For Those Who Have No Clue About What ACORN Is About
ACORN has been in the news these past days because of voters registration fraud. Meaning? There were some dishonest employees of ACORN who took advantage of their employer and decided to get a check for zero work. That is unfortunate. But this type of dishonesty goes further than ACORN. When was the last time you left work early but your check read different? When was the last time you arrived to work late and you didn’t acknowledge it on your time slip?
ACORN has helped thousands upon thousands of low income families for almost forty years with housing, rent, food, jobs and landlord disputes. However, this election is not about Joe Barely Making It, or Single Mom With Five Kids And Three Jobs To Equal One.
ACORN helps the forgotten class of Americans. Now, the organization that helps these people is getting a raw deal itself for campaign brownie points. If you have no clue as to what ACORN IS and what it is ALL ABOUT because you are a Soccer Mom or Middle Class Joe Six Pack or even Joe the Plummer, who makes $45,000 as an unlicensed working plummer, then the below info is for you.
You can locate more about ACORN at www.acorn.org:
ACORN is the nation’s largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people with over 400,000 member families organized into more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in 110 cities across the country. Since 1970, ACORN has been building community organizations that are committed to social and economic justice, and won victories on thousands of issues of concern to our members, through direct action, negotiation, legislative advocacy and voter participation. ACORN helps those who have historically been locked out become powerful players in our democratic system.
Mission Statement
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) aims to organize a majority consituency of low- to moderate-income people across the United States. The members of ACORN take on issues of relevance to their communities, whether those issues are discrimination, affordable housing, a quality education, or better public services. ACORN believes that low- to moderate-income people are the best advocates for their communities, and so ACORN’s low- to moderate-income members act as leaders, spokespeople, and decision-makers within the organization.
ACORN Milestones Timeline
1970 – Wade Rathke begins organizing in Arkansas to unite welfare recipients and working people for shared needs and rights; forms ACORN (Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now)
1971 – ACORN leaders organize “Save the City” campaign in Little Rock, establishing ACORN as a force in Arkansas politics. ACORN establishes six regional offices in the state around issues of concern to rural and small town Arkansans, begins to tackle statewide issues
1972 – ACORN’s “Save the City Rally” in Little Rock marks first entrance into electoral politics
1974 – In Pulaski County, 250 ACORN members run for office, 195 win seats
1975 – ACORN expands to Texas and South Dakota; first associate Executive Board and first president (Steve McDonald) elected to handle issues of larger scope
1978 – First national convention, of 1,000 members in Memphis, marks beginning of multi-state campaigns
1978-1980 – Participation in 1980 presidential campaign leads entry into national politics
1980 – ACORN is in 20 states, having added at least 3 states each year since
1982 – ACORN reaches 30,000 member families
1980s – Reagan years very trying for low-income communities and organizing. ACORN launches squatting campaign to get low- and moderate-income people into vacant houses and fix them up, with neighborhood approval. Fifteen thousand ACORN members and allies establish “Reagan Ranches” in over 35 cities, building tent cities to symbolize the homelessness Reagan’s policies created. ACORN develops and strengthens ACORN Political Action Committees (APACs) and legislative office.
1985 – ACORN grows to 27 states, including significant chapters in New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago
1990 – ACORN has more than 70,000 members in 28 states
1994 – ACORN participation has helped Project Vote register 147,000 voters in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
2000 – ACORN is 125,000 members strong. ACORN registers 100,000 new voters nationwide.
2004 – Now 720 full-time staff working for ACORN and sister organizations, up from 490 just a year before. ACORN organized in 80 cities (up from 60 at the end of 2003) in 31 states. ACORN also expands internationally, with ACORN Canada opening its first offices in Toronto and Vancouver and ACORN Peru opening an office in Lima.
