Another Day In Omerica

Officials with Obama’s community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents.

In the video James O’Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named “Kenya” who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN’s office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business. “Kenya” can be seen telling an ACORN staffer that she earns roughly $8,000 a month. The ACORN employee then suggests to “Kenya” that ACORN could submit a tax return for 2008 showing that she made $9,600 for the entire year instead of $96,000  and that ACORN would charge “Kenya” $50 instead of the usual $150 fee for preparing her taxes.

The ACORN staffer can also be seen suggesting that the prostitute list her occupation as a freelance “performing artist.” “It’s not dancing, trust me,” the “pimp” says. “But dancing is considered an art,” the ACORN staffer replies. “Exotic dancers]usually go under performing artists, or yeah, they usually go under performing arts, which will be what you are a performing artist.”

The “pimp” later says that he and “Kenya” plan to bring up to 13 “very young” girls from El Salvador to work as prostitutes. Although an ACORN staffer points out their plans are illegal, she also suggests that the girls can be claimed as dependents.

“What if they are going to be making money because they are performing tricks too?” the pimp says. “If they making money and they are underage, then you shouldn’t be letting anybody know anyway,” the ACORN staffer says, and laughs. “It’s illegal. So I am not hearing this, I am not hearing this.  Don’t give up no information you’re not asked.”

If the girls are under age 16, the ACORN staffer says on the tape, then they are not legally allowed to work in the state, regardless of what they do. “So it’s like they don’t even exist?” “Kenya” asks. “Exactly,” the ACORN staffer replies. “It’s like they don’t even exist.”

The staffer goes on to suggest that as many as three of the underage girls can be listed as dependents at the home, but a “flag” will be raised if as many as 13 are listed. “You are gonna use three of them,” the staffer says. “They are gonna be under 16, so you is eligible to get child tax credit and additional child tax credit.”

A second ACORN employee can be heard on the audiotape suggesting that the couple join the organization for an annual cost of $120 prior to attending one of its first-time homebuyer seminars, which are underwritten with taxpayer funds.

Later, when the “pimp” asks what would happen if the organization is somehow connected to the scheme, the ACORN staffer replies, “First of all, it’s not gonna damage us because we not gonna know. And with your girls, you tell them, ‘Be careful.’ Train them to keep their mouth shut.” “These girls are like 14, how can we trust them?” the pimp asks. “Just be very, very careful,” the ACORN staffer says. “Whatever you do, always keep your eyes in the back of your head.”

ACORN has been around since 1970 and boasts 350,000 members. Acorn uses various affiliated groups to agitate for “a living wage,” for “affordable housing,” for “tax justice” and union and environmental goals, as well as against school choice and welfare reform.

Title XII of the spending legislation backed by the Democratic congressional leadership and the Obama administration spent $1 billion in funds for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program.  The program gives politicians a wide latitude when spending grant money and allows local leaders to use federal dollars on local projects. ACORN loves CDBG because it is adept at lobbying for CDBG funds. A separate $10 million was provided in the stimulus package to develop or rehabilitate low-income housing under the Self-Help and Assisted Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP). Another $5.2 billion comes in the form of $4.19 billion for foreclosure relief through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The current version of the stimulus package would allow nonprofit groups to compete with states and localities for $3.44 billion from the $4.19 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program allocation. The remaining $750 million from the program plus the $10 million in SHOP funds would be set aside exclusively for nonprofit groups.

ACORN national president Maude Hurd said Obama was “the candidate who best understands and can affect change on the issues ACORN cares about like stopping foreclosures.” The Obama campaign paid $832,598 to Citizens Services Inc., another ACORN affiliate, for get-out-the-vote activities. It’s also well known that Obama led a voter drive for ACORN affiliate Project Vote.

Obama, who got his start as a Chicago “community organizer” at Acorn’s side. In 1992 he led voter registration efforts as the director of Project Vote, which included Acorn. This past November, he lauded Acorn’s leaders for being “smack dab in the middle” of that effort. Obama also served as a lawyer for Acorn in 1995, in a case against Illinois to increase access to the polls. During his tenure on the board of Chicago’s Woods Fund, that body funneled more than $200,000 to Acorn. More recently, the Obama campaign paid $832,000 to an Acorn affiliate. The campaign initially told the Federal Election Commission this money was for “staging, sound, lighting.” It later admitted the cash was to get out the vote. Obama is now distancing himself from Acorn.