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Obama Justice Dept. shut down FBI's ACORN investigation

By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
03/11/10 1:12 PM EST

Judicial Watch has unearthed some explosive new ACORN documents that, according to a press release, show the Obama Justice Department quashed an FBI investigation of ACORN. (Emphasis added) It started when the Republican Registrars of Voters of Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut -- Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges -- filed a complaint with the FBI during the 2008 election season:

According to Corelli, on August 1, 2008, her office received 1,200 ACORN voter registration cards from the Secretary of State’s office.  Over 300 of these cards were rejected because of “duplicates, underage, illegible and invalid addresses,” which “put a tremendous strain on our office staff and caused endless work hours at taxpayers’ expense.”  Corelli claimed the total cost of the extra work caused by ACORN corruption was $20,000.  Likewise, Borges contended that: “The organization ACORN during the summer of 2008 conducted a registration drive which has produced over 100 rejections due to incomplete forms and individuals who are not citizens…”  Among the examples cited by Borges was a seven-year old child who was registered to vote by ACORN through the use of a forged signature and a fake birth certificate claiming she was 27-years old.

The FBI and Department of Justice opened an investigation into the the charges. But according to documents Judical Watch obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Obama Justice Department "while noting that ACORN had engaged in 'questionable hiring and training practices,' closed down the investigation in March 2009, claiming ACORN broke no laws." Of course, as Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made a point of telling me on the phone, it is illegal to knowingly submit false voter registrations so the Justice Department's claim that ACORN didn't violate any laws is highly dubious.

But we're just getting warmed up. Judicial Watch has much more:

By contrast, the documents also include records related to a federal investigation of ACORN corruption in St. Louis, Missouri, involving 1,492 allegedly fraudulent voter registration cards submitted by Project Vote, a liberal non-profit organization affiliated with ACORN on voter registration drives, during the 2006 election season.  Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith initiated the investigation with “concurrence” from the Department of Justice and the participation of the FBI.  According to a Justice Department memo, Goldsmith “advised he would prosecute any individual responsible for submitting fraudulent voter registration cards.”  Goldsmith identified the statute for prosecution: Title 42, USC 1973 (gg), which provides for criminal penalties for fraudulent voter registrations.  In April 2008, eight former ACORN employees from the St. Louis office pled guilty to voter registration fraud.

The documents also encompass a fairly wide swath of information:

The ACORN documents uncovered by Judicial Watch include internal FBI memoranda, signed affidavits, subpoenas, fraudulent voter registration cards, and publications describing ACORN’s policies and practices.  The documents also include details regarding numerous allegations of corruption extending beyond voter registration fraud, to include attempts by ACORN employees to coerce workers to participate in campaign activities on behalf of Democratic candidates.

Between all of these documents -- which Judical Watch is making public -- we have a shot at piecing together a comprehensive, systemic look at ACORN corruption.

Continues @ WashingtonExaminer.com

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Just the type of publicity the low-polling President and the current administration did NOT need, and cannot afford.