State Police investigators have obtained a court order that seeks DNA samples from nine people, including several Rensselaer County and city of Troy public officials, who are identified as targets in a massive voter-fraud conspiracy that took place during last September's primary elections.DeFiglio admits to participating in the fraud according to state police sources. Investigators are seeking DNA evidence to corroborate handwriting evidence showing that signatures were forged.
Court records filed in connection with the investigation include allegations that the officials, and several political operatives for the Rensselaer County Democratic Party, may have conspired to file dozens of fraudulent absentee ballots last year in an attempt to seize the Working Families Party line for the general election.
The officials identified as targets of the investigation are: Rensselaer County Board of Elections Commissioner Edward G. McDonough; city Councilmen Michael LoPorto, Gary Galuski, Kevin McGrath, and John Brown; City Council President Clem Campana; City Clerk William A. McInerney; and political operatives Dan Brown, who is John Brown's brother, and Anthony DeFiglio, a former Troy Housing Authority clerk.
State Police characterized the targets as "active participants in the conspiracy," according to court records.
The suspects were identified in an order signed Tuesday by Albany County Judge Stephen W. Herrick. The application for a search warrant to obtain their DNA samples included hundreds of pages of ballots, witness and voter statements, and an affidavit by a State Police investigator. A hearing on the request for DNA samples has been set for Sept. 14.
The alleged voter fraud was first reported last year by the Times Union.
The victims include dozens of residents of city housing projects, all registered to vote on the Working Families Party line, who had absentee ballots filed in their name that included forged information, including signatures and the excuses for why they could not vote in person.
Showing posts with label WFP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WFP. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
State Police Investigating Voter Fraud In Rensselaer County
The investigation relates to charges of voter fraud and submitting fraudulent ballots in a September 2009 primary election in Rensselaer County County, New York (just outside Albany). It includes Troy city council members and several Democratic party operatives.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
ACORN Closes Up April 1
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the community group linked to multiple scandals including voter registration fraud across the country and was implicated in a series of videos showing workers at multiple offices providing dubious information to videographer James O'Keefe, will shut its doors April 1. It had been on the verge of going bankrupt, but with public opinion turned against the organization and funding way down, the group had no choice but to cease operations.
The New York Times public editor had reviewed the coverage of ACORN and the O'Keefe videos and found that while O'Keefe manipulated the videos, the content did show that multiple workers at multiple offices provided shady information to run various illegal operations out of homes that would have been acquired with assistance of the group.
Bertha Lewis, who was running the group, had been trying to reform the organization since she took over two years ago. Her time is up.
But don't be surprised if this isn't the last we hear of the group or of Ms. Lewis. After all, I would expect the group to be reconstituted in some form to provide similar services down the road. The ACORN spinoff WFP - Workers Family Party - is still active politically in several states, including New York, so there's still political clout to be had.
The New York Times public editor had reviewed the coverage of ACORN and the O'Keefe videos and found that while O'Keefe manipulated the videos, the content did show that multiple workers at multiple offices provided shady information to run various illegal operations out of homes that would have been acquired with assistance of the group.
Acorn’s supporters appear to hope that the whole story will fall apart over the issue of what O’Keefe wore: if that was wrong, everything else must be wrong. The record does not support them. If O’Keefe did not dress as a pimp, he clearly presented himself as one: a fellow trying to set up a woman — sometimes along with under-age girls — in a house where they would work as prostitutes. In Washington, he said the prostitution was to finance his future in politics. A worker for Acorn Housing, an allied group, warned him to stay away from the brothel lest someone “get wind that you got a house and that your girlfriend is over there running a house of women of the night. You will not have a career.”So, while the videos were manipulated by O'Keefe for maximum effect, the ACORN workers themselves must take the blame for providing shady information, including turning a blind eye to criminal activities.
FAIR said that in Brooklyn, O’Keefe and Giles seemed to be telling Acorn staffers that “they are attempting to buy a house to protect child prostitutes from an abusive pimp.” That’s right, but FAIR left out the part about their clear intention to operate a brothel, which the Acorn workers seemed to take in stride, with one warning: “Don’t get caught, ’cause it is against the law.”
Bertha Lewis, who was running the group, had been trying to reform the organization since she took over two years ago. Her time is up.
But don't be surprised if this isn't the last we hear of the group or of Ms. Lewis. After all, I would expect the group to be reconstituted in some form to provide similar services down the road. The ACORN spinoff WFP - Workers Family Party - is still active politically in several states, including New York, so there's still political clout to be had.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
ACORN's Ethical and Moral Flexibility On Display Again
ACORN announced yesterday that they would shut down their homeowner assistance programs pending an independent review of the situation. That's a good start. The problem is that ACORN's problems run much deeper than that which has been depicted on the videos so far.
The latest video, coming from San Diego, shows one of ACORN's employees soliciting Hannah Giles for sex in exchange for providing assistance on smuggling girls into the US to engage in child prostitution.
ACORN has tried to cast these videos as random and isolated incidents, but the fact that it was so easy to get this kind of response from workers at multiple offices shows that ACORN's problems run much deeper than that.
They hire people with a certain moral and ethical flexibility, who show a depressing absence of understanding right from wrong. If they were so quick to provide assistance on how to break the law on any number of issues (child prostitution, tax evasion, etc.) what other kinds of questionable advice are they providing to the communities they claim to assist.
After all, ACORN claims that they want to help the lower classes advance and yet we see that their definition of advancement includes turning a blind eye to child prostitution and tax evasion.
So, while ACORN has fired several people in connection with the videos, the ACORN leadership has thus far escaped serious civil and criminal repercussions.
I expect that to change with the release of these videos and subsequent investigations opened in places like New York City and New York State. It would be a gross dereliction of duty on the part of state attorney generals around the nation not to take a closer look at whether ACORN's activities there are legal - including whether they are operating without licenses as in the case in Maryland.
Until ACORN can show that it has cleaned up its act, it should get no government assistance and any money earmarked to housing assistance should be reappropriated to other groups that have legitimate programs, such as Nehemiah Housing.
ACORN makes a big deal about providing homeowner assistance to underprivileged communities, and yet one has to question the kind of advice and assistance provided based on these videos. People coming in for assistance need to know the proper and legal methods of handling the real estate transactions they're interested in, and evading the law perpetuates problems within the community. Excusing such behavior as the ACORN leadership has done by claiming that this is a problem limited to a small group of its employees doesn't wash. It throws into question all of their operations nationwide, and ACORN has repeatedly had egg on its face by claiming that this was first an isolated incident, and then by claiming that its other offices weren't taken in by O'Keefe and Giles. They lost credibility - rightfully so.
Roger Stone at Big Government notes that NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may have to investigate the Workers Families Party (WFP), which I've previously highlighted as having been cofounded by ACORN and which has had problems keeping track of monies.
Cuomo has to investigate these groups, and promising that he will insure that monies for ACORN goes solely to the homeowner assistance programs is insufficient. Member items (also known as earmarks and as pork) in New York are doled out to groups all across the state, and ACORN gets its share of member items. They don't specify that the money goes to homeowner assistance, but rather to the group generally.
For example, the 2009-2010 budget bill includes the following language from page 183 and 185:
Legislators know, or should know, that the money goes to a variety of operations within the groups it funds. For ACORN, they know it covers overhead, the homeowner assistance programs, and the political organizing, even though such organizing would conflict with its tax exempt status.
The best way for the Attorney General to get to the bottom of matters in New York is to conduct a full audit of ACORN operations to see where all the money has gone. Simply promising to ensure that the money goes to homeowner assistance doesn't address systemic problems within ACORN. Moreover, it doesn't address the questionable advice provided by ACORN to those seeking assistance.
UPDATE:
The House voted by a wide margin to defund ACORN. 345-75, with 2 present and 11 no votes. However, missing among the counts is none other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who earlier claimed she had no idea what the Senate had done. Totally clueless. Fitting.
It was bipartisan, but some of the usual suspects wanted to protect ACORN's funding, including Democrat Charles Rangel (D-Tax Cheat, NY). All 75 voting to protect ACORN's funding were Democrats. Birds of a feather.
UPDATE:
ACORN is finally trying to strike back at O'Keefe and Giles, claiming that their Philadelphia office called the cops on O'Keefe. They have a copy of a police report claiming that O'Keefe caused a disturbance at the office on 7/24/2009. However, the precise nature of what happened in the office on that day isn't clear, and someone ought to ask O'Keefe about it.
The latest video, coming from San Diego, shows one of ACORN's employees soliciting Hannah Giles for sex in exchange for providing assistance on smuggling girls into the US to engage in child prostitution.
