Fox trumpets Breitbart's dubious ACORN document dump claim
On Fox & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade advanced Andrew Breitbart's dubious allegations against ACORN by reporting that a "private investigator" saw the group "dumping thousands of sensitive documents into the trash outside their San Diego office ... after California's attorney general launched an investigation into the group." But Breitbart, who hyped the document dump as a "scandal" on his website, BigGovernment.com, and asserted that the documents are "very vital to that investigation," has not shown that the discarded documents are in fact vital to the investigation or related to the reported scope of the investigation.
Fox News promotes "scandal" pushed by Breitbart's BigGovernment.com
Kilmeade: "Was ACORN trying to hide something?" Kilmeade asked: "Was ACORN trying to hide something?" and linked the documents to the California attorney general's investigation into ACORN. From the November 24 edition of Fox & Friends:
KILMEADE: Was ACORN trying to hide something? A private investigator tells Fox News he saw ACORN workers dumping thousands of sensitive documents into the trash outside their San Diego office. It happened just after California's attorney general launched an investigation into the group. Some of the documents reportedly included Social Security and bank account numbers of people who went to ACORN for help, others detailing ACORN's ties with banks and labor unions. A top ACORN official in California apologized, saying it was a mistake. You know that happens.
Fox Nation: "ACORN Caught Dumping Documents in Dumpster." On November 24, Fox Nation linked to a November 23 BigGovernment.com post:
But documents posted on
BigGovernment.com appear unrelated to investigation into undercover tapes
California attorney general reportedly opened investigation into ACORN. On October 2, the Los Angeles Times noted that on undercover videos, "ACORN workers in several states were shown allegedly offering advice on tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution," and reported that California Attorney General Jerry Brown "plans to look into circumstances surrounding both the making of the videos and any possible misdeeds by ACORN employees in California caught on tape."
Breitbart: "Some might call [document dump] 'obstruction of justice.' " In a November 23 post on BigGovernment.com, Breitbart wrote of "20,000 deeply sensitive and highly political documents discovered in the dumpster behind ACORN in San Diego on October 9, nine days after ACORN was announced to be under state investigation," adding: "Some might call that 'obstruction of justice.' " Breitbart further wrote: "There are reasons ACORN dumped these documents before the scheduled visit by Brown's office." He did not elaborate on those "reasons." On a November 22 KFI 640 AM broadcast, Breitbart said to Derrick Roach, the "licensed investigator" who pulled the documents out of the Dumpster, that "they started dumping documents during that period of time. If you went there on the 9th and they announced an investigation on the 1st, they're dumping documents at a time when those documents are very vital to that investigation."
Documents posted on BigGovernment.com include food stamp application, canvassing form, and an employee's tax and identification information. In a November 23 post on BigGovernment.com, Roach noted that he retrieved "thousands upon thousands of sensitive documents" from a Dumpster and found that they include "information exposing not only the inner workings of ACORN in California, but also personal, sensitive information belonging to employees, members and clients of ACORN." Roach posted documents containing an employee's transmittal form, tax forms, and identification information, as well as a canvassing form, a neighborhood map, and an authorization form for the deduction of membership fees. Roach also wrote:
Over the weeks and months ahead, BigGovernment.com will continue to release information from this shocking document dump by ACORN, slowly revealing the ugly truth of ACORN: the fact that their stated mission of helping the poor and downtrodden is just a ruse and a cover for an organization that is highly partisan and highly political, and thus rotten to the core."
On November 24, BigGovernment.com blogger Publius posted "one family's application for food stamp benefits that ACORN threw out with its trash, in advance of a visit from officers of the Attorney's General office" and "a monthly credit card statement for ACORN employee David Lagstein's corporate credit card" showing "payments to a fertility clinic." He also posted other documents that appear to outline a "plan for a 2-year ACORN campaign to repeal California's Prop 13," and one that discusses re-branding ACORN under a different name.
