By Anita MonCrief –
Last week’s America’s Future Now Conference, hosted by the Campaign for America’s future, attracted progressive groups from around the country, including MoveOn, SEIU, ACORN’s Project Vote and politicians such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Barbara Lee.
Despite ongoing investigations by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and voter fraud allegations in several states, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN continues to maintain its innocence regarding the undercover videos that led to the “dissolution” of the national group. Prominent politicians like Pelosi and Lee have been willing to lend their credibility to ACORN and other radical organizations by ignoring details like the FBI documents released last week by Judicial Watch.
The documents include handwritten notes from FBI investigators interviewing canvassers working with Project Vote, an ACORN affiliate. Among the highlights from the FBI handwritten notes:
- [ACORN] “Told employees not to talk to the FBI. ‘FBI trying to intimidate you.’”
- Fraudulent cards:
- To cause confusion on election day to keep polls open longer
- To allow people who can’t vote to vote.
- To allow to vote multiple times.
- Project Vote will pay them whether cards fake or not – whatever they had to do to get the cards was attitude.
- Constantly threatened
- Staff restricted on what to say to FBI
- “Poverty pimpin” (sic) ACORN
- ACORN HQ is wkg for the Democratic Party.
- PV [Project Vote] pays ACORN $6.00 per card…Said “You treat the cards like (cash) $”
- Some [names] went right from the phone book and made up the rest.
Tom Fitton, president of Judaical Watch raised significant points when he stated:
“These documents show the need for a national criminal investigation by the Obama Justice Department into ACORN. Is Attorney General Holder doing nothing because of Obama’s close connections to ACORN and Project Vote? The information in these new documents has national implications that cry out for further investigation.”
Lawmakers like Representative Donna Edwards who attended the conference have never worried about their connections to ACORN in the past and (considering the speakers listed below) most are willing to turn a blind eye to its transgressions.
This may explain why, when most Americans were beginning their work week, ACORN leaders like Zach Polett were welcomed at a conference called America’s Future Now.
Amid numerous reports of its demise, ACORN sent various top leaders to Washington, DC last week. That statement may bring to mind ACORN’s CEO Bertha Lewis.
However, ACORN’s true leaders have always prided themselves on remaining behind the scenes. Zach Polett, pictured below, is the former Executive Director of Project Vote, former head of ACORN Political Operations and a founding member of ACORN. Polett in his own words, was also once the supervisor of Barack Obama when he worked at Project Vote in the 1990’s
Joining Polett last week were ACORN leader, Steve Kest (picture below) and Project Vote Executive Director Michael Slater. If one can imagine the America’s Future Now conference like a high school reunion, the ACORN leaders were obviously the football team.
Efforts were made to protect the already “victimized” ACORN from any unwanted scrutiny (more on that later) but it is interesting to note that facts mean little to radical liberals and their “progressive” friends. Hundreds of pages of notes, testimony and evidence exist that suggest that ACORN is a criminal organization set up in a manner that is subversive and harmful, but lawmakers, and apparently the FBI are content to ignore critical facts in fear of where a full investigation would lead.
The fact of the matter is Barack Obama is a liar who has used his position to cover up the very criminal activity that got him elected president. In May of 2009, Bill O’Reilly began to delve into the ACORN/Obama story but stopped short after my statement that ACORN operated as an “unofficial arm of the Democratic Party.” O’Reilly chose to form a truce with the White House after pressure from the administration about Fox’s anti-Obama stance and the mainstream media continue to ignore the true story.