ACORN has tried to cast these videos as random and isolated incidents, but the fact that it was so easy to get this kind of response from workers at multiple offices shows that ACORN's problems run much deeper than that.
They hire people with a certain moral and ethical flexibility, who show a depressing absence of understanding right from wrong. If they were so quick to provide assistance on how to break the law on any number of issues (child prostitution, tax evasion, etc.) what other kinds of questionable advice are they providing to the communities they claim to assist.
After all, ACORN claims that they want to help the lower classes advance and yet we see that their definition of advancement includes turning a blind eye to child prostitution and tax evasion.
So, while ACORN has fired several people in connection with the videos, the ACORN leadership has thus far escaped serious civil and criminal repercussions.
I expect that to change with the release of these videos and subsequent investigations opened in places like New York City and New York State. It would be a gross dereliction of duty on the part of state attorney generals around the nation not to take a closer look at whether ACORN's activities there are legal - including whether they are operating without licenses as in the case in Maryland.
Until ACORN can show that it has cleaned up its act, it should get no government assistance and any money earmarked to housing assistance should be reappropriated to other groups that have legitimate programs, such as Nehemiah Housing.
ACORN makes a big deal about providing homeowner assistance to underprivileged communities, and yet one has to question the kind of advice and assistance provided based on these videos. People coming in for assistance need to know the proper and legal methods of handling the real estate transactions they're interested in, and evading the law perpetuates problems within the community. Excusing such behavior as the ACORN leadership has done by claiming that this is a problem limited to a small group of its employees doesn't wash. It throws into question all of their operations nationwide, and ACORN has repeatedly had egg on its face by claiming that this was first an isolated incident, and then by claiming that its other offices weren't taken in by O'Keefe and Giles. They lost credibility - rightfully so.
Roger Stone at Big Government notes that NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may have to investigate the Workers Families Party (WFP), which I've previously highlighted as having been cofounded by ACORN and which has had problems keeping track of monies.
Cuomo has to investigate these groups, and promising that he will insure that monies for ACORN goes solely to the homeowner assistance programs is insufficient. Member items (also known as earmarks and as pork) in New York are doled out to groups all across the state, and ACORN gets its share of member items. They don't specify that the money goes to homeowner assistance, but rather to the group generally.
For example, the 2009-2010 budget bill includes the following language from page 183 and 185:
45 ACORN/NYACA ... 5,000 ................................... (re. $5,000)That's a reappropriation of those monies. It doesn't specify what program the money goes to. It is the same for all the other programs listed in the budget bills.
28 NY ACORN ... 10,000 .................................... (re. $10,000)
29 NY Acorn ... 2,500 ...................................... (re. $2,500)
Legislators know, or should know, that the money goes to a variety of operations within the groups it funds. For ACORN, they know it covers overhead, the homeowner assistance programs, and the political organizing, even though such organizing would conflict with its tax exempt status.
The best way for the Attorney General to get to the bottom of matters in New York is to conduct a full audit of ACORN operations to see where all the money has gone. Simply promising to ensure that the money goes to homeowner assistance doesn't address systemic problems within ACORN. Moreover, it doesn't address the questionable advice provided by ACORN to those seeking assistance.
UPDATE:
The House voted by a wide margin to defund ACORN. 345-75, with 2 present and 11 no votes. However, missing among the counts is none other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who earlier claimed she had no idea what the Senate had done. Totally clueless. Fitting.
It was bipartisan, but some of the usual suspects wanted to protect ACORN's funding, including Democrat Charles Rangel (D-Tax Cheat, NY). All 75 voting to protect ACORN's funding were Democrats. Birds of a feather.
UPDATE:
ACORN is finally trying to strike back at O'Keefe and Giles, claiming that their Philadelphia office called the cops on O'Keefe. They have a copy of a police report claiming that O'Keefe caused a disturbance at the office on 7/24/2009. However, the precise nature of what happened in the office on that day isn't clear, and someone ought to ask O'Keefe about it.
Friday, September 11, 2009
From an ACORN An Ever Growing Scandal
Yesterday, Andrew Breitbart released video showing two ACORN employees in Baltimore, Maryland telling two people posing as a pimp and prostitute how to engage in child prostitution, tax evasion, and avoid criminal prosecution.
ACORN responded by claiming the report was a gross distortion of ACORN's practices, and that the two ACORN in the video were fired. Today, another secretly shot videotape has surfaced that shows the same couple getting similar advice from ACORN officers in Washington.