ACORN employee: "[T]he majority of what was thrown out was junk -- old leaflets, newsletters, etc." NBC Los Angeles reported on November 23 that Amy Schur of ACORN's California office stated of the discarded documents: "In early October, when our San Diego staff were doing an office clean-up in preparation for a major 10-station phone bank program being set up in our offices, it appears that included in the piles of garbage being thrown out may have been some documents containing private information." Schur further stated: "Our files were not part of the scope of the visit by the Attorney General's office, and the majority of what was thrown out was junk - old leaflets, newsletters, etc... It looks like our staff were careless and some documents with personal information were included in the piles of garbage."
Breitbart's only allegation of potential illegality is unrelated to investigation. A November 24 post on BigGovernment.com suggests that ACORN -- by throwing away a copy of a credit report -- may have violated the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLB), which "requires that financial institutions protect information collected about individuals," according to the Federal Trade Commission. However, the credit report displayed with the blog post appears to be unrelated to the California attorney general's investigation, and the post itself notes that it is unclear "whether or not ACORN falls under the letter of GLB."
Fox & Friends previously ran with false stories about ACORN
Ignoring police report, Carlson advanced false claim that ACORN employee killed husband. Referring to a San Bernardino, California, ACORN employee whose claim that she killed her husband was recorded by actors posing as a prostitute and pimp, Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson asked, "She killed somebody?" adding, "Despite this, some lawmakers want to keep funding the group." However, the San Bernardino Police Department investigated the matter and concluded that the claims made by Tresa Kaelke -- the ACORN staffer in question who said she fabricated the story because the actors filming her "were clearly playing with me" -- "do not appear to be factual," and that her "known former husbands" are "alive and well."
Doocy: White House adviser Gaspard "has been in bed with ACORN." After Matthew Vadum wrote in The American Spectator that "[e]vidence shows that years before he joined the Obama administration," White House political affairs director Patrick Gaspard "was ACORN boss Bertha Lewis's political director in New York," Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy seized on the blog post, stating that Gaspard "apparently has been in bed with ACORN. And, in fact, Bertha Lewis, who heads up ACORN, he -- Mr. Gaspard -- was her right-hand man. So does ACORN have somebody in the White House in one way or another?" Politico's Ben Smith later reported that the allegation "just isn't true" and that the White House denied the American Spectator report.
Fox News' ACORN attacks rely on Drudge protégé Breitbart
Breitbart's BigGovernment.com first posted ACORN video. In a September 15 post for BigGovernment.com, James O'Keefe, who made the video in which Kaelke appears, posted "Part I of the ACORN San Bernardino expose." Clips from this and other ACORN videos pushed by Breitbart have been featured on numerous Fox News programs.
Breitbart has repeatedly attacked progressives. Breitbart, whom Glenn Beck has called one of the "great journalists of our time," has made several incendiary statements about progressives, claiming for instance that Democrats depend "on the ability to keep blacks in fear"; that Ted Kennedy is a "villain," a "duplicitous bastard," and a "prick"; and that "Democrats would distribute needles, methadone, medical marijuana and biscotti in voter goodie bags if they could get away with it."
All it takes is a Breitbart site or Washington Times to make up a false story for it to make its way to Drudge, then Fox News ...
The poor do not need ACORN. They need a change of vision, a change of attitude, and willingness to make the hard decisions that will bring them and their offspring a better life.
The poor need somebody to help them throw off the shackles of the victim mentality with which the left has enslaved them.
The poor need folks to stop coddling them and to tell them to reach out and grab all that this great country has to offer. It is theirs for the taking.
The poor don't need no ACORN to provide for them. The poor need to learn how to provide for themselves.
Now that's good preachin'.
ACORN supports taxing the rich. Are they getting rich doing this? Then, bu your reasoning, they support taxing themselves. How do they benefit from that?
You are definitely logic deprived.
The poor in this country do more honest work than the rich. You are a tool.
I'll be sure and let my son's pediatric neurologist to make sure he tells him all he needs is a change of attitude to cure his diagnosis of cerebral palsy and cognitive learning disorder so he can go to work full time and get his degree from a 4 year college. I mean after all all he needs is change of attitude and a willingness to overcome he actual level of a 3rd grader to become successful and rich.
