ACORN under fire for alleged voter registration fraud

ACORN under fire for alleged voter registration fraud Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 5/8/2009 7:30:00 AM

A now notorious liberal group once represented by Barack Obama in court is in more hot water for perpetrating voter registration fraud.
Seven Pittsburgh-area Association of Community Reform Organizations Now, or ACORN, workers were charged Thursday with falsifying voter registration forms, with six accused of doing so to meet the group's alleged quota system before last year's general election. District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Jr., describes the Pittsburgh investigation as "ongoing." (More details) Earlier this week, the Nevada attorney general charged ACORN and two employees for allegedly having a daily quota for voter registration cards. Pittsburgh attorney Heather Heidelbaugh filed an injunction last year against ACORN for voter registration fraud, and in March testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding ACORN violations committed during the 2008 election. She notes ACORN wanted to get 1.5 million registrations nationwide in 2008 because they were paid an average of $17 per registration. "ACORN really didn't care whether these people were registered....What they're interested in is getting 1.5 million times $17 per registration card. They're paid by their funders to get these registration cards," Heidelbaugh explains. "Of course, the funders believe that they're getting people registered legitimately. But they earn an extraordinary amount of money -- you can do the math on these registration cards -- because they promise their funders that they're going to contact the registrant four times and get them to the polls." Heidelbaugh, vice president of the Republican National Lawyers Association, says ACORN is like an "octopus on steroids" -- they have their tentacles everywhere. ACORN has 275 affiliate companies and, according to the Washington Examiner, has received at least $54 million from the federal government since 1994. With President Obama's "stimulus" package and budget, the paper says ACORN and its affiliates may receive an additional $3 billion.