The Republican Campaign Against *GASP* COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS!

Duh, Duh Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I should start this post by mentioning that the proudest moment of my life thus far was election day 2004, when my staff and I helped turn out 45,000 people to vote in Flint, MI on election day. It was record breaking, it was ground breaking, it was inspirational - and it was all because I worked for ACORN / Project Vote. Therefore, I am heated and angry and offended and venting - so forgive my imperfect grammar in this rant because I am too angry over this topic to speak clearly.

I guess we should have seen this coming back in September at the Republican Convention when everyone mocked Obama for being a "Community Organizer." For Republicans it was a "Stop the Presses! He was what . . . no he couldn't be . . .not one of them . . . not a Community Organizer." The build up and the reaction from the right made me wonder if Community Organizer was synonomous for Child Molestor, Raper, Murderer, or as they want you to think, Muslim Terrorist.

According to Wikipedia, a Community Organizer is " process by which people living in proximity to each other, are brought together by an organizationto act in their common self-interest." According the Right Wing Media, us Organizers are socialists, anti-establishment, and fraudulent. So let's clear the air here from someone who not only talked the talk, but walked the walk.

1. Red States charge ACORN every 4 years of Voter Registration Fraud. The fact is, it's a double edged sword. In Nevada, where this years craziness is happening voter reg drive organizations are required, I repeat, required, to submit every card they receive. They are also required to notify the feds of suspected fradulent cards (as they submit them). As we will eventually see when noone is paying attention to this story anymore, is that ACORN Nevada did that, several times. They complied with the FEC, even asked for a meeting with them when they saw their own suspicions were not being followed up on. But that's not what we're hearing about. We're hearing about the evils of wanting to encourage participation on election day. We're hearing suspicions of people who are afraid Democrats will vote then hop back in line and do it again. It is the Voter Reg's job to complete the cards. It is the ciy/county clerks job to make sure everyone is registered correctly and to administer elections correctly. Any voter fraud of the type being alleged would be to blame of the city clerks - not the voter reg's.

And have we all forgotten the Voter Registration Purging that happened in Florida in 2000? Where was all of this outrage then? Right!

2. Alegedly Obama's campaign donated money to ACORN. Well, first I have yet to hear whether or not that is illegal and secondly, if it isn't - who cares? Project Vote is a 501(c)(3). What that means is you can register people to vote, but under NO circumstances can you tell them who to vote for. Do you know what it's like to register people to vote with the last name of BUSH in 2004? Trust me, ACORN enforces this law. And I'm not hearing of complaints that Project Vote was encouraging Obama votes, just registering people in their target communities.

3. Let's talk about the Communities. ACORN is the nation's largest grassroots community organization. They are basically a very large and powerful neighborhood watch. They are primarily funded by their membership dues ($10/month) and their organizers have mandated salaries based on seniority. I made 23,000 annually when I worked for them in 2004. The COO (Cheif Organizing Officer) can only make 3x what the entry level salary is. So in 2004, Wade earned approximately 69,000. Let's see a Corporation place such a strict earning cap on their top officers.

Let's talk about what ACORN does? When I was there we educated members about predatory lending (What? Predatory lending? You mean the stuff that's all over the news that led us into this fincancial crisis? But ACORN is evil, how did they know?), we fought the City of Detroit to enforce it's Living Wage promise for contractors, we registered 150,000 some people in Michigan to vote and hired thousands to canvass. Many of the canvassers are otherwise unemployable. Their addresses are homeless shelters, or someone elses home they are borrowing a couch from. They didn't graduate HS or obtain their GED. They are on probation and restarting their life. They are single moms who have a hard time finding a job and raising children. And canvassing helped them become employable. They had steady income, they had references, they learned job skills and improved their communication skills. Two of my top canvassers, turned orgainzers are still leading the cause in Flint, MI today. One became a manager at McDonalds. They were able to move on to bigger and better things. Not all, but many, and that is something to be proud of.

So what else has ACORN done? Let's check out their website www.acorn.org:

Affordable Housing: ACORN is working to make affordable housing available so people in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods can be homeowners. ACORN members demand more rehabilitation programs aimed at developing affordable housing and increased production of affordable housing.

Better Schools: All children deserve a quality education. The better their education is the more likely they will be able to enjoy a great quality of life. Parents' hard earned tax dollars are used to finance the public school system so their offspring should reap the benefits. ACORN members have been working to implement a platform to improve the quality of public schools.

Fair Housing: ACORN Fair Housing is a federally funded program through the Office of Housing and Urban Development’s(HUD) Fair Housing Initiatives Program ( FHIP) grant. It is our mission to prevent and eliminate discriminatory housing practices. ACORN Fair Housing Organization works to ensure equal housing opportunity by providing a variety of services through outreach, education and enforcement.