Not surprisingly, my testimony in Pennsylvania in 2008 mirrors the FBI notes released last week, and it has been over a year since Heather Heidelbaugh presented testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Yet, instead of investigating, top House Democrats wait for more “credible evidence.” Among the evidence ignored by House Democrats are:
- Project Vote receives donor lists from other Democratic and labor union sources: John Kerry campaign, [Hilary] Clinton campaign, Barack Obama campaign, Democratic National Committee, America Coming Together (“ACT”) (p.3)
- Project Vote development plan was to ‘approach maxed out presidential donors’, and ‘allegedly use the funds for voter registration drives’ (pp.3-4)
- ACORN ‘employees’ were paid through Project Vote for partisan campaign activities telling voters … “don’t vote for Albert Win (sic) or vote for this person” (p. 4)
- There were no divisions between the staff of ACORN and Project Vote, and persons working for one entity actually perform work for either or both organizations (p. 4)
- The Obama campaign’s donor list was part of the evidence admitted into the hearing on the injunction in October 2008 (p. 5)
ACORN’s work has been critical to the Democrats to secure and maintain their majority in Congress. My blog posts have noted this repeatedly, but here is ACORN in its own words from page 46 of a 2006 report describing how they will leverage power with the new Democratic controlled Congress (available here). Click to enlarge.
After two full days of speakers and workshops, the attendees gathered for an awards ceremony on Tuesday night. Awardees included the leftist liberal donor Peter Lewis of Progressive Insurance Company and this reporter arrived early to the event. After inquiring about a ticket for the dinner, I decided to give the VIPs a chance to gather their tickets while I walked around.
Judging from the amount of protection that ACORN received at the America’s Future Now conference, it is obvious that other liberal groups consider ACORN’s work to still be critical to passing the radical agenda.
What happened next can only be described as roaches reacting to sunlight. After smiling for the camera, a stunned Zach Polett of ACORN reacted by scurrying across the room to find Michael Slater of Project Vote while Steve Kest of ACORN attempted to duck into another room with a piano in it. The group chatting so animatedly just a few minutes ago closed ranks (probably to hide other radicals from the lens of my camera).
Inside the awards event Representative Donna Edwards and ACORN insiders discussed plans for America’s future, but in the hall I was denied entry to the event after words from Michael Slater to the event staff . Though it had been confirmed minutes early that there were seats available I was told that tables had just been removed. When I decided to wait in hopes of getting a seat, a staffer named Alex Lawson came rushing out with Tommy Christopher from Mediaite.
Apparently, an everyday American is no longer allowed to ask questions or attend conferences with names like America’s Future Now. The ACORN leaders inside had complained of pictures being taken and I was grilled (while Mediaite videotaped the incident). ACORN could no longer ignore my statements against them so Lawson was sent to remove me from the event. Lawson accused me of working for Andrew Breitbart (which has been revealed to be a Democrat talking point) and refused to sell me a ticket to an event at which public officials, progressive organizations and ACORN celebrated their success in taking America to the far left.
Anyone who has been paying attention knows that ACORN has not disbanded but merely reformed. One has to wonder what else ACORN and its friends are hiding. SEIU, MoveOn, Media Matters and the Center for Community change have all jumped to ACORN’s defense and by discounting the mounting evidence against ACORN, it appears that ACORN is “to big to fail.” The implications of admitting that ACORN is a corruption, socialist organization could implicate dozens of funders, allies, partners and politicians.
Who else was hiding behind the liberal wall at the America’s Future Now conference? Could it have been Jeffrey Robinson of Citizen Services Inc, the ACORN affiliate that was contracted by the Obama campaign for “get out the vote” activities.
“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.”
The same leaders who covered up an embezzlement scandal, ran a massive voter registration drive riddled with fraud and coordinated with the Obama campaign to violate Federal election law are still in place. A glance at Zach Polett’s friend list illustrates this point, from Heather Booth to Tom Matzzie of MoveOn, Polett’s friends have been instrumental in the Democrat party for decades.
The one lesson I took away from the America’s Future Now conference after being turned away is that America is in peril. The left is on a collision course with the Constitution and our freedoms. Among the handouts I picked out was a booklet that laid out the plan for a “Democratic and Socialist Future.” I will share more about this booklet later but it’s important to see that the past two years have shown Americans the political lives of ACORN and exposed the depth of deception Democrats will sink in order to protect their “vote making” machine.
Obama has lied repeatedly about his background, and his ties to ACORN. It’s time to go after the leaders behind ACORN, and the politicians who are shredding the Constitution for them.
