WASHINGTON — The community activist group ACORN appears to be collecting charitable contributions through affiliate organizations that it then uses for impermissible lobbying and political activity, according to the Republican staff of the Senate Finance Committee.
In a memo to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the GOP staff said ACORN-affiliated charities are being used to raise money that is then funneled to other charities or other organizations for purposes other than what a donor may have intended.
In response, ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis called the allegations "politically motivated, false and part of a long-standing campaign against this grassroots organization carried out by partisan right-wing conservatives."
Lewis said political activities such as lobbying are paid for with membership dues and "every dollar that we spend we spend legally in accordance with government regulations."
ACORN, the parent entity, is not tax-exempt, but dozens of ACORN affiliates around the country are tax-exempt.
On Thursday, Grassley asked Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman to explain how the agency audits organizations like ACORN.
The Republican staff said 42 tax-exempt organizations have some affiliation with ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and that 52 other affiliated entities are taxable.
ACORN said that since Lewis took over as CEO in June 2008, the organization has closed more than 100 redundant or unused corporate entities. About 25 such entities remain, and more will be closed by the end of 2009, the group said.
ACORN, which was founded in 1970 in Little Rock, has been under fire over videotapes of ACORN employees offering advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and a pimp about how to establish a brothel with underage prostitutes.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 09/25/2009