Obama, ACORN, and the Financial Crisis

OneNewsNow

by Marcia Segelstein

How did we get into this financial mess in the first place? Well, to a large degree, it’s because lenders gave mortgages to borrowers who were unqualified, who shouldn’t have been given loans in the first place. Why did they do that?

Here’s the start of an article in the ‘Chicago Sun-Times’ from April 1995: “You’ve got only a couple thousand bucks in the bank. Your job pays you dog-food wages. Your credit history has been bent, stapled, and mutilated. You declared bankruptcy in 1989. Don’t despire: You can still buy a house.” That article then suggested that people wanting to buy homes who fit this profile go see a group called ACORN.

Obama at the time had his hands on the purse strings of two organizations. He was a director of the Woods Fund, and he was Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC). He gave money from both organizations to ACORN, and also provided training for ACORN workers.

According to Stanley Kurtz of National Review Online, “ACORN succeeded in drawing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the very policies that led to the current disaster.” ACORN put pressure on banks by threatening them with accusations of racism if they didn’t give loans to minorities, even if they were completely unqualified.

Starting in 1987, ACORN began pressuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower their standards for assuming mortage debt. And eventually they succeeded. By 1995, then President Clinton touted the fact that home-ownership in America was at an all-time high. According to Kurtz, ACORN representatives were guests of honor at this ceremony. (Note to McCain campaign: can you dig up that footage??)

But as Kurtz goes on: “At both the local and national levels, then, ACORN served as the critical catalyst, levering pressure created by the Community Reinvestment Act and pull with Democratic politicians to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a pattern of high-risk loans. Up to now, conventional wisdom on the financial meltdown has relegated ACORN and the CRA to bit parts…In fact, however, ACORN is at the base of the whole mess…And Barack Obama cut his teeth as an organizer and politician backing up ACORN’s economic madness every step of the way.”

The McCain campaign needs to go after Obama’s support of ACORN and its direct role in the current financial meltdown.

They could start by reading the entire Kurtz NRO piece here. Then maybe they should put Sarah Palin on the case.

The ACORN & Obama Record – FACT CHECK

THE ACORN/OBAMA RECORD

Obama Formerly Represented ACORN, Taught Classes For Future Leaders Of ACORN, And They Endorsed His 2008 Presidential Campaign:

Obama Directed Project Vote And Later Taught Classes For “Future Leaders Identified By ACORN And The Centers For New Horizons.” “He [Obama] says he is drawn to politics, despite its superficialities, as a means to advance his real passion and calling: community organization. … In 1992 Obama took time off to direct Project Vote, the most successful grass-roots voter- registration campaign in recent city history. Credited with helping elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the U.S. Senate, the registration drive, aimed primarily at African-Americans, added an estimated 125,000 voters to the voter rolls — even more than were registered during Harold Washington’s mayoral campaigns. ‘It’s a power thing,’ said the brochures and radio commercials. … Obama continues his organizing work largely through classes for future leaders identified by ACORN and the Centers for New Horizons on the south side.” (Hank De Zutter, Op-Ed, “What Makes Obama Run?” ChicagoReader, 12/8/95)

Obama Was Part Of Team Of Lawyers Who Represented ACORN In A Suit Against The State Of Illinois.

“Obama was part of a team of attorneys who represented the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in a lawsuit against the state of Illinois in 1995 for failing to implement a federal law designed to make it easier for the poor and others to register as voters.” (Mike Robinson, “Obama Got Start In Civil Rights Practice,” The Associated Press, 2/20/07)

ACORN’s Political Action Committee Endorsed Obama.

“[A]CORN’s political action committee endorsed Barack Obama for President. … The endorsement reflects a belief that Obama — who worked as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago — understands that change must come from the ground-up, as part of a working coalition, rather than from position papers.” (Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Op-Ed, “ACORN: Obama Gets It,” The Nation, 2/23/08)

Obama’s Campaign Paid Over $800,000 To ACORN For Get-Out-The-Vote Efforts, But “Mistakenly Misrepresented” Their Work To The FEC:

