By Matthew Vadum ——Bio and Archives--July 3, 2009
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
A. Based on the evidence I have seen, my opinion is that the ACORN staff were not adequately trained to conduct proper voter registration drives. Further, I question whether the system of compensation in place for the staff obtaining voter registration cards both for the worker and for ACORN encouraged voter registration fraud. It is also my opinion based on the evidence that I have seen that it was not a simple matter of poor training. Lastly, it is my opinion based on the evidence I have seen from the King County Settlement Agreement, the testimony in the Pennsylvania case, and the news reports from other criminal investigations that ACORN as an organization has either willfully failed to properly train its workers or grossly negligently failed to train its workers. Further information is needed in order to determine which is closer to the actual scenario. In addition, since ACORN operated voter registration drives in so many states, each state or local operation may differ in its training efforts.Q. Do the workers with ACORN get paid based upon how many registrations they complete?
A. There have been widespread allegations from former ACORN employees that ACORN does pay its employees on a per registration basis and has imposed a quota system upon its employees. These allegations have been raised in states including Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington. These allegations have been the basis of charges brought against ACORN representatives in the state of Nevada.If you wish to read Heidelbaugh's complete answers to Rep. Lee, they are available here as a PDF. On May 4 Conyers mysteriously backed away from plans for a probe the same week a raft of new voter registration fraud charges were laid against ACORN and its ex-employees in Nevada and Pennsylvania. Last week Conyers cryptically remarked that he wasn't going to proceed with an investigation because "the powers that be decided against it." He refused to elaborate. Incidentally, the chairman of the RNLA, David Norcross, was on the "Glenn Beck Program" last night talking about ACORN, the Secretary of State Project, and their role in electing Al Franken, the incoming second Democratic senator representing Minnesota. Here is the video clip:
View Comments
Matthew Vadum, matthewvadum.blogspot.com, is an investigative reporter.
His new book Subversion Inc. can be bought at Amazon.com (US), Amazon.ca (Canada)
Visit the Subversion Inc. Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter.