The popular activist, running for re-election (she'd won the previous election with a landslide 82% of the vote), was a sure thing to keep her seat.
But on the day after New Year's 1996, a small army of lawyers filed into the hearing room of the Chicago Board of Elections. In a blink, Alice Palmer's name had been struck from the ballot.
So, too, were the names of three other candidates on the Democratic primary ballot — all eliminated on the basis of minor "violations," most of them as picayune as not crossing a "t" or failure to dot an "i."
When the dust settled only a single name remained on the ballot: Barack Hussein Obama. He "swept" to victory... unopposed.
Here is the documented history of that series of events, including quotes from Obama:
Alice J. Palmer (born June 20, 1939) is an American educator and former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate.[1] Known as a longtime progressive activist, Palmer represented the state's 13th senate district from June 6, 1991 until January 8, 1997.[2][3] At the time, the district spanned an economically diverse area and included the Chicago communities of Hyde Park, South Shoreand Englewood.[3]
First appointed to fill the vacant seat of retired state senator Richard J. Newhouse, Jr., Palmer successfully ran for election in 1992 and served a four-year term that ended on January 8, 1997.[4][5]She ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1995.
Palmer began her teaching career in Indianapolis then moved to Chicago to teach at Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago.[2] She earned an M.A. in urban studies from Roosevelt University, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from Northwestern University.[2][1] While working on her degree at Northwestern, Palmer co-authored two books and tutored. She then took a position at Northwestern as Associate Dean and Director of African American Student Affairs for five years.[2]
She became involved in a national voter education movement then founded the Chicago YMCA Youth and Government Program in 1986.[2] In addition, she was executive director of Chicago Cities in Schools.[2] In the late 1980s she was on the board of the Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa, an anti-apartheid group.[6]
Palmer was appointed to the Illinois state senate in June 1991 to fill the remainder of the term of longtime state senator, Richard J. Newhouse, Jr., who had retired.[4] She successfully ran for election in 1992 and served a four-year term that ended on January 8, 1997.[4][5]
While in the state senate, Palmer initially served on the committees for Appropriations, Commerce and Economic Development, Elementary and Secondary Education and Higher Education,[1] rising to vice chairperson of Commerce and Economic Development.[5] Later in her tenure, she served on the State Government Operations and the Economic and Fiscal commissions, and was a member of the Legislative Bureau and the Legislative Information Systems committee.[7]
In July 1995, seven months after launching an exploratory fundraising committee for a U.S. congressional run, Palmer announced she would run to replace U.S. Representative Mel Reynolds who was then under indictment for sex crimes. She also said that she would not seek reelection to the Illinois state senate in 1996.[8][9][10] Shortly afterward, Barack Obama, who had never held political office to-date, launched his campaign committee for Palmer's Illinois state senate seat.[10]
Following Reynolds' conviction and resignation from the U.S. House in August 1995, a special election primary was set for November 1995 to replace Reynolds. In September 1995, Palmer supporters held a press conference asking other announced and rumored candidates to drop out to allow Palmer to run in the special primary without opposition.[11]
On September 19, 1995 Barack Obama formally announced his candidacy for the state senate, with Palmer introducing and endorsing Obama as her successor, according to multiple accounts.[12][3] According to The New Yorker, Palmer's endorsement "brought with it two organizational assets: local operators and local activists".[13]
On November 28, 1995, after finishing a distant third behind Jesse Jackson, Jr. in the primary to replace Reynolds, a disappointed Palmer remarked that she still would not seek re-election to the state senate.[14] However, Palmer changed her mind and filed nominating petitions with 1,580 signatures on December 18, 1995—the last day for filing.[15] That day Obama told the Chicago Tribune, "I am disappointed that she's decided to go back on her word to me".[3]
In early January 1996, Obama challenged Palmer's hastily gathered petitions and those of the three other prospective Democratic candidates.[13] Nearly two-thirds of the signatures on Palmer's petitions were found to be invalid, leaving her almost 200 signatures short of the required 757 signatures of registered voters residing in the Illinois senate district. None of the other three prospective candidates had the required number of valid signatures—which left Obama, who had filed nominating petitions with over 3,000 signatures on the first filing day—as the only candidate to earn a place on the March 1996 Democratic primary ballot for the 13th district Illinois state senate.[16][3] In a 2007 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Obama said that the challenges were justified by obvious flaws in the signature sheets.[3]