ACORN Fair Housing, while an independent organization , has it’s beginnings as part of ACORN, a 38 year old community activist organization.

Fair Tax Fees:For the last two years ACORN members have been waging a campaign against Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs). RALs are short-term loans with triple-digit interest rates that are marketed extremely aggressively to low-income families. Customers are often charged over $150, on top of the regular tax prep fees, just get to their own tax dollars back a week or so faster than they otherwise would.

ACORN’s campaign has attacked RALs in several ways, such as directly targeting tax preparers to change their practices, conducting door-to-door outreach to warn families about the high costs of RALs, operating VITA sites which offer free tax preparation, and working for legislation on the city, state, and federal level to protect consumers.

Foreclosures:Predatory lending has ignited a wildfire of foreclosures across the United States.

Foreclosures don’t just hurt individuals and families, they hurt entire neighborhoods and communities, leaving homes abandoned and vulnerable to vagrancy and crime.

No other organization has fought harder to increase access to credit for low-income and minority families than ACORN, but predatory lending is threatening to reverse the progress we have made. Beginning in the 1980s, ACORN fought against redlining and discrimination and for greater community investment. ACORN Housing was founded to provide free education and counseling to help low-income people become homeowners.

Gulf Coast Recovery:Hurricane Katrina's winds had hardly subsided before ACORN began organizing New Orleaneans to rebuild their beloved city on their own terms. Today, ACORN's national headquarters in New Orleans houses more staffers than ever and ACORN members are fighting to ensure the city's recovery. Though thousands of Katrina survivors are still displaced, the last year has seen a series of significant wins for ACORN in New Orleans and the struggle continues to fully resurrect the Crescent City.

Healthcare:Some 45 million people across the U.S. have no health insurance, with many more lacking adequate coverage. ACORN members are working to achieve affordable health care for all. Work is currently underway to get more hospitals to institute “charity care," or free care, programs and discounts. These policies can eliminate or reduce, hospital bills for families with low-and-moderate incomes. They often suffer from being uninsured or underinsured.

Immigration:The signs displayed in last year’s immigration marches said it so powerfully: We are America.

Immigrants care about their communities, their families and the future of the United States. They hope to achieve the American Dream. Because of their strong desire to become Americans, immigrants in 2006 joined rallies, marches and vigils all across the United States.

Living Wage:ACORN’s 2006 election campaign, "Raise the Minimum Wage," represented unprecedented victory for working families.

May 24, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 348-73 to approve a measure raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over the next three years. The Senate approved the increase, giving low-wage workers their first boost in a decade.

Paid Sick Days:Most people believe that U.S. workers have the right to paid sick days, yet according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost half of full-time, private-sector workers have no sick days at all. Government data also shows a national trend toward a reduction in paid sick days.

Workers need about seven sick days each year to manage their own health care. But for almost half of U.S. employees, the absence of sick pay is likely to cause them loss of income, a job or advancement, says the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Predatory Lending:Predatory lenders target low-income and minority homebuyers, capitalizing on buyers’ lack of understanding of the complicated transactions or use outright deception to close loans that inevitably lead to a loss of equity or foreclosure.

ACORN strives to end abuses by actively putting pressure on predatory lending offenders and advocating for legislation, regulation, education and research to end abusive lending practices.

Utilities:ACORN won reforms of utilities service practices nationwide in 2006, which helped low-income customers pay their bills and avoid service disruptions.

ACORN is working to impose moratoriums on shutoffs, so that families are not left without heat in winter nor refrigeration in summer. We are negotiating programs to create lower rates and delay payments for low-income families.

ACORN opposes deregulation efforts and works to lessen the impact on consumers when deregulation occurs.

Voter Engagement:Registering to vote is one of the first steps toward becoming a full participant in American democracy and a citizen who can influence change in a community. ACORN members and workers go door to door in low- and moderate income neighborhoods, approach people at shopping centers, grocery stores, and libraries, and visit high schools to talk to voting-age seniors because ACORN wants as many people as possible to participate in the democratic process.

ACORN has helped more than 1.68 million citizens to register to vote in past registration drives leading up to the 2004 and 2006 elections. For the 2008 election, ACORN intends to help 1.2 million people register to vote in 26 states across the country. We have already reached 177,000 registrations in 2007 and 2008 in what will be the largest, non-partisan voter registration effort in U.S. history.

And not to mention the smaller victories, the stop sign and speed bump on the corner that everyone runs. The fixed streetlight that was out for years. Destroying the abadoned home where children were raped.

Evil? Maybe if you don't care about the people, John McCain.