A recent ruling by a federal court judge in favor of the advocacy group ACORN is also a victory for the democratic process in this nation.
In recent months ACORN has been under intense attack by right-wing political groups trying to destroy the group that aggressively advocates for poor people nationally. ACORN organizes poor people to advocate aggressively to fight for their interests in housing issues and many other arenas. A few months ago in a sting operation, agents of conservative groups secretly videotaped sessions with ACORN employees. The agents posed as a pimp and a prostitute asking how they can get around certain laws in respect to housing issues.
Employees in two offices gave what critics call advice on how to avoid immigration, prostitution and housing laws. When the videotapes were released, conservative members of Congress rushed to defund the group based on the incidents on tape. ACORN had long been criticized by its enemies because its voter registration efforts mainly benefited the Democratic Party. The question was seldom raised why poor people saw little hope for the betterment of their situations in life in voting for Republicans?
ACORN chapters have had countless conflicts with Democratic elected officials in cities across the nation because it is a non-partisan group in the truest sense of the word. Congress’ hasty defunding legislation aimed at ACORN did not provide due process. There were no hearings on the legislation, there was no day in court and no administrative hearings, just a blanket defunding. The judge ruled the Congressional defunding unconstitutional and ordered funding restored to ACORN programs that the federal government funds. The judge ruled correctly because due process is still in the U.S. Constitution and lynch mob law is not.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
