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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (468948)	1/31/2012 10:47:36 PM
From: FJB	6 Recommendations Respond to of 793690

Congress Warns Holder Over Acorn Payola news.investors.com Posted 07:03 PM ET posted by Obonehead Oversight: Thanks to IBD, Congress is finally probing the administration's shakedown of banks over alleged "lending discrimination." At issue is backdoor funding of Acorn clones. Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith fired off a three-page letter to Attorney General Eric Holder warning that his recent punishment of Bank of America's mortgage unit seemed political. In fact, he may have abused his power. As IBD first reported Jan. 4, 'BofA Must Pay Excess Settlement Funds To Acorn Clones,"the $335 million lending-bias deal requires BofA to fork over a chunk of the payout to leftist groups not connected to the suit. The unusual term is part of a secret Justice program to redistribute millions in settlement cash to third parties instead of alleged victims. Critics told IBD it's a "political backdoor" to subsidize Democrat-tied bank shakedown groups. "I am concerned that the terms of the Justice Department's recent settlement with Countrywide Financial will allow the department to give large sums of money to individuals and organizations with questionable backgrounds or close political ties to the White House without any guidelines or oversight," Smith, R-Texas, wrote in his Jan. 25 letter. "If that is to be the case," he said, "this sort of backdoor funding of the president's political allies would be an abuse of the department's law enforcement authority." Under the order, excess funds will be handed to groups that "provide education, counseling and other assistance to low-income and minority borrowers." This language mirrors Acorn's mission statement. The corrupt group, which has re-emerged under other names after coming under investigation in 2009, continues to receive federal funds. Acorn Housing Corp. got some $700,000 in federal money after changing its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America. Last year, Holder also ordered two AIG-owned banks to pay a minimum of $1 million to "qualified organizations" that help "African-American borrowers." More recently, he ordered C&F Mortgage Corp. of Virginia to reward such groups. As of 2010, some $7.6 million was waiting to be handed out from his unsupervised grant program. Recipients aren't restricted in how they use the money. In 2008, Acorn bankrolled get-out-the-vote operations for Obama. Justice would not provide a complete list of approved nonprofits, but a spokeswoman told IBD the National Urban League and Operation Hope are eligible for cash from the AIG case. Urban League has lobbied to water down credit standards. Operation Hope founder John Bryant serves on Obama's financial advisory council. Smith demands that Holder furnish a full list of "qualified organizations," along with an audit of payments. Hearings are in order if his response is unsatisfactory.