Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on October 6, 2009

UPDATE, OCTOBER 8, 2009: From Matthew Vadum, tireless journalist… Big Government: Breaking: Cross-Dressing Escort Registered by ACORN Imprisoned for Voter Fraud ACORN Probe, Continues in Ohio

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis

Bertha Lewis, CEO of the greatly troubled, potentially criminal organization ACORN, is under a great deal of pressure. Which, I imagine, is why she is weakly thumbing her nose at Congress and taxpayer money this week. Distraction, indignation, and accusation: when you don’t have a strong defense, denying everything, calling your accuser names, threatening to sue them, and acting like you don’t have a care in the world can sometimes work to alleviate or divert the heat of scrutiny.

False bravado spin can be disarming and confusing. ACORN is the grand master of spin. Oftentimes, it’s over-the-top flabbergasting and self-righteous.

But it doesn’t look like it’s going to work this time. She scoffed that the government withdrawing its funding would not have any affect on ACORN, saying, “We didn’t have government funding for years. We may not have government funding in the future.”

Congress withholding millions of taxpayer dollars is the least of your corrupt organization’s worries, Bertha.

And, just as a reminder, in the Obama stimulus/porkulus package, earmarks for ACORN were in the neighborhood of 5 to 8 BILLION DOLLARS, which even Bertha would have to admit is a healthy chunk of moola to lose. No, money matters are trivial compared to the state and federal investigations ACORN executives face, with potential prison time for many people, possibly even Lewis, if found guilty in a court of law.

This woman is either lying through her teeth or is in scary denial of reality… living in a self-absorbed dream world as it comes crashing down around her. She unflinchingly denies everything her corrupt organization has done and continues to do. In the video below (from late September 2009), watch how Lewis refuses to make eye contact, even for a moment, with Rep. Issa (about the 3:45 mark in the video) and doesn’t ever address him directly, snubbing him and turning instead to interviewer Chris Wallace to answer Congressman Issa’s questions about ACORN.

FOX News Sunday: Congressman Darrell Issa vs ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis | September 2009

From yesterday’s long-winded, rambling, “let me first talk obsessively about myself” speech from Bertha… from PatriotsNetwork.com: Bertha Lewis Wanted To Be An Actress – Well She Is.

FOX News: ACORN’s Bertha Lewis Addresses Washington’s National Press Club, Rep. Issa Gives His Assessment of ACORN: October 5, 2009

From Politico: ACORN: Congress can’t hurt us:

Any successful efforts by Congress to cut off federal funding to scandal-plagued ACORN would have little effect on the community organizing group’s overall operations, its chief executive officer said on Tuesday.

“We didn’t have government funding for years,” said ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis. “We may not have government funding in the future.”

Lewis said ACORN typically receives about $2.5 million to $3 million annually from the federal government – roughly 10 percent of its $20 million to $25 million annual budget. Member dues and private sources make up a much larger chunk of the budget, she said.

After a series of undercover videos surfaced showing ACORN employees giving advice to conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp, opponents in Congress have sought to cut the group’s sources of federal money. In recent weeks, both the U.S. Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service have also ended partnerships with ACORN.

But Lewis, who spoke Tuesday at Washington’s National Press Club, called the congressional actions a case of “modern day ACORN McCarththyism,” and she dismissed a report by the Republican staff of the Senate Finance Committee alleging that ACORN used some charitable funding for political purposes.

Earlier this month, the group suspended new intakes to its service programs throughout the country, pending the results of an independent review led by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger.

Lewis, who said her remarks were part of a “set-the-record-straight tour,” said the group would continue to pursue a lawsuit against the makers of the videos as well as the conservative Web site, Breitbart.com, where they first appeared.

“Just because we were embarrassed by these highly edited tapes,” Lewis said, “doesn’t mean that these people didn’t break the law in order to embarrass and attack the organization.”

Still, Lewis acknowledged that when she watched the clips, “it made my stomach turn over – it just made you sick.”

The Website’s founder, Andrew Breitbart, could not be reached for comment. But in appearance on Fox News last month he called the lawsuit “an attempt to stifle free speech and the First Amendment.”

Lewis also denied fresh allegations revealed in connection with an investigation of ACORN in Louisiana that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled as much as $5 million from the organization. The amount of missing money was just under $1 million, according to Lewis, who said the higher figure was “completely false and not based on any documentation or any audit other than two disgruntled former board members.”

The attorney general in the state of Louisiana disagrees with Lewis’ low-balling of the embezzled amount. Yesterday’s subpoena was indeed for embezzling $5 million.

Just breaking… from Atlas Shrugs: ATLAS EXCLUSIVE: ACORN Threw Out Republican Voter Registrations

Other ACORN reading:
James O’Keefe, Big Government: Unsolved Mysteries and Irreconcilable Difference for Mr. Scott Harshbarger
Gateway Pundit: Far Left Mouthpiece Marc Lamont Hill Smears O’Keefe & Giles on O’Reilly… Big Government Responds
Nice Deb: Bzzzzzt!… GOP Chairman Gets ACORN Wrong! and ACORN Round-Up: Baghdad Bertha And All The Latest and Bill O’Reilly To MN Gov. Pawlenty: Take Another Look At ACORN’s 43,000 Votes For Al Franken
Michelle Malkin: The $5 million ACORN embezzlement figure is not new — and the NYT knows it
Roger Stone, Big Government: ACORN Advances in New York: Tied to Absentee Ballot Fraud
VotingFemale Speaks!: SEIU has “Jumped The Shark”
Snow Report Blog: AG: ACORN Embezzlement Totaled $5M, Not $1M – FOXNews
Matthew Vadum, Big Government: Is ACORN’s Bertha Lewis Even Capable Of Telling The Truth? and ACORN Plans Massive Layoffs
Citizen Wells: ACORN, Nevada corruption, Harry reid blocks investigation, Las Vegas Review Journal, September 25, 2009, Clark County, Rampant fraud, ACORN corruption
Washington News Observer: Video – Rep. Carter (R-TX) on Charles Rangel, ACORN

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN corruption, ACORN investigation, ACORN scandal, Andrew Breitbart, Barack Obama, Bertha Lewis, Big Government, CEO Bertha Lewis, Congress, Darrell Issa, Fox News, Rep. Darrell Issa, sex scandal, tax fraud, video, voter registration fraud, YouTube