More Than Just A Few Reforms Needed

(CNN) — Community organizing group ACORN needs wide-ranging reforms after an embezzlement scandal, but broke no laws when conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp approached members in a videotaped “sting,” an attorney’s report concludes.

The videos led to the dismissal of four ACORN employees who appeared to offer advice to the couple and to federal legislation barring the group from receiving federal funds. But a review by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, who was hired by ACORN to examine the issue, found “no evidence that any action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by ACORN employees on behalf of the videographers.”

“While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff,” Harshbarger’s report concludes. “In fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers.”

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, was founded in 1970 to help the poor find government benefits and housing, but became the focus of conservative complaints as a result of its voter registration drives. ACORN has been accused of filing fraudulent voter registration forms in 11 states, and Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, warned that the organization could be “destroying the fabric of democracy.”

Most of the allegations concern fraudulent forms submitted by temporary ACORN employees hired to register voters in poor and minority areas. None of the allegations relate to fraudulent voting, and ACORN said it initiated a Florida investigation that resulted in 11 registration fraud arrests.

In August, conservative activists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles dressed up as a pimp and prostitute and visited ACORN offices seeking advice on setting up a brothel, among other scenarios. They secretly recorded their visits on video and posted them on the Web site Big Government, leading to a media firestorm. The group also is still reeling from an embezzlement scandal that led to the ouster of its founder, Wade Rathke, in 2008.

$5M ACORN Embezzlement

From FOXNews

BATON ROUGE, La. — An internal review by ACORN’s board of directors found that $5 million was embezzled from the community organization, far more than the previously reported amount of $1 million, according to documents released Monday.

The new amount was reported in a subpoena from the investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported. It is unclear if the money was taken from state, federal or private funds, according to the subpoena.

ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new embezzlement allegation is “completely false.” She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have a chance to review the subpoena, which was released Monday.

Caldwell issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to ACORN International then-President Wade Rathke and his brother, Dale Rathke, who kept the group’s books. Those subpoenas targeted possible violations of state employee tax law, obstruction of justice and violations of the Employee Retirement Security Act.