A nonpartisan, politicalwatchdog group announced today that it has obtained documents from the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation detailingfederal investigations into the alleged corrupt activities ofAssociation of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
Judicial Watch revealed that the documents it acquired reference seriousallegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by ACORN and theObama administration's decision to shut down the criminal investigationwithout filing criminal charges.
Included among the records are twocomplaints filed in October 2008 by Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges,Republican Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport,Connecticut, respectively, during the 2008 election year.
Corelli reported that on Aug.1, 2008, her office accessed 1,200 ACORN voter registration cards fromthe secretary of state's office – of which, 300 cards were rejected dueto "duplicates, underage, illegible and invalid addresses." She saidthe invalid cards "put a tremendous strain on our office staff andcaused endless work hours at taxpayers' expense." Judicial Watchreports Corelli claimed the additional work causedby ACORN corruption cost $20,000.
According to the documents, Borgesstated, "The organization ACORN during the summer of 2008 conducted aregistration drive which has produced over 100 rejections due toincomplete forms and individuals who are not citizens. …"
Borges reported that ACORN evenregistered a 7-year-old child to vote by using a forged signature andfake birth certificate claiming she was 27 years old.
The FBI andDepartment of Justice opened an investigation. But Judicial Watch notedthat the Obama Justice Department, while acknowledging that ACORN hadengaged in "questionable hiring and training practices,"closed the investigation in March 2009, claiming ACORN had broken no laws.
According to the report, thedocuments obtained by Judicial Watch include records connected to afederal investigation of ACORN in St. Louis, Mo. That incident involved1,492 suspected fraudulent voter registration cards submitted byProject Vote, a nonprofit affiliated with ACORN, during the 2006election year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney HalGoldsmith opened that investigation with "concurrence" from theDepartment of Justice and FBI involvement. According to a JusticeDepartment memo, Goldsmith "advised he would prosecute any individualresponsible for submitting fraudulent voter registration cards." Henamed the statute for prosecution, Title 42, USC 1973 (gg), whichoutlines criminal penalties for fraudulent voter registrations. InApril 2008, eight former ACORN employeesfrom the St. Louis office pleadedguilty to voter registration fraud.
Judicial Watch reported that theJustice Department, under President George W. Bush, failed to prosecutealleged ACORN voter registration fraud involving people in Phoenix,Ariz., who were not U.S. citizens. That decision was purportedly madebecause allegations that led to the opening of the investigation were"unverifiable." The FBI document detailing that decision states that a"draft Intelligence Bulletin … concludes that ACORN's employmentpractices perpetuate fraudulent voter registration."
The ACORN documents Judicial Watchacquired include internal FBI memoranda, signed affidavits, subpoenas,fraudulent voter registration cards and ACORN's policies and practices.The group also noted that it obtained documents with details regardingallegations of corruption extending beyond registration fraud,including efforts by ACORN employees to compel workers to campaign onbehalf of Democratic candidates.
"These documents reflect systematicvoter registration fraud by ACORN," said Judicial Watch President TomFitton. "It is a scandal that there has been no comprehensive criminalinvestigation and prosecution by the Justice Department into thisevident criminal conduct."
He added, "Given President Obama'sclose connections to ACORN, including his campaign's hiring of theACORN's Project Vote organization, it seems rather obvious why AttorneyGeneral Holder has failed to seriously investigate these and otheralleged ACORN criminal activities."
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