2005 – ACORN now includes chapters in over 100 U.S. cities in 37 states and in Canada, Peru and Mexico
2006 – More than 350,000 member families organized in over 110 cities in 40 states; added Argentina
2007 – ACORN organizes in India
The Washington Review & Commentary
Nice try to spin ACORN as something other than the corrupt, politically partisan, radical left-wing scam fraudulant operation that it is. The founder’s brother stole a million dollars and then fled. The Feds are raiding ACORN offices faster than ACORN can manufactur bogus voter registration forms, and the taxpayers will soon rise up and demand funding be cut-off to this bunch of crooks and kooks. You can try to perfume the turd all you want, but it still stinks to high heaven.
2008 Acorn receives $820,000 from Obama campaign – widespread voter fraud
And? Your point is what? Corruption is not elite to ACORN. Currently, we will be taxed until who knows when because of 1. The Senate and The House’s refusal to regulate Wall Street but instead DE-REGULATE, 2. Greedy corporate mavericks who would rather pocket millions in bonuses and in golden parachutes instead of doing their JOBS, 3. Americans who decided to live beyond their means like their last names are Colby and Ewing! It is easy to point the finger at an organization that helps poor people out every single day of the week instead of placing the blame where it should be. Do you even know what the letters of ACORN mean? Probably not. ACORN does not figure in your life or those of the middle class and wealthy.
To add to that, it is mighty suspicious how all of a sudden poor folks are being throw to the wolves. The last time I checked, the GOP supported the efforts of ACORN. And show me the evidence of the $280,000. This is nothing but ACORN being the sacrificial lamb upon the ultar known as McCain/Palin. The GOP has proven throughout the years that reputation, livelihood, and lives in general are not above the ‘big picture.’ The ‘big picture’? Get what you want whatever the cost. Even if that means invading a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 which costs Americans $10 billion dollars a day! Talk about FRAUD! $820,000 is nothing compared to the FRAUD that Americans has experienced these past eight years…trillions of dollars worth! Where is the outrage about that?
Why do Americans need a tax-payer funded organization to tell them to vote? Isn’t it an understood civic responsibility. I dunno, but I am not sure if I want my vote countered by some lazy jokers who need college kids motivated by money to get them on the registration list. I think we would be better off only letting property owners vote. Otherwise, the sycophants and leeches get equal say regarding the distribution of the achiever wealth and assets.
Regulation was requested by John McCain for Fannie and Freddie in 2006. Many people in Congress signed the letter, Obama did not. THAT is what triggered the economic breakdown we are now seeing. Also, Acorn’s forcing banks to give house to poor people who could not afford houses also contributed to this failure, this was also enforced by Fannie and Freddie. What you seem to forget is that all of this was in the hands of the Democrats. 9/11 – Republicans should have stopped it. World Trade Center bombing in 1994 – Cinton should have stopped it. http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/10/11/mccain-letter-demanded-2006-action-on-fannie-and-freddie-human-events/
And a letter is enough, right? A letter is not a bill nor is it a law. Did you also forget that Obama sent a letter to Paulson, directly? Without anyones signature but his own? Did you also forget that this letter preceded McCain and the Republicans? You must be out to lunch with blaming ACORN and low income people for this fine mess of an economy! If you’d check your facts, you would see that ACORN is not in the mortgage/real estate business. You need to read my article again. Or perhaps GOOGLE and learn. As usual and true to form, America has to have a scapegoat and the scapegoat is always going to be those too weak to defend themselves. By the way, before you start hurling unsubstantiated ‘facts’ around, do your own research FIRST. You’ll be surprised how far you will go in life.
Home work completed:
Re: Obama’s letter to Paulson & Bernanke, March 2007! 8-Oct-08 04:15 pm Several problems with Sen Obama’s letter
1. As A US Senator, his concerns should have been addressed to Congress directly –any documentation that he did this in early 2007??
2.His next to the last paragraph states “My colleagues on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs… and I expect the Committee will develop legislation”
Did this Commiittee actually develop legislation?? In fact, at this time the Dems were the majority party.
