Was ACORN involved with Obama campaign violations during the Democratic primary?

After I reported that Los Angeles NOW president Shelly Mandell endorsed Sarah Palin, I became curious about other prominent Clinton supporters who were crossing Democratic party lines and voting for McCain. One of the more striking endorsers is Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a member of the Democratic Platform Committee.
More digging led me to the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) and Just Say No Deal. These are people who worked for Hillary Clinton during the primaries but who have decided not to support Barack Obama in the general election.
One such Hillary supporter is Diane Mantouvalos. Ms. Mantouvalos manages the Just Say No Deal website and related activities. In speaking with her, she outlined some of her reasons she was not going to support Barack Obama.
In ideological terms, Ms. Mantouvalos sees the ascendance of Obama as a move from the center toward the far left. She said, “I do not believe Obama will abandon 20 years of socialist mentoring and govern from the center.” Centrist Democrats such as herself find John McCain more appealing than the liberal Obama.
Regarding the primary campaign, Ms. Mantouvalos pointed out that Obama ran a campaign that led to the Clinton camp filing complaints with state officials. For instance, here is a letter signed by Lyn Utrecht, Clinton campaign lawyer to the Nevada state Democratic party chair detailing multiple unethical tactics during the Nevada caucus.
The letter begins:

Dear Chair Derby:
I write on behalf of Hillary Clinton for President (”the Committee”) in regard to the January 19, 2008 Nevada Democratic Caucus. The Committee is aware of a letter addressed to you today from the Obama for America campaign requesting an inquiry into the conduct of the caucuses. The Committee shares the Obama campaign’s concern that full participation in the democratic process may have been compromised by the substantial number of irregularities occurring at the caucuses, and we fully support a complete inquiry by the Nevada State Democratic Party (the ”Party”) into all caucus improprieties.
This letter is not intended as a response to the Obama campaign’s letter. However, in the interest of a complete record, and in contrast to the alleged minor procedural problems noted by the Obama campaign, the Committee wishes to bring to your attention information we have received evidencing a premeditated and predesigned plan by the Obama campaign to engage in systematic corruption of the Party’s caucus procedures. Compounding this blatant distortion of the caucus rules was an egregious effort by the Obama campaign to manipulate the voter registration process in its own favor, thereby disenfranchising countless voters. Finally, the Committee has received a vast number of reliable reports of voter suppression and intimidation by the Obama campaign or its allies.

Ms. Mantouvalos says there is reason to believe that those allies were sometimes people involved with ACORN.
She noted that the FEC is investigating the $832,598.29 Obama paid to ACORN affiliate, Citizen Services, Inc., for various voter services. She said eyewitnesses saw Obama supporters bussed in to caucus locations from outside the area and that ACORN was often involved in the organizing.
In fact, acting on another tip, I looked for announcements calling for ACORN help in the OBAMA campaign. Here is a February 21, 2008 blog post from Writes Like She Talks which contains a call from ACORN for volunteers to work in the OBAMA campaign. None of this proves ACORN perpetrated any of the abuses listed by Utrecht but it does indicate that supposedly non-partisan ACORN has been involved in the OBAMA campaign.

GOTV for Obama! Ohio ACORN is doing a Get Out The Vote project with the OBAMA Campaign. Ohio ACORN is hiring canvassers to go door to door encouraging voters to vote for Barak Obama.
ACORN is hiring in Cleveland (216)431-3905 , Columbus (614)425-9491, Cincinnati (513)221-1737, for Dayton (call Cincinnati), and for Toledo call Cleveland. Or email [email protected] and your inquiry will be routed to the appropriate person in each of these cities. Intake and training will be held daily at local ACORN offices. Canvass begins on Wednesday Feb. 27th and will work through election day. Please, only persons wishing to work all or most of these days (Saturday and Sunday included) should inquire.
Please do not contact the Obama campaign directly regarding this post as they are not the organization doing the hiring and it will only distract their staff and volunteers from the other important work they are doing on behalf of Senator Obama.
Good luck.

Furthermore, Newsmax is reporting that a total of 4 whistleblowers have come forward to claim that federal money given to ACORN’s housing affiliate has ended up supporting the voting initiatives. My understanding is that two new affidavits from former ACORN insiders will go up on the website of the Consumers Rights League today or tomorrow. What is at issue is whether taxpayer money has gone toward partisan political campaigning. There are many loose ends.
The number of states where ACORN is under investigation is now in the double-digits. Ms. Mantouvalos is concerned that what happened in the primaries may happen in some form in the election. One hopes that John Fund is not correct when he worries that election day may again turn into election month. However, if Ms. Mantouvalos and Ms. Utrecht’s concerns are accurate, we may indeed be in for painful process of sorting out who voted and how often they voted.
UPDATE: Another Ohio blog has the same email linking ACORN with the Obama campaign. Gateway Pundit has this link also with lots more on ACORN.

19 thoughts on “Was ACORN involved with Obama campaign violations during the Democratic primary?”

  1. Hey Lynn David –
    I don’t know if you are aware of the legal voting age or not, but your comment leads me to believe you don’t really care about the legality of votes anyway. Last I checked, the “school children of America” weren’t old enough to vote.

