The Way the ACORN Crumbles

Activist group will disband due to money problems

This nut has finally cracked.

On Monday, ACORN announced that its remaining state affiliates and field offices will be closed by April 1 due to falling revenues, reports the Associated Press.

And no, that's not an April Fool's joke.

"It's really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need," ACORN spokesperson Kevin Whelan said.

Six months ago, the organization—the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now—faced public embarrassment when conservative activists released some damning evidence. A hidden camera recorded ACORN workers giving tax advice to a fake pimp and prostitute.

Does velour count as a work expense?

Since then, large affiliates like ACORN New York and ACORN California broke away and changed their names to distance themselves from the scandal, according to the AP.

Also, Congress pulled federal funding, and several private donors backed away from the whole mess.

"ACORN has faced a series of well-orchestrated, relentless, well-funded right wing attacks that are unprecedented since the McCarthy era," Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN, told the AP. "The videos were a manufactured, sensational story that led to rush to judgment and an unconstitutional act by Congress."

How does that saying go? "There's no such thing as bad publicity." We're sure ACORN would disagree.

Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.

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