3. Obama blames deregulation as the cause, but in paragraph 1 he states ” Because regulators are partly responsible for creating the environment…” This is the true statement as regulations as established by the Community Redevelopment Act of 1977 (under Pres. Carter) required banks to provide mortgage loans to low and middle income families–these are the same people who are defaulting on the loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was more interested in QUANTITY of loans, rather than QUALITY–as Raines bouses were based on TOTAL value of loans, not their quality. Too much regulation rather than too little was the cause, unless we examine the roles of Raines at Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac were essentially the cesspool repositories for these subprime loans. If these 2 agencies had performed their duty of due diligence, the repacketgers would never have had the market to dump these loans.
4. Sen McCain actually beat Mr Obama to the punch, as he tried to initiate legislation in 2005-2006, but fell to deaf ears.
5. By the time Obama tried to blow the whistle, it was too late–ie the horse was already out of the barn. These loans for the most part had already been issued.
6. Obama sent this letter when he was running against Senator Clinton, convenient timing.
ACORN Housing
Type of assistance: ACORN Housing in partnership with Citibank and Bank of America provides below market interest rate mortgages. The ACORN mortgages require lower down payment and settlement costs than typical conventional loans. In addition private mortgage insurance is not required which allows for a greater purchase price. In addition, higher debt ratios and more liberal credit scores are permitted under the ACORN lending criteria. Assistance with credit problem resolution is provided, as well as budgeting assistance. In addition, ACORN provides foreclosure avoidance services and assistance to victims of predatory lending.
Who is Eligible? Households whose income does not exceed 120% of area median income.
Contact: ACORN Housing Corp – Oakland (510)436-6532 or ACORN Housing Corp – San Jose (408) 297-3087 and on the web at: http://www.acornhousing.org/index.php
Categorized | Breaking, Political NewsTags : ACORN, banks, barack obama, chicago, citibank, clinton, community reinvestment act, cra, credit history, economic crisis, fannie mae, freddie mac, lawsuit, loan applications, Madeline Talbott, minorities, mortgage, racism, refinance, scandal
UPDATED: Obama Sued Citibank Under CRA to Force it to Make Bad Loans
Posted on 03 October 2008
Do you remember how we told you that the Democrats and groups associated with them leaned on banks and even sued to get them to make bad loans under the Community Reinvestment Act which was a factor in causing the economic crisis (see HERE ) … well look at what some fellow bloggers have dug up while researching Obama’s legal career. Looks like a typical ACORN lawsuit to get banks to hand out bad loans.
In these lawsuits, ACORN makes a bogus claim of Redlining (denying poor people loans because of their ethnic heritage). They protest and get the local media to raise a big stink. This stink means that the bank faces thousands of people closing their accounts and get local politicians to lobby to stop the bank from doing some future business, expansions and mergers. If the bank goes to court, they will win, but the damage is already done because who is going to launch a big campaign to get the bank’s reputation back?
It is important to understand the nature of these lawsuits and what their purpose is. ACORN filed tons of these lawsuits and ALL of them allege racism.
Thanks to the IUSB Vision Weblog for providing additional details of this story.
We pulled the docket down, but here’s a brief for your summary:
Case Name
Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank Fair Housing/Lending/Insurance
Docket / Court 94 C 4094 ( N.D. Ill. ) FH-IL-0011
State/Territory Illinois
Case Summary
Plaintiffs filed their class action lawsuit on July 6, 1994, alleging that Citibank had engaged in redlining practices in the Chicago metropolitan area in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601-3619; the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1982. Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendant-bank rejected loan applications of minority applicants while approving loan applications filed by white applicants with similar financial characteristics and credit histories. Plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, actual damages, and punitive damages.
U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo certified the Plaintiffs’ suit as a class action on June 30, 1995. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 322 (N.D. Ill. 1995). Also on June 30, Judge Castillo granted Plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery of a sample of Defendant-bank’s loan application files. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 338 (N.D. Ill. 1995).
The parties voluntarily dismissed the case on May 12, 1998, pursuant to a settlement agreement.
Plaintiff’s Lawyers Alexis, Hilary I. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Childers, Michael Allen (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Clayton, Fay (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Cummings, Jeffrey Irvine (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Love, Sara Norris (Virginia)
FH-IL-0011-9000
Miner, Judson Hirsch (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Obama, Barack H. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Wickert, John Henry (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-9000
UPDATE : Hotair.com comments on this story HERE .
