Topic category:  Government/Politics

The ACORN 8 are out to take control of ACORN from the current ACORN leadership by comparing ACORN to the United States Marines, claiming ACORN is a wonderful organization and criticizing the current ACORN leadership as a corrupt cabal that hijacked ACORN.

Michael McCray, ACORN 8 spokesperson: "In a way ACORN is like the 'Marines'. ACORN will go into areas where few (if any) traditional organizations will go and organize chapters. ACORN will protest, demonstrate and fight institutions which more traditional organizations shy away from – like banks, corporations and high ranking politicians. So if you are a poor or working class person and you have a serious grievance against the 'establishment' but you can’t call Johnnie Cochran – you better call ACORN. They are the only chance you have."

Bulletin for Mr. McCray: Comparing ACORN to the America's heroic Marines is malicious and Mr. Cochran is dead.

Mr. McCray: "I believe ACORN has been hijacked by a cabal of individuals who are acting in their own interest."

But (1) there has not been any hijacking, (2) like the current ACORN control group, the ACORN 8 are acting in their own interest, and (3) ACORN remains the subversive organization that it was founded by Wade Rathke to be (although Mr. Rathke's formal ties to ACORN were severed after 38 years as a result of the public disclosure of the ACORN embezzlement scandal and its cover up).

In "'Margy the Teacher' Appreciated the ACORN Threat," posted on October 24, 2008, I provided some revealing ACORN history:

“'Margy the Teacher' knew what ACORN (Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now) was about back in the 1970’s."

"Margy served on a local school board in Texas from 1978 to 1985 and took her responsibilities seriously.

"In 1980, Margy testified before the Texas State Board of Education, objecting to a page about ACORN in a book titled 'Comparing Political Behavior,' published by Prentice-Hall.

"Margy had read the Houston Post, now defunct, and kept a copy of an article about ACORN published in the May 6, 1979 edition.

"That article is titled 'Group hopes to gain control of U.S. power' and begins with the ACORN recruiting song: 'Aren’t you tired of seein’ the way that your own country’s being run? For the sake of Monster Profit, they would even steal your son. And if you think it’s bad, well, buster, you can bet it will grow worse. So you better start to organize, or empty out your purse!'

"The lead sentence of the article reported: 'ACORN organizers are taught to be ever aware their goal is to create a massive political pressure group which ultimately will take over the full operation of this country—for the benefit of ‘low-to-moderate-income’ Americans.'"

"The article quoted from a 40-page booklet, Community Organizing: Handbook 2,' issued in 1977 by the Arkansas Institute for Social Justice and drawn 'particularly from the ACORN model.'

"The ACORN philosophy is stated unambiguously: 'Behind the organization’s concern with these issues is a basic understanding which says that all these issues are mere manifestations of a much more fundamental issue: The distribution of power in this country.'

"The article describes issues as 'vehicle[s] toward the[e] goal,' and the goal as 'building power through the organization of a low-to-moderate income majority.'

"Article:

'One of the more candid discussions of ACORN’s involvement in electoral politics is found in the reminiscence of John Beam who coordinated the efforts of the justices of the peace ACORN was instrumental in electing to the Pulaski County Arkansas Quorum Court, the budget-making body the handbook calls the country’s largest legislative body.

'Beam noted that the 175 ACORN endorsees who were elected had the potential for real power as the court—whose membership has since been shrunk considerably—frequently had trouble assembling a quorum of 234 members.

'"The task for the members, leaders and staff of ACORN was to translate this potential into some sort of change…The ACORN members elected to the court were not experienced politicians. Their legislative skills ranged from minimal PTA sophistication to functional illiteracy. What they shared in common was a loyalty to ACORN and its version of a fairer deal for low to moderate income people.'

"In April 1979, ACORN advertised for organizers in 'Mother Jones,' a magazine named after '[p]ioneer socialist Mary Harris "Mother" Jones,' on the same page as the Marxist Guardian, the Anarchist Cookbook and 'readable radical scholarship' were advertised.

