Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning
On Nov. 12, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that separate House and Senate Resolutions to bar all funds to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) were unconstitutional Bills of Attainder, which violated ACORN’s Fifth Amendment right to due process of law and First Amendment right to freedom of association. (See Rachel Maddow’s excellent coverage and explanation of a “Bill of Attainder” here.)
The CCR suit “seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent the government from reallocating funds designated for the organization and its affiliates and a preliminary injunction to stop Congress from singling out a single organization for punishment without proper investigation or due process.”
During his Nov. 13 appearance on Democracy Now, CCR Attorney Bill Quigley (video below) warned that if constitutionality of the legislation is not legally challenged, ACORN could be but the first of numerous groups seen as supportive of Democrats whose funding will be challenged, as that rightwing blogs are already looking to target the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as well.
While the suit presents a significant legal challenge, and while there is little doubt that ACORN has been the victim of a GOP witch hunt which, as Brad Friedman and others have reported, included the “phony ‘voter fraud’ charges” that were at the “heart of the U.S. Attorney purge scandal,” the willingness of so many Congressional Democrats to jump at the chance to punish ACORN via this Bill of Attainder may also entail something more subtly insidious…
Appearing on Democracy Now in the wake of an 83-to-7 Senate vote to bar the group from receiving any federal funds from the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, ACORN’s CEO, Bertha Lewis, revealed that the video, which depicted a handful of ACORN’s 700 employees giving advice to two rightwing activists dressed as a pimp and a prostitute, was but the latest in a series of Republican efforts to smear the organization, and that past efforts, such as other alleging voter fraud, failed “because all of those people…were turned in by us.”
Lewis noted that the rightwing “sting” videos were presented out of context; that the rightwing group engaged in the sting had not only been asked to leave several ACORN offices but that, in several instances, the police had to be called to force them to leave.
None of this was considered before Congress acted to bar funds to an entire organization for the inappropriate, if not particularly illegal, remarks of a few employees. That’s because, despite an awareness of the Republican’s near continuous partisan assault on ACORN, Democrats in Congress did not bother to hold hearings before rushing to judgment.
By contrast, as Brad Friedman previously reported, citing Jeremy Scahill’s piece in The Nation, the top 100 government contractors, who made “nearly $300 billion from federal contracts in 2007 alone” paid some “$26 billion in fines to settle cases stemming from fraud, waste or abuse;” KBR was not merely been charged with such abuse but with poisoning as many as 100,000 people, including U.S. troops, yet these same Democratic members of Congress who defunded ACORN have ignored a bill [PDF] offered by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) which would prohibit “the Federal Government from awarding contracts, grants, or other agreements to, providing any other Federal funds to, or engaging in activities that promote certain corporations or companies guilty of certain felony convictions.”
(Note: Unlike the measures used to defund ACORN, McCullum’s bill would not amount to a “Bill of Attainder” because it does not single-out one group for punishment, but instead applies across-the-board to all corporations which are “convicted” of the specified felonies.)
So why the rush to judgment by Congressional Democrats? Was it a case of Democrats simply rolling over in the face of another rightwing onslaught?
During the above-cited appearance on Democracy Now, Ms. Lewis explained what ACORN does besides voter registration:
CCR’s fact sheet [PDF] notes that ACORN:
• Fought predatory lending and to stop foreclosures.
Thus, while ACORN may help register millions of voters who predominantly vote for Democrats, ACORN also shields those same voters from the excesses carried out by the true constituency of the corporate sector of the Democratic Party — banks, Wall Street, corporate America.
ACORN’s constituency has little in common with many of the members of Congress their registration drives have helped to elect.
As Jim Hightower observed in Thieves in High Places less than one percent of U.S. citizens are millionaires. Nearly half the members of Congress elected in 2002 were millionaires. As Hightower notes:
A more recent study by the Center for Responsive Politics revealed that, at present, 237 members of Congress are millionaires.
