Lots More Trouble For ACORN

The hits just keep on coming.

ACORN May Face Trial for First Time as Nevada Prosecutors Allege ‘Widespread’ Criminal Policies

When ACORN took to Las Vegas and started playing “Blackjack” and “21,” the activist group was making a far bigger gamble than it ever guessed, according to Nevada prosecutors.

There’s nothing wrong with playing the tables in Vegas, but authorities say ACORN was using the names of those casino games as a cover to illegally pay workers to sign up voters as part of an illegal quota system.

A preliminary hearing Tuesday in the downtown Clark County courthouse has put ACORN on trial for the first time as a criminal defendant.

Until now, prosecutions for voter registration fraud have focused on ACORN workers, and authorities have secured guilty pleas from several who admitted to falsifying voter registration forms.

But when investigators from Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller’s office raided the ACORN Las Vegas office, Ross says they found a paper trail that implicated the ACORN organization itself.

“We came across policy manuals that outline their policy of creating a quota system, which is against the law,” Miller told FOX News in an interview. “This, in fact, was something that was widespread and something the organization itself knew about, and it’s important to hold the organization criminally accountable as opposed to the individual field directors.”

ACORN denies it had a quota for the number of voter registration forms that its workers were required to turn in every day. Instead, the organization says there were “performance standards” — an expectation that workers would find 20 new voters a day.

But prosecutors say ACORN paid a $5 bonus per day to workers who would sign up 21 or more voters per shift, hence the name “21” or “Blackjack,” an alleged quota system that Ross says is the first step toward corrupting the democratic system.

“These charges strike at the heart of having integrity of the electoral process. That’s something that is important in Nevada and the entire country,” he told FOX News.

“By filing these charges we are sending a clear message we are not going to tolerate these kinds of activities. We have seen voter registration abuse before and we are holding these people accountable.

Affidavits: Ballot abuse rampant

Dozens of forged and fraudulent absentee ballots from people registered to vote on the Working Families Party line were filed in the Sept. 15 primary elections in Troy, the Times Union has learned.

Many of the questionable ballots were filed under the names of students and people who live in government-subsidized housing and other downtown areas. Still others were submitted on behalf of voters who were alleged to have signed the ballots earlier this month, but those people have not lived in New York state for at least a year, records show.

Documents at the county Board of Elections show the fraudulent ballots were handled by or prepared on behalf of various elected officials and leaders and operatives for the Democratic and Working Families parties. A Troy housing authority employee, Anthony Defiglio, who sources said oversees vacant properties for the Troy Housing Authority, also handled many of the fraudulent ballots, according to public records and interviews with voters who said they were duped.

With No Fanfare, Senate Hits ACORN, Again

With no fanfare and no roll call vote, not even a speech — the Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-NE, that bars any funds from the Defense spending bill from going to ACORN.

Johanns promised to introduce a similar amendment on every spending bill Congress considers this year, until the chamber takes up his broader bill that would impose permanent ban on ACORN receiving any federal funds.

It took the Senate a little over one minute to consider the measure.

Bank of America pulls ACORN funding

Troubled community organizing group ACORN suffered another setback on Monday, when Bank of America announced it is pulling its funding of ACORN Housing.

In a statement, Bank of America said that is it “suspending current commitments to ACORN Housing and will not enter into any further agreements with ACORN or any of its affiliates” until it is satisfied that all issues related to the organization have been resolved.

See also:
Ex-ACORN worker details blackjack voter registration bonuses
Ex-ACORN organizer describes voter signup bonuses
Ex-ACORN official outlines alleged illegal voter registration plan
Massive Voter Fraud in NY Linked to ACORN
WORKING FAMILIES PARTY = ACORN; What Will AG Cuomo Do?
REDSTATE EXCLUSIVE: A Review of ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis’s Rolodex Suggests Strong White House Ties
Inside The ACORN Rolodex: ACORN Has Its Own Political Party Other Than the Democrats
Senate votes to ban ACORN — again
Johanns keeps aim on ACORN
Effort to defund ACORN faces hurdles
Bank suspends dealings with ACORN housing entity
BofA severs ACORN ties
Acorn Housing Board Member Steps Down
ACORN, A Toxic Organization?
Cracking down on ACORN
East Bay ACORN chapters feel impacts of national brouhaha
Preliminary ACORN probe by end of October

/keep up the pressure, ACORN needs to be totally unraveled and its rampant corruption brought to an end