On late Friday night the U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN for the 2010 count. The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a community organization that has been hit with Republican accusations of voter-registration fraud. "We do not come to this decision lightly," Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
In splitting with ACORN, Groves sought to tamp down GOP concerns and negative publicity that the partnership will taint the 2010 head count. "It is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts," Groves wrote.
Stephen Buckner, a census spokesman, confirmed the letter, but declined additional comment. ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson did not immediately return a request for comment.
In recent months, Republicans have become increasingly critical of the census' ties with ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a massive voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some employees were accused of submitting false registration forms with names such as "Mickey Mouse."
ACORN has said only a handful of employees submitted false registration forms and did so in a bid to boost their pay. Partly citing ACORN's role, Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and David Vitter, R-La., earlier this year blocked a full confirmation vote of Groves for several weeks. Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., also has been calling for a census boycott because of her concerns about whether the group would tamper with the high-stakes population count.
Up to now, the Census Bureau had defended ACORN's involvement, explaining it was one of 80,000 unpaid volunteer groups that the bureau hoped would be able to raise local awareness. But in his letter, Groves said it no longer had confidence that ACORN was effectively managing its partnership.
ACORN fired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be a prostitute. Fox News Channel broadcast excerpts from the video on Thursday. On the video, a man and woman visiting ACORN's Baltimore office asked about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. An ACORN employee advised the woman to list her occupation as "performance artist."
In a statement, ACORN Maryland board member Margaret Williams said the video was an attempt to smear ACORN, and that undercover teams attempted similar setups in at least three other ACORN offices. Williams said no tax returns were filed and no assistance was provided.
So the U.S. Census Bureau on Friday dropped Acorn as a partner for the 2010 Census after two separate hidden-camera videos captured four employees of the community organization giving tax advice on running a brothel to a man posing as an aspiring politician and a woman posing as his girlfriend and a prostitute.
The Census Bureau earlier this year signed up the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, one of the nation's largest community groups, as a national partner for the decennial census, a role that entails helping to publicize the importance of the count and encouraging people to participate.
In the letter to Acorn President Maude Hurd, Census Director Robert Groves said Acorn had become a distraction. Acorn's deputy national director, Brian Kettenring, said the organization won't stop promoting the 2010 Census. "We will continue to do what we've said we'll do, which is encourage people in communities to participate fully in the census," he said.
News reports have identified the filmmaker as 25-year-old James O'Keefe, an activist for conservative issues. His identity couldn't be independently verified. In the videos, posted on YouTube, he posed as an aspiring politician and told the Acorn workers that he planned to use his girlfriend's prostitution income to fund future campaigns. One video was filmed at the community organization's Baltimore office and another, a day later, in Washington, D.C.
The workers, who Acorn said were fired after it learned of the videos, instructed the couple to set up a company to prove they had enough income for a house that would serve as a brothel and home for teenage prostitutes. The couple purported to be seeking help to obtain a housing loan.
Acorn released a statement earlier Friday saying that the videos were made to "misinform the public about Acorn housing." "All Acorn housing staff members undergo rigorous training and are expected to comply with high standards for ethical behavior and compliance with the law," said president of Acorn Housing Alton Bennett and Executive Director Mike Shea.
Nonetheless, no matter how one looks at it, the news that the Census Bureau is severing ties with ACORN will seem like a good move while for others, it will seem to be just another victory for Republicans and conservatives. However what many people fail to realize is that while ACORN does many good things for many good Americans, it is still unforgettable that the organization has had many sore spots lately especially regarding voter registration fraud and the latest news just continues to pile on to the negativity of ACORN.
Thus the Census Bureau can perhaps move forward without any objections by many Republican politicians because of ACORN no longer being actively sought after as a partner of the Census Bureau. This is truly a sad day for some but it is the best thing for the Census Bureau in order to conduct its business without any illusion of census fraud taking place. Simply put now the focus of everyone in the Census Bureau has to continue to be how to make it sure it takes an accurate account of the U.S. population for 2010 and not the severing of ties with ACORN. The beat must go on and that’s what the strategy of the Census Bureau should be in spite of severing ties with ACORN especially in the wake of more negativity about the organization.
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