ACORN'S Federal Funding Restored!...Judge Orders

Here is video of ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis appearing on Fox News Sunday earlier this year where she was questioned by Chris Wallace. GOP Rep. Darrell Issa also appeared on the show.








Federal Judge: ACORN Funding Restored



A Federal Judge in New York ordered that ACORN’s federal funding be restored, rolling back a slew of Congressional actions that sought to stop taxpayer money from flowing to the community group on the heels of a fall full of embarrassments for it.

Nina Gershon, a district judge in New York, issued a preliminary injunction directing the US Department of Housing & Urban Development, the Office of Management & Budget, and the Treasury department to disregard a bill signed into law by President Obama that prohibited federal funding of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

“The question here is only whether the Constitution allows Congress to declare that a single, named organization is barred from all federal funding in the absence of a trial,” Gershon wrote in her opinion. “Because it does not, and because the plaintiffs have shown the likelihood of irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction, I grant the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.”

Gershon said that “none of the government’s justifications stand up to scrutiny” and that “no non-punitive rational” is obvious.

ACORN was the subject of bi-partisan disdain in September, after undercover videos were released that seemed to show the organization’s employees offering advice on how to break the law. Republicans and Democrats voted to stop federal funding of the group – a measure signed into law by the president on the back of an appropriations bill.

In November, the group sued the federal government, claiming that the provision, attached to the legislative branch appropriations bill, was a bill of attainder – unconstitutional legislation that unfairly punishes one group. As part of this lawsuit, ACORN sought a Restoration of Federal Funding.

With Friday’s injunction, ACORN stands to begin receiving funds once again, including between $40,000 and $60,000 for housing assistance, according to the decision from the district court in eastern New York.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the Constitutional Rights for all Americans and for the citizens who work through ACORN to improve their communities and promote responsible lending and homeownership,” ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said in an emailed statement.

It is also is the second in a string of victories for ACORN. An investigation by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger largely absolved the organization from any wrongdoings or illegalities in a hidden-video scandal which allegedly showed the organization’s employees offering advice on how to dodge taxes while setting up a prostitution ring of underage illegal immigrants.

Republicans are already hammering away at the decision. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a longtime critic of ACORN and author of a report on the group’s problems, framed Gershon as an “activist judge” appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

“This left-wing activist Judge is setting a dangerous precedent that left-wing political organizations plagued by criminal accusations have a constitutional entitlement to taxpayer dollars,” Issa said in a news release. “The Obama administration should immediately move to appeal this injunction.”





More tax dollars for the self-proclaimed Bank Terrorist

Despite receiving taxpayer money, NACA doesn’t provide public reports on either its loan-brokerage business or its campaign to modify mortgages. Jim Campen, an economics professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, says he tried in the 1990s to analyze the performance of loans arranged by NACA, but Mr. Marks refused to provide data.

Mr. Marks says he feared the data would be used by another nonprofit to discredit his group. NACA does provide information to lenders that work with it, he says, but sees no duty to disclose it to the public.

“He’s been very effective in shaking money out of the banks,” says Mr. Campen, but “he’s not one to open up his records to public scrutiny.” Wall Street Journal
Article dated * May 20, 2009




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Sources: ACORN, Politico, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Michelle Malkin, Youtube, Google Maps