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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Report to Show Widespread Corruption with ACORN

A new report from Republicans on a House oversight committee accuses ACORN of fraudulent activities and widespread corruption and calls for a criminal investigation into the advocacy group.

ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, has been under constant fire from conservatives since last year for its support of Barack Obama's presidential candidacy and its planned participation in next year's 2010 census.

But the report -- to be released Thursday by Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Issa's GOP colleagues -- offers the first detailed account of the allegations that have dogged the organization in recent months.

The executive summary of the report says ACORN provided contributions of financial and personnel resources to indicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and candidate Obama, among others, in what the report calls a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda, which would be a clear violation of numerous tax and election laws.

"Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan agenda and to manipulate the American electorate," an executive summary of the report reads.

ACORN, which was sent a copy of the executive summary by FOXNews.com, dismissed the report as a "partisan attack job." - FOX News Story

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