Rotten ACORN: America’s Bad Seed (Pt. 1)

A vast empire, grown from an ACORN

Wade Rathke

The Employment Policies Institute (EPI), a non-profit research organization dedicated to studying public policy issues surrounding employment growth, put together an extensive report in 2006 on just how much the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) talks a good game when it comes to improving community and workplace conditions for the disadvantaged. However, as the EPI points out, the reality is that ACORN rarely practices what it preaches, and even admits in some cases that it would not make financial sense for them to do so. They would not actually make such a cash advance.

It’s so nice that they’re honest about that, at least…

In this series of articles, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the EPI report. The evidence, as you’ll see, is extensive. ACORN and close associates like Self-Help, Inc. and the Center For Responsible Lending should be ashamed that so much sleight of hand and outright lies have been perpetrated against American workers and the economy.

The Rathke family empire

ACORN is a non-profit, non-tax exempt “control center” in the middle of what the EPI describes as a “vast web of groups” run by anti-corporate activist Wade Rathke and family. By their count, the EPI found documentation of 75 organizations in 38 states and several countries under the ACORN banner. However, everything ultimately funnels back to Rathke’s main office in New Orleans, 1024 Elysian Fields.

ACORN’s budget comes from extracting resources from unions, government grants, foundations, registered members and settlements with businesses they target with their political campaigns. They portray themselves as a democratic organization where decisions are shared by the many thousands of member families under their banner. However, all the money and all the decisions end up in the hands of one man, and one man alone: Wade Rathke. It’s a dictatorship parading as a republic. CHECK OUT part two of this article to see just how far he goes to control his empire.

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