Letters to the Editor

ACORN and the census

We have an outrageous attack on our system of accumulating census information! Remember the $4.9 billion for ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) in the “Stimulus” bill? ACORN is being partnered with the Census Bureau to use these funds to hire 1.4 million census takers!

Why should we be alarmed? The census count determines congressional, state legislative, county commissioner, city council, school board and other “representative-type” districts. It provides raw data by which government allocates spending on everything from roads to schools. We can’t afford to have this in the hands of an organization notorious for voter fraud.

Remember the boy in Cleveland, Ohio, who was registered by ACORN 70 times prior to the November election? Disguising itself as an organization providing low income housing, it co-mingles funds from housing into political projects such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives.

According to “Investor’s Business Daily,” September 26, 2008, ACORN had been implicated in voter fraud and bogus registration schemes in Missouri, Ohio, and at least 12 other states. In July, 2008, ACORN settled the largest case of voter fraud in Washington state history involving 2,000 bogus voter forms.

It is imperative that we have responsible citizens collecting the data for the census! Contact Etta Moore, the Recruiting Assistant in Polson. She needs a qualified staff of approximately 230 people in Lake County and 163 in Sanders County. Her toll-free number is 1-866-861-2010.

Mary M. Milheim

Dayton