The Republican Lawyer Blog : Funding

AZ's Constitutional Problem with Public Financing Spreads to NE

Chris Marston — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:21:00 GMT

Nebraska's public financing scheme for campaigns, honestly titled the Campaign Finance Limitation Act, may fall to the same fate as the Arizona scheme invalidated in Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v Bennett, 131 S. Ct. 2806 (2011) (The Arizona legislature, rather less ingenuous than their Nebraska colleagues, title their scheme the Arizona Citizens Clean Election Act. Ariz. Rev. Stat. §16-940 et seq.)

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, responding to a request from Nebraska's campaign finance regulators, issued an opinion yesterday (Neb. Att'y Gen. Office Op. 11003) suggesting that a court considering the Nebraska statute (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 32-1601 to 32-1613) would likely invalidate it for the same reasons the Supreme Court found Arizona's statute unconstitutional. Applying strict scrutiny to an encumbrance on a candidate's free speech rights, the Supreme Court did not find a compelling state interest to justify the statute's scheme of providing a publicly-financed campaign with funds equal to that spent by its non-publicly-financed opponent. The Court found neither preventing corruption or leveling the electoral playing field sufficiently compelling to justify the scheme.

While Nebraska's scheme is substantially less generous than Arizona's, which provides public financing from the outset of a campaign, the Nebraska scheme does have a similar provision that applies once the non-publicly-financed campaign reaches a set spending level. General Bruning found the rationale in Bennett turned on this portion of the financing scheme, so found no reason to believe that a court would reach a different outcome in considering Nebraska's statute.

Additionally, General Bruning found that the aggregate contribution limits in Nebraska's statute would fall along with the public financing provisions because a court would likely find that the two provisions are not severable under Nebraska's statutory construction rules. The provisions were enacted together and based on the legislative history it appears that one would not have passed without the other.

Check out local coverage of the opinion in the Omaha World-Herald.

General Bruning is also a candidate for U.S. Senate. Check out his campaign website here.

Disclaimer: The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) provides information of interest to lawyers about candidates for public office. However, the inclusion of information about these candidates is not an endorsement of a specific candidate for public office.

What Will Bertha Lewis Do? ACORN Funding Ban Temporarily Reinstated by 2nd Circuit

Chris Berg — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:02:00 GMT

Here's the statement from Rep. Issa on the reinstatement of the ACORN funding ban:

U.S. Court of Appeals Suspends Ruling that Congressional Funding Ban on ACORN was Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON D.C. - Today, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary Committee Member released the following statement on the U.S. Court of Appeals Second Circuit decision to stay the December 2009 injunction by Clinton-appointed Judge Nina Gershon that the Congressional funding ban on the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) was unconstitutional. As a result, as the U.S. Court of Appeals further reviews the case, the Congressional funding ban will go back into effect, and ACORN will not receive taxpayer dollars.

"I applaud the Court of Appeals for immediately addressing the effects of Judge Gershon's attempt to legislate from the bench. Today's action immediately restores the congressionally mandated ban on funding ACORN and its affiliates as a result of their criminal conduct and wasting of taxpayer dollars. Congress has the constitutional right to deny an organization the benefit of taxpayer dollars.

"With today's action by the Appeals Court, the Obama Administration must take immediate steps to re-implement the funding ban for ACORN Congress put in to law. In recent months, ACORN has undergone a rebranding campaign to disguise itself and its affiliates. As a result, the White House and all federal agencies must be extremely vigilant to ensure that rebranded organizations who have continued to make deals and maintain connections to ACORN don't receive taxpayer dollars."

Click here for a copy of the Appeals Court Decision to Stay Judge Gershon's injunction on implementing the Federal funding ban on ACORN.

Click here to read the April 2010 report entitled "ACORN Political Machine Tries to Reinvent Itself."

Click here to read the February 2010 report entitled "Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies."

Click here to read the July 2009 report entitled "Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?"

