from FoxNews.com
A new battle is brewing at the controversial community group ACORN, as ousted and disgruntled leaders in Louisiana reportedly plan to form their own group with the same name.
Beth Butler, who was fired from her position of state executive director of ACORN, was scheduled to speak Saturday about the plan in New Orleans, along with other people affiliated with the organization, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
Both sides are gearing up for an eventual court fight, the newspaper reports.
The latest skirmish comes on the heels of turmoil at the national organization, the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now, after an undercover video sting operation by filmmakers posing as a pimp and prostitute caught employees at several local offices around the country apparently aiding the couple in skirting the law.
Since the videos were revealed last month, the Census Bureau and the IRS cut ties to ACORN, and Congress voted to end funding of the organization, which also has become the target of local and federal investigations.
The organization's national leaders, meanwhile, have argued that the videos exposed only isolated wrongdoing by individual employees, though ACORN has pledged to conduct an internal investigation of its operation, with a particular focus on its personnel.
ACORN fired Butler over apparent concerns about a lack of "accountability" in her work leading the Louisiana chapter in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Butler was close to ACORN founder Wade Rathke, whose brother Dale was accused of embezzling about $1 million from the group a decade ago.
A recent statement by ACORN chief executive officer Bertha Lewis did not specify why she fired Butler.
"I took over as ACORN's CEO last summer, and I vowed accountability at every level of the organization," Lewis said in her statement. "The work of ACORN members everywhere -- especially in Louisiana where the members have fought heroically to bring the city back post-Katrina -- is too important to not have full accountability."
Butler said she was fired because she refused to fire members of a land trust board whom national ACORN leaders wanted ousted. She said ACORN national is "going out of business" and wanted the board gone to seize control of its funds and assets. She called the ordeal "all completely inappropriate and unethical."
Vanessa Gueringer, who sits on the Louisiana and national board of ACORN, told the Times-Picayune, that Stephen Bradberry, the employee installed as Butler's replacement, is an "illegitimate interloper."
"We view this action as an aggressive move to steal our resources because the national organization is going broke," she told the newspaper.
Bradberry told the newspaper that anyone has the right to start their own organization but cannot legally use the ACORN name or resources.
