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MEMORANDUM December 22, 2009 To: House Judiciary Committee

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MEMORANDUM December 22, 2009 To: House Judiciary Committee MEMORANDUM December 22, 2009 To: House Judiciary Committee From: Charles Doyle, Senior Specialist in American Public Law Julius Jefferson, Information Research Specialist Meredith Peterson, Information Research Specialist Julia Taylor, Law Librarian Kenneth Thomas, Legislative Attorney Subject: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) In response to your request that CRS research several issues relating to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and its affiliates, CRS has compiled the following information. 1. Investigations concerning ACORN. You asked for a list giving the status and results of a) all pending or previous federal, state or local criminal or agency investigations concerning ACORN; b) all pending or previous congressional investigations concerning ACORN; c) all pending or previous internal ACORN investigations; and d) all pending requests (other than those made to CRS) for investigation of ACORN by any Member of Congress or any committee. The following memo by Julia Taylor (x75609) contains information on pending and previous federal, state, local, and internal investigations concerning ACORN obtained from news sources. The tables in the memorandum include basic details about the investigation and direct quotations taken from the source document; however, CRS did not verify the information in the source. 2. Federal funding received by ACORN. You asked for a description of all federal funding received by ACORN over the last five fiscal years and a description of instances where ACORN violated the terms of federal funding. The following memo by Meredith Peterson (x78990) presents information on federal funding received by ACORN. A search of reports of federal agency inspectors general did not identify instances in which ACORN violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years. 3. Effect of alleged false voter registrations by ACORN workers. You asked CRS to research improper voter registrations that resulted in people being placed on the voting rolls and attempting to vote improperly at the polls. As you discussed with Julius Jefferson (x75593) a NEXIS search of the ALL NEWS file did not identify any reported instances of individuals who were improperly registered by ACORN attempting to vote at the polls. 4. Recent “sting” activity concerning ACORN. You asked CRS to research and report on the federal and state laws that could apply to the recent videotaping of ACORN workers and the distribution of conversations with ACORN workers without consent. This issue is addressed in the following memo, “Allegations of Recording Conversations With Congressional Research Service 7‐5700 www.crs.gov Congressional Research Service 2 Various ACORN Affiliated Individuals Without Their Consent: Implications Under Various Federal and State Laws Relating to the Interception of Oral Communications” by Charles Doyle (x76968). The memo explains that “as a general matter federal law permits private individuals to record face to face conversations, as long as the recording is not done for criminal or tortious purposes. New York law seems even more forgiving, for it only reaches those who record remotely. The laws of the District of Columbia mirror federal law prior to the 1986 amendments to the federal statute. D.C. law permits one-party consent recordings, although the consequences of the want of complete symmetry with federal provisions are unclear. In contrast, the laws of Maryland and California appear to ban private recording of face to face conversations, absent the consent of all of the participants.” 5. Effects of ACORN activity concerning housing. You asked CRS to research and describe the extent to which ACORN has assisted the homeless and provided housing opportunities to for low-income individuals. CRS did not identify any rigorous and independent evaluation of the effectiveness of ACORN’s affordable housing activities. The following literature review prepared by Meredith Peterson (x78990) lists reported examples of ACORN’s activities to promote the development of affordable housing, to provide counseling to first-time homebuyers and homeowners facing foreclosure, and to support individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina. Please note that CRS did not verify the information provided in these reports. 6. Analysis of legislation to prohibit funding to ACORN. This issue is addressed in the attached CRS Report R40826, The Proposed “Defund ACORN Act” and Related Legislation: Are They Bills of Attainder? by Kenneth Thomas (x75006). The report states that “while the regulatory purpose of ensuring that federal funds are properly spent is a legitimate one, it is not clear that imposing a permanent government-wide ban on contracting with or providing grants to ACORN under the proposed Defund ACORN Act fits that purpose, at least when the ban is applied only to ACORN and all its affiliates. The brevity of the funding moratorium imposed on ACORN and its affiliates under the 2010 Continuing Appropriation Resolution, however, could arguably be justified as an expedience necessary to address an issue of immediate congressional concern, while allowing Congress sufficient time to consider a longer term solution.” Attachments referenced in the following memos are provided in a separate file. MEMORANDUM October 20, 2009 To: House Committee on the Judiciary From: Julia Taylor Law Librarian Knowledge Services Group Subject: ACORN Investigations We are sending you the following in response to your request for information on investigations concerning the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Specifically, we are responding to the first question from the letter sent to CRS Director Dan Mulhollan from Chairmen Conyers and Frank dated September 22, 2009. We searched for news articles using the LexisNexis Major U.S. Newspapers file, CQ.com TopDocs database and GalleryWatch HotDocs database.1 Then, we compiled the information into tables with details about the investigation such as the person initiating the investigation, the person it was directed to, and direct quotations taken from the source of the information. Table 1 below addresses question 1(a) from the letter. It contains information on pending and previous federal, state, and local criminal or agency investigations concerning ACORN. We searched for the word ACORN or the phrase Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now within the same sentence as the word investigate and its variations. We excluded editorials and op-ed pieces. The search included articles loaded through October 20, 2009. To avoid duplicating information in the chart, we only cited one source in instances where multiple sources reported on the same investigation. Table 2 below addresses questions 1(b). It has information on pending or previous congressional investigations concerning ACORN. We searched for the word ACORN or the phrase Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now within the same sentence as the word investigate and its variations, as well as the terms senator or congressman or congresswoman or representative. We also searched the CQ.com Top Docs and GalleryWatch.com HotDocs databases for documents with “ACORN” in the title. In addition to investigations, we included requests for audits. Table 3 below addresses question 1(c) from the letter. It contains information on pending or previous internal ACORN investigations. We searched for the word ACORN or the phrase Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now within the same sentence as the phrases own investigation or internal investigation. The search included articles loaded through October 20, 2009. Although we used 1 Please note, due to interest, some or all of the information we retrieved may be used to answer other congressional requests. Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov Congressional Research Service 2 the search methodology described above to answer this question, information and articles retrieved from searches to answer the other questions and that were relevant to this question were included in this table. Table 4 below addresses questions 1(d) from the letter. Specifically, it details all pending or previous congressional investigations or requests for investigations concerning ACORN. We searched for the word ACORN or the phrase Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now within the same sentence as the word investigate and its variations, as well as the terms senator or congressman or congresswoman or representative. We also searched CQ.com Top Docs and GalleryWatch.com HotDocs for documents with ACORN in the title. Although you requested investigations, we also included requests for audits. For your convenience, we have attached a complete citation list for all the searches we performed, as retrieved from the LexisNexis database. The citation list may contain duplicate articles that are not included in the tables below. Finally, please note that CRS did not independently verify the information contained within the articles cited. Table 1. Federal, State, Local, or Agency Investigations Concerning ACORN Investigation by Source Details Federal Department of Housing & “Ex-Mass. AG to Run Inquiry for The inspectors general for the Department of Housing Urban Development, Office ACORN,” Newsday, September and Urban Development and the Justice Department of the Inspector General 23, 2009. have confirmed they are investigating their agencies' involvement with ACORN. Department of Justice, “FBI Probing Pr. George's The
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