Congress defunds ACORN

Decision to halt federal funding for ACORN, in light of revelations, was right decision.

Ultimately, the decision to withdraw funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — or ACORN — was a no-brainer. Even supporters found it hard to justify giving federal money to a group whose members told a pimp and his prostitute how to evade taxes and mortgage rules.

The pimp and the prostitute, as it turned out, were amateur undercover muckrakers with a hidden camera who set out to capture damning evidence against ACORN workers. They certainly succeeded.

Two ACORN employees were taped advising the couple to lie about her profession, launder her earnings, and even giving advice on how to evade taxes on underage prostitutes smuggled in from El Salvador. At first, ACORN executives tried to say the video was doctored and the voices were dubbed, but the claim wasn't credible.

Despite a move by ACORN to conduct its own internal investigation, Congress decided to act. Last week, with the blessing of President Obama, the Senate voted 83-7, the House 345-75, to stop spending taxpayer dollars to support the organization.

ACORN has been a target of Republicans for some time. To some extent, that was because of ACORN's overt liberal advocacy and its success in registering hundreds of thousands of new voters during the last election, mostly low-income Americans who are more likely to vote Democratic.

But ACORN also invited scrutiny. Almost a third of the 1.3 million new voters it registered were rejected as fraudulent. Overzealous workers seeking to fill quotas signed up fake voters with names that included “Mickey Mouse.”

While no one by that name tried to vote, it gave critics ample ammunition against the group. The incriminating videos were the last straw.

We don't approve of entrapping people with hidden cameras, but the content of these videos was undeniably disturbing.

It could be argued that Congress acted to some degree for partisan reasons. Republicans wanted to shut down a successful Democratic recruiting organization; Democrats no longer could afford to be associated with ACORN.

But, whatever the partisan motives might have been, cutting off funding for this group was the right thing to do. With the voter fraud and scandalous advice from ACORN employees on how to evade the law, continuing to give taxpayer money to this organization would have been irresponsible.