by Eric Martin
To follow up on the discussion about the ACORN hoopla that sprung up in the comments to one of Lindsay's recent posts, what we know is that some ACORN employees were caught on video engaging in unethical and, possibly in some instances, illegal behavior. What we also know is that some ACORN employees that were approached by the same sting operation reacted in a completely appropriate way, reacting to the subterfuge as required by law and other codes of ethical conduct. Of course, those employees' reactions didn't receive any media attention.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that out of thousands of employees, a small handful acted in reprehensible ways. The question, however, is what should be done about it? Should an entire organization be punished for the actions of a few of its employees? Should the government sever ties, or cut off funds, for any and all such organizations? Or should the organization discipline the wrongdoers internally, and continue its operations and continue to receive government funds for its otherwise worthwhile activities?
Riding the crest of the media frenzy surrounding the ACORN revelations, Republican legislators pushed for the more punitive outcome: mustering broad support for passage of a law aimed at cutting ACORN's funding - a paltry $53 million over the past 15 years - based on the misconduct of a small group of employees.
The problem is, in enacting a law that makes it possible to hold a group like ACORN responsible for the actions of its employees, the GOP might have opened up Pandora's box. Consider, for example, some other groups that receive government funds (far in excess of $53 million over 15 years) whose employees have committed far more grievous crimes (ie, rape and murder for employees of KBR, Blackwater and other private contractors). Ryan Grim on some of the implications:
Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately -- but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process.
The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.
In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors.
POGO is reaching out to its members to identify other companies who have engaged in the type of misconduct that would make them ineligible for federal funds.
Hmmm, maybe if ACORN just changes its name to XeCorn we can all just pretend this law never happened.
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