National Review on SEIU, ACORN and White House

In recent weeks, we have blogged about the web of connections between ACORN, SEIU, and the White House. Chris Berg noted that SEIU President Andrew Stern has been the most frequent guest at the White House, appearing on average of about three times per month since Obama took office. A National Review piece out today probes these connections further. (There are also a few nice quotes of Chris.) On the links between SEIU and ACORN:

On the intimidation front, SEIU has worked with the radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The group once served as a valuable ally, but its reputation now lies in tatters thanks to a pair of amateur journalists who, costumed as pimp and hooker, filmed themselves obtaining advice from ACORN staffers on how best to shelter the proceeds of a child-prostitution ring from taxation.

SEIU did not sustain much damage from the scandal, even though, as a colleague of mine quipped, ACORN often acts as its paramilitary wing. SEIU's former political director, Patrick Gaspard, remains comfortably ensconced at the White House as political director — Obama's Karl Rove — and the connection does not appear to have hurt him.

The SEIU-ACORN link is deep and longstanding. At least one SEIU local, Chicago's Local 880, was organized by ACORN and run by it for 20 years. An SEIU official recently testified that the local had severed its ACORN ties, but Chris Berg, a former special assistant at the Office of Labor Management Standards, says, "I'm very skeptical." Keith Kelleher, who spent many years running ACORN in Chicago, is still the local's head organizer. "They've been wed together for so long, I don't think they can divorce," says Berg.

The bottom line on the relationship between SEIU and the White House:

"The most important thing to note about what SEIU is doing is that it's really become a lobbying arm for the president," Berg says. "Much like Organizing for America [the community-organizing group run by the Democratic National Committee], they are trying to drive bodies nationwide to lobby their congressmen and senators to try to implement the president's agenda." Seen in that light, it is entirely unsurprising that Stern's name should be the one that appears most frequently in White House visitor logs. Obama and Stern are working together to make America a more liberal place, and they want you to join them.