Obama’s Campaign “Paid More Than $800,000” To ACORN For Get-Out-The Vote Efforts; The Campaign Originally “Misrepresented” The Group’s Work To The FEC. “U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat’s campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports. An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. — a subsidiary of ACORN — worked in ‘get-out-the-vote’ projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.” (David M. Brown, “Obama To Amend Report On $800,000 In Spending,” Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 8/22/08)

While Serving On The Board Of Directors Of The Woods Fund, ACORN Received Thousands Of Dollars Of Grants From The Organization:

The Chicago ACORN Received Grants Of $45,000 (2000), $30,000 (2001), $45,000 (2001), $30,000 (2002), And $40,000 (2002) From The Woods Fund. (Donors Forum Website, ifs.donorsforum.org, Accessed 6/10/08)

— NOTE: From 1993 To 2002, Barack Obama Served On The Board Of Directors For The Woods Fund. (Tim Novak and Fran Spielman, “Obama Helped Ex-Boss Get $1 Mil. From Charity,” Chicago Sun-Times, 11/29/07)

Financial Credit Market Mess Makers

Why won’t the Dems in Congress call up Fannie and Freddie for hearings? Read below, the fault lies at their feet.

-AP

Leo Patterson for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Seconds into the vice-presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden regurgitated the lie about the current administration’s failed “economic policies” being responsible for the financial mess.

To date, not one Democrat has clearly defined which policy they’re talking about (they can’t, because there isn’t any). Furthermore, Congress (not the White House) is responsible for investigation and oversight and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid ignored warnings from both candidates.

The truth being obscured by mainstream media is that the financial mess began with Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Community Reinvestment Act.

Next, in 1992, a majority-Democrat Congress mandated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase mortgages for low- and medium-income borrowers.

In 1995, it was Bill Clinton’s Treasury Department using the CRA to lower lending standards, followed by HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo strong-arming Fannie and Freddie (investigating them for discrimination and proposing that 50 percent of their business include low-to-moderate-income mortgages by 2001).

Then there’s the bipartisan 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act (more deregulation without oversight), which Clinton signed into law.

The media also ignore how Clinton teamed up with the Federal Reserve to demand that banks treat welfare payments and unemployment benefits as qualifying income for mortgages (threatening lawsuits), or how the liberal radical group ACORN threatened banks and lobbied for loans to low-income mortgage applicants.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) also gets honorable mention for his tireless efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the ’90s.

And Joe Biden was there the whole time.

Obama Campaign’s Connection to ACORN and CSI

Here is the complete story from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_584284.html

For a candidate who claims to be practicing ‘new’ politics, his FEC reports look an awful lot like the ‘old-style’ Chicago politics of yesterday. – RNC statement, 8/21/08.

It appears that Internet based information sites are not the only venues who have been tracking the goings on between Obama, CSI and ACORN. Recently the New York Times reported a mild suggestion of conspiracy between ACORN staff, employees of CCI (Citizens Consulting, Inc. – yet another 1024 resident) and Tides Foundation (the guy who paid off the ACORN embezzeler’s / founder’s brother’s debt off), to not talk about the Rathke ACORN embezzlement affair. It was spotted in the
Pittsburgh Tribune Review Wednesday in an Op-Ed titled: “Tides of ‘transparency’”, and subtitled appropriately: “keep your yaps shut.”

“..is quite an irony for a bunch of leftists who have been known to yap at others for their lack of transparency.”

In today’s issue of the Tribune-Review there is a headline:

GOP: CAMPAIGN TRIED TO HIDE TIES WITH ACORN

(Obama to amend spending report)

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat’s campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.

I have to admit, that as the research was being compiled for yesterday’s questions on this subject, I thought that these “infractions” were so glaring that someone else, this time someone in the MSM, had to have also seen them.

This questionable Obama behavior was spotted by a reporter with a powerful Rolodex – the type found only in major press rooms. The reporter interviewed Jeff Robinson of CSI, the Obama campaign, the RNC and the then Obama campaign again, after the RNC. Numerous quotes from other entities, such as the FEC and watchdog groups are included. It is a must read today.

The reporter, David M. Brown, was quite generous in his fair treatment of this subject, but one of the people he interviewed was not so gentle. In the article the RNC says:

“Barack Obama’s failure to accurately report his campaign’s financial records is an incredibly suspicious situation that appears to be an attempt to hide his campaign’s interaction with a left-wing organization previously convicted of voter fraud. For a candidate who claims to be practicing ‘new’ politics, his FEC reports look an awful lot like the ‘old-style’ Chicago politics of yesterday.”

