07-15-2011, 11:41 PM
It get worse:
The Government Accountability Office issued a controversial and ridiculous advisory opinion in September 2010 stating that ACHOA is not an “allied organization” of ACORN and is therefore not subject to the funding ban. However, the government’s website listing federal expenditures identifies the organization receiving this grant as “ACORN Housing Corporation Inc.” and even lists ACORN’s New Orleans, Louisiana, address. Moreover ACHOA maintains the same board of directors, executive director and offices as its predecessor, ACORN Housing Corporation, Inc.
Make no mistake, ACHOA is ACORN. So this is a clear violation of the funding ban. But it is also an especially irresponsible waste of taxpayer funds considering the documented corruption at ACORN Housing/ACHOA.
For example, according to a September 21, 2010, HUD inspector general report, which notes that ACORN Housing is “now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America,” the organization misappropriated funds from a $3,252,399 federal grant. The inspector general concluded that ACORN Housing/ACHOA had charged salary expenses to the HUD grant that “were not fully supported.” The organization also continued to pay its counselors even after they were terminated, did not meet federal procurement standards and allegedly destroyed documents to conceal the fraudulent activity.
The inspector general articulated a number of benchmarks that must first be met by ACHOA before the organization could begin receiving any future federal funds, including reimbursing the government for the misappropriated funds.
A separate November 8, 2010, HUD inspector general report documented additional fraudulent activity by ACORN/ACHOA. The ACORN group “inappropriately expended more than $3.2 million from its fiscal years 2004 and 2005 grants for the elimination of lead poisoning in its housing program,” the report concluded. The misappropriation included the use of funds “not identified in its grant application’s detailed budgets,” including “campaign services” and “grant fundraising activities.”
So why is ACORN still on the government dole, instead of the focus of a major federal corruption investigation? Look no further than the top.
In November 2007, then-Senator Obama addressed ACORN and thanked the organization for its work. Obama has denied that he had any involvement with ACORN other than some legal work he did for them in 1995, but this claim rings hollow when considering statements made by Obama in 2007.
In Senator Obama’s own words: “I've been fighting alongside Acorn [sic] on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, Acorn [sic] was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.” Barack Obama served as the Illinois executive director of Project Vote in 1992. His campaign paid more than $800,000 to an ACORN organization to help “get out the vote” in his successful primary campaign against then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.
But Obama is not the only one at the White House pitching for ACORN. As reported by The New York Times in 2009, “perhaps no administration official has had more interaction with Acorn [sic] than [Shaun] Donovan”, who is Obama’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The Times notes that Donovan “worked closely” with ACORN’s politically-powerful New York housing affiliate when he was a New York City housing official. And now he’s helped secure a nice chunk of change for ACORN from HUD’s coffers.
ACORN’s ties to Obama and Donavan run deep. So it is no surprise they would continue to dole out tax dollars to an ACORN affiliate with a documented history of fraudulent activity. This is another instance of President Obama’s appointees stubbornly refusing to follow the law by not denying funding to this crooked organization.
And I have to ask the question: Is the Obama gang ensuring that ACORN is around to help them again in 2012?”
By the way, in 2011, HUD provided $40 million in grants to 108 “fair housing” organizations, representing a $13.2 million increase over the 2010 award. According to HUD’s press announcement, the general purpose of these grants is “to educate the public and combat housing and lending discrimination.” This funding of activist groups like ACORN Housing helped lead to our housing crisis. These socialist revolutionaries leveraged your tax dollars to press for government and mortgage policies that gave housing loans to people who couldn’t afford them. That led to the ongoing mortgage crisis.
You can see that the Obama administration is doing three bad things at once — funding a group barred by law from receiving funds, funding a group that has record of fraud, and funding a group and policies that have helped destroy the housing market (and depressed our economy).
Bill Clinton actually started the sell-houses-to-voters-I-mean-poor-people-who-can't-really-afford-them-so-the-banks-will-purchase-them-in-secure-lumps-and-then-foreclose-and-kill-this-country's-economy-and-fuck-Cracker's-home-value-program.
