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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Steve King sent the following letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers calling for the Judiciary Committee to hold congressional hearings and conduct a complete and comprehensive full committee investigation into ACORN and its affiliates. King met privately with Conyers on Tuesday, and the two made plans to meet again Friday.
The Honorable John Conyers
Committee on the Judiciary
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Conyers,
As you know, I am concerned about facts related to the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN). I request that the Judiciary Committee hold congressional hearings and conduct a complete and comprehensive full committee investigation into ACORN and its affiliates.
ACORN is operating as a criminal enterprise and committing illegal and fraudulent activity. I have repeatedly called for a congressional investigation into ACORN, but publicly available information about ACORN’s criminal acts has been ignored by liberals in Congress and the mainstream media. On July 23, 2009, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a detailed report on this criminal enterprise and its illegal activities. That same day, you agreed to read the report during our colloquy on the House floor. As I’m sure you are aware, the Committee concluded that ACORN and its spider web of affiliates is involved with deliberate and systemic fraud—including tax evasion, obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting the cover-up of embezzlement. The report also details ACORN’s conspiracy to defraud the United States government by illegally using taxpayer funds.
As we discussed in our meeting on Tuesday, we have a duty to protect the integrity of our election process. ACORN has threatened that integrity by committing voter registration fraud. ACORN is currently under investigation in at least 14 states. It has admitted to filing over 400,000 false or fraudulent voter registrations in the 2008 election cycle alone. Because of this, ACORN, as an entity, has been indicted on voter fraud charges in Nevada. Its involvement in questionable lending practices and in the shakedown of lenders also demonstrates that ACORN is rife with fraud. As if these offenses were not enough to warrant a congressional inquiry, recent videos released on Fox News of ACORN employees facilitating fraud, human trafficking, prostitution and tax evasion have added new, even more troubling transgressions to ACORN’s rap sheet. These acts cannot be ignored. The time to investigate ACORN is now.
As a recipient of at least $53 million in taxpayer dollars since 1994, ACORN must be held accountable. Despite a laundry list of criminal activity, ACORN is still eligible to receive $8.5 billion more in federal tax dollars. We have a duty to protect the Rule of Law and the interests of the taxpayer. To fulfill this duty with regard to ACORN, we must start holding congressional hearings and order a complete investigation into ACORN. I look forward to meeting with you again on Friday, September 25, to determine how the full Judiciary Committee will proceed with an investigation of ACORN and its affiliates.
Sincerely,
Steve King
Member of Congress
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