NY 23: The Tempest and the Tea Party

A number of liberal Democrats today are celebrating Democrat Bill Owens' victory over Conservative Doug Hoffman, but these liberals fail to realize that Conservatives are celebrating too. As Barack Obama meddled in local politics across the nation and poured money into obscure districts, Conservatives built upon the resolve that led to the first Tea Party and culminated last night in a lion's roar directed at the GOP party elite. From RedState emphasis mine:

“First, the GOP now must recognize it will either lose without conservatives or will win with conservatives. In 2008, many conservatives sat home instead of voting for John McCain. Now, in NY-23, conservatives rallied and destroyed the Republican candidate the establishment chose.“

Tea Party patriots are tired of Republicans treating them like children at the kids table. Tired of the “there, there” comments as average Americans question their compromises and suspect partnerships. When Republicans cross the aisle and double cross their constituents on Cap and Trade or health care, regular Americans are expected to tend to their families, pay their taxes and take no notice.

However, that simmering resistance reached a boiling point as Republicans used an old “business as usual trick.”

“Meanwhile, the Republicans keep running 'moderates' who prove to be very useful to the Democrats… which keeps the growth of the State bubbling along at Bush levels. The radical nature of the current Administration makes the idea of 'moderate' compromise laughable. What’s the moderate position on freedom-crushing trillion-dollar health care and environmentalist legislation? They’re okay, as long as the Democrats pinky-swear to keep the cost under $800 billion? That’s the kind of promise no politician could keep, even if it was made in earnest. A moderate Republican is someone who lives in a state of perpetual surprise as he ponders the monthly bills for nanny-state government. What’s the point of electing people who are guaranteed to spend the rest of their political careers complaining about how they’ve been played for fools?”

Last night's victory in NY 23 may be sweet for some Democrats, but Obama is not savoring this victory. Exit polling reveal that most voters who rejected local Democrats still supported the president. How much of that support lies in the administration's strong arm tactics? The White House quickly moves with ACORN-like speed to silence its opponents with cries of racism or extremist labels. On the other side of the spectrum, the White House has used the Treasury Department to buy and to maintain support at the local level.

Can You Hear Me NOW?" The Allamon Cartoon Blog

In New York this arrangement was almost executed flawlessly. With Republicans backing the “white friend” of ACORN's Bertha Lewis and big labor/SEIU backing Owens, Obama and the Democrats were guaranteed a friendly vote and if Scozzafava won, they could tout the unprecedented levels of bipartisanship in the age of Obama. In a bold move to continue the consolidation of power by radical Leftists, Obama invested a billion dollars into one Congressional district and ensured that the seat would become available this year.

Doug Hoffman's candidacy was much bigger than him. It signaled the reemergence of the American citizen as “the ruler of the roost” and both parties have taken notice. Some career politicians find the notion of having to answer to “the people” galling, and continue to undermine the will of the people. However, politicians like representatives Steve King of Iowa, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and of course, Sarah Palin, are continuing to shake up Washington.

The era of change has arrived and it appears that opportunistic politicians are the first thing to go:

“Change is not an open ended mandate or a blank check. Change is a warning to either perform or meet the same fate as the last incumbent. And while Obama was clutching the keys to the kingdom in his dirty little hands, flying endlessly around the world, taking Air Force One on dates and primping and posing for magazine covers; ordinary Americans were losing jobs, families were cutting back, credit card bills piled up, vacations vanished and people came to work every day not knowing if it would be their last. Tonight was a major warning sign to Obama that these Two Americas cannot co-exist forever. And sooner or later Americans will want their White House back from its current lazy and debauched tenants.”

Breaking: ACORN expected to Protest Election Results Tomorrow in Clinton County

Multiple sources on the ground in New York's 23^rd Congressional district confirm that ACORN is expected to be actively protesting the election results in Clinton County, New York tomorrow. This move comes on the heels of a legal win for the Hoffman camp today as it was ruled that all poll watchers would have to be registered voters of NY 23.

Rob Ryan, spokesman for the Hoffman campaign, states that the legal decision is all about ballot security and that the move by ACORN is not a surprise.

“The Working Family Party is desperate, Today's poll show that Doug Hoffman is drawing votes from all Demographics".

While the focus tomorrow will be on securing a win for Hoffman, Ryan says there are still worries about:

"voter intimidation, absentee ballot fraud and groups like ACORN/Working Families Party and big labor stealing the election from the people of the 23^rd district."

As voters prepare to go to the polls tomorrow, some may wonder why all the fuss over NY 23. Partisan politics and party infighting aside, MSNBC reports that :

“The New York governor’s office just released county-by-county data on stimulus spending. (Here, here, and here.) It breaks down where -- and on what -- money was spent.

A First Read analysis of the data shows that almost $1 billion was allocated to counties in -- either wholly or partially -- New York’s 23rd congressional district."

One does not have to wonder what WFP/ACORN's motivations are. They clearly appear to be related to money and power.

How NY23 Revealed the Republicans' ACORN Problem

As the nation watches the events in New York's 23rd Congressional district unfold, an appropriate title for this story would be “How to squander money and alienate your base." After the Saturday withdrawal of Republican Dede Scozzfava, the GOP is reeling from a massive insurgency by its conservative base. Of course, the story got stranger as Erick Erickson
of Redstate reports

“Dede Scozzafava is throwing her support to the Democrat, Bill Owens.

"She and her husband are working with union activists to drive the vote up for the Democrat.

"The Republican Party spent $900,000.00 to help her and this is how she repays them.

"And Pete Sessions, Chairman of the NRCC, and Guy Harrison, Executive Director of the NRCC, still have their jobs and are failing to take responsibility for this disaster, instead blaming conservatives.”

In the GOP there are still some are shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong. The GOP nominated a “moderate” and if she happened to have big labor and ACORN ties, then so be it. For once, the elephant in the room was not the GOP but this blatant, illogical and damaging alliance it had formed with Scozzafava. As the Wall Street journal reports, this relationship would eventually set off a national chain of events:

“Saturday's decision by Republican Dede Scozzafava to drop out of tomorrow's special Congressional election in upstate New York is a potentially big political moment that could help to return the GOP to first principles—or could lead to internecine ruin. Much will depend on how GOP leaders and conservative activists respond.

"Picked by GOP elites without a primary and with a voting record to the left of many Albany Democrats, Ms. Scozzafava faced a revolt by local and national conservatives in favor of businessman Doug Hoffman, who was nominated on the Conservative Party line. The longtime GOP assemblywoman saw herself falling in the polls and yesterday endorsed Democratic lawyer Bill Owens, who could still win the GOP-leaning seat with a plurality.”

Republican liaisons with far left Democrats have already been detrimental to the conservative movement and Scozzafava's ties to ACORN and their “affiliated” Working Families Party was covered extensively in the blogosphere. Top Republicans chose to ignore the corruption right under their nose and to sell out their base by following the Left's mantra to elect “moderates”. These “moderates” tend to be leftists in Republican clothing. Kirsten Gillibrand is an example of a local “moderate” who abandoned her principles and base after being promoted from Congressperson to United States Senator. Republicans like Darrell Issa (who released a damning report on ACORN last July) backed Scozzafava while still pursing ACORN corruption.

In any partnership, there is compromise. Some compromise is acceptable, but fundamental values should not be compromised. When conservatives align themselves with polar opposites, it always seems that they are doing so because of race considerations or political expediency. During a panel discussion in which I participated on October 23, 2009, Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media asked why Republicans in the Bush administration approved ACORN funding.

John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, replied that Republicans acquiesced with the pretense that these organizations are doing good work and that race is a major factor behind that acquiescence.

While partisanship should not play a role in exposing corruption, when that corruption is rooted in the pay for play politics that tip heavily to the Left, partisanship cannot be ignored. Nonprofit groups have been allowed to run rampant with charitable donations that somehow elect Democrats. To stop this trend, conservatives must become creative and steer clear of situations like the one in the NY 23 with Scozzafava. If such situations are allowed to continue, others will succeed in dividing the GOP from the grassroots conservatives, and thus strengthening the left.

ACORN is a Democrat scandal and it is hard to separate one from the other. Corruption is the overriding theme and it comes mostly from the left. Another particularly odd pairing continues to be the radical reformers of ACORN and top Conservatives and Republicans. The ACORN 8, a group of former ACORN board members, have formed a Scozzafava-like partnership with the Republicans. In attempting to expose ACORN, some appear to have ignored key facts and overlooked a pattern of withholding key information to coincide with opportunistic timing aimed at aiding Democrats. An example of this is the complete removal of two longtime Obama ACORN cronies from a complaint filed with the United States Justice Department last January by the ACORN 8. Madeline Talbott is described by Stanley Kurtz of the National Review Online as “the woman who first drew Obama into an alliance with ACORN.” And Keith Kelleher is Talbott's husband, the Chief Organizer of SEIU Local 880 in Chicago.

Version 1 and Version 2 of the ACORN 8 Civil RICO complaint.