You dolt you have no conception of what it means to be poor and have to depend on SS and SSI to live on.
I have no idea about the challenges that your son faces, however I do know that there are other people that have cerebral palsy and learning disorders that are capable of making significant contributions to society.
BTW - you don't know me. You have no idea what challenges I have faced and overcome in my life. You do not know my income level, or what I do for a living. Yet you have the audacity to say that I have no conception of what it means to be poor and have to depend on SS and SSI to live on. You really should not be so prejudice. :)
If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right. -- Henry Ford
The people I know who are more "self-made" seem to be much more aware of the odds they overcame, and the amount of luck involved in their success.
Since I neither inherited a family business nor a bunch of real estate. I am struggling to establish my own small business. My two sons are also involved in the same.
The recession has hit us hard as it has the minority community. I lost my job last January. If someone wants to genuinely help the poor instead of pushing a political agenda as ACORN appears to be doing from a number of the strategic documents found in the document dump, more power to them.
Giving temporary help until someone gets on their feet is one thing. Creating a professional underclass, dependent upon government is another.
How spending twice the money and increasing the deficits will help us all get back to work is a mystery to many of us.
Oh yeah, the rich and powerful.
About your suggestion that 'reach out and grab' isn't that what gave us Enron and other prize-winning examples of capitalism gone wild.
What overwhelming factual evidence are you talking about? If ACORN was some sort of sinister crime syndicate, don't you think they would have shredded, or BURNED these alleged key documents? Or do you think, maybe someone was just taking out the trash?
ACORN is NOT a partisan organization. They will help anyone who is in the lower socio economic class no matter what their political affiliation will be. They also register voters, regardless of affiliation.
Personally, I believe that we are a nation of laws and whenever a law is broken, it should be punished.
In the case of ACORN (which is the topic of discussion on this thread) I don't see a shred of evidence that tells me that the organization is involved in any illegal activities - individuals may have broken the law and/or acted foolishly, and they should pay the price.
To bring Halliburton into the discussion is merely an attempt to distract.
The link I supplied is to a story that clearly demonstrates that they have a history and culture of corruption. There is no such evidence in the case of ACORN.
Again, I have no problem with prosecuting law-breakers wherever they are. I never made a singel statement about Halliburton until this morning.
The analogy is nothing but a red herring.
Fail.
The truth of the matter is that MMfA members will line up in very strong numbers behind the notion that Halliburton and ACORN should be given the identical treatment by the courts and Congress.
The truth of the matter is that you won't find anyone on this thread who ever said otherwise.
The truth of the matter is that this thread is about the unfair treatment of ACORN and has nothing at all to do with Halliburton.
The truth of the matter is that i was wrong when I labelled your BS a "fail". It is actually an "epic fail". I apologize for my error.
But, here, if you think it will help. Now all we need is for someone to show that the same corrupt corporate climate exists at ACORN, and then it will be a wonderful analogy.
And yeah, we have extended the same logic to ANY organization. It would be stupid to condemn a group like ACORN as a corrupt organization for the actions of a few individuals. See, that's what YOUR SIDE is doing, not our side.
Also, I love it when a post claims that ACORN is a corrupt or criminal enterprise. Then, inevitably, a more reasonable poster asks them to provide evidence of their criminal or corrupt ways. Then we get the response: "Check it out bro. ACORN has been corrupt for years." That is the actual response when someone asks for proof. And, this poster actually thinks they look intelligent and reasonable when they post this nonsense. Unbelievable.
It really doesn't matter what proof anybody provides, you will discount it. ACORN employees going to jail over voter registration fraud - not ACORN's fault. ACORN dumping documents just days after they were informed that they were targets of a state investigation - just cleaning house. ACORN employees advising a couple how to evade paying taxes - bad employees but not ACORN's fault. ACORN employees advising people how to run a brothel knowing under-aged girls would be used in the business - poor ACORN, done in by their employees again. And you say I'm unbelievable?
The GOP spends years and piles of money making accusations against ACORN. The media then discusses ACORN by noting that there are many accusations of corruption against them.
