Judgment. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/07/top-senate-recipients-of-fanni.html Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Democrats Published by Lindsay Renick Mayer on July 16, 2008 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) (For an updated chart that includes contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's PACs and employees to ALL lawmakers back to 1989, including to their leadership PACs, go here.) and data The federal government recently announced that it will come to the rescue of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two embattled mortgage buyers that for years have pursued a lobbying strategy to get lawmakers on their side. Both companies have poured money into lobbying and campaign contributions to federal candidates, parties and committees as a general tactic, but they've also directed those contributions strategically. In the 2006 election cycle, Fannie Mae was giving 53 percent of its total $1.3 million in contributions to Republicans, who controlled Congress at that time. This cycle, with Democrats in control, they've reversed course, giving the party 56 percent of their total $1.1 million in contributions. Similarly, Freddie Mac has given 53 percent of its $555,700 in contributions to Democrats this cycle, compared to the 44 percent it gave during 2006. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also strategically given more contributions to lawmakers currently sitting on committees that primarily regulate their industry. Fifteen of the 25 lawmakers who have received the most from the two companies combined since the 1990 election sit on either the House Financial Services Committee; the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee; or the Senate Finance Committee. The others have seats on the powerful Appropriations or Ways & Means committees, are members of the congressional leadership or have run for president. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee, has received the most from Fannie and Freddie's PACs and employees ($133,900 since 1989). Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) has received $65,500. Kanjorski chairs the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs. Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008 <table style="width: 458px; border-collapse: collapse; height: 125px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 14.25pt;"> <td style="border: 0.5pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; background: silver none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 113pt; height: 14.25pt; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" nowrap="nowrap" valign="bottom" width="151"> Name<o></o></td> <td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; background: silver none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 38pt; height: 14.25pt; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" nowrap="nowrap" valign="bottom" width="51"> Office</td> <td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; background: silver none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 35pt; height: 14.25pt; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" nowrap="nowrap" valign="bottom" width="47"> Party/State<o></o></td> <td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; background: silver none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 65pt; height: 14.25pt; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" valign="bottom" width="87"> Total<o></o></td></tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 113pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="151"> 1. Dodd, Christopher J<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 38pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="51"> S </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 35pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="47"> D-CT<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 65pt; height: 12.75pt;" x:num="133900" valign="bottom" width="87"> $133,900<o></o></td></tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 113pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="151"> 2. Kerry, John<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 38pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="51"> S </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 35pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="47"> D-MA<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 65pt; height: 12.75pt;" x:num="111000" valign="bottom" width="87"> $111,000<o></o></td></tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 113pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="151"> 3. Obama, Barack<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 38pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="51"> S </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 35pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="47"> D-IL<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 65pt; height: 12.75pt;" x:num="105849" valign="bottom" width="87"> $105,849<o></o></td></tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 113pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="151"> 4. Clinton, Hillary<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 38pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="51"> S </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 35pt; height: 12.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="47"> D-NY<o></o> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt 0.5pt medium; padding: 0.75pt 0.75pt 0in; width: 65pt; height: 12.75pt;" x:num="75550" valign="bottom" width="87"> $75,550<o></o></td></tr> </tbody></table> Includes contributions from PACs and individuals. 2008 cycle totals based on data downloaded from the Federal Election Commission on June 30, 2008.
Judgment. http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/7203 Barack Obama's Involvement with ACORN Unearthed, Missing Article Recovered Submitted by Julie on October 9, 2008 - 9:08pm. While Barack Obama's connection with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has not gone entirely unreported, it has not been fully explained. Most media background pieces simply note Obama's involvement in a 1995 lawsuit on behalf of ACORN. Obama's own website, as well as most major media, fail to reveal the full depth and extent of his relationship with the organization. Attempts to hide evidence of Obama's involvement with ACORN have included wiping the web clean of potentially damaging articles that had appeared, and were previously publicly accessible. Unfortunately, those behind the attempted cover-up failed to realize that in today's day and age, nothing disappears forever. There also exists another layer of the web, the hidden web, which is full of information included in proprietary scholarly databases where these very same "missing" articles can be easily uncovered. Obama's campaign website states:Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity. Is that really a FACT, or just another lie? Let's take a look at a quote from a 2004 article - Case Study: Chicago- The Barack Obama Campaign - written by Toni Foulkes, a Chicago ACORN Leader, which was published in the journal Social Policy. Did we mention that Social Policy recently pulled this particular article from their website, while leaving links to all other articles up? "Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them). Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for STate Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends." Not only does Foulkes boast of Obama's ACORN leadership training, but also makes it clear that Obama's post-law school organizing of "Project VOTE" in 1992 was undertaken in direct partnership with ACORN. The tie between Project VOTE and ACORN is also something that Obama and others have attempted to disprove in recent weeks as ACORN has come under fire for allegations of voter registration fraud. As recently as March 2008, the Los Angeles Times also made reference to Barack Obama's involvement with ACORN: "At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff." (LA Times, March 2, 2008) All this information was easily pulled up with minimal time investment. It took less than thirty minutes to find, despite attempts by some to bury the truth. If I could find this with little effort, imagine what could be dug up with a serious, in-depth investigation. Scary, isn't it? Nevertheless, Barack Obama's campaign website continues to lie and deny the truth about his involvement and association with ACORN. No matter how many times you say it, it does not make it true. The facts do not lie, Senator Obama. It's time to come clean and tell the truth, and it's time for the American people to demand it. ***Update: A person who left a comment on the story below (thank you) has notified us that the Obama website has changed. We have done a follow up story that can be read following this link Here is our follow up story: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/7231 ***
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/politics/11acorn.html?em <nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "> On Obama, Acorn and Voter Registration </nyt_headline> <nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "> By STEPHANIE STROM </nyt_byline> <nyt_text> Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign on Friday stepped up its efforts to tie Senator Barack Obama to a community organizing group that has been accused of involvement in problematic voter registrations in several hotly contested states, including Colorado, Indiana, Nevada and North Carolina. The group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, has long been a favorite target of conservatives. It made news this year when it was revealed that a brother of Acorn’s founder had embezzled almost $1 million from the organization but that Acorn had failed to disclose the theft for eight years. “Barack Obama has made very inconsistent remarks about what his relationship with this organization is,” Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, said in a conference call. Mr. Davis said Mr. Obama had worked as Acorn’s lawyer and conducted training events for its leaders. He also noted a payment the Obama campaign made in February to an Acorn affiliate, Citizens Services Inc. While Mr. Obama did represent Acorn in a lawsuit in 1995, Acorn was on the same side as the Justice Department. The training events involved two hours of work. And the payment to the Acorn affiliate was reported in campaign filings, although they had to be revised because of an error. The Obama campaign described the accusations as a spurious effort to tie Mr. Obama to potentially fraudulent voter registrations. “Barack Obama strongly condemns voter registration fraud or any other breach of election law by any party or group,” Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement. Acorn, whose political action committee has endorsed Mr. Obama, has said that the investigations into its voter registration work are politically motivated. “Rumors of Acorn’s voter fraud have been greatly exaggerated and to a large extent manufactured,” Bertha Lewis, the organization’s interim chief organizer, or chief executive, said Monday in a conference call to announce that the organization had registered 1.3 million people to vote. Ms. Lewis said it was Acorn itself that informed state officials about some questionable registrations collected by its employees that are now under investigation. Acorn said it had terminated the workers involved. In 1995, Mr. Obama was on a team of lawyers that represented Acorn in a lawsuit to compel Illinois to comply with federal laws intended to enhance access to the polls. The team also represented Equip for Equality, a group that promotes the rights of the disabled, and four individuals. Mr. Davis said that as their lawyer, Mr. Obama had “an intimate relationship” with Acorn “against the State of Illinois and the federal government.” In fact, the Justice Department was on the same side as Acorn in the lawsuit, as were other organizations, including the League of Women Voters. Those plaintiffs won the case. Mr. Davis urged reporters to question Mr. Obama about training sessions he had done for Acorn. “What were you teaching them?” Mr. Davis asked. “Were you teaching them how to evade the law?” Lewis Goldberg, a spokesman for Acorn, said Mr. Obama conducted two leadership training sessions of roughly an hour each for Acorn’s Chicago affiliate over a three-year period in the late 1990s. He was not paid for that work, Mr. Goldberg said. Even before Friday’s conference call, Republicans had made much of an $832,598 payment made in February by the Obama campaign to Citizens Services Inc., a consulting firm affiliated with Acorn. “This organization is not just related to but deeply ingrained in the Acorn organization, a front group for Acorn,” Mr. Davis said. The Obama campaign initially reported that the payment was for “staging, sound, lighting” and other advance work when it reported its expenditures with the Federal Election Commission. It filed amended reports in August and September to reflect that those payments were for get-out-the-vote efforts. Mr. Davis contended that the original filing was an effort to “hide the fact” that money was paid to Acorn. But F.E.C. officials have said such amended filings are common. Citizens Services typically contracts with Acorn and its affiliates for work like that done for the Obama campaign. Mr. Goldberg, the Acorn spokesman, said that less than $80,000 of the Obama campaign’s payment to Citizens Services went to Acorn. Jeff Robinson, executive vice president of Citizens Services, did not return a call inquiring how the rest of the money was spent. In 1992, Mr. Obama was personally involved in voter registration efforts when he served as director of Project Vote in Chicago, helping to register 150,000 voters on the South Side. His success was widely written about at the time and credited with helping to elect Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first African-American woman in the Senate. Mr. LaBolt emphasized that Project Vote and Acorn were not as intertwined at that time as they are today, when a significant part of Project Vote’s revenues flow to Acorn and various of its affiliates as payment for services. But according to Sam Graham-Felsen, who blogs on the Obama campaign’s Web site, Mr. Obama himself linked his 1992 work to Acorn in a meeting with Acorn’s leaders in November. “Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drives in Illinois, Acorn was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work,” Mr. Obama said, according to a post Mr. Graham-Felsen made in February. <nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_text>
CNN Exposes How ACORN Steals Votes For Democrats [video=youtube;gkUKOSnv2zY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkUKOSnv2zY[/video]