Another example of the GOP ignoring the evidence in front of it involves investigative reporting by the National Legal and Policy Center, a group that "promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action." The NLPC uncovered more on ACORN's relationship with Scozzafava. The GOP seems quick to support organizations and people with strong ties to ACORN as long as they technically are not ACORN. Unfortunately for conservatives, the credibility being bestowed on such groups receives little scrutiny beyond the blogosphere and Fox News . Key ACORN opponents have formed relationships of convenience with little thought to the outcome. As the NLPC reports, even the unions are involved:

“The powerful New York City-based health care workers union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199, also has endorsed Owens. But common sense says that if Mrs. Scozzafava is elected, she effectively will have established a Republican congressional beachhead for ACORN, who would claim its 'bipartisanship.' It's not as if her own party will be against her. Top GOP members sending her checks include House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Virginia), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (California), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), and Rep. Peter King (N.Y.).

"How did leading Republicans, some of whom (like Boehner) have been ACORN's toughest critics, come to endorse a candidate with a history of endorsements by its main political front, the Working Families Party?" (emphasis mine).

Good question. In NY 23, the GOP candidate selecters chose to ignore the evidence of Scozzafava's ACORN tainted background. Just as the GOP and Fox have also ignored the clear statement on the ACORN 8's website which does not call for not for full truth, transparency and accountability by ACORN to the American people. Rather, as stated on the ACORN 8 website, they call for "truth, transparency and accountability within ACORN." Apparently in exposing ACORN it certainly does not hurt to have a black face to speak about ACORN corruption. The color of whistleblowers should not be important, but their message should be.

When groups like the ACORN 8 speak to conservatives and tell them that ACORN was a great organization that was “hijacked” by some who had sinister motives, it's believable if no one checks the facts. How can an organization whose founder remained in place for almost 40 years become hijacked? How can ACORN be reformed if the same longtime insiders are the new control group? This fiction must be exposed. Fox has been leading the way on exposing ACORN while other so called respected media outlets like the New York Times, finally admitted to having been continually scooped by Fox. But Fox needs to report all the facts to its viewers instead of promoting the ACORN 8 and wishful thinking.

As TV/Radio host Glenn Beck continues to expose the true subversive nature of ACORN, and Obama's radical roots, he contradicts many of the assertions made by this group of reformers. Though no one ever mentions the distortions on air, one has to wonder if Fox is doing its viewers a disservice by aligning themselves with groups who support Obama' s policy initiatives. As the conservative base mobilizes online, there is a disconnect between then and the so called leaders. The base sprung into action as a subsequent Glenn Beck boycott of advertisers begun by Van Jones and his organization Color of Change attempted to silence Beck and that same base is ready to fight as ACORN attempts to DeFox America.

Those outside of this boycott alliance spread the word on Twitter and Facebook about the Left's attempt to silence Beck, while the ACORN 8 remained largely silent on these issues and others that concern the very people they fundraise and ask to support their efforts. Like the $990,000 the Republicans spent on Scozzafava, conservatives are being asked to foot the bill for a partnership that was never ideologically aligned with theirs. As stated, such partnerships are rarely mutually beneficial for long. While the Left exploits the fears of conservatives on the issues of race, conservatives must be willing to fight back and respond to the blows instead of merely trying to deflect them.

After watching the ACORN prostitution stings, Americans do not see ACORN as serving a noble purpose and one has to wonder what people were doing on the ACORN board for years. Marcel Reid was active in ACORN for nine years and her story that the ACORN board was "ceremonial" does not excuse any board member. She claims to have noticed ACORN corruption only after the embezzlement scandal was publicly reported. As a former employee who started in October of 2005, I was already calling the folks at www.rottenacorn.com by May of 2007.

The question now is whether the GOP can overcome its fear of being labeled "racist" by the left and learn to respond to these attacks. Fear of that seems to be the tipping point for their ultimately disastrous relationships with liberals who wish to keep Democrats in power.

Until and unless we conservatives form our own groups and become more involved in the communities of color, we will find ourselves aligned with every group that sprouts from the ACORN seed. ACORN 8 professes to love ACORN and does not want to see it dismantled, just "reformed. " But ignoring the reality of the radical ACORN 8 potentially opens that door to other alliances with ACORN "insiders" who are willing to offer information in exchange for credibility and a chance to retaliate against the very control group that threw them out.

How I Overcame Fear and Rejected the ACORN 8 Alternative

Rosa Parks:

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

General George S. Patton, Jr.:

You must be single minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided. You will find that you will make some people miserable; those you love and very often yourself. And, if it looks like you are getting there, all kinds of people, including some whom you thought were loyal friends, will suddenly show up doing their damndest, hypocritical best to trip you up, blacken you, and break your spirit.

One almost never hears of paralyzing joy or happiness. The adjective "paralyzing" is usually combined with the word fear. Fear can take on many forms. In most cases, it is the driving force behind the decisions that follow. In 2008, the fear I encountered involved my family, our safety and loyalty to my race and political party. When others are aware of your fears, they can make the most of opportunities to capitalize on them; whether it is a fellow whistleblower warning you away from Fox News, or liberals throwing the word racist in the face of conservatives.

Often, it is the fear of being alone that paralyzes. To avoid being alone, women (and men) can make bad choices in mates or politics. A person will align with a group or organization that adds support or disproves a claim. In July of 2008, I aligned with both The New York Times and former board members of ACORN that had formed a group called the ACORN 8. On October 21, 2008, New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom, with whom I had been working on an ACORN expose, told me that her editors had told her to “stand down,” because the ACORN/Obama story was a "game changer" and it was their policy not to print a "game changer" that close to the election.

My sense of having a reliable system in place to help expose the truth disintegrated. I will always wonder about the timing of the release of the Kingsley report (a report by an ACORN lawyer that showed huge problems within the organization related to the connection between the ACORN entities) to Strom when she was hot on the story of ACORN and Obama campaign corruption and about to be made to "stand down" on it by "higher up." I began to suspect that the same group who had decided to “wait until after the election to go after Wade Rathke, and whose representative had warned me about going on Fox the weekend before the election may have had an ulterior motive for releasing the report to Strom right before a potentially damaging expose on ACORN/Obama.

A screen shot of the July 29^th 2008 meeting by the ACORN Interim Staff Management Committee (ISM) details the efforts that ISM members including Karen Innman and Marcel Reid to protect Obama by not exposing Rathke before election day 2008.

As an ardent Democrat, I listened to Reid and continued to work with the ACORN 8 but the questions returned after I was shown a copy of the same Kingsley report by Reid of the ACORN 8 on the eve of my first interview on Fox News with Eric Shawn, on Mother's Day morning. I was later interviewed by Fox News' Megyn Kelly the following morning and about a month later by Bill O'Reilly on the Factor about how the New York Times killed an Obama/ACORN expose on October 21, 2008.

The current situation in Louisiana is eerily familiar to the struggle that I witnessed in early 2009 between the ACORN control group and the ACORN 8 and I expect more such situations as ACORN crumbles.

“A new battle is brewing at the controversial community group ACORN, as ousted and disgruntled leaders in Louisiana reportedly plan to form their own group with the same name...

"...ACORN fired [Beth] Butler over apparent concerns about a lack of 'accountability' in her work leading the Louisiana chapter in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Butler was close to ACORN founder Wade Rathke, whose brother Dale was accused of embezzling about $1 million from the group a decade ago.

"...Butler said she was fired because she refused to fire members of a land trust board whom national ACORN leaders wanted ousted. She said ACORN national is 'going out of business' and wanted the board gone to seize control of its funds and assets. She called the ordeal 'all completely inappropriate and unethical.'

"Vanessa Gueringer, who sits on the Louisiana and national board of ACORN, told the Times-Picayune, that Stephen Bradberry, the employee installed as Butler's replacement, is an 'illegitimate interloper.'"

Screen shots of the ISM committee meeting notes and a legal memo by ACORN's former lawyer Steve Bachmann appear to support Butler's claims:

Like the new ACORN group forming in New Orleans, Louisiana, the ACORN 8 was made up of former board members and members of ACORN. Initially, I supported the ACORN 8 as an improvement over the current ACORN control group. But I eventually realized that, also like the Louisiana ACORN off-shoot group, ACORN 8 is engaged in a power struggle with ACORN National and not what is needed.
In March of 2009, the DC chapter of ACORN faced the same type of administrativeship that dissolved the New Orleans branch as this 3/6/2009 letter by Mary Spencer, acting president of the DC chapter to Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN illustrates:

1. 
   
   
   Why is the DC Chapter being penalized because several persons from this area were removed from membership by the National Board after asking that the ACORN’s financial records be made available, which has never been done? Is there a certain number of persons that warrant such actions be taken against a chapter or is this something that is once again made up to make the appearance of a reason for putting DC in administrativeship? (emphasis mine)
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   
   Regarding confidential information being leaked, I can assure you that since no DC members have access to any of ACORN’s confidential information, we the DC chapter should not be the fall guy for such actions. May I ask what confidential information is being referred to in this statement?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

I had already begun to wonder if I could really fight ACORN with ACORN, but after reading this letter forwarded by Marcel Reid of the ACORN 8, I knew that it was time to go at this alone. I believed that ACORN was a subversive organization committed to turning poverty into a profit and America into a socialist country. I also came to realize in the months leading up to March, my admitted fears had been used against me by others and I had become a prisoner of the those fears.