So, while ACORN wanted people to think that this was some kind of isolated incident, it isn't.
Andrew Breitbart released a new video from a different ACORN office, and the result is the same - ACORN employees describing how to break the law.
You got that folks? ACORN was busy providing advice on how to break the law and advance politically by telling a self-declared pimp how to conduct his business in such a fashion that his political aspirations wouldn't be affected.
How dumb can some people be - namely those ACORN workers who were providing this information? Could they not tell how idiotic they look and sound?
Far from being some kind of localized problem, it appears that ACORN provides the same general guidance wherever one goes. That's a problem that starts at the top and works its way down. It includes condoning criminality, misogyny, and tax evasion.
Yet, the media largely ignores this malfeasance or chalks it up to local issues, and doesn't investigate deeper into the group's ties to none other than President Obama and others who helped get the President elected.
Supporters of ACORN claim that the GOP and conservatives engage in a witch hunt to go after ACORN, but the facts are what they are - ACORN has repeatedly been found breaking the law, and it's not some isolated thing. It's past time for law enforcement to get involved because ACORN will not clean up its act from within.
UPDATE:
At the closely affiliated Workers Families Party (WFP), there's money trouble too. The WFP was founded by a coalition of groups including ACORN. They've repeatedly missed filing deadlines in New York City:
UPDATE:
Instapundit links. Thanks!
ACORN responded by claiming the report was a gross distortion of ACORN's practices, and that the two ACORN in the video were fired. Today, another secretly shot videotape has surfaced that shows the same couple getting similar advice from ACORN officers in Washington.
So, while ACORN wanted people to think that this was some kind of isolated incident, it isn't.
Andrew Breitbart released a new video from a different ACORN office, and the result is the same - ACORN employees describing how to break the law.
The newly released videotape, shot on July 25, shows ACORN staffers explaining to the pair how they can hide the woman's professed work — prostitution — and get a loan that will help them establish a brothel.While posing as the pimp, O'Keefe was told by the ACORN employees not to make himself too visible because it might affect his political chances and should keep the prostitution ring low key.
James O'Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as the pimp while visiting the ACORN office, accompanied by 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as the prostitute. On a videotape provided to FOXNews.com, they are seen receiving guidance to establish the woman as the sole proprietor of a bogus company to mask the nature of her business.
"She's not going to put on (the loan application) that she's doing prostitution ... she doesn't have to," the ACORN staffer says. "You don't have to sit back and tell people what you do."
You got that folks? ACORN was busy providing advice on how to break the law and advance politically by telling a self-declared pimp how to conduct his business in such a fashion that his political aspirations wouldn't be affected.
How dumb can some people be - namely those ACORN workers who were providing this information? Could they not tell how idiotic they look and sound?
Far from being some kind of localized problem, it appears that ACORN provides the same general guidance wherever one goes. That's a problem that starts at the top and works its way down. It includes condoning criminality, misogyny, and tax evasion.
Yet, the media largely ignores this malfeasance or chalks it up to local issues, and doesn't investigate deeper into the group's ties to none other than President Obama and others who helped get the President elected.
Supporters of ACORN claim that the GOP and conservatives engage in a witch hunt to go after ACORN, but the facts are what they are - ACORN has repeatedly been found breaking the law, and it's not some isolated thing. It's past time for law enforcement to get involved because ACORN will not clean up its act from within.
UPDATE:
At the closely affiliated Workers Families Party (WFP), there's money trouble too. The WFP was founded by a coalition of groups including ACORN. They've repeatedly missed filing deadlines in New York City:
The murky finances of the Working Families Party led its treasurer to resign last month, the Daily News has learned - while the party has missed two disclosure filings with state regulators.Of course it was a clerical oversight. That's what they all seem to say... it's tough to follow the law.
Michael McGuire, a mason tenders' union official who became the party's treasurer June 22, told The News he resigned Aug. 19 - five days the after the WFP was supposed to file a mandatory report of its donations and spending.
He was replaced in the unpaid post by longtime WFP activist Dorothy Siegel, but the party also skipped another filing that was due Sept. 4 at the state Board of Elections.
"It was a clerical oversight that we've alerted the board to and we are filing both on Monday," said WFP spokesman Dan Levitan.
UPDATE:
Instapundit links. Thanks!
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