ACORN, the nation’s largest grassroots community organization, has been under a lot of criticism lately for allegations of unethical and potentially illegal activity.
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At the same time, the National Education Association’s alliance with ACORN appears to be growing, according to a new website called ACORN CRACKED.
Once again, this raises the question: Should Teachers’ Union Dues Pay for Politics?
The nation’s largest teachers’ union recently held a gala fundraiser for ACORN at its Washington, DC headquarters. Fired ACORN employee Anita MonCrief posted the invitation on her website.
In addition, the National Education Association gave ACORN funds for "nonpartisan voter registration."
The New York City Teachers union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, gave ACORN over $1 million for things such as "cash bulk registration."
You can see all of ACORN’s funding sources on ACORN CRACKED.com
ACORN began in the early 1970s, when Wade Rathke founded the Arkansas Community Organization for Reform Now.
“ACORN has over 400,000 member families organized into more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in 110 cities across the country,” states the ACORN website.
Their mission includes community organizing; ballot initiatives and issue campaigns such as minimum wage; service delivery including assistance with government programs; and voter participation.
In 2008, it was revealed that in 2000, Wade Rathke’s brother, Dale, had embezzled nearly $1 million from ACORN,” according to ACORN CRACKED.
"Instead of reporting the theft to authorities, ACORN agreed to be repaid by the Rathke family.
“Not long after that, ACORN’s sloppy, and potentially illegal, system of registering voters was revealed. Media outlets such as CNN called ACORN’s political activities outright 'fraud.'”
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Comments
All I have to say is...oh brother! And what does this fundraising for Acorn have to do with anything in the classroom on a day to day basis? Thanks for bringing this to light, Donna.
Not surprising. So our tax dollars go to pay teachers who pay union dues which support ACORN. Cool.
This kind of stuff is the reason that teachers' unions have no respect. It's NOT the teachers that we don't respect. It's their union, and the fact that most of them have no clue what their union is doing.
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