When TV/Radio host's Glenn Beck's producers invited me to appear on his show in March, I turned it down. The thought of appearing on TV was terrifying. I had declined previous interviews in great part because of that fear, especially after an attempted break-in of my home, out of concern for my family, as Beck mentioned on air. I had a long talk with Beck's producers and Cleta Mitchell of the Republican National Lawyers Association, happily provided information and disclosed the circumstances of my termination from ACORN/Project Vote.

Fear and outside influences kept me off Fox the weekend before the election. Fear and a sense of loyalty to Strom kept me from immediately exposing the New York Times by releasing our email exchanges before March of 2009 and fear tied me to Marcel Reid, who used those fears to manipulate and control me. In the end, fear did not prevent me from realizing that I was no longer ideologically aligned with the ACORN 8. I was no longer the far left radical who wanted to change the system, and I no longer felt that I had to stand with my Democratic party.

Bertha Lewis and the Campaign to DeFox America

Bertha Lewis of ACORN appears to be tired of losing arguments, credibility, and government funding. With her "colleagues" at the White House behind her and the memory of  being forced off her talking points fresh in her mind, Bertha Lewis strikes back.

Byron York has the story and here is the link from the email: DeFox America

Project Vote: A twisted branch of the ACORN tree

A strange anomaly occurs whenever the phrase "voter registration fraud" is searched. Who's responsible for that? Perhaps the players? Search the Internet and you will find dozens of stories on the Association of Community Organizations For Reform Now or ACORN on a never ending stream of Google results. However, Project Vote (Voting for America) is often only listed as an affiliate. Articles posted by the mainstream media tend to downplay Project Vote's role or is it something else?

In the fall of 2005 I answered an ad posted on Idealist.org similar to the one provided by the Capital Research Center below. It was the beginning of my journey with ACORN. Throughout the interview process I never heard the words Project Vote, only ACORN. The goal was to make sure that I was ideologically aligned with the principles -and I use that term loosely – of ACORN.

When I came to Washington, D.C. to start working for ACORN, it quickly became evident to me that Project Vote did not have a lot of employees and was a part of ACORN. Often we employees wore many hats and worked weekends and late nights with the sense that we were doing it for the “movement.” 

One of my first assignments at Project Vote was to research the voter registration fraud allegations from 2004. It was not hard to discern a pattern in how the accusations were processed: ACORN blamed an employee, the employee was fired, vilified, tried and sentenced. Case closed. Every time Project Vote remain unscathed while ACORN cried racism and attacked the “evil right-wingers.” What I then speculated is that Project Vote did not have the field capacity to run the voter registration drives without ACORN. Project Vote existed because of ACORN and did not seem like it could continue without it. Besides shared offices across the country; there were people like myself who held duel positions in both organizations. Senator Chuck Grassley requested information related to the tax status of ACORN entities and it was determined that:

“Per its 2006 Form 990, Project Vote received $8,688,580 in direct public support,and $250,759 in contractual fees. It then paid $4,649,037 to ACORN for contractual and campaign services and $779,016 to Citizens Consulting, Inc. Thus, $5,428,023, or over 60% of its revenues, was paid to two taxable, affiliated entities (emphasis mine).

"...In general, the flow of money among the ACORN family of organizations is a big shell came. Dollars raised for charitable activity appear to be used for impermissible lobbying and political activity. This is similar to the use of charities by Jack Abramoff. Similar to those organizations, charities are being used to raise monies which are then funneled to other charities or other organizations for purposes other than what a donor may have intended.”

On the ACORN side, I was part of political operations. POLOPS, as we called it during my tenure, had Zach Polett as its point person. Zach ran Project Vote, ACORN Political Operations, and sometimes, Citizens Services Inc. (CSI). Voter registration drives, lawsuits, youth voting, etc were all handled by this main ACORN nebulous, and I watched it run like a slightly inept machine. Over the years Project Vote has loudly protested that it is not a part of ACORN. Barack Obama's Fight the Smears website also makes this absurd claim.

After the New York Times broke the ACORN embezzlement scandal in July of 2008 and subsequently released portions of the Elizabeth Kingsley report, recommendations were made about improving the overall operation of the affiliates. In particular the roles of the board members was discussed at length. According to information provided by former board members in July of 2008, not only was the board unaware of the embezzlement, but some of the affiliate board members were not even aware that they were on the board! Project Vote replaced a few of its board members, but somehow managed to still stock it with trusted ACORN insiders. A look at their website illustrates this point.

A quick search of the Internet yields tons of information on the active role the board members have played in ACORN and bloggers have reviewed these ACORN ties. What is most interesting is that now a year after ACORN pledged to clean up their ranks, these same board members continue an active role in supporting ACORN while it appears that they only represent Project Vote on paper. I have included a brief summary of some conflicting ACORN activities of “non partisan” Project Vote's board members

Donna Massey: President – A New Party alum from ACORN's home state of Arkansas, Massey, acts as co-chair of Arkansas ACORN and chairs the ACORN PAC, a political action committee that actively endorses Democrat candidates. After the “reforms” put in place after the embezzlement scandal, Massey has been active in the SEIU aligned Health Care for Reform Now (HCAN).

Maxine Nelson, Vice-President – Nelson was on the board of Project Vote for years as its president and is a longtime ACORN insider who also sits on the national board of ACORN. Nelson's bio speaks for itself:

Organizations: ACORN member (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) since 1986.

Offices held: Chair of ACORN Political Action Committee; Secretary; Asst. State Chair; Chair, Jefferson County ACORN; Delegate to ACORN Associate Board since 1999, also served as Southern Regional Representative.

PROJECT VOTE President since 1998

 After the ACORN prostitution scandal hit, Nelson could be found making the rounds on the “denial” tour for ACORN:

“It’s not going to affect what we do locally,” she said after the rally on the state Capitol steps. “We work in the neighborhood, we work on issues that affect the every day citizen. We will continue to work on our issues like health care reform, which is not only a national issue but it’s a local issue.”

Sunday Alabi, Board Treasurer: Alabi's name may sound familiar to some, in 2008 he was implicated in what appeared to be a cover up of the Obama presidential campaign's payment to CSI. Like Nelson, Alabi seems to have spent much of the fall doing damage control for  ACORN after the prostitution scandal broke:

"We're shocked to see those things happen," said Sunday Alabi, who sits on ACORN's state and national boards. He said the people who made the video didn't visit the Minnesota office.”

Not only has Alabi endorsed candidates through Minnesota's ACORN PAC, but like many ACORN board members Alabi appears to have a political agenda that supports Democrats while attacking conservatives like Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota:

Minnesota ACORN Board Member Sunday Alabi:
"It is sad that Rep. Bachmann isn't focusing on the very real issues facing the 6th Congressional District, which, for example, has the highest foreclosure rate in Minnesota. ACORN is working hard every day in Minnesota to stop predatory lending, and is even helping Rep. Bachmann's own constituents to save their homes. Meanwhile, Rep. Bachmann seems more interested in partisan witch hunts. We are concerned that she is trying to paper over the fact that she has once again sided with the predatory lenders and neglected the residents of the 6th Congressional District."

As public scrutiny of ACORN reaches a fever pitch and ACORN scrambles to cover their tracks it appears that these efforts are only cosmetic. Like the plaster wall Project Vote added in the DC office to “separate” it from ACORN national and DC local in preparation for the 2008 elections, the changes have not touched the core of the ACORN empire.

How This Reluctant Whistleblower Decided to Tell All

In May of 2008 I was working at a respected non-profit and learning the ropes of the corporate nonprofit world. At ACORN you never knew what you would find. I once walked into a lobby and saw a man on his knees talking to DC local ACORN about the “man” and something about Bush. My new position was definitely not grassroots. Everything was efficient, clean and well run. I was making a nice salary and loved the mission of the nonprofit. I had been there a few months and the only problem was that I felt that I was in the wrong place. As primaries raged on I felt a disquieting sense of something passing me by. At the time I was trying to reconcile myself with my choices in life but a part of me was still living in fear of who I had been and who I really was.

That May I decided to go back to my grassroots background and experience this monumental change that everyone predicted was on the horizon. I started out as a Hillary Clinton supporter as I have mentioned in radio interviews. I wanted to really delve into the feeling that seemed to permeate through the liberal community as the 2008 presidential election approached. Everyone sensed that we were on the cusp of something life changing. It became harder and harder for me to sit by, so I joined another grassroots, progressive organization with labor roots. I was sitting at my desk one July day I when got the email alert about the ACORN embezzlement scandal. I followed a myriad of nonprofit dailies and was surprised but not shocked to see the story. ACORN had tons of stories like these floating around, it was part of ACORN lore.

