ACORN and the Banks: Dangerous Liaisons

Anyone who has ever seen a Lifetime Movie marathon or any cheesy drama will tell you that when one is out with their wife and the mistress walks past, you look the other way. Or at least try to keep them away from each other. Well, Bertha Lewis arrived in town with ACORN members on Monday, and one can only imagine the tense timing on the Hill yesterday for ACORN as some of the “partners” were being grilled by Congress.

Out of the eight CEOs present yesterday, four are or were involved with ACORN and ACORN Housing.

Representative Barrett (R-SC) stated: 

"You owe my constituents an explanation of how you got yourselves into this position and what you're doing with their money."

 Of course, this is a great question, but the answer may be more than the constituents are ready to digest. A 2008 report at the Consumers Rights League entitled ACORN's Hypothetical House of Cards delves into ACORN's true relationships with these banks: 

“Its agreements with major donors, however, would probably not delight the taxpayers who pick up 40 percent of the organization’s budget. For instance, an agreement with Citibank, a significant ACORN donor and partner, showed that some activists become less active when deals are in place: “ACORN agrees that it will not lobby for more restrictive terms and conditions, and Citigroup agrees that it will not lobby for less restrictive terms and conditions, on such legislation.”

Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have all faced the wrath of ACORN (sometimes at the behest of SEIU). As per the ACORN way, the banks were targeted, harassed, threatened with litigation, and then offered a settlement. Often the banks knew better and tried to resist these shakedown attempts, as evidenced here in a December 2006 (available by request).

“There is little progress to report on the Wells Fargo campaign. They have gradually been making the changes we have demanded from them, and taken away our steam. The lawsuits and any possible settlement are progressing slowly. For the third straight year we had a presence at Wells Fargo’s annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco.

...We continue to pursue enough public activity at board meetings, press statements, and selected events to keep a fire burning to help light the path, but most of our hopes lie in a settlement of our legal claims. The Board voted to approve negotiations for a heavily California weighted class to enliven the hopes for settlement, but prospects remain tenuous and uneven. “ 

One of the most significant quotes yesterday came from Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup, who stated "... we have to stabilize housing. It started with housing and we need to fix it."

This is significant because others at the table yesterday, like Bank of America, who became an ACORN partner in 1990, pay annual dues to ACORN totaling in the millions. Bank of America also engaged in what some are now calling questionable lending practices that led to the current mortgage crisis. According to the Consumers Rights League report:4556717502}-->

“Although it is a strictly enforced feature in other banks and products, Bank of America’s policy toward undocumented income is very flexible. ACORN Housing counselors establish the amount, source and conduct verification of such income, without questioning from underwriters …The consequences can be beneficial or detrimental… counselors need to be careful at providing undocumented income letters, as it can hurt the applicant(s) in the future.”

While ACORN narrowly missed sitting beside its “partners” today and explaining this situation to Congress, they were not always this shy about their relationships. In December of 2006 Eric Eve, who is listed on the program as Senior Vice-President, Citigroup, spoke to a gathering of ACORN staff on the Value of Partnerships.

In 2002 Project Vote received a donation of 645 shares of Bank of America Stock valued at $37,909.50 and Matthew Vadum at the Capital Research Center, reported that the following banks fund ACORN Housing (another feeder organization): 

JP Morgan Chase Foundation ($5,007,500 plus at least $300,000 to separate state-level ACORN-affiliated housing nonprofits),

Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc. ($1,405,000),

US Bancorp Foundation ($285,000, plus $470,000 to ACORN Housing Corp. of Illinois),

PNC Foundation ($95,000),

Wachovia Foundation ($5,000).

Provident Bank Foundation Inc. ($5,000 to “New Jersey ACORN”).

 According to insiders Bertha Lewis and ACORN did not receive a warm welcome on the hill this week, and they stated that Bertha's roar could be heard throughout the DC office as she called for lawsuits against myself and the ACORN 8.

Could it be that the house of cards is starting to crumble? DC's board refused to be trampled on and there seems to be movement across the nation. Also, with all of the attention on ACORN and the stimulus money there is now the potential of oversight and that is something that ACORN does not want. Old partners are now targets once again as ACORN goes back fund raising around the same issues; using the members as human props. After reading that financial rewards and not change was the ultimate goal, members must now decide whether to trust ACORN. Rep. Capuano (D-MA) put it best yesterday when he stated: 

"You come to us today on your bicycles after buying Girl Scout cookies and helping out Mother Teresa and telling us 'we're sorry, we didn't mean it, we won't do it again, trust us.' Well, I have some people in my constituency that actually robbed some of your banks and they say the same thing."

"America doesn't trust you any more... I don't have one single penny in any of your banks -- not one.... I don't want my money put into CDOs and credit default swaps and humongous bonuses."

 Maybe this is why Bertha Lewis and ACORN were not welcomed by the DC board, like the banks, it seems that the stench of corruption rubs off on anyone they come in contact with. Are you paying attention Democrats?

(transcripts courtesy of Reuters)