Getting caught: ACORN bigshots try spin to shift attention away

It is a time-honored trick that those who get caught use when they want public attention to be diverted elsewhere -- and public opinion to swing their way.

They spin.

And in ACORN's case, the way to explain away the advisers who told two undercover filmmakers the ins and outs of setting up a brothel -- on camera -- has been to suggest a sting, and an unfair one at that.

Well, yeah, that is what happened.

But, more importantly, you got caught -- hiring unqualified and dishonest workers, not policing the employees you have and having no mechanism in place to justify the millions of dollars you have raked in from the federal government in the name of helping the downtrodden.

And, by the way, someone should demand every penny of that money back -- right now. Severing ties is simply not enough. A full out investigation of this group and its activities is a necessity, not an option.

Groups that take money in the name of supporting the efforts of those who are trying to escape poverty, which then in turn steal it by providing little or no services, or less than viable information or incompetent advisers, are worse than those they criticize for not helping the poor enough.

It is time to clean up the rolls of those who take government funds to assist poor Americans -- and to divert the money to organizations that can justify the difference they are making.

Once ACORN is cleaned off the books, there will be lots more money for those who are doing the job right.

Published in Editorials on September 22, 2009 10:17 AM