I often wonder if I would have contacted New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom if I had stayed at my previous post with the international nonprofit, but somehow I think that making the choice to leave made this one easier. I was a union member with great benefits, a salary in the mid-forties and what I felt was a front row seat to change. I debated with myself about contacting the reporter who wrote the story. Part of me wanted to let sleeping dogs lie and not talk about what I knew about ACORN. I remembered doing the research on voter fraud allegations from 2004 and knew what happened to ACORN employees who decided to speak out, and I felt that I would definitely be retaliated against and labeled disgruntled. I weighed all of these options and decided that if I stayed quiet that it would be for selfish reasons, and that is not why I came to DC.

Still, I asked myself “why throw away a promising future and speak out against ACORN?” But the part of me that came back to grassroots to help people knew that I had to finish what I had started in 2007 when I contacted the makers of the Rotten ACORN website, the Employment Policies Institute, because I had become disillusioned with ACORN and no longer wanted to turn a blind eye to what I had seen. At the time I had a baby who was less than a year old and had been born premature at 2lbs 2 ounces. I made that call in hushed tones without identifying myself, and the staffer to whom I spoke expressed concern over my personal situation. Instead of trying to use me to attack ACORN immediately and "mine me" for information, he advised me to seek other employment first and then call back. After a great deal of thought, I decided to contact Stephanie Strom at the New York Times using an alias. Stephanie responded immediately and we began a collaboration that would span a number of months. I came to trust her and told her my name.

In August of 2008, Marcel Reid, a board member who was selected to sit on the national board of ACORN and the president of the Local DC ACORN board, somehow learned that I was working with the NYT and got in touch with me. I began passing information and messages from Marcel to Stephanie. I emailed Stephanie at the time that it appeared that “...Wade [Rathke] is refusing to fully hand over the reigns there has even been talk of jail time. I think she may want to throw a few more nails in the coffin to ensure her leadership and direction are taken seriously.“

Some women who grew up in similar situations have “daddy issues” but I had resolved my feeling toward my father about five years after he died. I had “mommy issues” that led me to look to Marcel for guidance, reassurance and at times validation. To me she was an older black female who really seemed to care and to understand how hard this was turning out to be. I remembered her from my days at ACORN and she always struck me as authoritative and in control. I look back and see the perfect storm of coincidences that led to this relationship. My mother was working in Japan, my health had taken a near deadly turn and issues at work (I briefly described these in my testimony in PA) coupled with a speedy move to a place where ACORN could not find me, led me to look to Marcel for inspiration and advice.

Stephanie Strom and Marcel would eventually connect directly. By then I found myself moving away from trusting Stephanie or the Times. Several articles had appeared that seemed to be extremely watered down and almost PR pieces for ACORN. The running theme was to blame founder Wade Rathke and to extol the new ACORN leadership. While the Obama camp will not admit it, the campaign and his whole presidency has been about race (a trusty divisive technique) and I went against the inherent need as a black person to “stick together” and overcame my political instincts as a liberal and confirmed what Michelle Malkin has already uncovered about ACORN and Obama. Stephanie seemed hot on the trail of this story but as election day got closer and the stories weaker and weaker, I decided that I needed a back up plan and emailed Michael Gaynor and Michelle Malkin.

I had never heard of Gaynor but his writing on ACORN back in late September and early October of 2008 led me to believe that he, like Michelle, understood what was going on. Gaynor emailed back, Michelle did not. He became my backup plan after I agreed to identify myself to him so that he could check me out. In addition to being a confidential source of Stephanie, I became a confidential source of Gaynor.

Later in October of 2008 Stephanie told me that it would be better if she could identify me for this ACORN/Obama story. I preferred to be a confidential source, but reluctantly agreed to come forward. As of September 2008, I was no longer working for my union affiliated organization and a part of me felt that I had let my family down. I talked to my fiance, who was having a rough year because of me, and he agreed to support me no matter what. That was very important to me because I was never one of those people who lived the perfect life and being under a microscope would be hard for everyone. I was tired of living in fear, fear of the person I used to be, fear of other people, fear of ACORN and fear of what I was supposed to do.

With my mom in Japan with minimal phone contact with me, I leaned on Marcel and asked for advice when the New York Times decided to make Stephanie "stand down" and killed the ACORN/Obama story. I called Marcel after listening to the voice mail that Stephanie had left for me and then talking to Stephanie about what had happened and why. I told Marcel about Stephanie's game-changer comment and she told me about a lawsuit brought in Pennsylvania by attorney Heather Heidelbaugh against ACORN and gave me the number to contact her.

I also contacted Gaynor that same day. He encouraged me to work with Heather and asked if he could write about it immediately, and write about it he did! See ACORN WHISTLEBLOWER: OBAMA’S THIRD STRIKE? (October 22, 2008). I was not expecting such detail but I had agreed to come forward and he had said he would do what he could to draw public attention to the whole truth about ACORN, including its Obama and Obama campaign connections.

After our conversation regarding her case, Heidelbaugh came to DC to interview me the next day and I immediately knew that I could work with her. She was smart, funny and comforting, and as I got to see her in action, I was awed by her legal skills. The night before I was to testify, I talked to Marcel and she told me that Karyn Gillette, my former mentor, would be there. This was a big blow to me, as I credit Karyn with helping me regain my confidence after working with ACORN/Project Vote for so long. Karyn really listened to me, she was not a “DC insider” and I loved her unapologetic take on life. Of all the people there for ACORN, she was the one that seeing was the hardest thing for me. I knew that I had to tell the truth, but I still didn't want her to ever think that by telling it, I was rebuking her or what she had taught me. I learned another lesson from her that day when I was told that she never came back after the break to testify against me.

After my testimony in the Pennsylvania ACORN case (transcript available here), the Wall Street Journal article about it and an interview by Laura Ingraham on her radio show, I was invited by Fox News to come to New York and be on TV the weekend before election day. I talked to Marcel and Gaynor at length about this. I was afraid to appear on TV or become the black woman who tried to take down Obama. I would stay up all night and watch over my family. They had never signed up for this and there we were, hiding out, not knowing what would come next. I saw how Joe the Plumber was treated just for asking Obama a question and here I was , about to tell the world that the Obama campaign had given ACORN/Project Vote his donor list.

Former friends seemed to want to do physical harm to me and I was afraid to leave the house. Gaynor has always been an advocate for the full truth getting out there and tried to help me overcome my fear. I had been interviewed by Laura Ingraham and was surprised by how much I like her and begun to wonder if Fox News was really as evil as the left portrayed it. Granted, my only experience with Fox was from NewsHounds, a site whose slogan is “We watch Fox, so you don't have to.” I was advised by an ACORN insider that Fox would use me and that it would be a hatchet job interview set up to make me the poster child for a last minute anti-Obama push. Being a liberal I believed this and tried CNN and ABC instead of Fox to get a “fair” story out but they were too busy covering for Obama.

Throughout most of the winter my relationship with Marcel grew and I began to depend on this friendship to keep me focused when everything seemed so bleak. There were a few times when I wondered if we were really making a difference and questioned my judgment for taking my family down this road. I felt a glimmer of hope in February of 2009 when at Marcel's request, I went to a meeting with the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform. Marcel and I had spent the day taking copies of the ACORN 8's RICO complaint against ACORN to members of Congress. Not a month later, Marcel and I attended a Congressional hearing at which Heather Heidelbaugh testified about my experience with the New York Times and my testimony in her Pennsylvania ACORN case. See the transcript here.

I began to see progress but at the same time, I felt that I was holding back. Since I was coordinating with Marcel, I listened to her on matters like exposing the bias at the New York Times. Often she would tell me that it was “not our fight” or convince me that it would distract from the goal at hand.

A part of me wanted to believe her and also protect Stephanie, someone whom I felt had tried to do her job as a reporter. However, eventually I started to gain strength and listen to my inner voice, the one that was telling me that covering up for people was the same thing as lying. As I began to drift from Marcel and the ACORN 8, I headed towards the conservative path as my thinking clarified. The first step was overcoming my fear; I had to learn to accept responsibility for whatever arose as a result of it and to be at peace with that. I was tired of being afraid and tired of running from myself, so I broke free and began to connect the dots between ACORN, the Democrats and Obama. The more that I exposed, the less afraid I became.

Exposing the New York Times spiked ACORN/Obama story was not something that I took lightly, and I think Marcel was one of the reasons I did it. I remember her telling me that I was "all right" because I was focused with her on the ACORN 8 complaint and that she knew from friends that “Obama was not worried about what I was doing.” Instead of comforting me, this troubled me because I had begun to see Obama as someone who was steadily making payoffs to his labor buddies like Andy Stern president of SEIU. I looked at his picks for Labor Secretary and Health and Human Services Secretary and knew that Hilda Solis and Kathleen Sebelius were put in place to help pass obvious labor enriching legislation. Exposing the media bias also exposed Obama and ACORN as a something so newsworthy that it had to be covered up. For me it was the beginning of a journey that was not meant to be easy or to lead to a happily ever after ending.