The gullible wingnuts then insist on embarrassing themselves here by "proving" that allegations against ACORN by the GOP are valid using allegations against ACORN by the GOP as their supporting evidence.
Fortunately, I think the ones who buy this circular reasoning are only the goofiest 10% or so of the population.
However, after a simple few hours spent researching all I can ever find is that they have employees who lied in order to get bonuses. In my career, I have run sales teams that worked on bonuses. I have had salesmen lie in order to get bonuses. I have even caught salesmen lying in order to get bonuses and they have had to pay back money and some have even been fired. Never would I take this to assume that the company I worked for was a criminal enterprise. That is insane partisanship.
I also see that they had an embezzlement scandal in their somewhat recent past. Well, my grandmother started a soup kitchen / food bank / clothing bank / adult education center that was a United Way agency. Some of you may recall that the United Way had a big embezzlement scandal not all that long ago. Does this mean that the United Way is a criminal enterprise? That my grandmother dedicated her life to helping the poor in order to aid and abet a criminal enterprise? Pure insanity.
What crimes are there that have been committed by ACORN? Where is any evidence? These Daily Show interviews that have been clearly highly edited in order to be chuckled at? Completely ridiculous. The sad part is how sure of themselves the right-wingers seem when they clearly are only taking what is spoonfed to them by entertainers disguised as political leaders. This is why I left the Republican party and never looked back. I agree these extreme partisans are a smacll percentage of the population. But, they seem to be taking over the Republican party and I think we, as a people, are paying the price for it.
Detaining a rape victim in a shipping container. Importing underage sex slaves. Stealing money. Killing innocent civilians.
Need more?
You are a tool.
I've looked pretty closely at the documents and I can't see anything actionable or at all damning. Maybe I missed something.
I am sure you can enlighten us all.
Your text to link here...
I'm sure you won't be able to see anything here either.:)
There is certainly not one criminal thing in any of the documants i have read. You may not agree with their politics, but they are allowed to be political, as long as the funding they receive from the government is kept separate. Since more than 95% of their funding comes from sources other than the government, I think it is safe to say that they can easily keep the expenditures separate.
When someone produces evidence to the contrary, ACORN should be prosecuted. Until then, no matter how much their politics conflict with yours, they have a right to be political.
Just because they say it doesn't make it so.
Good read!
If ACORN trashed documents containing clients' personal info./ SS numbers/ bank accounts, that is an issue, and should be addressed by the organization. I don't imagine anybody but the most far right, tinfoil hat-wearing loony* can be convinced that this is a scandal. What exactly is the evil motive on the part of ACORN ?
*, That is, the same people who have already been suckered into thinking ACORN is a force for evil, and should be a real concern to them.
This is super low on the radar of the general population.
The GOP may be shooting themselves in the foot by pandering to the type that can be convinced that ACORN is something they should be worried about, but I also wonder if they can win over a few moderates who are too lazy to dig any further than what they see on Fox or hear from their dittohead neighbor.
I live in a very conservative area, so maybe I see a skewed version of reality in the people I meet. I know people who don't really follow politics, they get a little input from mainstream sources (TV news, Fox, talk radio) and a little more from propaganda emails and gossip.
They're like those Palin supporters at her book signings, just not as involved. They "know" a few things; Democrats raise taxes, Republicans like freedom, ACORN is corrupt. These aren't the rabid fringe right wingers who go to rallies with teabags on their hats, but many vote Republican based on the same misinformed mythology as the True Believers.
Perhaps it's true, ignorance is bliss.
Ann Coulter has committed more voter fraud than ACORN has.
Found? I feel so much better, especially since you and I both know that only a small percentage of people that commit crimes actually get caught. That is so lame.
Bury the ACORN!
No fraudulent VOTE has ever been attributed to ACORN. Not one.
The fraudulent registrations were done for the benefit of the persons being paid by ACORN to collect registrations, not for the purpose of casting fraudulent votes. In order to cast a vote, one must actually be registered, must produce ID in most cases, and must physically be present to vote. Are you suggesting that 9 million people cast fraudulent votes, or was it one person casting 9 million fraudulent votes.
