Still More on ACORN and GOP Voter Suppression

Josh Marshall is all over this story:

So now we hear leaked word that the FBI is beginning an investigation into whether ACORN "helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election" and where there is "any evidence of a coordinated national scam."

Let's note a few points. DC Republicans have been aggressively lobbying the DOJ to open an investigation into ACORN in advance of the election. And leaking word of such an investigation (possibly starting the investigation at all) most likely violates DOJ guidelines about DOJ/FBI actions which can end up interfering with or manipulating an election.

But, remember, this is right out of the book of the Bush Justice Department's efforts to assist in GOP voter suppression efforts in the 2004 and 2006 elections (part and parcel of the US Attorney firing story). This is the same scam US Attorney firing player Bradley Schlozman got in trouble for pulling with ACORN just before the 2006 election. And before he got canned, Gonzales helped revise and soften the departmental prohibition on DOJ announcements, thus making it easier to play these kinds of games.

This is a big deal. It may be their last gasp to use the DOJ to help mitigate the scale of Republican defeat on November 4th.

I would stayed tuned to Talking Points Memo if you care about the latest on this story.  But a co-worker sent me the following email from a former ACORN employee:

Hello family & friends,

As most of you know the organization I used to work for, ACORN, is under a barrage of attacks in the news and by the McCain campaign for their voter registration work.  Attached is a national memo from ACORN explaining the truth behind this work.  I urge you to take a minute and read it as these attacks are really without basis and are politically focused.

Essentially ACORN recently completed a massive, national voter registration drive registering over a million voters.  In this process a small number of the many people hired to do this work did submit fraudulent cards.  In almost all cases, ACORN organizers identified these fraudulent cards, but almost every state where this work was done had legal requirements that ALL cards collected had to be turned in -- even ones that had been flagged as fraudulent.  So ACORN turned in the cards, but notified election officials of ones that were fraudulent.  Now though ACORN is being accused of intentionally trying to fraud the system.

ACORN has been through this before -- the national US Attorney General scandal with Gonzales accused of politically motivated firings came out in part of his firing of a Republican New Mexico AG who refused to prosecute ACORN in New Mexico for voter fraud because he said there was not a basis for it.  

Please read the memo and learn more about this issue.  An attack today on one key ally in the fight for social justice will likely spread to other allies and it is important that we are informed on the issue and where possible that we are educating our networks and friends on these issues.

You can find the memo here.