New York Post Article HERE :
THE seeds of today’s financial meltdown lie in the Community Reinvestment Act – a law passed in 1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and regulatory rulings in later decades.
CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in “subprime” loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.
Any bank that wants to expand or merge with another has to show it has complied with CRA – and approval can be held up by complaints filed by groups like ACORN.
In fact, intimidation tactics, public charges of racism and threats to use CRA to block business expansion have enabled ACORN to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and contributions from America’s financial institutions .
The Woods Fund report makes it clear Obama was fully aware of the intimidation tactics used by ACORN’s Madeline Talbott in her pioneering efforts to force banks to suspend their usual credit standards. Yet he supported Talbott in every conceivable way. He trained her personal staff and other aspiring ACORN leaders, he consulted with her extensively, and he arranged a major boost in foundation funding for her efforts.
And, as the leader of another charity, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Obama channeled more funding Talbott’s way – ostensibly for education projects but surely supportive of ACORN’s overall efforts.
UPDATE 2: Fox News gets on the story
UPDATE 3: CNS News Analysis
Under the Clinton administration, federal regulators began using the act to combat “red-lining,” a practice by which banks loaned money to some communities but not to others, based on economic status. “No loan is exempt, no bank is immune,” warned then-Attorney General Janet Reno. “For those who thumb their nose at us, I promise vigorous enforcement.”
The Clinton-Reno threat of “vigorous enforcement” pushed banks to make the now infamous loans that many blame for the current meltdown, Richman said. “Banks, in order to not get in trouble with the regulators, had to make loans to people who shouldn’t have been getting mortgage loans.”
This threat combined with the government backing of Fannie and Freddie set the stage for the current uncertainty, because the “banks could just sell the loans off to Fannie or Freddie,” who could buy them with little regard for negative financial outcomes, Richman said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=36048
UPDATE 4: Obama Audio saying it was a Good Idea to give people loans that couldn’t afford them.
We told you before how Obama sued banks with so called “community organizers” to force the banks to give bad loans to people who couldn’t afford them. Well now we have the audio of Obama saying in 2007 that giving sub-prime loans to people who couldn’t afford them is a good idea.
UPDATE 5: So what really (no really ) cause this economic crisis?
Referenced / Associated News Article
As I have stated before, ACORN is not in the real estate/ mortgage business which essentially means that they do not grant loans nor do they finance or broker home mortages. They assist low income families to obtain the American Dream.
From ACORN HOUSING:
National non-profit ACORN Housing has been providing free housing counseling to low and moderate income homebuyers since 1987. We have opened HUD-certified, Fannie Mae-approved housing counseling offices across the US, helping over 50,000 families to achieve homeownership.
ACORN Housing provides one-on-one mortgage loan counseling, first-time homebuyer classes, and helps clients obtain affordable mortgages through our unique lending partnerships.
We look at your savings and credit history to see if you qualify for a mortgage. We can help you with credit problems and to create a downpayment savings plan.
When you qualify, we can help arrange a mortgage with lower interest rates, lower down payments and lower settlement costs than what banks usually offer.
If anything, ACORN provides the assistance that future homeowners need BEFORE they actually purcahse a home. If you look over the statistics, not just low – moderate income families are losing their homes. Those who make quite a bit of dough are losing them, too! My husband works for a engineering firm that had a contract with one of the biggest home builders in the country. These newly built homes weren’t for those with low incomes. These homes which ranged from $250,000 to $3 mill were built for those with professional careers, not the guy who works as a manager at Mickey D’s. This company realized the bottom was going to fall two years ago!! That’s when the market really began to spiral out of control. No one was buying expensive homes and second homes anymore. So, they pulled out of the deal. Hundreds were laid off from enginers to contractors. I have known more middle class folks with foreclosure signs outside of their homes than poor folks. I know five personally that are doctors, nurses, lawyers and executives with homes ranging from $400,000 to $2mill!! They are not the exception. Suze Orman had a couple on her show tonight that went from making $250,000 a year to $42,000. They have lost everything! Travel through your middle class and affluent neighborhoods and count the for sale signs! Here in Florida, it is outrageous! Don’t tell me that only poor folks were jumping on Fannie and Freddie…And if they were, when you have control of the money, why would you lend it to someone that you know is a risk? That is where the banks failed America. It’s like a parent who gives a child everything they want and the gravy train hits empty, the parent blames the child!
