D.C. ACORN Chair Says Corruption Streams From Top Down

The chairwoman of the Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia chapter of ACORN said corruption in the organization stems from a top-down approach, as decisions for more than 300 affiliate organizations are made by about 30 or 40 individuals.

Marcel Reid, who headed the board of the D.C. chapter of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN), explained how she and other board members are now in "exile" for asking too many questions about the finances of the national organization in 2007 and 2008.

Further, she said the organization was so cleverly set up that it would be difficult to investigate it, even if federal prosecutors or state prosecutors take the initiative.

“It was a number of non-profit and a number of for-profits, and there is nothing to ACORN itself but paper,” Reid told a forum at the National Press Club Thursday sponsored by Judicial Watch. She added that “ACORN invites lawsuits” because its myriad affiliates make it difficult to pin any responsibility on the central organization.

Congress included in the Continuing Appropriations Resolution for 2010 a provision that bars federal funds to ACORN and its “affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations.”

President Obama signed the resolution, but a Justice Department opinion cleared the way for funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to continue going to the organization.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York, granted a preliminary injunction to stop Congress from singling out ACORN for punishment without proper investigation or due process.

The federal government has awarded at least $53 million to ACORN and its affiliates since 1994, according to an analysis by the House Republican staff.

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