontational and extreme.
• The argument that the group demands certain behavior from other organizations that it does not display itself.^[3][4]
• The organization's handling of the embezzlement scandal of founder Wade Rathke's brother.^[3]

See also: Defenses of ACORN.

Conduct of voter registration efforts[edit]

ACORN has come under criticism for the conduct of its voter registration drives. The Associated Press announced on October 16, 2008, that an investigation of the group's voter registration fraud by the FBI was underway. Critics alleged the group committed voter registration fraud by submitting false voter registration forms before the 2008 Presidential election. ACORN said that employees caught submitting false voter information were fired.^[5]

See also ACORN and voter registration fraud.

Possible income tax violations[edit]

In a report on October 21, 2008, the New York Times covered an internal report by Elizabeth Kingsley, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for ACORN, ACORN has violated federal laws. Issues raised in Kingsley's report include:

• Potentially improper use of charitable dollars for political purposes;
• Money transfers among affiliates;
• Conflicts created by employees working for multiple affiliates.
• Two ACORN employees who were listed on federal tax returns for Project Vote, an affiliate, say they have no knowledge of ever being on the board.^[6][7]

A concern raised in the Kingsley report was that the organization could not adequately defend itself against charges that its 501(c)3 resources were directed to voter registration drives in specific states based on partisan considerations, which is prohibited for federally tax-exempt nonprofits. Kingsley wrote that the organization's conduct "may have led to violations of federal laws."^[8] ACORN executive Bertha Lewis said the organization worked to address the concerns, saying, "we have taken everything she said in the report very seriously. It’s a huge undertaking."^[9][7]

Tactics[edit]

Critics said ACORN used techniques they described as radical and extremist. In a 2008 National Review" article, Stanley Kurtz said "Acorn’s tactics are famously 'in your face'" and that "Acorn protesters have disrupted Federal Reserve hearings, but mostly deploy their aggressive tactics locally."^[10]

In the October 9, 2008, publication of the New York Post, a Domino's Pizza Delivery Driver from Cleveland told the Post about registration tactics ACORN employed. He stated he was harassed 20 times to register to vote, along with another Domino's driver.^[11]

Hypocrisy allegations[edit]

Critics of ACORN alleged that the organization was active in promoting minimum and living wage legislation, but exempted itself from minimum wage requirements in California, according to opposing organizations such as the Employment Policies Institute. In a 2006 report, the Employment Policies Institute wrote that "ACORN’s history is one of attempting to deny its employees the “living wage” it would mandate for others, seeking legal exemption from paying its employees the minimum wage increases it advocates for other businesses, being forced by the government to pay its employees overtime, completely missing wage payments to its employees, forcing its employees to operate in unsafe work environments, and busting unionization attempts of employees trying to address the preceding faults."^[12]

Detractors also said ACORN advocated for safe working conditions and unionization but forced its own employees to work under dangerous conditions and resisted employee attempts to unionize. One former employee described "long hours, low pay and unsafe working conditions" and another said the organization "interfered with and coerced an employee because of the employees union activity."^[13]

Investigations[edit]

States investigating ACORN[edit]

See Allegations of fraud

FBI Investigation[edit]

On October 16, 2008, FBI officials announced that they were launching an investigation into allegations of voter fraud against ACORN.^[14]

Investigation into allegations of embezzlement[edit]

A July 9, 2008, New York Times article reported that ACORN founder Wade Rathke's brother, Dale Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from ACORN and its affiliated organizations in the years 1999 and 2000.^[15]. Wade Rathke was informed of the embezzlement following a report from Citizens Consulting, ACORN's bookkeeper, that indicated a series of suspicious credit card charges.^[15] According to the Times, ACORN declined to publically acknowledge the embezzlement and informed only a small group of ACORN executives. The embezzled amount was recorded in ACORN's financial records as a loan to Dale Rathke in the amount of $948,607.50.^[15] Wade Rathke stepped down as the head of ACORN in June 2006. He said, "Clearly, this was an uncomfortable, conflicting and humiliating situation as far as my family and I were concerned, and so the real decisions on how to handle it had to be made by others."^[15]

Repayment[edit]

According to the director of New York ACORN, Bertha Lewis in 2008, the Rathke family had paid restitution to ACORN at the rate of $30,000 per year since 2001. Additionally, after reports of the embezzlement surfaced in the New York Times, Drummond Pike, founder and Chief Executive of the Tides Foundation, which provided funding to some of ACORN's affiliates, agreed to repay the entire sum back to ACORN.^[16]

Lawsuit[edit]

In 2008, two members of ACORN's 51-member board of directors, Karen Inman and Marcel Reid, sued to gain access to ACORN's financial records, accusing Wade Rathke of either concealing or failing to properly report the funds that Dale Rathke allegedly misappropriated.^[17] Inman and Reid claimed that a small group of ACORN executives allowed Rathke to repay the loans rather than reporting the allegations to the board and to the appropriate authorities.^[17]. The full ACORN board of directors later voted to withdraw the lawsuit 40 to 11.^[17]

Request for IRS investigation[edit]

In 2006, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley requested that the IRS investigate ACORN, saying, "These recent indictments come on top of many press stories across the country about ACORN’s potential involvement in voter fraud. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has responsibility for enforcing our tax laws and ensuring that nonprofit organizations such as ACORN abide by the rules. Engaging in vote fraud is not an appropriate activity for an organization that receives special treatments and exemptions under the tax code."^[18] In September 2009, Grassley presented reports his staff had been compiling since 2006 allegedly showing that ACORN funded political groups.

Recent news[edit]

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See also[edit]

• ACORN

External links[edit]

• ACORN website

Footnotes[edit]

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