In “Nader was Right: Liberals are Going Nowhere with Obama,” Chris Hedges observed at TruthDig:
We have experienced repeated examples — the Wall Street bailout, an inadequate stimulus, health care legislation designed to extend more money and more power to the insurance cartel and pharmaceutical industries accompanied by the elimination of the “Kucinich Amendment” which would have permitted states and their citizens to adopt single-payer legislation if they so choose; endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the benefit of the military-industrial complex, which now includes well-paid, allegedly murderous mercenaries like Blackwater/Xe.
While the desire to deflect criticism from the rightwing echo chamber helps to explain the occasions in which the Democratic leadership willingly abandons long-time allies, as occurred when candidate Obama threw Reverend Wright under the bus or when the President stood by silently in the face of the McCarthy-like assault on Van Jones, class as well as cowardice may help to explain the willingness of so many corporate Congressional Democrats to slam ACORN with an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder. Their actions are consistent with what Noam Chomsky describes as an “elite consensus;” as an extension of the class war that the wealthy in this nation have waged against working class Americans over the past forty years.
On 11/12/09, the day CCR’s ACORN lawsuit was filed, CCR’s Executive Director Vince Warren discussed the suit on Angie Coiro’s Live From the Left Coast. The audio, appx. 16 minutes, can be heard here…
[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/AngieCoiro_VinceWarren_111209.mp3]
And here is the 11/13/09 appearance by CCR’s attorney Bill Quigley on Democracy Now…
===
Ernest A. Canning has been an active member of the California state bar since 1977. Mr. Canning has received both undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science as well as a juris doctor. He is also a Vietnam vet (4th Infantry, Central Highlands 1968).
Nice piece/article. I read the story of the millionaires in Congress too, and the list. I heard Dem.Now as linked above. I often go back are read the transcripts,too. Bill Quigley is great – his history in recent years is wonderful and he has had articles online,too. I first heard him on DemNow in re Haiti, then Katrina, NOLA housing.
On Chris Hedges:I’m not much interested in his views since he was so …negative? on atheists. (I’m an atheist Jew.) It was so dogmatic (pun intended).
All I can say is, Brietbart and two young Republican stooges are now our judge and jury, ACORN was tried and convicted by them and the media. And then we have KBR and so many other companies actually convicted of defrauding the government out of millions and billions, and they still get funding. This is how far the right’s media power has gotten, out of control. And part of their game is to still act like they have no power and the media is “liberal”, it’s part of their genius game. Still cry about the “liberal media” when they get their way with everything by continually whining about it. And the Democrats go along with it, that’s even worse!
I wish the Acorn vote could be linked to Democrat millionaire status. Perhaps it can, but here’s my take:
Sadly, I think it boils down to our love of a sordid sex scandal.
America loves to be scandalized. Even better, America loves to punish those public figures who are associated with a sordid sex scandal. Even better than that, the Republicans and the Republican-influenced Mouth Piece Media love to punish Democrats who are associated with a sordid sex scandal. When the media are done with them, they are gone from the political arena.
I believe it is no accident that the theme of the sting operation that brought ACORN down featured child prostitution by foreign children brought illegally into the country. That’s about as sordid as you can get. The Repubs have been trying to bring ACORN down for a while now without success, and they needed a new tack.
I bet someone in a think tank somewhere came up with this type of sting as just about a sure bet, if they could pull it off. And they did.
If the Democrats had not stood with the Republicans in punishing ACORN, they would have been portrayed as immoral, decadent and lax, allowing evil to flourish unchecked. They would not have wanted to be the party associated with accepting sexual exploitation of undocumented immigrant children. Facts would not have gotten in the way of this portrayal, and a possibliy significant percentage of the public would not have understood nor forgiven.
The Dems did not want to risk it and figured they could throw ACORN under the bus so as to be seen as upholding what is moral and right.
Indeed. Being seen as upholding what is moral and right trumps upholding what is moral and right every time, doesn’t it…. That’s what makes our laws. That’s what wields the power to conduct wars, to slaughter millions… it would be pathetic if it were not so filthy.
