Bottom line: ACORN has been improperly coordinating with and operating as an arm of the Obama campaign, and "the Senator from ACORN"'s involvement with ACORN has been much more than his lawful representation of ACORN in the motor voter case years ago.
Anita MonCrief is likeable as well as brave, bright, young, maternal, passionate, artistic and black. But now ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and the Obama campaign need to destroy her because Anita's not an ACORN slave and Anita decided to reveal what ACORN and the Obama campaign want to conceal.
A couple of years ago, Anita, then a young idealist, posted this simple description of herself online:
"I am 27 years old and live in Maryland. I am engaged to a wonderful, creative and talented man who is my inspiration and my muse. We are expecting our first child in September and I can not wait to be a mom.
"I attended the University of Alabama where I majored in political science and history. I was one of the founding members of the Alabama Model United Nations, and I have even traveled to Canada to promote understanding of the United Nations System.
"As an intern for the American Bar Association, I assisted in the creation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Assessment Index. Also, while at the ABA I was assigned the task of coordinating the 2002 ABA Annual Meeting including an awards ceremony for the president of Croatia, Stejpan Mesic.
"I went on to intern with the International Crisis Group where I performed key research on Russia and the burgeoning AID's epidemic there.
"In 2002, I partnered with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and went to Macedonia as an election observer to maintain stability during the crucial presidential election of that year.
"Currently as a member of the Project Vote staff, I work with grassroots organizers across the country to register low-income and minority voters, I am also is working with the Brennan Center for Justice on important legislation in Maryland to protect voting rights."
Thanks be to God, Anita chose life and is now the loving mother of a two-year old who was born prematurely...and bravely sharing information that the public needs to know before Election Day 2008.
On October 13, 2006, Anita happily posted this message online: "Today was a really great day. Addison got her RSV shots on Friday and she weighed in at six pounds! I was so excited because that past Saturday she was 5.2lbs. She has never gained that much weight in a week's time. Since her doctor's appointment she has been very alert and perky. We played and sang songs. The singing, by the way was prompted by hiccups. I always feel so helpless when she has the hiccups, so I began to sing to her. After a couple of minutes the hiccups stopped and she began to look around. I sometimes get the hiccups if I am excited (like on roller coasters and haunted houses) I wonder if this could be the same for her. In the NICU whenever we would visit her I could always tell when she was over stimulated because she would start hiccupping. If we pulled the blanket down over her isolette she would stop and drift off to sleep. I may be reading more into it, but her personality has been so distinct since birth that I kind of follow her cues."
A week later, Anita reported: "Addison is really starting to fill out. I was putting away her all of her too small micro preemie clothes and I could not help but glance at her and laugh. She was smiling up at me and kicking her legs. Its hard to believe how fast she is growing. Everyday is a new experience for us. I bundled her up, covered her stroller and took her to a political rally with Bill Clinton yesterday. Every time I peaked at her she was smiling happily and I was glad to have her with me while we worked for change."
Anita is an artist too and her art reflects a combination of Far Left views and passion.
Anita's preface to "Regeneration: Art by PhoenixRising'" explained: "In 2003 I met a muse who opened my eye to my potential as an artist. The following work is a sample of my collection of socially conscience collages. I try to see the world through the collective eyes of my community. Poverty, struggle and death have captured a lot of souls and transformed many more."
Anita titled and described some of her artwork as follows:
"Decline" The decline of civilization through the realization of capitalism
"Conviction" During the civil rights and Black Panther era "conviction" meant strength of character and a devotion to fight for freedom. Today "conviction" means entrapment in a system designed to eliminate a population based on economic disproportions.
"America The Beautiful" The chain of events that set 9/11 in motion Outside my Window"
"Outside my Window" illustrates the true face of the American people. The photos represent the struggling people of color ruled by a small faction of the population who consider us expendable.
"Capital" This photomontage deals with the deplorable conditions in the nation's capital Washington, D.C. and our financial capital in New York City. I used DC and NYC to indicate the downward spiral of African Americans all over the country. The images of drugs, Poverty, homelessness, hopelessness, and disease are just the extreme factors that contribute to the destruction of our community.
"One Way" This photo collage is dedicated to the late Tupac Shakur, but the underlying issues deal with race, poverty and the prisons we call "ghetto's" and "projects."
It's not surprising that Anita left Alabama and a job with T-Mobile USA to become part of the ACORN world in October 2005. ACORN wanted Anita's skills and passion and Anita wanted to make a better world.
