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ACORN’s Power Profile

ACORN’s Power Profile. 175,000 member families > 75 organizations > $40 million budget (only 8% from members) > 80,000 union members (millions in dues) Bi-coastal political party Spent $20M on registration/GOTV in ‘04. ACORN: Why Wages?.

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ACORN’s Power Profile

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  1. ACORN’s Power Profile • 175,000 member families • > 75 organizations • > $40 million budget (only 8% from members) • > 80,000 union members (millions in dues) • Bi-coastal political party • Spent $20M on registration/GOTV in ‘04

  2. ACORN: Why Wages? • “We would like it to become a fact of political life where every year the other side has to contend with a minimum-wage law in some state.” • “This is what moves people to the polls now. This is our gay marriage.” -- Jen Kern, head of ACORN’s Living Wage Resource Center

  3. 2004 Florida Min. Wage Campaign Goals • Campaign Goals The goals of this campaign are threefold: • 1. To increase voter turnout of working class, mainly Democratic voters without increasing opposition turnout; • 2. To increase the power of progressive constituencies by moving a mass agenda, putting together the capacity to get on the ballot and win, and by putting our side on the offensive; • 3. To deliver a wage increase to hundreds of thousands of Floridians. -- Floridians For All Campaign Plan, 2003

  4. Black Eyes • Voter fraud in 13 states since 1998 • Government-grant fraud • Union Attack Dog (Wal-Mart, Overloads hospital emergency rooms for SEIU)

  5. 2006 Voter Registration • MO: 4 KC employees indicted for voter fraud; thousands of potentially fraudulent STL cards; Allegations of illegal work w/ Claire McCaskill • OH: 3 counties cite problems with hundreds of cards • PA: 3,000 questionable cards, more than 100 told investigators someone wrongly tried to register them • CO: 200 cards rejected for identical handwriting • NM: Problems in 2003, 2004, 2005; registered 13-year-old to vote

  6. Govt Grant Fraud • Misused VISTA program grants under Carter for union organizing and politics • Clinton Administration found ACORN misused $1 million AmeriCorps grant to build its own membership • Arkansas ACORN leader alleged “all the money” for housing re-build project “ended up” under ACORN chief’s control

  7. AmeriCorps “the only reason for having the AmeriCorps program was to gain new ACORN members” -- AmeriCorps Inspector General’s report

  8. Govt Still Funding ACORN • $3 million from HUD to ACORN affiliates 2003-2004 • $3.2 million from HUD in 2005 • Grants continue: HUD (home counseling), IRS (tax counseling), etc.

  9. Govt Money, ACORN Coffers $11.2M $5.1M Fees/ Grants to ACORN Entities Govt Bodies ACORN Housing Corporation IRS Filings, 1997-2003

  10. Govt Money, ACORN Coffers 100% 90% Govt Grants 2002-03 American Environmental Justice Project budget ACORN Louisiana 100% 100% Govt Grants 2000 American Environmental Justice Project budget ACORN 100% $9,000 Govt Grants 1998 American Environmental Justice Project budget ACORN’s SEIU 100 IRS Filings, 1998-2003

  11. ACORN’s Goal: Power “ACORN’s lifeblood is conflict with targets outside the organization.” “Principles and Foundations of ACORN”

  12. ACORN’s Method: Shakedown “In an interview last year with [ACORN head] Wade Rathke last year, one of the things Wade told us is that currently ACORN received more money in the form of settlements at the end of [corporate] campaigns … than they do from foundations and churches combined.” > Prof. Fred Brooks, Dec. 2005

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