The more I spoke about Obama and the Democrats part in the ACORN scandal, the more I drifted away from the ACORN 8. I never thought that their mission was bad, but ACORN's subversive nature is rooted in pay for play politics and if one is to clean house, it has to be across the board. I was proud when Marcel appeared on Glenn Beck but often dismayed at the picture she painted of ACORN. Yes, the members are great people, but they do not need an ACORN to help them. Local based initiatives run by people in their own communities seem to do more to really help the poor. As more ACORN corruption was exposed, it became evident that reform was really not an option, it was a band aid on the Titanic. By breaking free of someone else's agenda and doing the right thing, I was able to take this story to another level by doing research and exposing even more corruption.

I used to think that my life would be one that would repeat a cycle of despair but I discovered that I was meant to do this. Living through a series of events beginning with me trying to forge my way without guidance and continuing to where I am now is nothing short of a miracle. Two years ago, if someone had told me my life would take this turn, I would have laughed hysterically, but along the way I learned that by exposing the truth about ACORN and the Democrats that I had a chance to really help the poor in a way that would really make a difference.

How This Ex-Liberal Found Fortitude and Her Way Home

Growing up black and Catholic in the South was an interesting experience that taught me a great deal about people. I believe I spent less than a week in public school before transferring to a private Catholic school and beginning theology classes that still intertwine with my life experience. I remember going to a Baptist funeral and feeling so out of place. The expression of intense emotion was not something that I had ever seen in church, the songs were unfamiliar and the style was foreign to me. Growing up poor in a less than ideal family dynamic led for me to crave order and routine. Some friends often remarked about the order of the Mass or told me that it was boring, but to me it was comforting. I knew what was coming and I was ready. Reciting phrases in Latin or receiving Communion were things I trusted and understood.

Often in interviews I am asked about my conversion from the far left liberal (radical) to the conservative movement and I always think back to first grade. While I had been Catholic all my life, I did not realize it until I went to school. I felt a little lost and very scared. That's how I feel about blacks and conservatism. I left the church as a young woman, the church never changed but my desire not to live by its rules led me to break free.

Over the years, I have tried and studied other religions but Catholicism is home, and nothing feels like home. As a liberal there was a certain part of me that fought against the world. It was never a fair fight though, because my opinions were set and no amount of proof could change that. As a liberal trying to find her way, I often felt like I was trying on religions again. I didn't fit in, asked lots of questions and was uneasy about my path. Being lost will do that, only I did not know I was on the wrong path. I channeled that anger at the "system" into art work, I went home at night and tried not to think about the moms living on Section 8 in the "projects" who worried about their kids and still tried to look out for me too. I ignored the feelings of desperation when I talked to my young friends, so full of promise but without an adequate foundation to succeed.

The Democrats seemed to be the answer: social programs, better schools, and politicians who cared. I do think that if I had never seen the other side of community organizing that I would still be blindly following along that same path. Being a conservative gives me hope, and peace. While it has not been easy, I decided to start with what made me love America as a child - its history and Constitution- and go from there. Friends who are still radicals rail at me for loving a country that enslaved us, and I tell them I don't. I love a country that had the guts to stand up time and time again and right a wrong. A country that is not afraid to pick itself up and start again.

The media, think tanks and leftist organizations paint the right as hate mongers and I believed it for a number of years. Going to events like the Defending the American Dream Summit this past weekend continues to enlighten me. I find warm, regular people who have traveled and taken time off to be there. It was not a gathering of paid hacks, or reporters patting themselves on the back for Van Jones. Moms, dads, nurses, doctors, bloggers and people from all over America, discussed the state of our country and their fears for the world their children would be inheriting.

Comparing it to a leftist conference I went to in 2007 I was amazed at how helpful and open the staff and sponsors were. No egos here. Tim Phillips went out of his way to accommodate those of us who ended up in the overflow room after an expected surge of attendees. The next day, I spoke on a panel and was overwhelmed by the support in the room. Conservatives seemed to be more accepting of differences and willing to listen and respond to others without attacking or belittling them.

Putting political ideology aside for a moment, I will tell anyone that there has been a certain amount of inner peace that I have never had before and I have noticed more harmony in my family. For the first time in my adult life I can honestly say that I am not at war with myself or the world. I never knew that by changing my political beliefs that I would find my faith, change the course of my life and end a self destructive pattern of victimhood.

Part II of a Leftist Love Story: ACORN’s Seemingly Scandal Proof Friends

In politics the media seems to have a tier system for how they report on scandals. Republicans who fall from grace are vilified. They are the butts of countless inappropriate jokes and cartoons and expected never be heard from again. Recent right scandals (examples, Governor Mark Sanford and Mark Foley) dominated the news, but, besides Fox News, the media barely covered Obama adviser Van Jones or delved deeply into the dealings of Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson.

Unfortunately for America, the media has been filtering news for years and this practice has allowed some of the main figures in the Teamstergate scandal to assume top spots in the Democrat party. Part 1 of this series reviewed the history of the scandal and its strong ties to ACORN and President Obama. In order to help readers fully appreciate the connections, I discuss below some of the major players in the Teamstergate saga who were named in indictments and a Congressional report on in a scheme that reached all the way into the White House.

The Congressional report, on Teamstergate, reached a number of damning conclusions that implicated organizations like Project Vote and Citizen Action. It also raised a number of questions about campaign finance and "soft money" donations. Something that ACORN seemed concerned with as detailed in a spring blog post here. Were these questions raised by ACORN political director Zach Polett a result of the following statement in the Congressional report:

"The issue of soft money abuses is inevitably tied to the question of how access to political figures is obtained through large contributions of soft money. It is also tied to the question of how tax-exempt organizations have been used to hide the identities of soft money donors. A system that permits large contributions to be made for partisan purposes, without public disclosure, invites subversion of the intent of our election law limitations."

Among the subjects covered in the report was the role the Teamsters and the rest of big labor expected Democrats and the Clinton administration to play in these schemes:

The Subcommittee concluded the following:

• From 1992 through the 1996 election cycle, the Teamsters waged a political campaign with a singular focus: to cultivate a strong, symbiotic relationship with the Clinton Administration and, more generally, the Democratic Party.

• The IBT coordinated the union's political efforts with other labor unions, the White House, and supposedly "independent" non-profit organizations.

• IBT leadership appears to have linked political contributions to assistance from the politicians it supported

• In addition to millions of dollars in direct political contributions made from DRIVE, IBT leaders appear to have tapped general treasury funds for $18 million more, which they spent in support of Democratic political candidates through tax-exempt organizations that conducted get-out-the-vote and issue advocacy activities; these contributions had the intended effect of assisting Democratic candidates. Such contributions may have violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974.
• The IBT's political action efforts contributed to the union's near-bankruptcy.

The Graduating Glass of Teamstergate 1996: Where Are They Now?

Heather Booth

Role In Teamstergate: As I noted in part 1, Booth was a founder, co-director and president of Citizen Action, one of the nonprofits mentioned in the indictment of Ron Carey as being part of the Teamster money sway scheme.
The Obama Connection: At the same time Booth was also training young radicals through her Midwest Academy. An article entitled "Obama's Third Way" explains the Obama,/Booth connection:

"William McNary, co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois, a coalition of labor, community and citizen groups, says, 'Barack was not just willing to meet with community-based groups, not only to be a good vote for us, but he also strategized with us to help move our position forward.'"
"'Now, as he campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama is drawing on his community-organizing experience, comparing his candidacy to a grass-roots project and frequently referring to lessons he learned as an organizer.
"'He's given community organizing a good name,' remarks Jackie Kendall, executive director of the Midwest Academy, a Chicago-based organizer training center."

"...even a natural needs some training and practice. Gerald Kellman, who first recruited Obama, taught him the basics, and he also learned from organizing trainers associated with the Gamaliel Foundation and the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). Both organize community groups, primarily religious congregations, and trace their lineage to Saul Alinsky."
"Gregory Galluzzo, a Gamaliel founder, was one of Obama's teachers."

ACORN Ties? As Glenn Beck exposed on his show, Booth is clearly considered a friend of ACORN. She has been affiliated with such ACORN partners as MoveOn, Center for Community Change, HCAN and SEIU. Her husband Paul Booth's ties to the Students for a Democratic Society (a group tied to ACORN founder Wade Rathke) are very telling. An article on FrontPage.com has the details:

"The current president of the SEIU is Andrew Stern, a former New Leftist who came out of the University of Pennsylvania. One of the eulogies given at a Democratic Socialists of America memorial after the death of DSA co-founder Michael Harrington gave tribute to ‘the people who worked with or fought with Mike who now staff high councils of the AFL, like Andy Stern of SEIU....' Stern is one of many radical union organizers who came out of the Midwest Academy which was formed by SDS radicals Heather and Paul Booth to train community organizers and infiltrate the labor movement. Paul Booth who was a secretary-treasure of SDS is now the assistant to Gerald McEntee, a member of Al Gore's kitchen cabinet in the 2000 campaign and the president of the other powerful government union, AFCSME. Heather is the guiding force of the radical organization ACORN ...

Where Are They Now? According to her bio, Booth is:

• President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers.

• has been involved in and managed several political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee.

• In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout by nearly 2 million voters.