Democrats Move to Fund ACORN

Chris Berg — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:49:00 GMT

Here we go again. I thought that the Democrats had learned their lesson on ACORN. I was hopeful that they had seen the rampant voter registration fraud, tax evasion, or even the undercover videos and had decided this was an organization too troubled to continue funding. The Democrats joined with the Republicans to defund ACORN in the Continuing Resolution (CR). You remember the CR, I know ACORN does, they're currently suing the federal government over it. Last night the Democrats had an opportunity to do what is right and vote against funding ACORN going forward. Republican Leader John Boehner writes on www.biggovernment.com that the Democrats, in a party line vote, however voted against an amendment that would continue to protect taxpayers from waste, fraud, and abuse by prohibiting federal funding of ACORN.

Last night, defying the will of a bipartisan majority of the House and Senate, Democrats voted to allow the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to receive federal taxpayer dollars.

In September, large Congressional majorities in both houses voted to sever all ties between the federal government and ACORN. The Senate vote was 85-11; the House vote was 345-75. You'd think that those votes, which USA Today described as prohibiting "any federal funding for the community organizing group," would have settled the matter. You'd be wrong.

Months later, with the country's focus on jobs, healthcare, and the Global War on Terror, Democrats are moving to restore funding to ACORN. Last night, Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) offered an amendment during deliberations on the Democrats' massive year-end appropriations bill to clarify the prohibition on federal funds going to ACORN or its subsidiaries. That amendment was shot down on a 5-9 party line vote as Republicans sided with taxpayers while Democrats stood with ACORN.

Rep. Latham's amendment is necessary to prevent taxpayer money from going to ACORN because the Obama Administration's Department of Justice has taken advantage of a legal loophole to allow ACORN to continue to receive federal funds – despite the passage of the House GOP's Defund ACORN Act in the fall.

The American people and the Congress have spoken loud and clear: ACORN should be denied any taxpayer funds. Period.

ACORN has already received far too much money from the American people. An analysis of federal data by the Office of the Republican Leader staff determined that ACORN has received more than $53 million in direct funding from the federal government since 1994, and has likely received substantially more indirectly through states and localities that receive federal block grants.

Enough is enough. The American people are tired of seeing their tax dollars wasted on an organization accused of serious crimes – and that's why House Republicans are stepping up efforts to defund ACORN once and for all.

Leader Boehner's article can be viewed here.

Interesting News on the ACORN Lawsuit

Chris Berg — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:43:00 GMT

Last week ACORN and the Department of Justice had their day in court. I posted the following recap on www.biggovernment.com:

ACORN's pending litigation against the federal government has received less attention. Last week, unbeknownst to all but avid court or ACORN watchers a pivotal moment occurred in the lawsuit. Peter D. Leary, an attorney at the Department of Justice filed a brief defending the Congressional efforts to defund ACORN. His brief defended the defunding, while severely narrowing its scope and application.

* * *

Now we turn to the brief filed last week by the government. It defends the defunding of ACORN noting that the Executive Branch has interpreted the CR ban on funding narrowly, and relying heavily on the fact that a CR is by definition temporary in nature.

See the full article here.

Where There’s a Will There’s a Way – ACORN Continues to Receive Federal Funds

Chris Berg — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:02:00 GMT

The papers are buzzing with articles discussing the Department of Justice determination that ACORN may continue to receive federal funds already obligated to the organization. You can view the memorandum that started this all at www.biggovernment.com.

Here's what we're hearing:

The Examiner

On the other hand, the Holder Justice Department could simply be flat wrong in its legal reasoning. Not too much of a stretch, considering that Holder decided to drop charges of voter intimidation against the clearly guilty Black Panthers, overruling his own legal staff in the process. It is amazing what this administration will do to protect its supporters.

The New York Times

The deputy director of national operations for Acorn, Brian Kettenring, praised Mr. Barron's decision.

"We are pleased that commitments will be honored relative to Acorn's work to help keep America's working families facing foreclosure in their homes," Mr. Kettenring said.

ABC News

Barron said the language could be interpreted "categorically to prohibit any outlay of money to the identified entities, including pursuant to pre-existing contractual obligations," but, "one could also read the phrase not to prohibit payments made pursuant to a prior binding contractual duty."

Because of this perceived ambiguity, Barron concluded that the law "should not be read as directing or authorizing HUD to breach a pre-existing binding contractual obligation to make payments to ACORN or its affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations where doing so would give rise to contractual liability."

* * *

The ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., blasted the DOJ opinion as "political cronyism."

