Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Senator Durbin Lies, Covers Up, Assists ACORN

Someone who lives in my town told me that they personally observed leaders of ACORN in southern Texas involved in drug dealing and extortion. To a GREEDY DEMOCRAT like Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), racketeering, criminal violence, voter fraud and drug dealing are insufficient to bar ACORN from receiving our tax dollars.

Meanwhile, sales at my local supermarket are down, apparently because GREEDY DEMOCRATS in the Town of Olive, New York, are raising taxes by TEN PERCENT in order to fund the Democratic Town Supervisor's (Berndt Leifeld's) political glad handing. People cannot afford to eat as varied a diet because their taxes are astronomical in order to pay for billions in profits of the Democrats' client hedge fund managers.

Glenda McGee is right, though. Sales of SPAM are WAY UP. Thanks to the Democrats, Obama and their greedy, FIVE TRILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT, AMERICA IS ON A SPAM DIET--Except of course for cronies of crooked Democratic politicians, Durbin's friends at ACORN, George Soros and the array of Wall Street and hedge fund welfare mothers.

One of the great men of Illinois, Jim Crum of Tinley Park, just wrote a letter of protest to Illinois's DUKE OF GREED, Senator Richard Durbin.

>Senator Durbin:

I really hope that one of your staffers, and not you yourself, wrote this missive below.

The only abuses ACORN ever reported are the ones that were publicly pointed out by third parties. And only after sustained adverse publicity were people fired, and in every instance it was always the management throwing the little people under the bus. The first few times this happened, one might overlook this operational failure, but eventually...

Currently, 12 states Attorney General's Office are running investigations on this organization and yet from your communication below, this is apparently insufficient evidence? If not, what burden of proof could possibly be strong enough to correct your course of action? Be advised, ACORN had a central role in the recent mortgage mess, and in a sense, they are an "unindicted co-conspirator". While a side issue, it is not a small matter in of itself.

Here's the bottom line: Your office-and those of your colleagues- was alerted directly and frequently very early on to the problems with ACORN in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Your staff and you for yourself, did just exactly what? Perhaps had you shown interest in what was being communicated to you, this matter may have been prevented? No matter, but please kindly explain to me how there are not enough data points to make a reasonable and logical conclusion about how this organization operates. If it were not so politically protected, can you reasonably tell me that your opinion and behavior would not be different?

Rather than write, call me.

My number is on file.

Jim Crum






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Correspondence_Reply@durbin.senate.gov"
To: jcrum...@sbcglobal.net
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 8:50:23 AM
Subject: Message From Senator Durbin

October 15, 2009


Mr. Jim Crum
PO BOX


Dear Mr. Crum:=

Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). I appreciate hearing from you.

I've seen the videos and I am appalled by them. I am also troubled by the discoveries of voter registration fraud, and I am glad ACORN reported the incidents to the authorities. These employees have been fired, and ACORN is being investigated by state and federal agencies for misconduct and potential misuse of government funds. Anyone who has broken the law should be prosecuted.

ACORN deserves much of the criticism it has received for allowing this type of behavior to happen. ACORN has voluntarily engaged an independent auditor, suspended the affected programs, and implemented a new initiative to train all staff on its code of conduct to prevent future incidents like these. These are important steps to address serious lapses.

Although ACORN was wrong, the legislation that was offered on the Senate floor was not the right response. It put Congress in the position of prosecutor, judge, and jury. It pronounced guilt without benefit of trial, and then applied the penalty to the entire organization because of the sins of a limited number of specific employees.

Congress should not, because of the misconduct of those ACORN employees who have now been terminated, permanently deny assistance to thousands of families who have been receiving ACORN's help to avoid predatory lending and foreclosure.

I have introduced a Senate amendment that would direct the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a review and audit of federal funds received by ACORN, to determine whether any federal funds were misused and, if so, the amount of funds involved and how they were misused. GAO would be directed to submit a report to Congress identifying what steps have been taken to recover any funds that were misused, what steps should be taken to prevent the future misuse of any federal funds, and whether ACORN and federal agencies have taken all necessary steps to prevent any future misuse of federal funds. This information should guide our long-term decisions about funding received by ACORN.

I believe individuals should be held accountable for their actions, organizations and corporations should be held accountable for the policies they set, and entities should not be permanently cut off based on the actions of individual employees who violated the organization's policies and have been fired. We need a process for addressing wrongs and moving forward with policies that will prevent future misdeeds.

I will continue to support accountability in the use of federal funds, for ACORN and for every other recipient of federal dollars.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

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