• She was the first DC representative for MoveOn.org

• In 2008 she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO, organizing to win affordable high quality reform for all.

• She is on the board of USAction, NAACP National Voter Fund, and the Center for Community Change.

Doug Sosnik

Role in Teamstergate: According to the Congressional report "the genesis of the Teamsters' strategy for that cycle appears to date back to 1992, when the union revamped its political action efforts with the help of key Democratic consultants and President Clinton's top political aide, Doug Sosnik. Sosnik working directly with big labor and the report indicates a high level of coordination on Sosnik's part:

"The emergence and execution of a pro-Democratic political agenda. From 1992 through the 1996 election cycle, the Teamsters waged a political campaign with a singular focus: to cultivate a strong, symbiotic relationship with the Clinton Administration and, more generally, the Democratic Party. The political agenda of the Teamsters' leadership was shaped by, among others, Hal Malchow, a Democratic Party consultant, and Douglas Sosnik, President Clinton's former Political Director (now Counselor to the President).

The Obama Connection: "A handful of top Clinton administration officials and a smattering of lower-ranking ones have taken up with Mrs. Clinton's rivals for the Democratic nomination. Most cite pre-existing personal or professional loyalties...The highest-ranking defectors include a political aide who shadowed Mr. Clinton for years and is advising Senator Dodd of Connecticut, Douglas Sosnik..."
ACORN Ties? Sosnik's ACORN ties may be indirect and relate to organizations such as the Center for American Progress or his previous relationship with the Unions.
Where Are They Now? According to SourceWatch, Sosnik has continued to play a key role in the Democrat party:

"Democrats are busy, too. Three former high-ranking aides of Clinton -- Harold Ickes, Doug Sosnik and John D. Podesta -- are working to set up a Democratic soft-money operation with the goal of running pro-Democratic issue ads. The three are part of the informal brain trust of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe."

Harold Ickes

Role in Teamstergate: The New York Times covered Ickes involvement in Teamstergate:

"In their inquiry into the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Federal investigators are focusing on fund-raising by the Democratic Party in last year's elections and on reported arrangements to funnel large sums of money improperly between the two organizations. Vote Now '96, which was based in Florida for last year's elections, is also being examined by investigators for the Senate committee that is now holding hearings on campaign finance.
"The group has an established track record in registering voters and getting them to the polls. It must be nonpartisan to retain its tax-exempt status, but the organization's focus on minority voters makes it a natural ally for the Democratic Party. In the 1996 elections, it attracted the attention of top Democratic campaign strategists, including Harold M. Ickes, who was a White House deputy chief of staff, and Donald L. Fowler, who was the Democratic national chairman..."

The Obama Connection: During the 2008 presidential race, the Obama campaign

"...paid $50,000, even though Mr. Ickes works for Mrs. Clinton and has been raising concerns about Mr. Obama's electability as he courts superdelegates on her behalf.
'We just hope that Harold's data is better than his delegate math,' Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said of the payments to Catalist."

ACORN Ties? Ickes ties to big labor include ACORN "sister organization" SEIU and after Teamstergate Ickes helped with Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign:

Following Mrs. Clinton's successful election to the United States Senate, Ickes played a central role in creating the Democrat Shadow Party. After passage of the McCain-Feingold Act of March 27, 2002, Ickes helped put Shadow Party architect George Soros together with activists Andrew Stern, Ellen R. Malcolm, Steven Rosenthal, Gina Glantz, Cecile Richards and other left-wing Democrats who were seeking ways to circumvent McCain-Feingold's soft-money ban. Working closely with Soros, Ickes personally helped launch six of the seven organizations that formed the Shadow Party's core during the 2004 election, including America Coming Together, America Votes, the Center for American Progress, Joint Victory Campaign 2004, the Media Fund, and the Thunder Road Group.

ACORN is part of this group co-founded by Ickes. ACORN insiders revel that Icke's firm Catalist also has a business relationship with Project Vote.
Where Are They Now? Ickes' fall from graces wasn't too steep:

He is president of Catalist, a for-profit databank that sold its voter files to the Obama and the Clinton presidential campaigns for their get-out-the-vote efforts. With his equity stake in the firm, Mr. Ickes stood to benefit financially no matter which candidate became the Democratic nominee.
In creating Catalist, Mr. Ickes, who was deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, formed a rare entity on the political scene, a for-profit limited-liability corporation that allows wealthy Democratic donors to help progressive organizations and candidates by investing in the company. And if Catalist, which has data on 230 million Americans, is successful as a business, these donors-turned-investors stand to reap financial returns from using their money to help elect Democrats.

In the case of Ickes we have to add a new category - Current Scandal.

"But some campaign finance watchdogs say they wonder whether Catalist was established not so much to make money but to find a creative way to allow big-money liberal donors to influence the election without disclosing the degree of their involvement or being subjected to other rules that would govern spending by an explicitly political organization.
"Catalist has raised over $11 million in venture capital, including more than $1 million from the billionaire financier George Soros, according to his aides. It also counts on such large unions as the Service Employees International Union and the A.F.L.-C.I.O., to buy its products and create revenues. And it plans to be the go-to source for voter data for a broad swath of groups often aligned with Democrats - like the Sierra Club, Emily's List and Clean Water Action "

Tony Podesta

Role in Teamstergate: The Congressional report indicates that Tony Podesta was involved in one of the several schemes that connected back to the Clinton Administration.

"Tony Podesta, whom the IBT hired to lobby on issues concerning Diamond Walnut, also attempted to lobby the Department of Agriculture, the USTR, and members of Congress concerning the strike, the MPP, and the USTR's other activities that benefited Diamond Walnut. Billing records subpoenaed by the Subcommittee indicate that Mr. Podesta met with staff members from the USTR's office as early as February 1995 and continued contact with the USTR's office at least through June 1995. Podesta contacted Peter Scher, Ambassador Kantor's Chief of Staff, on several occasions. Among other things, Mr. Podesta wrote a June 19, 1995 memorandum to Mr. Scher identifying international trade-related issues under the USTR's purview which were of importance to Sun-Diamond.801. In this memo Mr. Podesta stated that 'any additional pressure you can put on Sun-Diamond would be very helpful.'"

The Obama Connection: Tony is the brother of John Podesta, who has served on the Obama transition team as well as has close ties to Obama.
ACORN Ties? Tony's brother John was recently tapped to sit on the new formed ACORN advisory council. John Podesta has extremely close ties to ACORN and has recently taken to defending them and attacking journalists for covering the story:

"CAP President John Podesta, who also sits on ACORN's Advisory Council, said, 'Accountability starts with knowing all the facts. ACORN, which is doing important work in advocating for lower-income Americans all across this country, is taking an important step today by acknowledging its need for reform and demonstrating its desire to take corrective action.'"

Where Are They Now? "As the Obama Administration and the new Congress took power, Tony Podesta was recognized as one of the shrewdest strategists and most important figures in a transformed governmental, economic, and media environment. Newsweek included Tony as one of eight of 'The DC Powers,' branding him 'The Lobbyist.' The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times each listed Tony among the most important people in the nation's capital. Additionally, Business Week featured The Podesta Group as one of seven of the 'Lobbyists Likely to Thrive in the New Washington.'

Ira Arlook

Role in Teamstergate: Ira Arlook, director of Citizen Action and another ex-SDSer, has run up more than $200,000 in legal bills defending his organization against possible criminal charges over its Teamster money-laundering role. The scandal so damaged the fund-raising ability of Citizen Action's national organization that the group just closed its Washington, D.C., office and laid off 20 staffers.
The Obama Connection: Arlook's connections to Obama are directly tied to Heather Booth and Citizen Action. Arlook is also linked with Booth's Midwest Academy and Columbia's Frances Fox Piven.
ACORN Ties? Arlook is one of the founders of the Campaign for America's future and CAF helped create the Apollo Alliance. Arlook's ties to Citizen Action and Heather Booth also link back to closes ties to ACORN and its affiliates.
Where Are They Now? At its March 2008 "Take Back America" conference in Washington, DC, CAF joined six fellow leftist organizations in announcing plans for "the most expensive [$350 million] mobilization in history this election season" -- an initiative that focused on voter registration, education, and get-out-the-vote drives. The other members of CAF's coalition included MoveOn.org, Rock the Vote, ACORN, the National Council of La Raza, the Women's Voices Women Vote Action Fund, and the AFL-CIO.
Arlook is also the managing director of Fenton Communications.

David Wilhelm

Role in Teamstergate: David Wihelm is another Clinton insider implicated in the scandal but with the help of the media, he appears to be back up to his old tricks. The federal investigation outline in the Congressional report ties Wilhelm back to big labor:

"The Clinton Administration appreciated these efforts. Shortly after the 1992 election, David Wilhelm, the President's campaign manager, appeared before the GEB and "thanked the IBT for playing a major role in the Clinton campaign. Wilhelm noted that the IBT's contribution to the campaign was different than many other organizations, because of its attention to grassroots work, including the Teamsters voter registration drive."
When Wilhelm became the youngest chair of the DNC in 1993 he was in a perfect position to facilitate the scam on several levels.

