Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (41319)	2/19/2010 8:56:38 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 71588

Legal Troubles Force ACORN’s Lewis out of Party Post by Mark Impomeni 02/18/2010 It has been a bad couple of years for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. The controversial community group has been under tremendous legal pressure since the 2008 presidential campaign revealed fraudulent voter registration efforts by representatives of the group, sparking criminal investigations in more than a dozen states. As ACORN’s relationship to then presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama became public, even more scrutiny was trained on the organization. And last year’s sting of ACORN offices by undercover investigative reporters James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles exposed the group to national ridicule. Now, an ongoing lawsuit and possible criminal investigations on the local and federal levels in New York may have convinced ACORN’s chief organizer, Bertha Lewis, to step down from her position as founding co-chair of the group’s political arm, the Working Families Party. A little noticed lawsuit, filed in Staten Island Supreme Court by former New York City Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro on behalf of five voters in last year’s New York City Council elections, has drawn interest from both the Staten Island District Attorney and the United States Attorney for New York. The suit alleges that the Working Families Party used its in-house campaign management and services firm to provide discount services to a successful Democratic City Council candidate, thereby giving her an unfair advantage over her opponents. The discounted services could qualify as illegal in-kind contributions, running afoul of federal and state election laws. The firm, Data and Field Services, was the subject of a three part investigative report by City Hall News, a local political newspaper. City Hall’s report revealed a highly intertwined and complex relationship between ACORN affiliated organizations, including the Working Families Party and Data and Field Services. The report revealed that among other potentially nefarious connections, the two organizations share employees, office space, and client lists. This close coordination between the political party, a non-profit group, and the for-profit management firm raises serious questions about the use of funds by both organizations and the candidates they support and endorse. City Hall’s report formed the basis for the allegations brought in Mastro’s lawsuit. But the trial has uncovered more potential legal problems for the Working Families Party, problems that may be leading right up to ACORN Chief Lewis. Last month, on the first day of testimony in the trial, the former campaign treasurer for newly elected City Council Member Debi Rose indicated under direct questioning that affidavits he signed in connection with a New York State Campaign Finance Board inquiry into the relationship between the Working Families Party and Data and Field Services may not have been his own. “[The affidavit] was part of the documents the campaign gave me to sign,” the treasurer testified, distancing himself from the sworn statements the document contains. The following day, after admonishing the treasurer not to answer any further questions until conferring with an attorney, the judge in the case postponed the trial until later this month. Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan has been quoted saying, “[there is] a very strong possibility of a perjury case here,” in reaction to the testimony. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is also interested in the relationship between the Working Families Party and Data and Field Services. Subpoenas were issued in December to the party seeking documents in relation to work performed by Data and Field Services on the campaigns of several party endorsed candidates, including New York City’s second highest elected official, Democratic Public Advocate Bill DiBlasio. The Working Families Party began in New York but has since spread to Connecticut, Delaware, Oregon, and South Carolina. It has been most active in urban areas where Democrats traditionally run strongest, serving to pull Democratic candidates to the left. However, the party has of late been expanding its reach within New York State endorsing and helping elect Rep. Bill Owens in the recent special election in the upstate 23rd congressional district, far from the party’s base of power in New York City. ACORN, the Working Families Party, and Data and Field Services work hand-in-glove in New York politics, with the party endorsing and offering its ballot line to ACORN backed candidates, and Data and Field Services providing the manpower to make the endorsement worthwhile. Once elected, ACORN backed officials see to it that the organizations lifeline of state and federal money keeps pumping. But the party may have pushed too far in last year’s citywide elections in New York. The loss of Lewis could prove to be a critical blow to not only the Working Families Party, but to the Democratic candidates who normally rely on its endorsement to win in New York’s fusion ticket system. And with Republicans poised to make gains in the upcoming midterm elections, Democrats in New York are going need all the help they can get. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Impomeni is a New Jersey based freelance writer and contributing editor at RedState. He will be reporting regularly on New York/New Jersey metropolitan area politics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- humanevents.com

To: calgal who wrote (41319)	2/25/2010 12:10:43 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Mitch Daniels' Rules for Republicans The governor of Indiana talks sensibly about the problems facing America. BY Fred Barnes February 23, 2010 1:25 PM Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has a few ideas – pretty good ones, actually – about how a Republican candidate should run a campaign for the presidency. But guess what? He says he doesn’t intend to run. “I don’t plan to do it, don’t expect to do it, and I really don’t want to do it.” Daniels says. Daniels, however, has dropped his Shermanesque stance of refusing to consider a presidential bid. Instead, he told the Washington Post recently that he’s been persuaded to leave open the option of running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Daniels has two basic ideas for the next Republican presidential candidate. One, the candidate should have a plan for solving the spending, deficit and debt crisis that has “intellectual credibility” and “holds water.” This mean the candidate would “campaign to govern, not merely to win” on what Daniels calls a “survival” issue for the country. The second idea: The candidate should “speak to Americans in a tone a voice that is unifying and friendly and therefore gives you a chance of unifying around some action.” In his campaigns for governor, Daniels never ran a single negative TV commercial attacking an opponent. His comments Tuesday came during a session with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. Daniels was in Washington to attend the National Governors Conference. He handled the questioning by reporters impressively and with ease. Should Daniels decide to run for president, his ability to deal cheerfully and effectively with the media would surely be an asset. He is also extremely knowledgeable about substantive issues, having served under President Reagan as White House political director and in the administration of President George W. Bush as budget chief. His ideas about how to run a presidential campaign may sound a bit mushy and unconventional. But they are sensible, given the seriousness of the spending and debt problem with deficits of $1 trillion a year for years to come and the need for bipartisanship in forging a solution. Daniels likes the idea of a commission to offer recommendations. The commission proposed by Obama would do this in December. He believes the commission “need not” and “should not” urge a tax increases in the face of weak economy. He also believes the protests against the spending of the Obama administration show the American public is becoming more interested in the debt problem and more sophisticated in thinking about it. That, Daniels says, is the first step toward enacting a remedy. Asked about the traits a president should have, Daniels mentioned a willingness to “accept criticism and alternative views.” He said Reagan used to remind aides that in America “we have no enemies, only opponents.” That, Daniels said, is “one of the best rules I know.” weeklystandard.com