Anita was hired by Project Vote as a development associate. The department in which Anita worked is the Strategic Writing and Research department of Acorn Political Operations, which serves as an internal consulting arm for Acorn Political, informally and off the record work. Anita designed ACORN's 2005, 2006 and 2007 Political Operations year end PowerPoint presentations.
Here is a link to a 2007 story from Politico.com: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4664.html. "Addie" is Anita's baby in the story and Anita is the one on the megaphone doing the chanting. As Anita emailed me, "I lived and breathed ACORN with every fiber of my being at the time because I thought that I was doing something to make the world better for Addie.
But Anita learned what ACORN really was about and Anita and ACORN had a falling out.
Of that, there is absolutely no doubt.
What does Anita know that ACORN does not want the public to know, especially before Election Day 2008?
Plenty!
Anita made the following statements (basis or basis set forth in parenthesis at end):
1. Project Vote has violated its 501(c)(3) status by using government and private grants that ultimately go directly or indirectly to ACORN (based on direct knowledge).
2. ACORN, Project Vote and Citizens Services Inc. (CSI) are essentially the same organization with different tax designations that are used to facilitate the transfer of money between them (based on direct and indirect knowledge).
3. ACORN has promoted a culture of dishonesty motivated by reaching target Voter Registration goals and senior staff have portrayed an attitude that allows for some "bad" cards in order to reach these goals (based on direct and indirect knowledge).
4. Karyn Gillette, Project Vote Development Director, Jeff Robinson, senior Project Vote "money man" and Nathan Henderson James, Project Vote Research and Political Director are all employed by CSI and may have worked directly with anyone seeking the services of CSI and money paid to CSI would have obvious ACORN ties (based on direct and indirect knowledge and documents).
5. Zach Polett, former Executive Director of Project Vote and former director of ACORN Political Operations mentioned that Obama had worked for us and that he even supervised him during a ACORN Political staff retreat in November 2007 (based on direct knowledge).
Obama in the last presidential debate: "My only involvement I've had with ACORN was I represented them alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs."
That's a lie, not a fact.
Yes, Obama represented ACORN in that lawsuit and the Clinton Justice Department predictably sided with ACORN.
But that was NOT Obama's only involvement with ACORN.
And Obama looked into the camera during the last presidential debate and flat out lied to the American people about it (in his calm, seemingly non-threatening manner).
ACORN is the organization with which Obama has been associated throughout his adult life, as organizer, trainer, lawyer, funder and political beneficiary...and Obama's Achilles heel.
Anita reports revealing connections between ACORN and the Obama campaign based on personal knowledge.
In late 2007, Anita reports, Anita received a call from the Obama campaign asking if this was the same Project Vote that Obama worked for in the 90's. With the staff retreat fresh in mind, Anita answered yes and sent an email to Zach Polett, Karyn Gillette, Nathan Henderson James, and Kevin Whelan stating that the campaign wanted someone to call them back regarding some media questions that were being asked at the time.
In late 2007, Anita reports, Karyn Gillette approached Anita to tell her that she had direct contact with the Obama campaign and had obtained their donor lists. This meeting took place sometime in November of 2007 and may have even been a conference call between the campaign and Project Vote. Anita was given an excel spreadsheet to work with for cultivation of new donors. When Anita had trouble because of the duplicates, Karyn stated that she would contact her person at the campaign and see if they had another one.
Anita reports that Karyn Gillette also provided lists obtained from the Kerry and Clinton campaigns, as well as the 2004 DNC donor lists, and that these lists were shared with the Political directors of roughly 12 ACORN battleground states in order to raise money for a $28 million dollar (number as of 11/2007) voter registration drive (based on direct and indirect knowledge and documents).
Anita reports that research uncovered after the Radke embezzlement scandal showed that persons demanded a forensic audit and suggested a well-known, credible firm to do it, but Bertha Lewis told them that the auditors came back with a contract that was "too expensive" and that's what Dale Radke told funders back when they were hoping Arthur Anderson would take over auditing (based on indirect knowledge and documents).
Anita reports that ACORN and Project Vote used CCI to transfer money between the organizations and may be guilty of violating RICO statues (based on indirect knowledge and documents).
Anita reports that Sidley Austin, Obama's old law firm, is representing ACORN pro-bono and Mesirow Financial, the firm hired to provide financial advice to ACORN, is headed by a major Obama donor, Richard Mesirow (based on indirect knowledge and documents).
Anita also notes that questions have been raised about the shredding or destruction of documents by ACORN's own lawyers (based on documents).
Bottom line: ACORN has been improperly coordinating with and operating as an arm of the Obama campaign, and "the Senator from ACORN"'s involvement with ACORN has been much more than his lawful representation of ACORN in the motor voter case years ago.
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.