"The bipartisan intent of Congress was clear – no more federal dollars should flow to ACORN," Issa said. "It is telling that this administration continues to look for every excuse possible to circumvent the intent of Congress. Taxpayers should not have to continue subsidizing a criminal enterprise that helped Barack Obama get elected president. The politicization of the Justice Department to pay back one of the president's political allies is shameful and amounts to nothing more than old-fashioned cronyism."

Senators Coburn and Johanns Offer Orszag a Helping Hand

Chris Berg — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:14:00 GMT

Congress has prevented ACORN and ACORN affiliates from receiving federal funds through December 18, 2009. OMB Director Peter Orszag issued a memorandum instructing federal agencies to comply and cease efforts to provide any new federal funding to ACORN. While refreshing to see OMB tell federal agencies to follow the law, Senators Coburn and Johanns rightly point out, how will the agencies know what organizations to defund?

ACORN is a complex organization of more than 361 affiliates. The list seems to grow by the day. I'm not even sure that ACORN's leadership knows exactly how many corporate forms exist. Senators Johanns and Coburn today have sent a letter to OMB Director Orszag requesting that he provide additional guidance to federal agencies. The Senators have provided an initial list of entities housed at the New Orleans ACORN Headquarters and have suggested that Orszag also reference the list of entities contained in the report issued by Republican staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform entitled "Is ACORN Intentionally Structured as a Criminal Enterprise?"

See the letter from Senators Johanns and Coburn here.

ACORN v. USA – They Are Suing the Government

Chris Berg — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:09:00 GMT

Our friends at ACORN are at it again. Rather than accept the fact that an organization engaging in fraudulent and criminal activity should not have access to your tax dollars, they've decided to file a lawsuit against the United States. Specifically they've named HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, OMB Director Peter Orszag, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the lawsuit.

ACORN is getting desperate. They've been without federal funding since October 1, 2009. Congress must act by December 18^th to determine whether to restore funding of ACORN.

ACORN is again making the tired claim that Congressional defunding of ACORN is an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder. But when filing desperate litigation one needs to make some desperate claims as well. ACORN claims its First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights are being violated.

Former FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky has refuted these claims before:

"The Defund ACORN Act does not meet the legal definition of a bill of attainder. There is no valid reason why the courts would not defer to the legislative judgment of Congress as to the regulatory purposes of the statute. Congressional concern over an organization that receives taxpayer funds engaging in numerous violations of the law is more than enough justification to meet any test applied by a court trying to determine the reasonableness and rational basis for such legislation."

This is merely the desperate act of a corrupt organization unwilling to admit its culpability.

The defense of this litigation will fall on the Department of Justice. I certainly hope they are willing to stand up in defense of this necessary and proper defunding of ACORN. This lawsuit needs to be zealously defended, not dismissed like the case against the Black Panthers.

50 More Days Without Federal Funds

Chris Berg — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:45:00 GMT

Here's my latest post on www.biggovernment.com discussing the Continuing Resolution, ACORN funding, and the need for a complete investigation:

ACORN – 50 More Days Without Federal Funds

By Chris Berg

On Thursday, the United States House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution funding the Federal Government through December 18^th. The continuing resolution was passed as part of the behemoth Interior-Environment Appropriations conference report.

A continuing resolution is a stop-gap provision which allows the government to continue its operations until Congress can determine the next year's appropriations. The actions taken today merely extended the expiration date of the resolution which went into effect on October 1^st.

By extending the existing continuing resolution Congress has continued to deprive ACORN and its affiliates of federal funds until December 18^th.

This is not a substitute for more definitive action. The Congress must act to pass Republican Leader Boehner's Defund ACORN Act as stand-alone legislation. Boehner's comprehensive legislation prevents the awarding of federal contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or any other form of agreement to this criminal organization.

See the full article here.

Will ACORN Get Federal Money This Saturday?

Chris Berg — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:50:00 GMT

The Left says that ACORN has been defunded and we should move on. You and I know better. We know it's not really the case. The only bill to defund ACORN that has passed both the House and the Senate was the Continuing Resolution (CR). You know, the stop-gap Congress passes to continue federal funds until they pass a budget. Guess what, the CR expires on Saturday. We'll be waiting and watching to see what Congress does. Here's a piece from the Washington Examiner to give you a little more information.