Then, after reading this statement from the story, I have to agree with the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics spokesperson who said this:

“It’s rare that people don’t file any amended reports.“

In my opinion, you can’t accidentally type STAGE, LIGHTING AND SOUND when the bill from your vendor obviously says”Get-Out-The-Vote Organizing.” And then, on ten additional, separate occasions, make the same type of mistake on separate forms, followed by ADVANCE WORK entered when the bill says Get-Out-The-Vote Organizing or POLLINING when the bill says Get-Out-The-Vote Organizing. This, in my opinion, is noteworthy because it sounds like a pattern of lots and lots of amendments to the FEC reports.

So, this is the house that ACORN built. Does Obama have a room?

An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. — a subsidiary of ACORN — worked in “get-out-the-vote” projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.

The Obama campaign can amend their reports all they want. But, had observers not discovered this obfuscation, then the lies would have continued to the end of the campaign, as they sprayed tens of millions of innocent donor dollars through various groups to fund the ACORN-Obama grass-roots campaign, under the radar of the press and public.

It does not matter so much who or how many may claim to have been “blind” to these activities. It is my opinion that the Obama campaign knew they were misleading the public and that they have no intention of offering transparency unless pressed and challenged. And I challenge all seekers of justice to continue to challenge him every day.

ACORN/CSI:
An August 22, 2008 article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports that Obama had to ammend his report to reflect the donation to CSI. The fact remains that Barack Obama donated money to an organization known for committing voter fraud. The article states:

A Trib analysis of campaign finance reports showed Obama paid CSI for services that stood out as unusual. For example, CSI received payments of $63,000 and $75,000 for advance work. Excluding the large payments to CSI, the average amount the Obama campaign spent with other organizations was $558.82 per check on more than 1,200 entries classified as advance work.

Citizens Services Inc. is headquartered at the same address as ACORN’s national headquarters in New Orleans. Citizens Services was established in December 2004 to “assist persons and organizations who advance the interests of low- and moderate-income people,” according to paperwork filed in Louisiana. In a 2006 ACORN publication, Citizen Services Inc. is described as “ACORN’s campaign services entity.”

When Obama was a “community organizer” he donated his legal services to these people. The original BAIL OUT bill contained millions for ACORN! When the Republicans objected, the earmark was removed.

ACORN Embezzlement Payoff Discovered

http://theunionlabelblog.com/2008/08/17/source-of-acorn-embezzlement-payoff-discovered/

You may recall the news that the brother of the chief of the group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) stole $1 million dollars from the organization? Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade, embezzled the money in 2000.

Well, now it has been determined who tried to secretly pay off the theft so that no one would get in trouble. It appears that Drummond Pike of the Tides Foundation a purveyor of leftist tropes, slipped ACORN the cool mil so that Wade Rathke could keep his little bro out of jail.

As the New York Times reports, the Tides Foundation has since 2000 provided over $400 million dollars to various far left organizations and causes. The Tides Foundation has said that none of their money went to ACORN and that Pike was on a “leave of absence” from their board.

ACORN did its level best to keep everything secret and off the books, too. They way they tried to paper over the theft and pay back is worthy of the best cloak-and-dagger book plot.

That agreement was carried on the books of an affiliate, Citizens Consulting Inc., as a loan to an officer. Sometime in June, Mr. Pike bought the loan from the affiliate, according to e-mail messages between senior executives at Acorn that were provided to a reporter by Acorn employees, who requested anonymity because they feared losing their jobs.

But e-mail messages among Acorn’s senior executives discuss how to keep Mr. Pike’s identity secret, even as they acknowledge that some of the foundations and philanthropic advisers that have supported Acorn and its affiliates know that he bought the note.

All this secrecy is alarming. It should be stressed that this was done to hide the theft from authorities to shield the criminal brother of founder Rathke as well as to hide a potentially embarrassing situation from becoming public knowledge.

And these are the sorts of crooks and cover-up artists that imagine they should be the ones running the economy as well as the rest of the country! They are also the ones closest to Barack Obama and the people he WILL be bringing into government should he win the White House.