ACORN CEO Dismisses New Embezzlement Accusations As 'Completely False'

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN, defended the embattled community outreach organization Tuesday from accusations ranging from embezzlement to poor financial management.

Lewis spoke at a the National Press club only one day after an internal review board at ACORN revealed that, according to a Subpoena, the founder’s brother had embezzled $5 million, an amount much higher than the originally reported $1 million.

Lewis called the findings "completely false." She went on to defend the group’s management, saying that ACORN has internally restructured to prevent future discrepancies.

“I am cleaning out all the vestiges of the old administration," Lewis said. "I wiped out and changed the whole management structure. I brought in professionals from legal to auditing." 

ACORN has recently been abandoned by several political supporters after an embarrassing videotape showing workers at ACORN offering advice to two activists posing as a sex workers became widely circulated last month.

Lewis pledged that ACORN is learning from it’s recent troubles and has taken steps to improve self-governance.

House Republicans Bring Health Care Town Hall To D.C.

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

The 2009 Values Voter Summit put on by FRC Action held a town hall meeting in Washington, D.C. Friday Morning featuring a number of high profile Republicans, including Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.).

Rep. Smith rallied against Obama-Care's supposed inclusion of federally funded abortions.

“Right now we are in a serious crisis, the culture of death being promoted by Barack Obama... is outrageous and it’s unconstitutional,” said Smith.

“Obama-Care represents the greatest threat since Roe vs. Wade itself,” Smith added.

Rep. Bachmann lamented that taxes will be raised now to cover services that will not be provided for another three to four years. She proposed that the American public should have access to what Bachmann described as, “whatever level of coverage you want, from whoever you want, anywhere you want."

Bachmann applauded a recent decision from the House to deny federal funding to ACORN, the scandal ridden community organizing association and called upon the President to make the final decision.

“The President has within his power to direct the Department of Housing and Urban development to stop federal grants for ACORN now, but has yet to act,” said Bachmann.

Boehner: House Vote Against ACORN Big Victory For Taxpayers

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) Thursday afternoon described the decision by the House to decline federal funding for the scandal ridden community organizing group ACORN as a significant victory for taxpayers.

"Today's overwhelming bipartisan vote to stop taxpayer funding to Acorn was a big victory... this is only the beginning," said Boehner.

ACORN came under scrutiny recently when a video surfaced depicting ACORN staffers aiding individuals posing as sex workers.

Pelosi Gets Emotional In Response To Heated Rhetoric

Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) became uncharacteristically emotional Thursday when asked how she felt about the increasingly hostile political climate. Pelosi said she is concerned over the heated rhetoric because she has seen it turn violent in the past.

"I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco," Pelosi said during her weekly press conference, suddenly becoming teary eyed. "This kind of rhetoric was very frightening."

Although Pelosi did not specify, this seemed to refer to the murders of gay activist and member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Harvey Milk and city mayor George Moscone in 1978. Pelosi was a California based Democratic activist during the 1970‘s and knew both MIlk and Moscone at the time of their murder. She went on to say that government officials should be cautious with statements made to the public.

“I wish that we could all curb our enthusiasm in the statements that we make and understand that some of the ears that it’s falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statement might think,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi added she is grateful that the U.S. allows so much freedom, but noted that with that freedom comes responsibility.

“Our country is great because people can say what they think and believe,” she said. “But I also think they have a responsibility for any incitement that they may cause.”

When asked about the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform proposal Pelosi said she expected to see many changes before the legislation passes through the House.

“We’re just seeing the first blush of the Senate bill,” she said. “We hope that we can persuade them to our point of view.”

Pelosi said that she expected to see a public option, although the Finance Committee bill does not contain one.

“I fully support the public option,” Pelosi said. “A public option will be in the bill that passes the House of Representatives.”

When answering questions over her position on the allegations facing the community organizing group ACORN, she said any group that receives funds from the government need to be under tough scrutiny. Pelosi said the behavior of some at ACORN was inexcusable.

“A few of the individuals at ACORN did what I think is...despicable, and in any event, totally unacceptable,” she said.

She said it will be up to the Appropriations Committee to evaluate whether or not ACORN will continue to receive government funding.

McCain campaign recommends sending criminal lawyers to swing states

John Danforth, former U.S. Senator and Co-Chair of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee, described the conduct of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as “particularly outrageous,” and offered recommendations for a fair election. These included having ACORN submit their database to election authorities, reporting canvassers who turned in false information, and having the Department of Justice send criminal lawyers along with the initially planned civil rights lawyers to battleground states.

“Some say ‘well, the presence of lawyers throughout the country is itself intimidation’. We don’t understand how it can be viewed as intimidation if lawyers from the criminal division show up, but not when lawyers from the civil division showed up,” said Danforth during a McCain-Palin conference call.

“These are not people who appear in windbreakers that say FBI on the back. These are simply attorneys who are making sure the process is working well.”

Danforth noted the seriousness of the allegations against ACORN.

“When the registration system is subverted to the tune of 400,000 applications submitted by one organization, that really undermines the whole process of conducting elections.”

According to Danforth, the McCain campaign has reached out to the Obama campaign to find a joint solution to voter fraud concerns, but have been essentially been “stiffed”.