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. At its peak ACORN had over 500,000 members and more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters[3] in over 100 cities across the U.S.,[4] as well as in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, and Peru.[5] ACORN was founded in 1970 by Wade Rathke and Gary Delgado.[6] It filed forChapter 7 liquidation on November 2, 2010, effectively closing the organization,[7] although many chapters and state-wide organizations continued work under different name(s).[8]
ACORN was shut down in the wake of the September 2009 release of selectively edited videos by two conservative activists including James O'Keefe using a hidden camera to elicit damaging responses from low-level ACORN employees that appeared to advise them how to hide prostitution activities and avoid taxes.[9] A nationwide controversy immediately ensued resulting in a loss of funding from government and private donors,[10][11][12] including a "defund ACORN" act passed by Congress. Following the publication of the videos, four different independent investigations by various state and city Attorneys General and the GAO released in 2009 and 2010 cleared ACORN, finding its employees had not engaged in criminal activities and that the organization had managed its federal funding appropriately, and calling the videos deceptively and selectively edited to present the workers in the worst possible light. Despite this, by March 2010, 15 of ACORN's 30 state chapters had already closed[10] and the group announced it was closing its remaining state chapters and disbanding.[13]
Voter registration
ACORN has conducted large-scale voter registration drives since at least the 1980s,[23] focusing primarily on registering poor and minority citizens.[24][25] During the 2008 election season, ACORN gathered over 1.3 million voter registration forms in 21 states. Some of these registration forms were flagged by ACORN's internal auditors for review by election officials. It was estimated by Project Vote that 400,000 registrations collected by ACORN were ultimately rejected, the vast majority for being duplicate registrations submitted by citizens (which is also common at government voter registration services according to reports on the National Voter Registration Act by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission). An unknown number of registrations were fraudulent, but Project Vote estimated that only a few percent were, based on past years and samples from some drives in 2008.[26] No official in states where voter registration drives were conducted have come forward with substantial numbers of fraudulent registrations. It was estimated by Project Vote that 450,000 of the registrations collected by ACORN represented first-time voters, while the remainder were address changes submitted by citizens updating their addresses.[26]
As required by law in most states, ACORN must submit all registration forms collected by its workers, including those flagged by ACORN as incomplete or suspicious. Fraudulent voter registrations are investigated at local, state, and federal levels, and have sometimes resulted in criminal convictions for ACORN employees. ACORN has fired employees for fraudulent registration practices and turned them over to authorities. As of 2006, ACORN was improving its fraud detection and reporting procedures, and cooperating with authorities in efforts to prosecute violators.[27][28][29][30] Jeff Ordower, ACORN's Midwest Director, observed, "There is no scenario where those people on problematic cards would show up at the polls."[31][32] Of 26,513 registrations submitted by ACORN over a nine-month period in San Diego County, California, 4,655 were initially flagged, but 2,806 of those were later validated - a 7% error rate - compared to usually less than 5% for voter drives by other organizations, according to county officials.[33]
In a case in Washington state where seven temporary employees of ACORN were charged with submitting fraudulent voter registrations, ACORN agreed to pay King County $25,000 for its investigative costs and acknowledged that the national organization could be subject to criminal prosecution if fraud occurs again. According to the prosecutor, the misconduct was done "as an easy way to get paid [by ACORN], not as an attempt to influence the outcome of elections."[28][34] In August 2008, ACORN caught, fired and reported employees Maria Miles and Kevin Clancy, who later pled guilty to repeatedly registering the names of the same registered voters.[35][36][37] In May 2009, six ACORN employees in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania pled guilty to charges of a combined total of 51 counts of forgery and other violations while registering voters during the 2008 election cycle.[38]
In plea deals in a 2009 Las Vegas case, former ACORN field director Amy Busefink and ACORN official Christopher Edwards pled guilty to "conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters" in connection with a quota system for paid registration staff.[39] Edwards was sentenced to a year's probation and agreed to testify for prosecutors in charges against ACORN and against Busefink, while Busefink appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court and challenged the constitutionality of the statute.[40][41] In April, 2011, ACORN entered a guilty plea to one count of felony compensation for registration of voters, for which they were fined $5000,[42] but did not concede that the law was constitutional.[41]
