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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TideGlider who wrote (61522)	3/19/2009 9:13:09 PM
From: lorne	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224750

Hill panel testimony to accuse ACORN of mob tactics S.A. Miller (Contact) Thursday, March 19, 2009 washingtontimes.com A lawyer for a whistleblower on the activist group ACORN is prepared to tell a House panel Thursday that the group provided liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from the targets of demonstrations through a mob-style "protection" racket. ACORN called it the "muscle for the money" program, according to prepared testimony Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh plans to deliver at a hearing of the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties. A copy of her prepared testimony was obtained by The Washington Times. The protest shakedowns are among a slew of accusations that Ms. Heidelbaugh intends to make against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. She also will accuse the nonprofit group of violating tax, campaign-finance and other laws by sharing a list of President Obama's maxed-out campaign donors to solicit more funds for a get-out-the-vote drive. The accusations, which are based entirely on sworn court testimony late last year by ACORN whistleblower Anita Moncrief, range from unlawfully coordinating campaign activity with Mr. Obama's presidential campaign to deliberately engaging in voter-registration fraud and misusing federal grant money. ACORN officials say none of the charges is true, though they declined to respond to any of the separate claims. "None of this wild and varied list of charges has any credibility, and we're not going to spend our time on it," said Kevin Whelan, ACORN deputy political director. He said the group's voter-registration drive succeeded in bringing many disaffected minority and low-income voters into the democratic process. Ms. Heidelbaugh, a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Lawyers Association, spearheaded an unsuccessful lawsuit last year seeking a court injunction in Pennsylvania against ACORN's voter-registration drive for the 2008 presidential campaign. Republican members of the committee invited her to appear as a witness. Ms. Moncrief, who worked for years as a clerk at the ACORN office in the District before being fired for charging about $2,000 in personal expenses on an ACORN credit card, is not scheduled to testify. Ms. Heidelbaugh said the whistleblower will be present as a guest at the hearing. ACORN's Mr. Whelan said Ms. Moncrief was never a part of the organization's management and was fired for stealing. "Nothing she says has any credibility," he said. Ms. Heidelbaugh called Ms. Moncrief a "courageous woman" who has withstood threats of violence to shed light on what goes on at ACORN. The prepared testimony described two facets of the "muscle for the money" program, an official and unofficial program. The "official" program is the name of the ACORN voter-registration drives. The Obama campaign paid an ACORN affiliate group more than $800,000 for these get-out-the-vote services during the primary race, though the expenditure was initially misrepresented to the Federal Election Commission as for "sound and lighting equipment," but later corrected. The "unofficial" program collected payments to organize protests. For example, the Service Employees International Union hired ACORN to harass the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm. Other paid protests targeted Sherwin-Williams, H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt and Money Mart, according to the testimony. The protests then became a way to extract corporate donations. "The protesting was used to get companies to negotiate. The companies would pay money to get the protesting to stop," Ms. Heidelbaugh said, quoting Ms. Moncrief's court testimony. "In addition to calling this activity 'Muscle for the Money,' the insiders at ACORN called it 'protection.' " The hearing likely will rekindle criticism of the financial ties and close cooperation between Mr. Obama's campaign and ACORN and its sister organizations Citizens Services Inc. and Project Vote. The groups came under fire during the campaign after probes into suspected voter fraud in a series of presidential battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico and Nevada.

To: TideGlider who wrote (61522)	3/19/2009 9:16:30 PM
From: lorne	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224750

ET Guantanamo Detainees May Be Released in U.S. MARCH 19, 2009 By EVAN PEREZ online.wsj.com WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder said some detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may end up being released in the U.S. as the Obama administration works with foreign allies to resettle some of the prisoners. Mr. Holder, in a briefing with reporters, said administration officials are still reviewing individual cases of the approximately 250 detainees to determine which will be put on trial and which may be released to comply with plans to close the detention facility by next year. Six weeks into his tenure, Mr. Holder is still trying to assemble much of the Justice senior leadership, with several nominees awaiting Senate confirmation. He said he has reviewed the department's handling of white-collar criminal cases in response to the financial crisis and is considering ways to increase coordination on financial fraud among federal prosecutors and state officials. He said he is trying to increase the budget dedicated to white-collar crime, while maintaining funding for national security. European justice ministers met with Mr. Holder earlier this week and pressed for details on how many Guantanamo prisoners the U.S. planned to release domestically, as part of any agreement for allies to accept detainees. Mr. Holder said U.S. officials would work to respond to the questions European officials have over U.S. Guantanamo plans. For "people who can be released there are a variety of options that we have and among them is the possibility is that we would release them into this country," Mr. Holder said. "That process is ongoing and we've not made any determinations or made any requests of anybody at this point." Among the detainees whose fate remains undetermined are 17 ethnic Uighurs, from the Central Asian region of China, who have been ordered released by a judge. The U.S. has refused to turn the men over to China, which considers them part of an separatist group. Mr. Holder is planning to visit Mexico next month to meet with his counterparts and discuss efforts to fight the trafficking of guns from the U.S. into Mexico and the drug trade from Mexico into the U.S. "The Mexican government has been courageous in the way it has confronted the problems that now challenge it," Mr. Holder said, noting the violence that has resulted from battles against the drug cartels in Mexico.

To: TideGlider who wrote (61522)	3/20/2009 8:21:50 AM
From: lorne	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224750

Hear the inside scoop on ACORN Lawyer who sued organization discusses what activists did March 20, 2009 © 2009 WorldNetDaily worldnetdaily.com A lawyer involved with a lawsuit against ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has told WND that the organization is aware of the problems that are generated for elections officials when thousands or even millions of registrations are dumped into the system just before a deadline. The comments came from Heather Heidelbaugh, the vice president of the Republican National Lawyers Association, today. She also testified before Congress on the issue. Her comments came in an interview with RadioAmerica.org. Her interview is posted here: worldnetdaily.com She reports she sued ACORN in Pennsylvania during the 2008 election when the organization, with whom President President Barack Obama has a long history, was being investigated by four different jurisdictions in just that state. "They hire people who are very poorly equipped to do the kind of work, or not trained at all," she said. "They they tell workers is to walk up to individuals and ask if they voted in the last election. They don't ask them if they're registered. That produces thousands if not millions of duplicate registrations. It burdens local election officials to the extent they have to extend their work hours, and they are unable to properly process registrations," she said. The GOP has said ACORN is little more than a front organization for Democrats, even though it is supposed to be nonpartisan. It also was just announced that ACORN is one of the groups picked by the government to do a major part of the 2010 Census work, which will kick off in about a year.