Obama has been in the senate not even a half of a fraction of the time McCain has. This Wall Street crisis began back in the Reagan years when Ronald Reagan de-regulated WS. McCain was a senator back then. Where was McCain? Where was the independent thinking then? I’ll tell you: both parties were interested in DA MONEY. The kick backs that greedy corporate mavericks were raining for ‘special interests.’ You can’t blame Obama for this fiasco. This mess has been brewing for years. If you want, we can take it back to the Iran Contra, too! Wall Street and the Republican government were partners in that, too!
Getting back to the topic of Acorn. Your are correct in the Obama has been in the senate only a fraction of the time that Senator McCain has been there, however, he did find time to introduce a bill on the following:
OBAMA INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO PROTECT ACORN
Marinka Peschmann has a stunning piece in the Canada Free Press on the corrupt legislation that Obama is co-sponsoring to protect the crooks and thugs that put him where his is. Quid pro quo baby.
I liked it better when, as a Senator, he did nothing and voted ‘present’ 130 times. Did our founding fathers foresee a traitor being elected to the White House?
Obama shields ACORN from Criminal Prosecution in the Economic Crisis Canada Free Press
Not only did Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign pay more than U.S. $800,000 to a front of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, Now, ACORN, currently under investigation in a dozen States for voter registration fraud and bribery schemes, for “get-out-the-vote-efforts”; Obama co-sponsored legislation called the “Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007”– that was supported by ACORN and protects them.
Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act, S.2136, was introduced in the Senate by Illinois Senator Richard Durbin over a year ago, on October 3, 2007. It was co-sponsored, by Obama and 12 other Democrats, including Vice Presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, and Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd.
According to a Senate transcript, Durbin stated: “It is true that some families knowingly stretched a bit to buy more house than they should have. But many families were sold mortgages they couldn’t afford by unscrupulous brokers… This bill is supported by the AARP, ACORN, AFL-CIO and SEIU, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Consumer Federation of America, NAACP and La Raza, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition…”
Why would groups like ACORN, who according to Stanley Kurtz’s “O Dangerous Pals” undermined “the US economy by pushing the banking system into a sinkhole of bad loans…. by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in “subprime” loans to often un-creditworthy poor and minority customers…” support this legislation? Perhaps because it provides Chapter 13 Bankruptcy protections to homeowners who didn’t have the means to buy homes, and it protects people who put those borrowers into these high-risk mortgages.
Durbin’s bill, co-sponsored by Obama, “amends federal bankruptcy law to permit a bankruptcy plan to: modify a [mortgage] secured by the principal residence of a chapter 13 debtor…” It “exempts” them “from the requirement for credit counseling if… that debtor…has been scheduled” for foreclosure. The credit counseling typically distinguishes debtors who, for instance, because of unforeseen medical bills have no alternatives but bankruptcy, from debtors who’ve recklessly or ruthlessly bought homes they couldn’t afford because, according to the Federal Trade Commission, it evaluates a person’s financial situation and discusses alternatives to avoid filing bankruptcy. If this bill becomes law, the “certificate of completion” a debtor receives after the credit counseling process would be waived. Anyone, with a single home, could file Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.
[...]
But there’s more. The Department of Housing and Urban Development reportedly found that “five million illegal aliens hold illegal mortgages.” Who arranged these illegal mortgages?
The Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act is not unique legislation that helps community organizers, and other special interest outreach groups, like ACORN. As reported here Obama’s Citizenship Promotion Act “organizes the immigrant community” by using U.S. $80 million taxpayer dollars for outreach programs targeted at immigrants and future voters.