"That textbook to which 'Margy the Teacher' objected had a full 'ACORN and Citizenship' page lauding ACORN, deeming 1970 'memorable' because Wade Rathke and other organized ACORN, and concluding: 'Does your community have an organization similar to ACORN? If it does, briefly describe the organization and what it has accomplished. If there is no such organization in your community, think about whether one is needed and the kinds of concerns it could tackle.'

"'Margy the Teacher' also objected to a high school government textbook titled American Political Behavior that recommended Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, an ACORN bible.

"Mr. Alinsky actually suggested using blacks as 'natural stink bombs' so that '[t]he law would be completely paralyzed.'

"From p. 139 of Rules for Radicals: 'I suggested that we might buy one hundred seats for one of Rochester’s symphony concerts. We would select a concert in which the music was relatively quiet. The hundred blacks who would be given the tickets would first be treated to a three-hour pre-concert dinner in the community, in which they would be fed nothing but baked beans, and lots of them; then the people would go to the symphony hall—with obvious consequences. Imagine the scene when the action began! The concert would be over before the first movement! (If this be a Freudian slip—so be it!)'

"The last sentence on p. 139 opined that if Alinsky's 'natural stink bomb' attack were to be executed, '[t]he law would be completely paralyzed.'"

A noble-sounding mission statement does not an honorable organization make.

Mr. McCray cited the ACORN embezzlement scandal that finally became public last year as the reason for a leadership change.

Mr. McCray:

"...the multi-million embezzlement and 8 year cover up has to lead the list of egregious illegal conduct. The embezzlement was publicly reported to be $1 million, however the board was notified that the true number was at least $5 million.

"Senior Staff and the Executive Committee knew about the embezzlement and covered it up for eight years.

"We believe that any [who] participated in, benefited from or knew about and withheld information about the embezzlement from the board should be terminated and/or removed from any association with ACORN. We demanded a forensic examination and independent financial audit of ACORN and all of its related entities to ferret out the wrongdoers."

Tellingly, Mr. McCray did NOT complain about keeping the information from prosecutors and the public.

Perhaps that is because ACORN 8 leaders also kept important information from prosecutors and the public and put off the possibility of legal action to protect then presidential candidate Obama's election prospects.

Incredibly, Mr. McCray essentially claimed that bad leadership is ACORN's only problem.

Mr. McCray: "Voter Fraud, Voter Registration Fraud, Census Contracts, etc are all red herrings. The real problem is lack of accountability and poor governance. If 'Mickey Mouse' registered to vote – who supervised the canvasser who filed out that application. And what senior staff member supervised the team leaders? And how did the board of directors supervise the senior staffers? We believe that the majority of ACORN’s problems could be solved with –Truth, Transparency, Accountability and Governance. These are the real issues, the others are red herrings."

That should tell you what you need to know about Mr. McCray and the ACORN 8.

Mr. McCray admitted that the ACORN 8 are out to replace the current ACORN control group, but the ideological difference is limited.

Mr. McCray: "The ideological split is simply this – we believe that ACORN is / should be controlled by its membership and operated for the benefit of its membership; they believe that ACORN should be operated and controlled by staff with merely incidental benefits accruing to its membership."

Mr. McCray and the ACORN 8 did not complaint that ACORN has functioned wrongfully as an unofficial arm of the Democrat Party for many years.

Instead, Mr. McCray celebrated ACORN's "effectiveness" and complained only about ACORN leadership corruption.

Mr. McCray:

"ACORN is the most effective advocate for low and moderate income families in America. The appeal of ACORN is it is a 'fearless' advocate and action oriented organization. What do I mean by fearless? There are many different types of neighborhood and community organizations; all of which exercise various levels of influence for their constituency. More importantly, these various organizations have inherently different tolerance levels for conflict. Some pray, some write letters, some make phone calls but ACORN goes to 'war,' they will engage in immediate direct action for the benefit of low and moderate income families."

"ACORN is the most effective advocate for low and moderate income families in America. It has a long list of legislative victories, successful direct action campaigns, etc. Also the first pre-requisite for a local chapter to join ACORN is proof of a successful direct action campaign. I have personally participated in local, state and national direct action campaigns. ACORN is highly effective; my problem is that its leadership has become corrupt."

But ACORN's corruption is NOT new and just replacing ACORN's leadership will not do.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

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.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.