ACORN Controversy: A Video Interview With CEO Bertha Lewis

Thursday 21 January 2010

by: Matt Renner, t r u t h o u t | Report

ACORN Controversy: A Video Interview With CEO Bertha Lewis
(Photo: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t)

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been a prime target for conservative groups and politicians. I sat down with Bertha Lewis, CEO and chief organizer for ACORN to discuss the recent events and the state of the organization.

California Congressman Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a report lambasting ACORN in July 2009. A firestorm of media commentary erupted after ACORN employees were surreptitiously recorded by right-wing activists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe, who posed as a prostitute and her boyfriend and sought advice on housing and tax evasion from the ACORN staff.

The media hype and the accusations by Issa led to passage of the "Defund ACORN ACT," legislation stripping ACORN of all federal money it received. This Congressional action was later found to be unconstitutional by a federal court in New York, but much of the damage had already been done to the organization and to the populations it serves.

A recent report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found that ACORN did not break the law in the past five years, contradicting the claims of the right wing. However, unlike the tape recordings and the bombastic accusations, the report clearing ACORN received little attention.

Truthout has been following the ACORN situation closely. For detailed coverage, read our past reporting:

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Comments

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What a joke.

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 14:23 — Nancy Bourgeois McCutchan (not verified)

Nancy, what's the joke? I

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 14:23 — Helen Hopson (not verified)

Nancy, what's the joke? I don't see anything funny.

only in America can the

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 14:23 — Katherine Magdangal (not verified)

only in America can the media take what we see before our eyes and try to convince us we "misinterpreted" it

It called the magic of

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 14:24 — Kean Atreides (not verified)

It called the magic of editing, Katherine. What youve never seen Colbert do it?

This is what happens to the

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 14:24 — Rosalie Shepherd (not verified)

This is what happens to the little guy, unless you lie steal and have millions you can be disgarded and lied about and very few will give a crap. For the few such as keith Rachel and some others Thank You for reporting the truth about Acorn.

They weren't just a target

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 14:24 — Anonymous (not verified)

They weren't just a target of the imaginary divide between corporate backed political parties, they were taking on Bank Loan Sharks, and generally helping poor people avoid the crushing grip of corporate tyranny. "This isn't allowed", reported FAUX News. (If bought and sold politicians were to try this sh@t with Lockheed Martin, they'd be expelled from Congress in short order)

Hi - Could you provide some

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 16:58 — Anonymous (not verified)

Hi - Could you provide some way to watch this video without requiring Adobe Flash Player software?

Can someone reach Ms Lewis,

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 17:05 — Alan McConnell (not verified)

Can someone reach Ms Lewis, and get her
to get her webmaster at acorn.org to
put a STREET ADDRESS on the "Donate"
page there? I would be happy to
contribute to ACORN, but I don't do
credit card stuff on the Internet.

A couple of lines at the bottom: "If you
prefer to send a check, make it out to
ACORN, and send it to
(street address)
I've called people at ACORN phone
numbers about this, and they've
promised to pass this on. But nothing
happens.

Best wishes,]

Alan McConnell, in Silver Spring MD

@Thu, 01/21/2010 - 21:58 —

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 17:24 — Anonymous (not verified)

@Thu, 01/21/2010 - 21:58 — Anonymous (not verified)

How do you not have flash player?

If progressives are to start

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 19:46 — Anonymous (not verified)

If progressives are to start learning the play the media game, they will have to stop calling right wingers "Conservatives." The right is a trash-and-burn wrecking crew and is not about to conserve anything, let alone common decency. They have made "liberal" a dirty word. Progressives can do some branding of their own and use terms like reactionaries, far right, right-wing extremists, religious right (when appropriate), etc. Americans are middle of the roaders, by and large, and don't like extremes. The Demo candidate in MA was wishy-washy, and the party failed to expose the Repiblican's true colors.