  2. Many thanks to Dr. Throckmorton, Diane M. and Lynn de R…and to Nancy Armstrong, Drew Griffin, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and Dr. Jerome Corsi and Dr. Lynette Long, and to everyone else who has seen through this imposter and poseur whose only certainty is that he will bring the America we knew and loved to death throes if he gets anywhere near the White House. In a climate where main stream media has abandoned its responsibility to inform objectively, all we can do is supercede those who wallow in the trough of corruption and spread the truth.

  3. The blatent ballot stuffing and shameless ambition for power started back in IL! We are doing everything within our means to contact our election officials and demand they withhold early ballots, on-line voting and other fraudulent acts and organizations, separate from the general election ballots! So there is no election month! OBAMA is definately tied to the ACORN organization as well as known anti-American terrorists. Find out about his relationship to ODINGA! America wake up! His corruption started in Chicago! I know! I live here and have watched it all go down with the media doing nothing! I wouldn’t be at all surprised that he cheated or paid his way in the door anywhere. We don’t even know if he’s a citizen and here he is running for President after 173 whole days in the seat? Somethings rotten in America?

  4. 700 Billion Baleout caused by ACORN and the Democrats. Why should my family pay for this. We are not! I say let Franklin Raines (90 millinon dollars of our money!!!), Barney Frank and Chris Dodd give all the money back they made off this mortgage scam.
    Americans better wake up. After Fannie and Freddie crumbling, Barney Frank comes out yesterday and says Fannie and Freddie shouldn’t have made mortgages to people who really can’t afford them. People like that should rent!!!!!!!!!! Frank, Obama, Dodd and ACORN intimidated individuals, sent people to American’s homes, and intimidated them!!!!!!!!!!!
    700 Billion Dollars later, he comes up with that? We all knew that, didn’t we?
    We need to throw these bums out!!!

  5. LOL Lynn! 🙂 I think its interesting that Warren doesn’t seem to want to talk about the McCain or Palin scandals.

  6. Hurry up, Warren. You already lost the school children of America’s vote by a landslide, Obama 57% – McCain 39%. But all is not lost, they’ve only been right something like 15 of the last 17 elections, you’ve still got a 12% chance. So keep digging your holes, but careful the sides don’t cave in on you.
    Perhaps you should go to PrayForMcCainPalin.com – but even their poll has turned 9-1 against McCain-Palin.

  7. Thank you Warren for putting this well-researched piece together…clearly there is a much bigger story than meets the eye…and thanks to Renaissance Lady for unearthing the CSI connex earlier in the summer…more will come out soon…
    The bloggers have been relentless on this subject, but without media coverage it goes nowhere. Thank Heavens for FOX and now, CNN’s Drew Griffin … I’ve posted his coverage from the Situation Room….he’s gaining major traction after his Anderson Cooper / Lou Dobbs Appearances & Investigative Reporting….becoming a bit of a cult hero to PUMAs.
    God Knows We Need Those Right Now! Hang Tough PUMAS!

  8. I cannot help but believe Michelle Obama has been behind so many of these things Barak Obama became involved with or voted on. He is a follower, not a leader. She might have softened her image but not her character.

  9. yea i think so to this is just the tip of the iceburg . one wonders what other shadythings obama & his obama-sheep have going on .

  10. shame on obama camp and acorn. his budgets may be huge with money to burn on extravagance. but now the american taxpayer will be burdened with the cost of sorting out this mess. he might have thought we were too stupid to connect the dots. based on the lemings among his followers, that might have been a valid assumption. but the rest of us care about a fair process and hard work.

  11. It’s good the American people are realizing the connection between Obama and ACORN. Obama is getting exposed to the American people for who he really is. Americans are on to him now.

  12. hillary supporters and republicans are beginning to connect the dots on barack obama and his campaign’s dirty (and possibly criminal) tactics. We have no doubt, based on what we witnessed on the Campaign Trail during the Primaries, that the thuggery (especially in caucus locations) was orchestrated – we were never able to prove it – and it wasn’t until we all came together under the “JUST SAY NO DEAL” Coalition and had the opportunity to ‘compare notes’ that we realized this…..
    unfortunately, at that point, it was too late for Hillary.
    but it is NOT too late for John McCain – HE MUST SLAP OBAMA HARD ON ALL OF THIS : ACORN/AYERS – and all that these associations represent and influence – PAST – PRESENT AND FUTURE!
    But we are just citizen journalists here – angry voters-turned-activists …. we have no power …
    but for our VOTES!

  13. You know it’s time for Americans to put an end to this Acorn and to the abuses of Obama camp, and the DNC.
    I can believe that they rigged the primaries now! I’m screaming mad!

  14. This is like a scavenger hunt, you keep finding more connections the more you dig. But the bottom line is to follow the money- and you will find Obama.
    He needs to be stopped before he destroys this county.
    I too supported Hillary and would have supported most of the other dems who were in it early on, however, Obama is not experience to lead, his experience in these subversive acts scare me

  15. I live in Chicago…..The politics are dirty and low here and Obama has been at the heart of it for 14 years.
    Michele Obama, head of Student Activities, steered countless students from UIC to ACORN and other organizations that directly benefited her husbands career. She even introduced them to William Ayers.
    I am not surprised that Obama funneled money to Acorn to register dead voters, underage voters, and multiple voters, FOR HIM and FOR HIM only.

  16. Acorn has been involved during the primaries and now into voter fraud and the financial crisis. It’s about time to shut down ACORN for once for all and no funding period. It time to unite and fight back and protect our God given right to vote.

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