The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) says it's been the target of partisan attacks over the past few days, and that recent allegations of voter fraud are scare tactics aimed at promoting an agenda that would suppress voter turnout among low- and middle-income Americans.
The group has come under accusations of voter fraud from election officials and conservative activists recently for reported irregular voter registration cards submitted to election boards in at least seven states. Today, the group became the latest political football in the presidential race, as John McCain's campaign released a web ad implying that Barack Obama had shady connections with the group in his early days of community organizing in Chicago.
ACORN pushed back today in a conference call with reporters.
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Dozens of powerful trade associations and lobbying groups again urged lawmakers to approve the financial bailout package in a letter sent Tuesday evening.
They ranged from groups with an obvious interest in the package, such as the American Bankers Association, to groups that would seem more Main Street than Wall Street, such as the Air Conditioning Contractors of America.
Read the letter below.
-Ian Swanson
JOINT ASSOCIATION LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE U.S. CONGRESS
September 30, 2008
We are writing to express our profound disappointment in the House vote yesterday rejecting the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, and to urge both the House and Senate to act as soon as possible this week to enact legislation to bring stability to credit markets.
A coalition of financial lobbyists on Tuesday sent a terse letter to Congress, urging House and Senate members against including bankruptcy provisions in the pending $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.
The letter by 12 organizations including the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the National Home Builders Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce objects to provisions known as
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Former Michigan Gov. John Engler (R) was in the Senate Tuesday, talking up the possibility of financial aid from the U.S. government to the struggling auto industry based in his state.
Engler, who governed Michigan from 1991 to 2003 and now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, was talking to Republican senators outside of the party's normal Tuesday caucus lunch. In comments to reporters, he said Monday's financial turmoil proves the need to help auto manufacturers.
"Urgency is added by what you see going on on Wall Street," he said.
"The de-leveraging that's taking place in some of the financial institutions is making lines of credit harder and harder to come by, and time is of the essence here. And this is not money that the federal government doesn't expect to have back. It's a very prudent investment, and timely."
Engler, also a contributing writer for The Hill, said help is especially necessary since Congress has already heightened regulations on manufacturers and had pledged to help.
"The National Association of Manufacturers supports Congress keeping its word," he said. "They said, 'If we raise all of these new requirements and put them on your industry, we'll help you meet the burden of compliance.' So now it's time to pay the piper."
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson missed an opportunity to shrink and privatize failing mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when he moved to subsidize them over the weekend, the conservative Club for Growth said today.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingirch (R-Ga.) has put put a light hearted video announcing a YouTube contest for his group American Solutions.
The contest challenges supporters to make a video demonstrating the groups "drill here, drill now, pay nothing" slogan. The winner of the contest will get a year of free gas.
The video starts with Gingrich catching one of his interns watching YouTube at work and later shows the intern doing the same to the former House Speaker.
The Club for Growth, one of Washington's leading conservative interest groups, has created a blog dedicated to "dumb laws."
The group will use it to identify and mock laws it sees as pointless. So far, targets have been a Senate resolution honoring soil as a natural resource, a House resolution supporting the goals of Financial Literacy Month, and a bill authorizing a $5 million grant program for rare cat and dog conservation activities, among others.
The aim of the site is to "clamp down on the inanity that pervades our country," according to the group.
"Every time a dumb law is enacted, or even proposed, one more lobbyist is emboldened. One more page is added to the law books. And one more politician gains confidence in subjecting the masses to even more idiocy," the group said today in an announcement email.
Many of the laws discussed on the blog deal with taxes and spending, as The Club for Growth advocates primarily for conservative economic policies.
Americans United for Change has long opposed many of President Bush's policies, but this year it's found a new way to say it--with a 28-ton bus.
The group today launched its Bush Legacy Bus, a rolling museum dedicated to the "worst policy failures" of the Bush administration. The bus will travel the country for the next five months, stopping in 150 cities and bearing a simple message: that Bush's policies have wreaked havoc on America.
The bus features interactive exhibits on the Iraq war, the economy, and healthcare. A screen displays images of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with captions that criticize the government's response. A chart entitled "not just Bush's war" traces Iraq war support to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). The floor shows a timeline of events in the Bush presidency.
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