news-record.com

My boss asked me (posts here and here) to look into what exactly ACORN has been up to in North Carolina. The group, for those not up to speed, has gotten in trouble elsewhere over video tapes that show ACORN employees dispensing dubious-to-illegal advice (New York Times). Congress has also acted (Boston Globe) by withdrawing funding.

(Side note: Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat who represents parts of Guilford County, voted “present” on the measure to withhold funding for ACORN. We have a call in to ask why.)

In North Carolina, the group seems to have kept its nose clean for the most part. Some voter registration forms it turned in during the 2008 campaign from Durham turned out to be questionable and the case is in the hands of law enforcement and Durham County District Attorney’s office. Other than that, most of what I found is typical of the group, including bringing community organizing to bear of people they identify as slum lords.

Click here for my story from today’s paper.

One additional note: ACORN says it still maintains a Greensboro office that it opened in May. I’ve heard from two different not-for-attribution sources that office at The Hive (click here) is closed. I’ll try to sort out this discrepancy, although the bottom line on its work in Greensboro seemed to be that ACORN didn’t have that large of a footprint.