To anonymous asking how do

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 20:40 — windskull (not verified)

To anonymous asking how do you not have flash player...I cannot speak for the above but in my case the co-op monopoly isp/phone company charges cadillac prices for below pinto grade service and under their self written by laws they chose not to be PUC Regulated and so we have crappier service than 1990`s AOL and one of the worst effected products by this is Adobe flash as well as shockwave the SCOTUS screwed us big time today by giving unlimited buying of candidates by corporate funds if the do so with net neutrality it`s Amendment 2 torches and forks time & government entities might want to hard look at all the police and soldiers they been shafting of late before they go thinking these fellow citizens are going to turn on blood kin for their crooked asses!

"Conservatives" are white

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 21:32 — Liberal Ray (not verified)

"Conservatives" are white racist ring-wing nuts as demonstrated by Glenn Beck and Rush Limburger.

GO Brown-Palin or Palin-Brown GOP 2012 Presidential ticket to assure OBAMA a 2nd term; the American people are as dumb as the GOPers think or are ...

In 1994, on election day,

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 22:27 — communityorganizer (not verified)

In 1994, on election day, Karl Rove was on CNN, as he was about to get on a plane to go to the victory party for Bush. But he had promised an easy victory with a 5 million majority, and once again everything had come down to one state...Ohio this time. "Why," asked the CNN reporter. "What happened? Why such a close election again?"
Rove responded, "It was those blankety blank ACORN people!"

Ever since then, Rove has made ACORN's world a living hell, and the Dems, the progressives and the left have allowed it, because they don't understand the concept of solidarity.

With ACORN decimated, someone else has to pick up the mantle and do the voter registration and turnout. Who did it or failed to do it in Mass on Tuesday? Who will do it in every contested state in November? Answer: no one who has any sense, until we start supporting the folks who stick their necks out.

ACORN's street address: 2609

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 00:10 — Anonymous (not verified)

ACORN's street address:

2609 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70119

Streaming video/audio no

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 14:01 — Dudu (not verified)

Streaming video/audio no good for me on dial up. Max. 52 KB, but 2-3 KB is typical. Costs $12/mo., instead of $30-$60/mo. for broad band connection. I'm another one who can't watch the video. Have to go to the library or find a friend with broadband to see it.

A FTP or Torrent option could work in an all night download. During the day, slows the computer down too much.

ACORN recently moved their

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 16:59 — Anonymous (not verified)

ACORN recently moved their head office from New Orleans to Washington. The new address, located on the bottom of their online donation form, is

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
739 8th St. SE
Washington, DC, 20003

I hope ACORN succeeds in

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 17:42 — Anonymous (not verified)

I hope ACORN succeeds in suing those bogus video people, but I'm afraid that the Fascists may be in charge even more soon with Thursday's SCOTUS decision. We the people will be irrelevant. Still the one thing we have is our numbers and we can fight back as much as possible and maybe something will go our way sometimes. We can hope.

Thank you for getting the

Tue, 01/26/2010 - 11:04 — Nadya (not verified)

Thank you for getting the truth out. Pun absolutely intended

Karl Rove needs to be

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 14:25 — Frances in California (not verified)

Karl Rove needs to be prosecuted under RICO for sooooooo many evil deeds . . . . and, of course, be tried in the Hague for War Crimes.

Dear Alan: Of course

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 14:29 — Frances in California (not verified)

Dear Alan: Of course nothing ever happens with your phone request! ACORN was defunded! They have fewer hands to do as much or more work as (than) before! While you're addressing stuff? Throw in a blistering diatribe against the "videographers" to your Congress members . . .

I think there really was no

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 06:38 — course work help (not verified)

I think there really was no crime, despite the strange representation of it from the media side. Anyway, thank you for post,visit course work help to get more information about it.

All ACORN supporters are in

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 00:46 — Anonymous (not verified)

All ACORN supporters are in denial

http://www.rottenacorn.com/downloads/060728_badSeed.pdf

Rotten Acorn,

Wed, 08/11/2010 - 17:42 — jennifer (not verified)

Rotten Acorn, huh?

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Employment_Policies_Institute