Arkansas Blog: ACORN scandal

You know Acorn. You know the grassroots organization, now a national power, got its start here, led by Wade Rathke (pictured), who spent the group's formative years wheeling and dealing in Little Rock before moving to New Orleans. The local affiliate remains a powerful voice for poor people.

Depending on your point of view, you'll be saddened or gladdened to learn this shocking news:

The New York Times reports today that founder Rathke's brother embezzled $1 million from the organization eight years ago and the matter was handled internally.He stayed on the payroll until a month ago, when whistleblowers finally forced him out.

Wade Rathke said the organization had signed a restitution agreement with his brother in which his family agreed to repay the amount embezzled in exchange for confidentiality.

Wade Rathke stepped down as Acorn’s chief organizer on June 2, the same day his brother left, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C.

He said the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a “weapon” into the hands of enemies of Acorn, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to its often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers.

Wade Rathke said he learned of the problem when an employee of Citizens Consulting alerted him about suspicious credit card transactions. An internal investigation uncovered inappropriate charges on the cards that led back to his brother.

“Clearly, this was an uncomfortable, conflicting and humiliating situation as far as my family and I were concerned,” he said, “and so the real decisions on how to handle it had to be made by others.”

If one of the prosperous businesses or public officials Rathke and Acorn have bedeviled and humiliated over the years had offered this alibi for wrongdoing, the appropriate response then, as it is now, would have been simple: Bull****.

Rathke has made a gift to Acorn's enemies by putting his family ahead of integrity. Stunner of a story.

Comments

What the hell happened to his nose? He couldn't spend any of that money his brother took on a nose job?

Posted by: Prouster | July 9, 2008 04:52 PM

Bless your heart Prouster. You must be under 45. Three parts of the human body never quit growing.
Ears, nose and feet. Eyeballs stay the same from birth.

However, other parts seem to compensate for the three ever-growing ones.
At least that's what Cato tells me.

Shame for ACORN. Is it past the statue of limitations for action on this?
.

Posted by: eLwood | July 9, 2008 05:03 PM

Of course Obama has an ACORN connection. Coincidence? I think not.

Posted by: Stump | July 9, 2008 06:40 PM

If there is one lesson to be learned in America today,it's, future criminals need to learn to steal big, really really big! And all will be forgiven, maybe they will make a movie about you for another few million.

Posted by: Eureka Springs, AR | July 9, 2008 07:06 PM

Their are left wing thieves and right wing thieves. Think what would have taken place if he was caught with a joint in his auto in a routine traffic stop.....his ass would have been nailed and on his way to a ten year sentence.

Posted by: Cato | July 9, 2008 07:51 PM

Is Rathke's family well off? How are they gonn'a come up with $1 M? Surely he didn't accumulate that kind of a bank account as head of a non profit. Did he?!???!!!

Posted by: 70%er | July 9, 2008 08:10 PM

I don't know, 70%er, the latest issue of Arkansas Business listed the salaries for some of the executives at the local nonprofits and some of them make pretty obscene amounts of money. Jo Luck at Heifer made over $250,000 last year and Frank Tugwell at Winrock made over $300,000. That said, I didn't expect this from ACORN.

I think you're completely right to call bullshit on this one, Max. Even if I were willing to buy the argument that the organization would be better off by hiding the misappropriation of funds, which I'm not, how do they explain the need to keep his brother on staff for the last 8 years?

Posted by: ARHawk | July 9, 2008 09:14 PM

So typical, doesn't suprise me, of these social justice do-gooders. ACORN Thugs. Somebody needs to go to prison.

Posted by: Billary | July 9, 2008 11:20 PM

Whatever happened to the culture of corruption? I guess that's ignored when liberals are corrupt.

Posted by: Anonymous | July 9, 2008 11:28 PM

It's so easy and simple to have a "no mercy for anyone ever!" policy. No thinking or judgment necessary, just drop the hammer down, always.

Click my blue name for a different view.

Posted by: John A Arkansawyer | July 10, 2008 06:18 AM

Was Nick Wilson a consultant to the ACON bunch?

Posted by: Bearcrack Osama | July 10, 2008 08:57 AM

"So typical, doesn't suprise me, of these social justice do-gooders. ACORN Thugs. Somebody needs to go to prison."

Um, this is a liberal blog, where a liberal criminal is being posted. What do YOU have? Where is your conservative blog listing the crimes of conservatives?

Speaking of which, do conservatives use the Internet much? I don't get that impression, considering the ratio. I think it might have to do with adaptive intelligence. Sort of like why artists, musicians, innovators of all sorts (Google, Gates, Steve Jobs, etc) tend to be progressives.

Posted by: JD | July 10, 2008 09:39 AM

JD,

Liberal and Progressive hum!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Bearcrack Osama | July 10, 2008 11:14 AM

I'll bet the KABF crowd is thrilled about this story considering the hours upon hours of free PSAs ACORN has been given over the years.

Posted by: bugeyedlittlefreak | July 10, 2008 12:07 PM

I always suspected that the "Noo Yawk" lawyers who ran the local ACORN chapter years ago in LR were in it for profit, not necessarily helping the low/moderate income people they claimed to represent.

As usual, follow the money.

Posted by: 84Hog | July 10, 2008 08:57 PM

Arkansas Blog

ACORN scandal

Comments

Post a comment