The Obama Connection: Wilhelm was a 2008 superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention. He supported Barack Obama's candidacy and informally advised the Obama campaign.
Barack Obama's website has a glowing review of Wilhelm's decision to back the campaign:

'Timing is(almost) everything. If David Wilhelm had declared for Obama a month ago, he would have hardly have been noticed, though he would certainly still have been helpful, as he will be now.
"But what a time for him to announce.
"He is, after all. former Clinton Campaign Manager, former head of the Democratic National Committee and SuperDelegate, at a time when their role has become such a part of this electoral drama."

ACORN Ties? Wilhelm's ties seem to be mostly with labor unions but his prior involvement in Teamstergate opens the door to a possible connection through one of the affiliates like Project Vote.
Where Are They Now? Wilhelm still commands respect in Washington and he is the:

"Founder and President of Woodland Venture Management, a company that raises and invests private equity in parts of the country that are underserved by the nation's financial industry. Woodland has become one of the nation's leading sources of capital in the Midwest and central Appalachia.

Wilhelm is best known for his political work, which has included managing campaigns for President Bill Clinton, Senator Paul Simon, Senator Joe Biden, Governor Rod Blagojevich, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Robert Creamer

Role in Teamstergate: Creamer is not mentioned in the Congressional report, but was affiliated with Citizen Action and Heather Booth around the same time of the scandal. Creamer conveniently distanced himself from the group. Perhaps his wife's political aspirations played a role in that decision
The Obama Connection: Creamer taught at "Camp Obama," a week-long summer camp last month held at the presidential candidate's office in Chicago for campaign interns and volunteers-just a few blocks away from the federal court where on August 31, 2005 he pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and failure to pay federal taxes...on charges brought by U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
ACORN Ties? Intrepid blogger Trevor Loudon and the other bloggers have connected Creamer and his wife to labor and ACORN:

In November 2008 RBO connected some dots between USAction, of which Citizen Action Illinois is associated, and Health Care for America, which was launched in July 2008 by a coalition of the usual suspects:

ACORN, AFSCME, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn.org, National Education Association, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, SEIU, United Food and Commercial Workers, and USAction.

Since, Creamer, a contributor at The Huffington Post has taken to defending ACORN with such titles as Time to Get Real About the ACORN "Controversy"--and Republican Double Standards
Where Are They Now? Creamer's bio on the aforementioned Campaign for America's future details how the Democrats take care of their own:

"Robert Creamer has been a political organizer and strategist for almost four decades. He and his firm, the Strategic Consulting Group, work with many of the country's most significant issue campaigns. He was one of the major architects and organizers of the successful campaign to defeat the privatization of Social Security. He is a consultant to the campaigns to end the war in Iraq, pass universal health care, change America's budget priorities and enact comprehensive immigration reform. His clients have included labor unions, public interest groups, and advocacy organizations like MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change and USAction. He has also worked on hundreds of electoral campaigns at the local, state and national levels."

Terry McAuliffe

Role in Teamstergate: Testimony in the Teamstergate scandal given by high level Democrat officials implicated McAuliffe:

"A former Democratic official has testified that Terence McAuliffe, President Clinton's friend and chief fund-raiser, played a major role in promoting an illegal scheme in which Democratic donors were to contribute to the Teamster president's re-election campaign, and in exchange the Teamsters were to donate large sums to the Democrats.
The official, Richard Sullivan, the Democratic National Committee's former finance director, testified in Manhattan at the trial of William Hamilton, the Teamsters former political director, that Mr. McAuliffe urged him and other fund-raisers to find a rich Democrat to donate at least $50,000 to the 1996 re-election campaign of Ron Carey, the former Teamsters president."

The Obama Connection: Besides professing his love for Obama on air, McAuliffe played a critical role in turning the state of Virginia blue for Obama:

"McAuliffe has agreed to campaign extensively for Obama in his longtime home state of Virginia -- and he's in discussions with Obama advisers about the possibility of doing as many as two dozen or more events, according to advisers to both men.
"Obama advisers say that McAuliffe will be pressed into service to advocate in particular for Obama's health care plan. 'Terry clearly has facility with the issue,' says Kevin Griffis, Obama's Virginia press rep, adding that the Obama camp is hoping for multiple events from McAuliffe. 'People know him from his work with the Clinto's, and he's a passionate supporter. We feel like he's someone who can talk to people from all walks of life.'

ACORN Ties? McAuliffe is tied to big labor and key players in the top levels of the DNC and the White House
Where Are They Now? After losing bid for governor in the primary, McAuliffe is an entrepreneur with a several ventures in Virginia. He's also a bestselling author whose first book is entitled: What a Party!: My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals.
While reporters of the liberal media establishment are reluctant to report on the scandal of the "colleagues" from massive liberal and labor organizations, they are in effect ensuring that scandals will occur again.
ACORN and its partners were able to weather the investigation relatively unscathed, The Congressional report detailed the difficulties in collecting evidence or witnesses from the players involved. The Clinton Justice Department skirted around an investigation while the "nonprofits" regrouped and applied the lessons learned to new endeavors. The public must demand a real investigation that includes more that a report with recommendations. ACORN has had seventeen years to perfect strategy. The American public only has a small window left to push for RICO and Justice Department investigation, because at the top of this graduating class of political operators are a pair from Teamstergate who have had a working relationship dating back to 1992. In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

A Leftist Love Story: Teamstergate - A Prelude to the 2008 Presidential Election

Background

In what obviously was part of a concerted effort, former President Bill Clinton appeared on Sunday’s Meet the Press to discuss – wait for it – the “real” forces behind President Obama’s falling poll numbers and increasing opposition:

“Former President Bill Clinton says the right-wing conspiracy that attacked him during his presidency now is after President Obama.”

Democrats--no strangers to major scandal--do not hesitate to divert attention away from the corruption and pay for play tactics being exposed or simmering just under the surface. Clinton deliberately inserted himself into a critically important national debate and thereby unwisely opened the tomb of similar scandals with the potential to more explosive than his unwise dalliances with Monica Lewinsky.

For most of the 1990’s, the White House, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Citizen Action and Project Vote were embroiled in what would become known as “Teamstergate.”

That scandal involved disgraced former union crusader and Teamster national president Ron Carey. According to New York Times Archives:

“Three of Mr. Carey's campaign aides have pleaded guilty to a web of illegal fund-raising schemes, including having the union donate $735,000 to three liberal grass-roots groups for a get-out-the-vote effort during the 1996 Congressional elections. In return, those groups and their supporters were to channel money to Mr. Carey's re-election campaign…

Insisting that he delegated decisions on political gifts, Mr. Carey repeatedly denied knowing about the large donations to the three liberal groups: Citizen Action, Project Vote and the National Council of Senior Citizens.”

The Organizations Involved:

PROJECT VOTE

Project Vote, a supposedly non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization and Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) affiliate that used its highly touted voter registrations efforts for the Teamsters.

According to a Congressional Report

“Project Vote is working hard to turn out minority voters in North Carolina, where Harvey Gantt is running close to defeating Sen. Jesse Helms.… All of our North Carolina locals are active in the effort to defeat Helms.… We have been asked to provide $75,000 to Project Vote. I can’t think of a more important goal anywhere in the country than to turn out a huge vote that helps defeat Helms….”

The report summarized the exhibit memo this way:

“The memorandum clearly demonstrates that the goal of IBT leadership was to help a particular candidate for federal office – Harvey Gantt – and not to support non-partisan GOTV efforts. Whether or not these contributions constitute the type of activity prohibited by FEC regulations, the contributions, at a minimum, violate the law’s apparent intent. What the IBT could not do directly – namely, spend treasury funds to help a particular candidate – it did through an ostensibly non-partisan GOTV organization.”

THE TEAMSTERS

Particularly noteworthy is the date the Congressional report specified as the genesis of this cozy relationship:

“The Teamsters’ political agenda led to the contribution swap schemes that corrupted the union’s 1996 elections. In 1992, IBT leaders began to develop close ties with the Clinton Administration and the Democratic Party, and, more specifically, with the Democratic-leaning organizations that ended up participating in the swap schemes, including Citizen Action, Project VOTE, and the National Council for Senior Citizens. Without these close relationships, it is doubtful that IBT leaders could have perpetrated the swap schemes that are now the subject of criminal proceedings in New York.”

The Teamsters had a strong political hold in Chicago at the time. The report shows that the Teamster seemed to favor Project Vote and Citizen Action, by putting money and political power behind them. The Teamsters:

• donated $20,000 to the Illinois Hispanic Democratic Council for voter registration
• dedicated 100 phones to Project VOTE
• contributed $37,500 to a massive GOTV phone banking operation run by Project VOTE bringing over 600,000 newly registered voters to the polls;
• staffed national GOTV phone bank [run] out of IBT headquarters
• worked with retirees
• handled security for President Clinton and Vice President Gore
• organized bus caravans for the candidates
• established a “War Room” at IBT headquarters

CITIZEN ACTION

About that time a young organizer finished his training at the Midwest Academy under the tutelage of Heather Booth.