Well, it seems that Hannah Giles, the pretend prostitute in the video, came up with the idea all on her own, after happening to jog past an ACORN office one day. Anyway, Giles and O’Keffe are apparently well-connected with right wingers.
From My Way News:
I don’t believe, Lora, that you can explain away either the corporate media’s obsession with the out-of-context video of a few ACORN employees purportedly giving advice to a pimp and a prostitute or the disparity with which Congressional Democrats leaped at the opportunity to throw ACORN under the bus even as Congress continues to fund corporate criminals on the basis of “sex scandals” being irresistible.
Recall the observation I made about how the corporate media failed to cover the serious allegations made in sworn affidavits about Blackwater in Blackwater = Murder, Inc?, which entailed murder, gun running and:
The corporate-owned media ignored those allegations. The same Congressional Democrats who passed this Bill of Attainder know full well that Blackwater continues to receive enormous contracts to protect State Department officials in Afghanistan, yet they do nothing!
No, sex doesn’t explain it, and even fear of the Reich-wing echo chamber doesn’t fully explain it. The explanation for the disparity of treatment can be found in the consistency of action by corporate Democrats in shielding the interests of those whose campaign funds they so depend upon, not to mention class affinity.
“out of context videos” I love it! LOL This organization is so corrupt it is unconstitutional that they should have been getting any taxpayer funds to begin with. Period! And frankly, while I wasn’t at all surprised by the behavior of these ‘few’ employees at EVERY location visited across the country, I WAS surprised that their already established track record of fraud and embezzlement wasn’t enough to get them de-funded to begin with. Defend an organization worth defending. It is a benefit to the integrity of the Democratic party to disassociate from Acorn.
And we thank you for your genuine concern for the Democratic party Michael. Ahhhh, compassionate conservatives, aren’t they special????
Michael said:
Ah, but you see, that wasn’t the behavior of the employees at “EVERY location visited across the country”. Just the ones that Fox “News”, Breitbart and Drudge decided to allow you to see. (Eg. the ones where the ACORN employees call the police on these two rubes wasn’t shown for some odd reason on Fox “News”).
I believe they are worth defending, particularly as ACORN themselves have been charged and convicted of nothing. (Even while federal contractors such as Halliburton/KBR, Blackwater and scores of others have been charged and convicted of murderous crimes and extraordinary fraud, but still enjoy billions in tax-payer contracts from the federal government, without one Fox “News” wingnut calling for them to be defunded. Odd, isn’t it?)
Glad you’re worried about “the integrity of the Democratic party”. Of course, I’m not. I’m happy to call them out when they’re idiots, as they have been in the case of their cowardly defunding of ACORN.
(NOTE: I realize Ernie Canning feels there’s a more insidious reason for the Dems actions here, and there well could be. But, so far, all I see is evidence of the usual Dem cowardice, as opposed to a nefarious corporatism — at least in this specific instance.)
This is just so disturbing. Thanks, Brad, for bringing it into consciousness again. I keep hoping Obama has plans to do better than this, if he can get a health care bill passed and signed. I can’t believe he meant to get in office and then betray what seems to be good organization, one that has significantly helped the black community. It just doesn’t make sense!
Ernest,
You do have an interesting take on Acorn’s demise. You may be right.
As to not doing anything about Blackwater and sex (not to mention murder), it’s boys will be boys, unless the boys are Democrats.
I don’t disagree that the Democrats are supporting their financial backers.
I’m not sure I buy the class issue however. The ACORN-registered voters helped put the Democrats in office. Whatever the elected Democrats might think privately of the class differences, that wouldn’t be a big enough factor for them to join with the Repubs to illegally defund them.