You are an embarrassment to the schools you pretended to attend.
"Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about a election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both. Also called voter fraud, the mechanisms involved include illegal voter registration, intimidation at polls and improper vote counting."
DOH!!
From "The Politics of Voter Fraud" by Lorraine C. Minnite. Page 5: Defining Voter Fraud:
The Justice Department defines election fraud as "conduct that corrupts the process by which ballots are obtained, marked or tabulated; the process by which election results are canvassed or certified; or the process by which voters are registered. Voter fraud is a subcategory of election fraud or the intentional corruption of the electoral prcocess by voters.
This covers knowingly and willingly giving false information to establish voter eligibility and knowingly and willingly voting illegal or participating in a conspiracy to encourage illegal voting by others.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/62424/Politics-of-Voter-Fraud-Final
OK..so maybe we'l call it "Election Fraud" but it is pretty certain that you word parsers will claim something about "since it didn't happen on election day it's not election fraud." OK...fine.
Do you guys EVER tire of being completely wrong and do you realize how stupid you sound sometimes?
In the past election, that would have had to happen around 9 million times. Good luck with that.
Where is your outrage? Where are your calls for investigations? Where is your moral compass?
BTW - I'm not defending Sanford. He'll get exactly what he deserves. However, you are defending ACORN - and they will also get exactly what they deserve. They're outta here baby! :)
The employees who attempted to defraud ACORN by filling out phony registration cards in order to obtain the bonus are the ones who are guilty of voter registration fraud. In fact, most of the phony registration cards were in fact filed, which they are required to by law, and reported by...drum roll please... ACORN!!!
This isnt' rocket science.
And right back at you, since it doesn't apply to us at all - don't you ever tire of being completely wrong? And do you realize how stupid you sound all the time?
It's not voter fraud. You providing us with the defintion of election fraud doesn't magically turn what you wrote into 'election fraud'. You wrote 'voter fraud'. There's no evidence whatsoever that ACORN has participated in 'voter fraud'. It's not our fatal flaw that you're using the wrong term!
Your second link is about a ten year old embezzlement case in which ACORN was the victim of embezzlement.
The Attorney General Buddy Caldwell investigating the case has said...Your third link is to someone who has commented only so far on the first two videos. Do you have anything showing his current position now that we have much more information since the release of those two videos?
Please explain how if these are the facts, and you are so wrong about the founder embezzling funds from ACORN, then how is ACORN's corruption inherent?
...yet the brother of one of its founders that was accused of embezzlement.
To answer your question, I think that the actions of its founder speak for themselves.
* Wade hid the corruption from the board of directors.
* Wade did not alert the authorities (as some have suggested the PI in this article should have done) of the crime. I've heard his excuse, but that's all it is - an excuse.
* Wade falsely indicated in his accounting that the embezzled amount was a loan.
* Wade allowed his brother to continue to receive a paycheck until 2008 when the theft occurred in 1999 - 2000.
These are not the actions of a highly ethical individual. They are the actions of the founder of the dying organization known as ACORN. I say again, the corruption is inherent in the organization.
R&R - I'll save you some time typing. Please feel free to cut and paste: Fail / Tool. Or do you use a keyboard macro when you see the need for these insightful contributions? :)
In the embezzlement case, ACORN WAS THE VICTIM, not the perpetrator.
In the voter registration fraud cases, ACORN WAS THE VICTIM, not the perpetrator.
I haven't seen anything from those documents that is unethical, much less illegal.
Let's face facts, you guys really don't like ACORN because the voters they register (legitimately and by the hundreds of thousands) primarily vote Democratic.
I see a lot of accusations thrown out but the evidence is pretty close to zero. That doesn't matter though, the attackers know that they can accomplish what they want just by making the accusations as long as there's a compliant media to echo them.