"In 1991, he took time off from his law firm to run a voter-registration drive for Project Vote, an Acorn partner that was soon fully absorbed under the Acorn umbrella. The drive registered 135,000 voters and was considered a major factor in the upset victory of Democrat Carol Moseley Braun over incumbent Democratic Senator Alan Dixon in the 1992 Democratic Senate primary.”

At the same time Booth "directed the Field Operation for Illinois Democrat Carol Moseley Braun's successful run for the U.S. Senate." More on Booth shortly. That organizer was now President Obama and his association with Project Vote/ACORN could not have come at a better time. While Obama was busy registering voters, Project Vote had the backing of a powerful labor union, the Democrat party and even the Clinton White House:

“During early 1995, the Teamsters, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, Citizen Action, and the National Council of Senior Citizens created 'The ’95 Project' (also known as 'Project ’95'), 'to develop a local progressive coalition…

"Project ’95 may have had close ties to the White House. Individuals affiliated with Project ’95 briefed senior White House officials about the plan, including the fact that the goal behind the project was 'to take back the Congress.'

"The Subcommittee notes that White House communications with Project VOTE began at least a year earlier, and that Mr. Carey has stated that the IBT 'worked in coordination with' Project VOTE, Citizen Action and other advocacy groups on 'many… different campaigns.'"

Citizen Action, co- founded by Heather Booth, whose appearance at ACORN 39^th Anniversary Celebration was spotlighted by Glenn Beck.

Booth trained activists like the young Obama in Chicago, maintained extensive ties with ACORN and played a major role in the moving parts of Teamstergate according to the Congressional report:

"Six months before the formation of 'Project ‘95,' just shortly after the Republicans captured control of Congress, Citizen Action drafted a plan entitled 'Campaign ‘96 to Reclaim the House of Representatives.' The plan instructed participants to: 'Build coalitions… of our traditional allies; agree on a target list of vulnerable House Republicans; and pool our resources to be as effective as possible in each district.'

THE DNC

The Congressional report delved deeper into the plan and found that through her connections with the DNC and the Unions, Booth was rewarded with training activists like Obama across the country. Karen Innman of the ACORN 8 attended such a program in Chicago in 2001.

Congressional report:

"Just days after that plan was written, Heather Booth – a founder, co-director and president of Citizen Action – drafted a memorandum to three Democratic National Committee staff members that discussed field mobilization during the 1995 and 1996 elections. The memo lists seven organizations, including two unions and Citizen Action, that 'will commit substantial resources for some version of a targeted Congressional District mobilization. Each of these groups will want to make their own presentation to the White House with their own plan….

"The DNC had close links to Citizen Action throughout the 1996 campaign. For example, Heather Booth served as DNC training director. In that position, she coordinated DNC-operated training centers for party activists at various sites around the country."

If at First You Don't Succeed:

2004-2008

For those who have been paying attention, there is an eerie sense of deja vu as one compares efforts in the 2008 presidential campaign to the DNC’s efforts in the 90’s.

Luckily for Clinton, the media focused on unpopular HillaryCare, Monica’s dress and Whitewater and he extricated himself from these problems, winning re-election and avoiding removal from office as Hillary stood by her man and blasted the right and the Clinton machine vilified his critics..

The Congressional report offers a stunning but familiar assessment of its findings:

"In the end, of course, their plan was an astonishing success: the Democratic Party raised three times as much money for the 1996 election as it had for the 1992 contest, and President Clinton was re-elected. The President's success, however, came at a steep price. In the frenzied drive to raise such large amounts of campaign money, the Democratic Party dismantled its own internal vetting procedures, no longer caring, in effect, where its money came from and who was supplying it. Worse, their campaign eviscerated federal fundraising laws and reduced the White House, key Administration offices, and the Presidency itself, to fundraising tools

"This increasingly mercenary approach also led the Democratic Party to view America's ethnic communities as exploitable 'renewable resources' for political fundraising.”

Sound familiar? See BigGovernment.com. Using the lesson learned in the 1990’s, ACORN/Project Vote and Citizen Action re-branded and started over. Project Vote remained relatively unscathed while the media and investigators failed to mention ACORN’s ties to Project Vote.

THE SHADOW PARTY

Taking the lesson and indictment to heart, some Democrats became more organized in their quest to pull America to the far left. New organizations were created with what seemed to be the express purpose of providing the appearance of legality to their endeavors. The same operations remained in place behind the scenes with new front groups. Discover the Networks has the scoop:

"The so-called 'Shadow Democratic Party' or 'Shadow Party' is a nationwide network of non-profit activist groups, whose agendas are ideologically to the left, which are engaged in campaigning for the Democrats. Its activities include fundraising, get-out-the-vote drives, political advertising and covert operations (including opposition research, media manipulation and 'dirty tricks').

"The Shadow Party was conceived and organized principally by George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Harold McEwan Ickes - all identified with the Democratic Party left.

"In its mix of more than five-dozen unions, activist groups and think tanks, the Shadow Party has built a mighty coalition, marrying the youthful energy of the MTV generation with the ideological fervor of New Left activists who cut their political teeth in the battles of the 1960s with the ruthless tactics and financial power of New Labor, whose flagship unions - the SEIU and the AFSCME - have managed to thrive while other unions shrink, through the ingenious expedient of organizing workers in the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy: the government workforce. Many of the political strategists and operatives spearheading this government union movement are veterans of the New Left themselves."

Notable affiliate organizations of the Shadow party include John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, ACORN, Media Matters and MoveOn.org.

History Repeating itself?

2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

During the 2007-2008 election cycle, ACORN and Project Vote launched an extensive voter registration program in battleground states. However, behind the scenes extensive coordination seemed to be occurring between the Obama Campaign, Citizens Services Inc. (an affiliate of ACORN) and Project Vote. Obama and his campaign have denied the ties, but payments made to CSI have been called into question:

"...But the Obama campaign didn't appear eager to discuss the candidate's ties to Acorn. Its press operation vividly denied Mr. Obama had been an Acorn trainer until the New York Times uncovered records demonstrating that he had been. The Obama campaign also gave Citizens Consulting, Inc., an Acorn subsidiary, $832,000 for get-out-the-vote activities in key primary states. In filings with the Federal Election Commission, the Obama campaign listed the payments as 'staging, sound, lighting,' only correcting the filings after the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review revealed their true nature."

In addition to this coordination, ACORN and Project Vote have a laundry list of activities that parallel Teamstergate:

1. Project Vote has violated its 501(c)(3) status by using government and private grants that ultimately go directly or indirectly to ACORN.

2. ACORN, Project Vote and Citizens Services Inc. (CSI) are essentially the same organization with different tax designations that are used to facilitate the transfer of money between the affiliate organizations.

3. ACORN has promoted a culture of dishonesty motivated by reaching target Voter Registration goals and senior staff have portrayed an attitude that allows for some 'bad' cards in order to reach these goal.

4. Karyn Gillette, Project Vote Development Director, Jeff Robinson, senior Project Vote 'money man' and Mr. Henderson-James was "Research Director for Project Vote while simultaneously serving as part of ACORN political operations." It appears that they are all employed or in some way paid by CSI and may have worked directly with anyone seeking the services of CSI; and money paid to CSI would have obvious ACORN ties.

5. Zach Polett, former Executive Director of Project Vote and former director of ACORN Political Operations mentioned that Obama had worked for ACORN and that he even supervised him during a ACORN Political staff retreat in November 2007.

In late 2007, Project Vote received a call from the Obama campaign asking if this was the same Project Vote that Obama worked for in the 90's. Zach Polett, Karyn Gillette, Nathan Henderson James, and Kevin Whelan were notified by email that the campaign wanted someone to call them back regarding some media questions that were being asked at the time. Karyn Gillette would later produce a donor list and infer that she direct contact with the Obama campaign and had obtained their donor lists. This meeting took place sometime in November of 2007 and may have even been a conference call between the campaign and Project Vote. The purpose of the Obama donor list was for the cultivation of maxed out donors who could give to the voter registration drive that was being run by ACORN.

Media Bias

No Democrat scandal is complete without the media acting as accomplices. As the current push for health care by the mainstream media indicates, newspapers are a loyal bunch. When disgraced Teamster Ron Carey died in 2008, the New York Times and Washington Post downplayed his fall as a mere 'campaign finance' problem. The papers took great pains to highlight his works as a crusader and reformer.

New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom had to be informed of Teamstergate by yours truly in 2008, although The Times had done a number of stories on Ron Carey. If New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt had checked The Times' own archives, he would been able to find a pattern of behavior by Project Vote that clearly mirrored the evidence provided to Strom before she was told to "stand down” by her editors.

The media has played a key role in covering up the connections between the key people associated with Teamstergate, ACORN and Obama.

To summarize: ACORN/Project Vote, the Unions (SEIU made its grand political debut in this report), Citizen Action, the DNC and Obama. All the makings of a tremendous political scandal. Part two of this article will highlight the political players from the Teamstergate/Clinton era who have found their way into the Obama fold while still maintaining close ACORN ties and cover provided for them by the media.