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Stu: Mighty controversies from unwise ACORNs grow
DOWN WHERE they are hunkered in the ACORN bunker, they are lighting candles for Katherine Conway-Russell, manager of the 846 N. Broad St. office who largely avoided being punk'd by a conservative filmmaker playing a pimp and by a coed dressed like Lady GaGa.
The undercover videos of the pimp + pro act - starring 25-year-old James O'Keefe and 20-year-old Hannah Giles - played several other U.S. cities and almost singlehandedly led to ACORN losing face - and government funding - across the country.
In earlier pimp + pro productions, ACORN staffers in Baltimore, Washington, San Diego and San Bernardino, Calif., were taped cheerleading prostitution, tax evasion, money laundering and sexual traffic in underage girls from El Salvador.
In Philadelphia, on July 24, unwitting co-star Conway-Russell failed to take the bait, according to an audio recording obtained by the Daily News.
In defending itself against charges of outrageous and amoral behavior by its staffers, ACORN reacted with a knee-jerk attack on its accusers.
The truth is, ACORN - the nation's largest grassroots community organization - has done far more good than harm in helping poor and moderate-income people. ACORN has fought for increasing the minimum wage, against predatory lending, and has helped people with income-tax preparation, screening for eligibility for benefits programs and voter registration.
But no amount of good work excuses bad practices, even if it's just a small number of staffers. (There are well-aired charges of voter-registration fraud hanging over ACORN.)
In the videos, staffers' behavior suggests that ACORN falls short in training and supervising its staff.
When the videos surfaced, ACORN bared its fangs.
ACORN first denied any impropriety, then said that the tapes had been doctored, then said that it would launch an "internal" investigation (which would be laughable), then ordered an "external" investigation, all the while proclaiming that the entire affair was a production of Fox News that spent "millions, if not tens of millions, in their attempt to destroy" ACORN, according to ACORN's chief executive, Bertha Lewis.
When I asked ACORN to verify that amount, Pennsylvania Legislative Director Ian Phillips said that it was an estimate of the value of "the amount of air time spent on us."
Using that formula, Turner Broadcasting spent billions on the League Championship Series. It is a fraudulent claim that plays fast and loose with the truth.
The undercover tapes, available on YouTube, are part "Candid Camera" in their stealth, and part Borat in the over-the-top apparel and dialogue by O'Keefe and Giles. He favors what looks like a faux fur vest, and she's usually in stripper heels, micro-mini with bra cups peeking out of a flimsy top.
Their game didn't play well in Philly, as Conway-Russell offered appropriate advice and ignored some of the wild and woolly stuff coming out of the mouths of the Huggy Bear wannabe and Ashley Alexandra Dupre lookalike. But even here, ACORN over-reacted and hurled assertions that were either mistakes - or lies.
In July, ACORN CEO Lewis said that the pair had been "thrown out" and its Philadelphia president, Carol Hemingway, said that the pimp + pro had caused a "major disturbance." Yesterday, she said, "As soon as the staff realized [the couple] didn't seem correct, they were put out and a police report was filed."
Police report, yes, but the audio reveals no "major disturbance" and no demand that they leave.
Is that ACORN spin, or incompetence?
Conway-Russell, in a video posted on the left-wing Media Matters Web site, said that she had refused to help them and "they never said that she was a prostitute." However, on the audio, the woman's "prostitute" job was mentioned. Three times. And they were offered access to ACORN counseling services.
But in almost every respect, Conway-Russell was appropriate and professional and avoided taking the chum furnished by the pimp + pro.
At a news conference yesterday in Washington, O'Keefe released a heavily edited eight-minute highlight reel (of the original 30 minutes) with voice-over saying that he had told Conway-Russell that he wanted to run for Congress.
The audio has him saying something like that, but he needs to get it right. In earlier videos O'Keefe explicitly said that he wanted to use pimp money to run for office, but not in Philly. His voice-over mentions an "abusive pimp," but that term was not used to Conway-Russell. Most of O'Keefe's leading, but vague, remarks were ignored by Conway-Russell.
"Then we asked about underage girls," O'Keefe says in yesterday's eight-minute tape, suggesting that they were being brought in for prostitution. The audio has no mention of their being underage or being brought in as sex workers.
There's more, but that's enough. It's now a Punch and Judy show.
O'Keefe is trying to ramp up his video to further discredit ACORN, while ACORN is making a huge mistake by arguing minutia - and getting details wrong.
Here's what ACORN should have done when the first video surfaced: Thanked O'Keefe and Giles for uncovering wrongdoing and got it fixed right away. When you are caught in a jam, Eagles' bravado isn't the answer.
Honesty is.
E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns:
