(Analyst's note: Clearly one must ask the question about this troubling matter. Why?)
The federal government has listed an ACORN affiliate in its catalog of approved charities – allowing federal employees to set up payroll deductions and donate a portion of paychecks directly to the group.
The ACORN Institute, an affiliate of the national umbrella organization of ACORN, is featured in the Office of Personnel Management's 2009 CFC list of participating national and international organizations.
The government's annual workplace charity campaign allows federal employees to contribute to qualified charities with cash, checks or payroll deductions.
According to a Washington Post report, ACORN transferred millions of dollars in charitable contributions meant for the poor to arms of ACORN that have political and even profit-making missions in 2006. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, released a report warning, charities "are being used to raise monies which are then funneled to other charities or to other organizations for purposes other than what the donor may have intended. . . . Dollars raised for charitable [purposes] appear to be used for impermissible lobbing and political activity."
Grassley asked that the ACORN Institute and other ACORN affiliates be taken off the list of approved charities.
"The acts perpetrated by ACORN employees were impermissible and should not be supported with CFC dollars," Grassley wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry.
ACORN is under investigation for voter registration fraud, embezzlement and other charges. As WND reported, independent filmmaker James O'Keefe and student Hannah Giles ran an undercover sting on ACORN, revealing a multitude of recommendations from employees of the community organizers on how to facilitate underage prostitution and avoid taxes. The stings resulted in both houses of Congress voting to stop funding ACORN and both the U.S. Census Bureau and the IRS cutting off their partnerships with the group.
WND also documented President Obama's extensive personal ties to the group. ....