Embezzlement? They were the victims. How can you possibly not understand this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8&feature=related
The truth of the matter is that a very small percentage of people are politics junkies. most people wake up most days and get themselves ready for work, they go to work, they come home and they unwind watching situation comedies or bowling or exercising at the gym. Most people have more going on in their lives - they have children to help with homework, lightbulbs to change, buttons to sew back onto their shirts.
You use the title "fairliberal", but your lack of ordinary insight tells us immediately that you are neither fair nor liberal.
The people in your video seem sort of clueless, but keep in mind, they're being asked some questions that show the questioner to be equally misinformed.
A better example of a group of ignorant people would be these Real American Zeroes - notice they're being asked fair honest questions about their own opinions, and they can't seem to keep from spinning off into Crazytown.
Many Republican politicians have been found to be adulterers - do we assume that the Republican party should be held responsible for that?
I'll tell you: there was nothing substantive to hang on them.
He was doing it quietly back then because his party was in power. Now that they have fallen from favor, they need to undermine ACORN in order to stop what has been a very successful voter registration effort. Why? Because poor people register as DEmocrats. The Republican Party doesn't want poor people to vote. That is voter suppression. They should be ashamed.
You are screwed.
Alright then. I will support your decision to abstain.
Did your screen name just automatically change from your real name to psycho?
Never mind,The crazy happy face at the end of the posts answers all questions.
It's not only the law, it's in ACORN's interest to shred these documents. Do you think there's some sort of motive for them not to do so?
I've had jobs where I needed to destroy sensitive documents, but I never had any agenda-driven groups dumpster diving to make sure I was doing so.
It's a security measure,as well as a legal matter. I just find it interesting that your knee-jerk response is that, in the case of ACORN, you've already assumed a purposeful criminal act took place requiring jail sentences.
And so when they were accidentally thrown out, they should suffer the consequences of accidentally throwing them out.
It was likely one low-level employee, and isn't evidence of a systemic problem with ACORN.
But let's look at the other guy, the PI. He PURPOSELY grabbed those papers, and rather than take them to the authorities, he kept them for weeks, looking through them, looking at personal information he should have never seen.
He did stuff on purpose.
And so he's much, much worse of an offender than ACORN's low level employee EVER WAS.
I am sure you agree, and that Breitbart's BigGovernment should be shut down immediately for even considering, much less publishing, these documents and this story without going to the authorities. They had no right to even glance at those documents.
All kidding aside, you really don't have a problem with ACORN? I mean, I have a problem with a lot that the Republicans do - especially leading up to the 2006 election and how they tried to protect Mark Foley simply to protect their majority. I think they got everything that they deserved.
I can't believe that an intelligent, well reasoned individual can look at the mountain of evidence against ACORN and conclude that the organization is pure as the driven snow.
I've never seen anybody say that ACORN (the organization and all of its members) are "pure as the driven snow". This is where you start to lose credibility, when you rely on strawmen like this. Keep it honest, and you'll get the same in return.
Yes, some employees of ACORN have been involved in illegal or unethical behavior. The same is probably true of your local police department, your business or employer, every branch of our military, your accountant's office, your cities public works department, your bank... in fact, you could probably find "mountains of evidence" against any of these that make allegations against ACORN look like molehills.
That's the point here. The GOP and its operatives have been working very hard at magnifying the "evils of ACORN", and it seems to be working on a certain group of Americans.
My point is that if the people attacking Acorn were actually serious about democracy, they would also attack right-wing organizations and commentators who distort the truth for political gain. But they don't.
As far as ignorant people being barred from voting, I would remind the author that the Republican party purposely directs its propaganda toward white males without a college education, one of the few groups that still support them. Listening to Fox News does not make you informed about the issues; it increases your ignorance.
Having listened to more than one of the Republicans in congress display their ignorance on just about every issue being considered by them, I would gladly support a measure requiring every elected official to take a one-year course on the issues before being allowed to vote on those issues. Of course, they may be smarter than they appear; the only arguments they care about are the ones with money attached.
Oops, a slight transgression.
I can't see why people keep defending such a corrupt oganization. If it was just one incident, then I could cut them a break, but this systemic lack of respect for the law is a good reason to get rid of this criminal enterprise.