Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

ACORN: A tough nut to crack

Darrell Issa (R) committee finds ACORN now operating under a new name.

It turns out ACORN was a tougher nut to crack than previously thought.

In a 2010 report from Congressman Darrell Issa's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, ACORN, formerly known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, never disappear from the political realm. Instead the political group continued to thrive, just under a new name.

"ACORN affiliates in various states are also changing their names in what has been described as, 'a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams.' In California, ACORN is now the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (“ACCE”)," the report states.

"According to the agreement, ACCE has hired former ACORN employees, purchased the ACORN database of dues-paying members, and purchased a database with “e-mail contact information for approximately 16,202 potential contributors residing in California.”

If the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment sounds familiar, it should. They were one of the main backers of San Diego's new abandoned property ordinance.

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) operates from of an office in downtown Chula Vista. David Lagstein, the former ACORN spokesperson is listed as executive director on a recent lobbying disclosure.

One week after the election, on November 14, ACCE scored a victory after lobbying San Diego city councilmembers to enact a foreclosure registry that forces banks to be accountable for upkeep of vacant properties in their possession. They were also behind efforts to pass the Responsible Banking Ordinance and the Property Value Protection Ordinance.

ACORN has had a storied past in San Diego. In 2009, James O'Keefe, dressed in a Halloween-costume pimp outfit, entered an ACORN office in National City along with his accomplice Hannah Giles, in full prostitute get-up.

The couple, armed with a hidden video camera, asked worker Juan Carlos Vera for advice on smuggling prostitutes across the border. Vera allegedly played along and the hoax quickly made national headlines. Since then, new facts have been discovered that show Vera called the police during the interaction notifying them of the couple and their plans. He has since filed a lawsuit against O'Keefe and Giles.

Months later during a stakeout of ACORN's offices, local GOP operative, and private investigator, Derrick Roach found thousands of pages of sensitive documents in ACORN's dumpster a few days after the group learned they were under investigation from the California Attorney General.

To this day, local GOP honchos still praise Roach for his work in the dumpster. In a December 10 news release announcing the leadership team for the San Diego County Republican Party was this description of Roach:

"Derrick Roach of Chula Vista will continue to serve as Secretary of the committee. Roach's work helped to expose the corrupt practices of the radical left wing group ACORN in San Diego County, contributing to the group's ultimate demise."

Tony Krvaric, head of the San Diego County Republican Party, however, says he "was aware" of the new ACORN, and that "nothing has changed" with the group.

Representatives from ACCE have not responded to a request for comment.

--http://www.sandiegoreader.com/documents/2012/dec/13/acorn-acce/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Next Article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches

It turns out ACORN was a tougher nut to crack than previously thought.

In a 2010 report from Congressman Darrell Issa's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, ACORN, formerly known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, never disappear from the political realm. Instead the political group continued to thrive, just under a new name.

"ACORN affiliates in various states are also changing their names in what has been described as, 'a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams.' In California, ACORN is now the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (“ACCE”)," the report states.

"According to the agreement, ACCE has hired former ACORN employees, purchased the ACORN database of dues-paying members, and purchased a database with “e-mail contact information for approximately 16,202 potential contributors residing in California.”

If the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment sounds familiar, it should. They were one of the main backers of San Diego's new abandoned property ordinance.

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) operates from of an office in downtown Chula Vista. David Lagstein, the former ACORN spokesperson is listed as executive director on a recent lobbying disclosure.

One week after the election, on November 14, ACCE scored a victory after lobbying San Diego city councilmembers to enact a foreclosure registry that forces banks to be accountable for upkeep of vacant properties in their possession. They were also behind efforts to pass the Responsible Banking Ordinance and the Property Value Protection Ordinance.

ACORN has had a storied past in San Diego. In 2009, James O'Keefe, dressed in a Halloween-costume pimp outfit, entered an ACORN office in National City along with his accomplice Hannah Giles, in full prostitute get-up.

The couple, armed with a hidden video camera, asked worker Juan Carlos Vera for advice on smuggling prostitutes across the border. Vera allegedly played along and the hoax quickly made national headlines. Since then, new facts have been discovered that show Vera called the police during the interaction notifying them of the couple and their plans. He has since filed a lawsuit against O'Keefe and Giles.

Months later during a stakeout of ACORN's offices, local GOP operative, and private investigator, Derrick Roach found thousands of pages of sensitive documents in ACORN's dumpster a few days after the group learned they were under investigation from the California Attorney General.

To this day, local GOP honchos still praise Roach for his work in the dumpster. In a December 10 news release announcing the leadership team for the San Diego County Republican Party was this description of Roach:

"Derrick Roach of Chula Vista will continue to serve as Secretary of the committee. Roach's work helped to expose the corrupt practices of the radical left wing group ACORN in San Diego County, contributing to the group's ultimate demise."

Tony Krvaric, head of the San Diego County Republican Party, however, says he "was aware" of the new ACORN, and that "nothing has changed" with the group.

Representatives from ACCE have not responded to a request for comment.

--http://www.sandiegoreader.com/documents/2012/dec/13/acorn-acce/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.