The ISSA Report: ACORN Rebranding

A shell game designed to conceal illegal activities, to use tax payer and tax exempt dollars for partisan purposes, and to distract investigators.

That's how a previous Issa Report described the activities of ACORN's management. Similarly, the so called shutting down of ACORN is nothing more than a way to "distract" and "dupe" investigators.

Recently, we've heard about ACORN and ACORN affiliated chapters shutting down. They've been changing their names. According to this latest report, that's all nonsense. The report states that much of this is happening because factions from the New York, Louisiana and California branches are involved in a power struggle.

The report further states that Bertha Lewis has taken control of some 800 bank accounts worth in the neighborhood of $20 million. Furthermore, according to an internal ACORN document, ACORN has been selling assets from its California office to the Alliance of California for Community Empowerment. That was the previous ACORN California branch. Both the previous and current have Liz Schur as their chief. They maintain the same address, same employees, and even the same tax identification number. Now, they also have the same assets. The only thing that's changed is the name.

In fact, according to the report, the tax identification number has not changed in any of the cases of name changes of ACORN affiliates. For instance, ACORN Housing is now called Affordable Housing Centers of America. Yet, Michael Shea runs the new organization in the same way he ran ACORN Housing. It's in the same address, has the same employees, and still has the same tax id number. Nothing has changed but the name.

This, according to the report, is nothing more than rebranding and a way to run away from the ACORN name.

Here is the first and second report analysis.