In addition to registering voters directly, ACORN has worked to remove systemic obstacles to voter registration. In 2006, it brought a lawsuit in federal court in Ohio against the Ohio Secretary of State, at that time Ken Blackwell, and the Director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. ACORN alleged that, during the period that included the 2004 United States election voting controversies, the defendants had committed multiple violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The district court dismissed the case, but that decision was reversed in 2008 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.[43] After extensive fact discovery in 2009, the parties agreed to a settlement, under which the defendants agreed to implement several measures to facilitate registration of low-income voters.[44][45][46] The Dayton Daily Newscharacterized the settlement as "accepting the thrust of [ACORN's] complaint."[47]
On March 19, 2010, The New York Times reported that ACORN was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy; 15 of the group's 30 state chapters had disbanded over the past six months, and other chapters (including the largest, in New York and California) renamed themselves and severed all ties to the national organization.[10] Two unnamed ACORN officials told the Times that the following weekend, a teleconference was planned to discuss a bankruptcy filing; "private donations from foundations to Acorn [had] all but evaporated," and the federal government had distanced itself from the group.[10] "[L]ong before the activist videos delivered what may become the final blow, the organization was dogged for years by financial problems and accusations of fraud."[10] "That 20-minute video ruined 40 years of good work," said Sonja Merchant-Jones, former co-chairwoman of ACORN's recently closed Maryland chapter. "But if the organization had confronted its own internal problems, it might not have been taken down so easily."[10]
On March 22, 2010, National ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan says the organization's board decided to close remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1 because of falling revenues.[62] Some other national operations will continue operating for at least several weeks before shutting for good.[63] On April 20, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis reported that ACORN was "still alive. We're limping along. We're on life support."[64]Lewis said that ACORN's annual budget had been reduced from $25 million to $4 million, and that its staff of 350 to 600 people had been reduced to four.[64] Lewis explained the controversies had left a stain on ACORN, "sort of like a scarlet letter," forcing the group to spend money defending itself against "one investigation after another."[64]
ACORN was a nonpartisan organization, but its legally separate political action arm frequently endorsed causes and candidates, including the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.[4][65][66][67] ACORN lobbied every Democratic National Convention since 1980[68] and had members elected as delegates to those conventions;[68] ACORN also lobbied at Republican conventions.[68] ACORN was criticized by Republicans for its support of Democratic candidates and for its general support of political positions that are more often favored by Democrats.[65]
In a report released in October 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General concluded that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias for political reasons after Iglesias failed to prosecute a New Mexico ACORN chapter. The report said claims Iglesias was fired for poor performance were not credible, and the "real reason for Iglesias's removal was the complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists about how Iglesias handled voter fraud [cases]."[69]
During the debate on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, some commentators claimed that a draft provision (omitted in the adopted bill) to give money to funds run by the US Department of the Treasurycould potentially lead to money flowing to groups like ACORN.[65][70] When asked how much money ACORN or other community groups would get, a spokesman for Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, said, "Absolutely none. All funds would go to state and local governments."[12] Critics also claimed that ACORN's complex organizational structure allowed it to escape public scrutiny.[71]
[edit]2008
ACORN was a political issue in the 2008 United States Presidential Election over allegations of conflict of interest and voter registration fraud. During the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary ACORN's national political action committee, ACORN Votes, endorsed Barack Obama.[72] Obama, with several other attorneys, had served as local counsel for ACORN in a 1995 voting rights lawsuit joined by the Justice Department and theLeague of Women Voters.[73][74] Obama's campaign hired an ACORN affiliate for $800,000 to conduct a get-out-the-vote effort during that primary,[75][76] but did not retain ACORN for the general presidential election.[75][76]
Throughout the election season, supporters of Republican candidates portrayed ACORN's submission of invalid voter registration applications as widespread vote fraud. In October 2008, the campaign for Republican presidential candidate John McCain released a Web-based advertisement claiming ACORN was responsible for "massive voter fraud," a point that Sen. McCain repeated in the final presidential debate. Factcheck.orgcalled this claim "breathtakingly inaccurate," but acknowledged that ACORN had problems with phony registrations.[77] The ads also claimed that home loan programs ACORN promoted were partly responsible for the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Newsweek and Factcheck.org also found these claims to be exaggerated and inaccurate.[78]