Here's how we invested in our "recovery" (we fixed up the projects, how the fuck that benefits anybody but welfare folks is beyond me, besides the illegals doing the work and the homie contractors):
The Northeast Georgia Housing Authority received a Capital Fund grant in the amount of $1,551,209.00 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment and Act of 2009 (ARRA). These funds allowed the Northeast Georgia Housing Authority to reassess the possibilities of long-term repairs and modernizations to improve the quality of life for residents.
"When completed the repairs and modernization efforts will improve the quality of life of residents, and ARRA funding is essential in that effort," said Ada Holloway, HUD Georgia Director, Public Housing and Indian Division.
The Northeast Georgia Housing Authority serves the counties of Bank, Habersham, Stevens, and White. Using the ARRA funds, the housing authority created eight jobs and entered into 26 contracts to complete a variety of work items including the following:
The Corners: 42 units
•Completely modernize units to include refinishing kitchen cabinets, replacing countertops, adding new kitchen sinks and faucets, and renovating bathrooms.
The Corners, The Sunny Glade, The Brook, Bridgeview, Lockridge, The Washington, Ritchie Crossing, Oak Manor, Holcomb St Apts, Clearview Apts, Everfair, and Shadow Bend: 185 combined units
•Replace roof shingles
•Build and install site name signs
Forest Hills: 12 units
•Replace heating and air conditioning systems
The Brook and Dover Corners: 28 combined units
•Patch, repair, and repave housing authority owned streets and parking areas
The Sunny Glade, The Knoll, The Cove, The Vista, The Washington, Lockridge, Ritchie Crossing, Everfair, Dover Corners, Galloway Village, and Leafcrest: 254 combined units
•Replace sanitary sewer lines
Oak Manor and Cloverdale Cove: 18 combined units
•Replace bathtubs
Galloway Village: 26 units
•Make exterior accessibility improvements
Shadow Bend: 26 units
•Make miscellaneous site improvements
Dover Corners and Cliff C Kimsey Apartments: 52 combined units
•Replace windows and the installation of stainless steel window screens
The Sunny Glade and Holcomb St Apartments: 39 combined units
•Install stainless steel window screens
Is it just me, or is fixing up projects a good way to keep people on welfare in their upgraded crib?
The Government Accountability Office issued a controversial and ridiculous advisory opinion in September 2010 stating that ACHOA is not an “allied organization” of ACORN and is therefore not subject to the funding ban. However, the government’s website listing federal expenditures identifies the organization receiving this grant as “ACORN Housing Corporation Inc.” and even lists ACORN’s New Orleans, Louisiana, address. Moreover ACHOA maintains the same board of directors, executive director and offices as its predecessor, ACORN Housing Corporation, Inc.
Make no mistake, ACHOA is ACORN. So this is a clear violation of the funding ban. But it is also an especially irresponsible waste of taxpayer funds considering the documented corruption at ACORN Housing/ACHOA.
For example, according to a September 21, 2010, HUD inspector general report, which notes that ACORN Housing is “now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America,” the organization misappropriated funds from a $3,252,399 federal grant. The inspector general concluded that ACORN Housing/ACHOA had charged salary expenses to the HUD grant that “were not fully supported.” The organization also continued to pay its counselors even after they were terminated, did not meet federal procurement standards and allegedly destroyed documents to conceal the fraudulent activity.
The inspector general articulated a number of benchmarks that must first be met by ACHOA before the organization could begin receiving any future federal funds, including reimbursing the government for the misappropriated funds.
A separate November 8, 2010, HUD inspector general report documented additional fraudulent activity by ACORN/ACHOA. The ACORN group “inappropriately expended more than $3.2 million from its fiscal years 2004 and 2005 grants for the elimination of lead poisoning in its housing program,” the report concluded. The misappropriation included the use of funds “not identified in its grant application’s detailed budgets,” including “campaign services” and “grant fundraising activities.”
So why is ACORN still on the government dole, instead of the focus of a major federal corruption investigation? Look no further than the top.
In November 2007, then-Senator Obama addressed ACORN and thanked the organization for its work. Obama has denied that he had any involvement with ACORN other than some legal work he did for them in 1995, but this claim rings hollow when considering statements made by Obama in 2007.
