HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Oct 23 - Democrats in charge of Congress have sought to shower billions in federal funds upon the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) – an extreme left-wing outfit with deep political ties to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and a mounting track record of voter fraud and legal trouble.  To ensure that taxpayers are not bankrolling ACORN’s activities, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) yesterday urged President Bush to block all federal dollars intended for the group.  Will Democratic leaders in Congress follow suit?  The Associated Press has the details of Boehner’s request:

Boehner’s letter to the President comes as ACORN falls under even greater scrutiny for allegations of voter fraud and other illegal behavior.  Here is just a sampling of ACORN’s most recent media coverage:

• “A suburban Philadelphia man is charged with forgery, allegedly altering 18 voter-registration applications during his employment with an organization [ACORN] whose voter-outreach efforts have become a flashpoint in the presidential campaign.” – Associated Press, 10/23/08
• “Clifton Mitchell helped register nearly 2,000 voters for the community group ACORN. But not one of them actually existed…  Mitchell was convicted last year and spent nearly three months in prison.” – CNN, 10/22/08
• “An internal report by a lawyer for the community organizing group Acorn raises questions about whether the web of relationships among its 174 affiliates may have led to violations of federal laws…  The June 18 report, written by Elizabeth Kingsley, a Washington lawyer, spells out her concerns about potentially improper use of charitable dollars for political purposes; money transfers among the affiliates; and potential conflicts created by employees working for multiple affiliates, among other things.” – New York Times, 10/22/08

An Investor’s Business Daily editorial reports this morning that the sum of taxpayer dollars flowing to ACORN is sizable – and could have been even larger if the Democrats running Congress had their way:

Instead of working to protect taxpayers from the abuses committed by ACORN, congressional Democrats have actually rewarded the organization, according to an analysis released yesterday by Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO).  But with more allegations of voter fraud and other illegal activities at ACORN surfacing each and every day, will Sen. Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and their allies in charge on Capitol Hill join Boehner’s call to defund ACORN until investigations into the group’s activities are complete?  Or will they continue to insist that overstressed American taxpayers fork over a portion of their paychecks to fund a group accused of undermining one our nation’s most sacred right of all: the right to vote?

READ MORE:

• Boehner Urges President Bush to Stop All Federal Funding of ACORN (10/22/08)
• Boehner Releases Analysis Showing ACORN Has Received at Least $31 Million in Federal Funding; Untold Millions More through State & Local Agencies (10/16/08)
• Pressure Builds on Democratic Leaders to End Taxpayer-Funded Giveaways to ACORN (10/10/08)