A poll released in November 2009 by the Public Policy Polling organization found that 52% of Republican Party members it surveyed, and 26% of respondents overall, believed in a conspiracy theory that ACORN "stole" the election for Barack Obama. The Democratic polling organization commented that this was somewhat higher than belief in the birther conspiracy theories.[79]
[edit]2008-2009
The New York Times reported on July 9, 2008, that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN's founder Wade Rathke, was found to have embezzled $948,607.50 from the group and affiliated charitable organizations back in 1999 and 2000.[80] ACORN executives decided to handle it as an internal matter, and did not inform most of the board members or law enforcement, and instead signed an enforceable restitution agreement with the Rathke family to repay the amount of the embezzlement. $210,000 has already been repaid, and a donor, Drummond Pike, has offered to pay the remaining debt.[81] The Times reported that, according to Wade Rathke, "the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a 'weapon' into the hands of enemies of ACORN, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to ACORN's often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers." A whistleblower revealed the embezzlement in 2008. On June 2, 2008, Dale Rathke was dismissed, and Wade stepped down as ACORN's chief organizer, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C.[80]
In September 2008, following revelations of Dale Rathke's embezzlement, two members of ACORN's national board of directors filed a lawsuit seeking to obtain financial documents and to force the organization to sever ties with Wade Rathke.[82] ACORN's executive committee voted unanimously to remove the two, "because their actions—such as releasing a confidential legal memo to the press—were damaging the organization."[83]
In October 2009, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell claimed in a subpoena that ACORN's board of directors found that a larger amount—$5 million—had been embezzled from the organization. Bertha Lewis, ACORN's CEO, said the allegation is false.[84] On November 6, following up on the subpoena, Caldwell served a search warrant at the ACORN headquarters in New Orleans.[85] Caldwell stated, "This is an investigation of everything—Acorn, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities."[86]
[edit]2009
Main article: ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy
The ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy started in September 2009 when conservative activists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe publicized selectively edited[87][88][89] hidden camera recordings throughFox News and Andrew Breitbart's website BigGovernment.com.[9] In the videos, Giles posed as a prostitute and O'Keefe posed as her boyfriend in order to elicit damaging responses from employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).[9] The videos were recorded over the summer of 2009 while visiting ACORN offices in eight[90] cities and purported to show low-level ACORN employees in several cities providing advice to Giles and O'Keefe on how to avoid taxes and detection by the authorities with regard to their plans to engage in tax evasion, human smuggling, and child prostitution.[91] After the videos were made public, the U.S. Congress voted to eliminate federal funding to ACORN. Although the resolutions were later nullified in a federal court ruling that the measure was an unconstitutional bill of attainder, on August 13, 2010, a federal appeals court upheld the congressional act that cut off federal funding for ACORN.[92][93][94][95] In March 2010, ACORN announced it would be closing its offices and disbanding due to loss of funding from government and private donors.[96]
On December 7, 2009, the former Massachusetts Attorney General, after an independent internal investigation of ACORN, found the videos that had been released appeared to have been edited, "in some cases substantially". He found no evidence of criminal conduct by ACORN employees, but concluded that ACORN had poor management practices that contributed to unprofessional actions by a number of its low-level employees.[97][98][99][100] On March 1, 2010, the District Attorney's office for Brooklyn determined that the videos were "heavily edited"[101] and concluded that there was no criminal wrongdoing by the ACORN staff in the videos from the Brooklyn ACORN office.[102][103] On April, 1, 2010, an investigation by the California Attorney General found the videos from Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernardino to be "heavily edited,"[9]and the investigation did not find evidence of criminal conduct on the part of ACORN employees.[9][89] On June 14, 2010, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its findings which showed that ACORN evidenced no sign that it, or any of its related organizations, mishandled any federal money they had received.[104][105]
As part of the effort by some chapters to stay afloat by severing ties with the national organization, California ACORN changed its name to Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment,[8][not in citation given] New York ACORN renamed itself New York Communities for Change,[10] and an offshoot of the ACORN organization called Acorn Housing changed its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America[114] yet has retained the same tax and employee identification numbers that it held under its former name.[115]
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