It is hard to deny the increasingly vital role of lawyers in electoral politics. A good attorney or two, versed in election law, is a key part of any party or campaign team nowadays. Since the 2000 election, in fact, it’s hard to remember a time when Election Day operations haven’t included a legal presence. The RNLA is more important than ever before.

But every good guy needs his nemesis. For us, it’s ACORN. This organization has taken voter registration and campaign-focused community activism to new heights. And, it has cut more than a few corners to get there. As a result, ACORN, its employees or former employees have been investigated or indicted in more than a dozen states across the country for voter registration fraud and related violations of the tax code and campaign finance laws.

While its work seems to benefit only Democrat candidates, ACORN’s disdain for the law and for the sanctity of the ballot box has made it a target of both Republican and Democrat prosecutors. But, simultaneously, its behavior has endeared ACORN to Democrat politicians who now control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. They are using their positions of authority to both legitimize ACORN’s civic involvement and fund it.

In fact, even as new charges were filed against ACORN and its workers in Nevada and Pennsylvania, the US House of Representatives recently stripped down language from a mortgage reform bill that would have prevented organizations, like ACORN, that have been indicted or employ people who have been indicted from getting access to millions in taxpayer funds. And, the vote was essentially along party lines.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank laid out the Democrat position like this: It’s a violation of due process to penalize an organization for a mere indictment by denying them access to federal funds. But, that presupposes that that organization was entitled to those federal funds and that Congress is denying them their right to the money before their guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the author of the language that the Democrats stripped from the bill, countered like this:

[Chairman Frank] will talk today about the bedrock legal principle of innocence until proof of guilt; but that is not what this is about. The language in the bill today does not jeopardize that principle at all. Decisions on criminal guilt will remain in the capable hands of a jury of peers.

But it is not only legitimate for Congress to decide the threshold for accessing taxpayer funds; it is incumbent upon us to do so.

With trillion-dollar deficits for years into the future, you would think Congress would at least cut funding to an organization repeatedly investigated for criminal misconduct. You would think that at least the appearance of impropriety would lead them to distance themselves from such an organization. But, they’re taking the gamble that the electoral gains more than make-up for such appearances.

And, so, though House Republicans have asked the U.S. Census Bureau to sever ties with ACORN, it will remain a partner in the 2010 Census. And, though Congresswoman Bachmann – along with Republican Leader John Boehner – have introduced legislation to make ACORN ineligible for taxpayer funds, ACORN will continue to have access to $8.5 billion in federal money through bills passed just this calendar year.

All of this means that the RNLA will be increasingly important in elections to come and potentially in ways related to the decennial census. Republican lawyers are no longer only needed during the hours polls are open or in recounts and canvasses following Election Day. We can’t wait for ACORN to pad the voter rolls to start our work. We’ve got to be vigilant in the days and months leading up to Election Day.

Furthermore, regardless of what you think of such efforts on the merits, it’s undeniable that movements across the country to propagate early voting, no-excuse absentee voting and voting by mail will only offer groups like ACORN more opportunities. Republican lawyers need to be equally creative in developing new strategies for ensuring voter integrity throughout the process.

We have allies in Congress, like Congresswoman Bachmann, and in the media, like Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, who will do their part to break the funding stream and keep the spotlight on ACORN’s shenanigans – as well as prosecutors just in doing their jobs to preserve the integrity of the ballot. There is a niche in electoral politics custom-made for party-minded lawyers. It’s up to us to fill it.

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Michelle Marston is a member of RNLA-VA and Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. We can start doing our part by signing Congresswoman Bachmann’s petition to stop funding ACORN with tax dollars at http://www.michelebachmann.com/news.php.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the Republican National Lawyers Association, its staff, leadership or membership.