The Kaptur Files: ACORN - #9 in the Countdown of Marcy Kaptur's Most Wasteful Pork Projects

Available now at: www.thekapturfiles.com

In November of 2004, Rep. Marcy Kaptur voted in favor of H.R. 4818, the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This was a $388 billion bill stuffed with 11,772 pork projects, including ACORN, our #9 in the countdown of her 10 most wasteful pork project votes.

According to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Earmark database, ACORN received a first-time earmark of $138,000 in this bill:

"The ACORN Youth Union will provide leadership training and establish a steering committee whose goal is to recruit 200 members and 16 core leaders. The goal of the program will be to inform students about current issues and to learn about government processes. The leaders and members will increase their knowledge about important issues that affect the quality of life in their community. The Acorn Youth Union will report on the number of student leaders and members recruited and the amount of knowledge gained about student governance."

We think the job of teaching youth about the government processes belongs to parents and schools - not to an indoctrination program from a scandal-plagued, union-backed, now-defunct organization.

During the year leading up to this vote, coverage of ACORN's fraudulent voter registrations was in many Ohio papers, documenting the following points from a lawsuit filed by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law:

47. Between Fall 2003 and June 2004, ACORN submitted approximately 23,000 voter registration cards in Franklin County, Ohio. The Franklin County Board of Elections discovered that voter registration cards submitted by ACORN included cards for people who did not exist. Franklin County Board of Elections Director Matthew Damschroeder characterized many of the registrations as "blatantly false," while the manager of Franklin County Voter Services confirmed that the submission of false voter registration forms has resulted in the issuance of voter identification cards that could have been used, and can be used in the future, to cast fraudulent votes in the November 2004, November 2006, and November 2008 elections.

48. On or near June 3, 2004, two ACORN agents submitted fraudulent voter registration cards forms to the Franklin County Board of Elections.

49. On or about October 8, 2004 ACORN submitted 19 false voter registration cards to the Franklin County Board of Elections, including cards identifying people who did not exist.

50. On or about October 8, 2004 ACORN submitted 19 voter registrations to the Hamilton County Board of Elections for people who could not be located by the sheriff's department after similar handwriting and false addresses raised the suspicions of elections workers. These registration cards were fraudulent and contained forged signatures.

51. On or about September 7, 2004, ACORN employee and/or agent Kevin Eugene Dooley submitted a fraudulent voter registration card to the Franklin County Board of Elections that resulted in Mr. Dooley being charged with a felony offense for forging the voter registration card in question.

52. In September 22, 2004, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation confirmed that it was investigating over 800 fraudulent voter registration cards submitted in Summit County.

(Source: Text from a lawsuit filed against ACORN by 1851 Center for Constitutional Law http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5575)

Yet despite all the known scandals associated with ACORN, Rep. Kaptur voted in favor of their pork funding.

Earlier this year, following the release of a video of their employees advising two young conservative activists (posing as a pimp and a prostitute) how to conceal their criminal activities, ACORN closed all their state affiliates and field offices. According to a New York Times article:

In reaction to the videos, the Census Bureau ended its partnership with the organization for this year's census, the Internal Revenue Service dropped the group from its Voluntary Income Tax Assistance program, and Congress voted to cut off all grants to the organization.

But that's not all. Other earmarks in this appropriation included:

· $25,000 for the study of mariachi music
· $200,000 for the Audie Murphy - American Cotton Museum in Greenville, TX
· $100,000 for the High Falls Film Festival in Rochester, NY
· $70,000 for the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, WI
· $100,000 for a weather museum in Punxsutawney, PA
· $80,000 for a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in California
· $35,000 for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Keith Ashdown, of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said at the time, "This bill is the fattest legislative hog that we have ever seen, and despite record deficits, lawmakers are much more concerned with feathering the nests of their favorite parochial interests." (Austin American Statesman, November 24, 2004; Roll Call Vote 542, November 20, 2004)