In Senator Obama’s own words: “I've been fighting alongside Acorn [sic] on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, Acorn [sic] was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.” Barack Obama served as the Illinois executive director of Project Vote in 1992. His campaign paid more than $800,000 to an ACORN organization to help “get out the vote” in his successful primary campaign against then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.
But Obama is not the only one at the White House pitching for ACORN. As reported by The New York Times in 2009, “perhaps no administration official has had more interaction with Acorn [sic] than [Shaun] Donovan”, who is Obama’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The Times notes that Donovan “worked closely” with ACORN’s politically-powerful New York housing affiliate when he was a New York City housing official. And now he’s helped secure a nice chunk of change for ACORN from HUD’s coffers.
ACORN’s ties to Obama and Donavan run deep. So it is no surprise they would continue to dole out tax dollars to an ACORN affiliate with a documented history of fraudulent activity. This is another instance of President Obama’s appointees stubbornly refusing to follow the law by not denying funding to this crooked organization.
And I have to ask the question: Is the Obama gang ensuring that ACORN is around to help them again in 2012?”
By the way, in 2011, HUD provided $40 million in grants to 108 “fair housing” organizations, representing a $13.2 million increase over the 2010 award. According to HUD’s press announcement, the general purpose of these grants is “to educate the public and combat housing and lending discrimination.” This funding of activist groups like ACORN Housing helped lead to our housing crisis. These socialist revolutionaries leveraged your tax dollars to press for government and mortgage policies that gave housing loans to people who couldn’t afford them. That led to the ongoing mortgage crisis.
You can see that the Obama administration is doing three bad things at once — funding a group barred by law from receiving funds, funding a group that has record of fraud, and funding a group and policies that have helped destroy the housing market (and depressed our economy).
Bill Clinton actually started the sell-houses-to-voters-I-mean-poor-people-who-can't-really-afford-them-so-the-banks-will-purchase-them-in-secure-lumps-and-then-foreclose-and-kill-this-country's-economy-and-fuck-Cracker's-home-value-program.
Here's how we invested in our "recovery" (we fixed up the projects, how the fuck that benefits anybody but welfare folks is beyond me, besides the illegals doing the work and the homie contractors):
The Northeast Georgia Housing Authority received a Capital Fund grant in the amount of $1,551,209.00 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment and Act of 2009 (ARRA). These funds allowed the Northeast Georgia Housing Authority to reassess the possibilities of long-term repairs and modernizations to improve the quality of life for residents.
"When completed the repairs and modernization efforts will improve the quality of life of residents, and ARRA funding is essential in that effort," said Ada Holloway, HUD Georgia Director, Public Housing and Indian Division.
The Northeast Georgia Housing Authority serves the counties of Bank, Habersham, Stevens, and White. Using the ARRA funds, the housing authority created eight jobs and entered into 26 contracts to complete a variety of work items including the following:
The Corners: 42 units
•Completely modernize units to include refinishing kitchen cabinets, replacing countertops, adding new kitchen sinks and faucets, and renovating bathrooms.
The Corners, The Sunny Glade, The Brook, Bridgeview, Lockridge, The Washington, Ritchie Crossing, Oak Manor, Holcomb St Apts, Clearview Apts, Everfair, and Shadow Bend: 185 combined units
•Replace roof shingles
•Build and install site name signs
Forest Hills: 12 units
•Replace heating and air conditioning systems
The Brook and Dover Corners: 28 combined units
•Patch, repair, and repave housing authority owned streets and parking areas
The Sunny Glade, The Knoll, The Cove, The Vista, The Washington, Lockridge, Ritchie Crossing, Everfair, Dover Corners, Galloway Village, and Leafcrest: 254 combined units
•Replace sanitary sewer lines
Oak Manor and Cloverdale Cove: 18 combined units
•Replace bathtubs
Galloway Village: 26 units
•Make exterior accessibility improvements
Shadow Bend: 26 units
•Make miscellaneous site improvements
Dover Corners and Cliff C Kimsey Apartments: 52 combined units
•Replace windows and the installation of stainless steel window screens
The Sunny Glade and Holcomb St Apartments: 39 combined units
•Install stainless steel window screens
Is it just me, or is fixing up projects a good way to keep people on welfare in their upgraded crib?