Will Congress' defunding of ACORN expire Saturday?

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
10/27/09 1:09 PM EDT

When both houses of Congress voted to defund ACORN several weeks ago, what they actually did was bar lawmakers and federal agencies from giving any money to the community organizing group for the duration of the temporary budget agreement, or continuing resolution, that was in effect at the time. Continuing resolutions are used to extend federal spending, and keep the government running, when Congress can't agree on appropriations bills for the fiscal year. When the congressional defunding of ACORN went into effect on October 1, there was a continuing resolution in place that would last until October 31 -- this Saturday. The ACORN ban was in that resolution, so it will also expire on Saturday.

There are still no appropriations bills in place, so this week Congress will have to pass another continuing resolution to keep the federal government going. The word on the Hill is that the new resolution will probably be written to last until sometime in December.

The question is: will the ACORN defunding language be in the new resolution? The answer appears to be yes, at least for now. "We will do a CR this week that will basically extend the expiration date of the old CR, so the old language will stay," says one House Republican aide. The aide is "99.9 percent sure" that the ACORN prohibition will be in the new resolution; if Democrats tried to remove it, the aide says, "we would have a big fight this week."

Provided the ACORN ban stays for now, the real issue will be what happens when the new continuing resolution expires and actual appropriations bills are passed in December. Will there be a provision that says no funds from fiscal year 2010 will go to ACORN? Republicans are cautiously confident. "Democrats have a minority in their caucus that believes we should not have cut off ACORN," the aide says. "But I can't believe that there's a majority in their caucus that wants to fund ACORN."

Or at least wants to fight about it. Nevertheless, Republicans say they will be watching the new appropriations bills very closely. The appropriations process is sure to be chaotic, as lawmakers rush to finish spending bills before Christmas and New Year's. All it would take for ACORN funding to resume is the absence of any specific defunding language. If that language is not there, then federal agencies would again have the discretion of sending taxpayer dollars to ACORN. What happens in December could be the key to ACORN's future.

USA Today Reports HUD funds to ACORN, others triple

Chris Berg — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:43:00 GMT

I'm not going to spoil this one with my comments. I'm going to let it speak for itself…

HUD funds to ACORN, others triple despite criticism

By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Federal funding for a housing counseling program carried out by local non-profit groups such as ACORN has more than tripled since 2002, even though it has been criticized by government auditors for failing to show results.

President Obama's budget calls for a 54% increase next year — $100 million in all — for the program, which helps people buy or refinance a home, prevent a foreclosure or find rental housing. The Senate agreed, while the House of Representatives suggested $70 million; final negotiations over the bill are pending.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been unable to provide much proof the program works, according to government reports, despite an increase in funding from $20 million in 2002 to $65 million last year.

The reports found:

• "At present there is limited evidence of the benefits of counseling in making homeownership more sustainable," according to a HUD-commissioned study in 2008 by consulting firm Abt Associates. Abt found that 23% of those completing foreclosure-prevention counseling in 2007 managed to stay in their homes.

• HUD's inspector general warned in 2006 that the department inadequately supervised counseling agencies and failed to sufficiently measure results. "Despite not meeting its expectations, HUD continued to propose increases in funding," the report said. HUD has improved training and performance reviews for the program and soon will release a new housing counseling handbook, department spokeswoman Andrea Mead said in an e-mail.

• Earlier this year, non-partisan congressional investigators at the Government Accountability Office reviewed consumer protections for elderly homeowners seeking reverse mortgages. The undercover probe found that none of 15 HUD-funded counselors provided all of the required information. HUD Assistant Secretary David Stevens responded in a letter that the department was making improvements including hiring "mystery shoppers" to test reverse mortgage counseling and report back to counselors' supervisors.

In an interview, Mead said the department continually reviews its grants to make sure recipients "are achieving the program's goals and serving the public interest. If organizations don't meet those program guidelines, they won't get funding."

None of the government reports singled out any groups that received federal funding for criticism. However, one of them — the ACORN Housing Corp. — drew national attention last month after conservative activists released undercover videos taken at several offices of ACORN affiliates, including in New York and Washington, where housing counselors gave advice on buying a house for a brothel. The employees worked for a program that gets HUD funding but were not paid with government funds, ACORN Housing spokeswoman Alyson Chadwick.

Mead said in an e-mail that HUD has no way of knowing whether the workers caught on the videos were involved in government-funded programs.

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), the third-largest recipient of federal housing counseling money, has received $10.5 million from HUD for housing counseling in the past decade. Since the videos became public, the House and Senate have voted to prohibit future federal funding of ACORN.

"The issue with ACORN underscores a much larger problem within our existing bureaucracy: All too often we don't know how taxpayer dollars are being spent and if they are being spent in the right way," said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for one of ACORN's critics, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

NeighborWorks America, a non-profit created by Congress to boost home ownership, is the largest recipient of HUD counseling funds. It has received $17.4 million in the past decade.

Officials from NeighborWorks and ACORN say they're confident the program is effective.

"We know it makes a difference. We know a well-informed consumer makes better choices," says Marietta Rodriguez of NeighborWorks. It's difficult to get complete information about results, she added, because "we're not always able to track everyone we touch."

Bruce Dorpalen, ACORN's housing counseling director, says that of more than 40,000 ACORN clients seeking help preventing a foreclosure in the past year, about 8,000 got favorable mortgage changes. He said 18,000 more are in the loan-modification process. "This is a success story that not enough people know about," he said.

The foreclosure crisis means HUD should provide more funding to help people at risk of losing their homes, says Alan Mallach, a housing expert at the Brookings Institution, a think tank that often takes liberal positions. "I don't think there's any substitute for getting more and better counseling out there," Mallach says.

Andrew Carswell of the University of Georgia, who studies housing counseling, published an academic study last month that found mixed results five years after counseling clients in Philadelphia bought a home. He says the program is well-intentioned but said some counselors "could use a little bit more oversight."

More Misdirection from OMB

Chris Berg — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:36:00 GMT

The reports of ACORN's death in USA Today are false. They've written that ACORN has already been defunded and have questioned whether it's necessary for Congress to continue efforts to defund ACORN. It's as if they want you to believe that ACORN has already been punished and it's time to move on.

I've been hearing this argument from lots of my friends on the Left.

"The IRS is investigating ACORN." That's not true - they've dropped them from their volunteer tax preparer program but have not launched an investigation.

"The DOJ is investigating ACORN." That's not right either – the DOJ is investigating whether they've given ACORN any grants, not investigating ACORNs criminal conduct.

"ACORN is committed to change and has launched an independent investigation." We've been down this road before. The Harshbarger investigation is narrow in scope, essentially designed to determine whether ACORN effectively provides services to its members. I watched the videos, they provide services, they're criminal services, but they do seem to provide them well. This is a poor distraction from the calls for a real investigation.

Today we saw what will inevitably become the liberals' next argument: the White House says stop paying ACORN. They'll tell us this is the final nail in the coffin, we should all move on. But is it really?

White House OMB Director Orszag told Executive Departments and Agencies to abide by the text of section 163 of the Continuing Resolution. All he did was tell them to follow the law. The Continuing Resolution temporarily prohibits future funding of ACORN and disbursements of grant money.

This action, telling government agencies to follow the law, is really an attempt to distance President Obama from the group with which he is well associated.

If you ever visited Obama's campaign website you could see it in his own words:

When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education. Senator Obama said, "I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I did for three and half years before I went to law school. That's the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work."

But where's that appreciation today? Now he feigns ignorance stating that: "You know, if -- frankly, it's not really something I've followed closely. I didn't even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money."

His OMB Director issuing this memorandum doesn't change the game. The Obama Administration has not made any significant efforts to investigate ACORN. We've yet to see any meaningful investigation by Treasury, DOJ, the IRS, or HUD.

The White House didn't really say stop payments to ACORN. They haven't called for any meaningful investigation of ACORN either. All they've done is decide to follow the law, and in doing so they've given the President some cover.

Abandon Ship!

Chris Berg — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:19:00 GMT

Here at the RNLA we've been calling for a complete investigation of ACORN. We've filed a complaint with HUD asking that the Inspector General investigate grants made to ACORN and determine whether those funds have been used for improper purposes.

Members of Congress have been calling for the Federal Government to defund ACORN. These Congressional efforts haven't been effective yet, but there moving the ball in the right direction.

We've seen the Census and the IRS cut its ties with ACORN and its 361 affiliates.

All of this public pressure is starting to have an impact. Some of ACORN's largest donors are pulling their support from the organization.

The hard work is yet to come, but we're well on our way.

ACORN Losing Funding From Big Foundations

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 3, 2009

The liberal political organizing group ACORN, battered by the release of embarrassing videos and allegations of financial mismanagement and fraud, has also been losing support from several major foundations.

The Ford Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Bank of America have stopped funding the group and its affiliates over the past year and a half.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a network that helps low-income families with housing, voter registration and other issues, receives about 10 percent of its $25 million annual budget from federal grants, according to Brian Kettenring, deputy director of national operations. The rest comes from foundations, membership dues and private donations.

See the full article here.

ACORN, Stealing More Than Just Your Tax Dollars

Chris Berg — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:47:00 GMT

Here at the RNLA we’ve been talking a lot about the federal money that flows to ACORN. We’ve tracked over $54 million in grants from HUD alone. It was the basis of the complaint we filed with the HUD Office of the Inspector General.

We’ve seen the criminal activity that Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe helped expose. We’ve seen the ACORN workers providing “tax counseling” which consisted of advice on how to evade IRS reporting and how to structure brothels and international underage prostitution rings. It’s wrong for your tax dollars to be supporting this kind of behavior.

But what’s worse is the fact that your church may have also been helping bankroll these activities.

Last week the Institute on Religion and Democracy looked into ACORN funding from the Presbyterian Church. They found the following payments were made:

-$7,500 from the Presbyterian Hunger Program for “general support”
-$10,000 to the ACORN New Orleans office for “community organizing”
-$35,000 from the PCUSA Self Development of People fund “to address the issue of security”

The Catholic Church had been an even greater funder of ACORN, but promptly halted their investment in this criminal enterprise once Dale Rathke’s million dollar embezzlement was disclosed last summer. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) had previously given ACORN more than $7 million. I applaud the CCHD for putting an end to its support of ACORN once the embezzlement and cover-up were revealed. I hope that in light of the more disturbing revelations we’ve seen lately other churches follow suit.

We’ve been calling on the Government to defund ACORN. We’ve demanded HUD fight to get back any money that was misappropriated or misspent.

If like me, you’re troubled that your church may still be financially supporting ACORN’s criminal endeavors it’s time to speak up.

Treasury Agrees to Formal Review of ACORN

Justin Riemer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:13:00 GMT

Fox News is reporting that "Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George has sent a letter to Sen. Susan Collins, R, ME, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, agreeing to conduct a formal review of ACORN and IRS's oversight of ACORN and other nonprofits. Collins and Issa recently sent letters requesting investigations of seven Inspectors General." This comes in the wake of the announcement yesterday that the IRS was "severing ties" with the organization. "The Internal Revenue Service said it would no longer include ACORN in its volunteer tax assistance program. The program offered free tax advice to about 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers this spring. ACORN provided help on about 25,000 returns, the IRS said." As we noted earlier in the week, the Department of Justice Inspector General has also announced an investigation.

You may recall that the RNLA called on the Inspector General of HUD and the Justice Department to conduct an investigation. There have been similar repeated requests by members of Congress to open the books on ACORN and investigate where the taxpayer money goes and how it was used.

State Governments Take Action

Chris Berg — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:35:00 GMT

We’ve all seen the recent efforts in the House and Senate to begin defunding ACORN. There is also a movement afoot in states across our great nation to do the same. As you can see these efforts to investigate and halt government funding of ACORN transcend party lines.

California – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called on the state Attorney General to launch an investigation into ACORN.
Georgia – Governor Sonny Perdue issued an Executive Order to prevent the Executive Branch from doing business with ACORN
Louisiana – Governor Bobby Jindal banned the state from entering into contracts with ACORN and has called for a state investigation.
Maryland – Attorney General Doug Gansler has launched an investigation into ACORN.
Minnesota – Governor Tim Pawlenty ordered the state to “stop all funding” of ACORN “unless the state is legally obligated” to pay ACORN.
Mississippi – Governor Haley Barbour issued an Executive Order to “cut off funding” to ACORN.
New York – Governor David Paterson has put a 30 day hold on ACORN contracts.

Keep visiting the Republican Lawyer Blog for continued updates on these developing investigations.