I think you may be underestimating the power of sexual scandal when wielded by the corporate media-backed Republicans against Democrats. Consider that all the hue and cry the Republicans brought against ACORN for so-called voter fraud did not bring them down. They were adequately defended against the bogus allegations. Now maybe if there had been an undercover sting operation and there were ACORN workers videotaped filling out obviously bogus registration forms — maybe that would have worked. Somehow I think there would have been hearings and a lot of fuss and bother and still they might have escaped Congressional wrath.
I think it took the illicit child sex angle to bring them down as rapidly as it did.
Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer — they were done. So now is ACORN.
Lora, the corporate media does not limit its coverage of sex scandals to Dems. Consider, for example, Gov. Mark Sanford. His little trips to Argentina on the state’s dime did him in, just as Edwards and Spitzer were done in.
I’m not underestimating the corporate media’s obsession with sex scandals; merely suggesting that you cannot explain away the disparate treatment by Congressional Dems and the corporate press as between say Blackwater and ACORN on sex alone.
I don’t disagree with Brad’s take that there is an element of cowardice on the part of the corporate Dems, but I disagree with his take that my assessment is more insidious. To the contrary, I believe a class-based analysis is a structural analysis, which includes both conscious and subconscious decision-making on the part of corporate Democrats; that the influence on their decision making is even greater than they know.
Consider Hightower’s observation in Thieves in High Places:
Hightower continues:
The folks over at KBR and Blackwater may have done some naughty things, but they’re still part of the club–wealth being the price of admission. ACORN represents poor folks. They’re not in the club; never will be, so why look out for them?
As an addendum to my last comment, Lora, if the corporate media cannot resist exposing a sex scandal involving Democrats, how do you explain the corporate media veil of silence that prevents most Americans from learning about Sibel Edmonds’ credible account that entails not only questions of corruption and espionage by members and former members of Congress, and high placed government officials and also entails an alleged effort by a female Turkish agent to engage in a sexual relationship with a Democratic Congresswoman with an eye toward blackmailing that Congresswoman over their lesbian affair?
As to the hypocrisy of the ACORN “Bill of Attainder,” if members of Congress are truly concerned with eliminating corruption, they should start by looking in the mirror.
Michael said on 11/17/2009
“This organization is so corrupt it is unconstitutional that they should have been getting any taxpayer funds to begin with.”
He added that ACORN has an “established track record of fraud and embezzlement…”
__________________
Kindly direct readers to the source of your allegations.
Was ACORN, as an organization, convicted of fraud or embezzlement in a court of law? If so, please name the court, the date of the conviction or other source.
Or are you, Michael, simply repeating the unsubstantiated allegation you heard from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or some other propagandist at Fox News?
If you have any “facts” to back up these allegations, provide the source of the facts. If you do not, then your comment must be regarded as scurrilous and defamatory.
Ernest,
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, really, except as to the suddenness that Acorn was brought down and why.
The Sibel Edmonds silence is easy to explain. First of all the Corporate Republican Complex does not want to give credence to anything Edmonds says for fear of what she might reveal about them. They want her discredited entirely.
Second of all, the Congresswoman did the “politically” correct thing under the circumstances: she immediately repudiated and disassociated herself from all things Sibel in very strong terms, putting Sibel in the “extreme wingnut” category. Plus if she is indeed looking out for interests other than the U.S., that puts her at least temporarily in the same class as the Republicans who have been accused of doing the same thing.
Sibel has no air time on any subject in the corporate media.
You’re right, the media will run with sex scandals of any politician if they can, and Repubs are brought down along with Dems. I have a theory that the Repubs can sometimes make a comeback where Dems can’t, but it’s only a theory and I haven’t looked into it yet. I’m thinking of the right-wing members of Congress who’ve been in the media a lot with various sex allegations — many of them homosexual ones. Aren’t they mostly still running around with relatively little damage done?
Crimes were committed by ACORN staff (lying to the government, illegal use of government funds, aiding customers to defraud the government, etc). I find it funny that ACORN wants to keep funding coming since they weren’t found guilty in court (yet). Do they really want their crimes to be brought to court?