New White House Counsel Was Defender of ACORN

Well folks it looks like the the communist, criminal wing of the Whitehouse is up to its old tricks! Tell me there is NO conflict of Interest here! What a joke! Don't forget to click for Breast Cancer at the bottom people! Its FREE and very quick!
 ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, is in the process of changing its name and has already transferred many of its resources to several other left-wing advocacy and political groups, according to a report released Tuesday by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

 While the Justice Department has said that federal housing funds should continue to flow to ACORN, several congressmen, in a joint hearing of the House Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee, said they want a special prosecutor to investigate the group's use of taxpayer dollars.
 Several weeks back, 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 the Justice Department’s opinion issued last week cleared the way for funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to continue going to the organization, a group that many House Republicans have called a “criminal enterprise.”
 Former ACORN employee-turned-whistleblower Anita Moncrief told the House panel of eight Republicans and no Democrats that the organization continually got federal block grants but did not use the grants for helping the poor as promised. Rather, ACORN “used the money to fund the political machine,” Moncrief said. “ACORN makes money off the poor,” Moncrief said. “Poverty is big business for ACORN.”

 Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)CNSNews.com could not reach an ACORN spokesman on Tuesday for comment after attempts by phone and e-mail. But ACORN spokesmen in the past have said that any illegal or unethical incidents were isolated and that the organization is dedicated to helping the poor.
However, the House Oversight report claimed otherwise, saying, “ACORN’s own training manual reflects a business model in which money is taken from poor people and then funneled into partisan political efforts.”
“ACORN is currently in the process of changing its name and has already transferred resources to several chapters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and possibly Data and Field Services, the Working Families Party, Change to Win and the Council for Unity,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.
 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. One of the group’s most recent scandals involved a hidden-camera video showing ACORN workers apparently giving tax advice to a purported pimp and prostitute who said they planned to open a business involving underage girls.
 These incidents, repeated at several ACORN offices, drew rebuke from Republicans and from the White House. Because of those hidden-camera reports, the U.S. Census Bureau terminated its partnership with ACORN for the 2010 census. Also, the Internal Revenue Service removed ACORN from its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.
 Earlier this year, the state of Nevada indicted ACORN after investigating the group’s alleged voter registration fraud. ACORN is also under investigation in California, Missouri, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
 Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) Part of the probable cause for the probe in Louisiana came from the House Oversight staff report, said David Caldwell, deputy attorney general in Louisiana. He appealed to federal and other state law enforcement agencies for a coordinated effort.
“The purpose of our appearance today is to ask for assistance in coordinating any state and federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies who may be interested in benefiting from a shared investigative effort,” Caldwell told the House panel.
“The task of properly investigating almost 400 entities and over 600 bank accounts is massive to say the least,” said Caldwell. “Estimates we received from an outside computer forensic firm to do even a targeted forensic review of the hard drives and servers obtained indicate a cost of around $3.5 million. This cost does not include the necessary forensic accounting review of the 600-plus ACORN affiliated accounts.”
 Still, the Justice Department is not doing a nationwide investigation as it should, said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. He also thinks the close ties between ACORN and President Obama, going back to Obama’s days as a community organizer in Chicago, create a conflict.
“The president’s close ties with ACORN, which date back over 15 years, are of additional concern,” Smith said. “President Obama previously served as ACORN’s lawyer, participated in ACORN training programs in Chicago, and sat on the boards of two organizations that provided funding to ACORN’s Chicago chapter.”
“The president’s ties to ACORN taint any conclusion that the Justice Department may reach with regard to whether or not to investigate and prosecute ACORN employees,” Smith said. “That’s why I request that the attorney general appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into ACORN.”