ACORN plans probe amid stir over video

WASHINGTON - The advocacy group ACORN said yesterday that it was ordering an independent investigation, after employees were caught on hidden-camera video appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and a pimp to lie about the woman's profession to get housing help.

The video released Monday was among several that prompted the firing of at least four ACORN employees in Baltimore and Washington.

ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said it was refusing new admissions into its community-service programs, effective immediately, and would conduct staff training within the next few days.

The group will work with its advisory council, which includes prominent supporters of President Obama such as John Podesta, president of the nonprofit Center for American Progress, and Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, to name an independent auditor and investigator, ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said.

The investigation will examine all the systems and processes called into question by the video, Lewis said in a statement. She said the steps were being taken in response to "the indefensible action of a handful of our employees."

The moves are among several developments in recent days involving the liberal-leaning ACORN, a popular target for Republicans. In addition to the video, it is under scrutiny for several voter-registration fraud cases.

Some Republicans have urged the Justice Department to investigate ACORN. The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, and the Census Bureau last week severed ties with the group for the 2010 head count.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R., Ohio) plans to introduce legislation that would sever all ties between ACORN and the federal government. Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D., Md.) said that he was concerned about the "despicable" actions of two ACORN employees in Baltimore and that if what happened there was part of a wider pattern, "I think we need to look very carefully at the assistance we give" to the group.

Lewis told CNN's Wolf Blitzer yesterday that any corporation with 700 full-time employees was "bound to have some problems. However, we are committed to reestablishing the public trust."

Asked about the controversy, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the video that "obviously the conduct that you see on those tapes is completely unacceptable."

"The administration takes accountability extremely seriously," Gibbs said.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R., Fla.) said he had asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repeal a $997,402 grant it awarded to ACORN in New Orleans as part of FEMA's Fire Prevention and Safety Grants program. The group plans to use the money to assess fire safety in the homes of low- and moderate-income families and hand out smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors and other fire-prevention gear, ACORN's Brennan Griffin said.

FEMA had no immediate comment on Bilirakis' request.

ACORN says it has delivered about $15 billion in benefits to poor and moderate-income people through its affiliates in 110 cities over the last 10 years and has registered 1.7 million low- and moderate-income voters since 2004.

Obama, a onetime community organizer, represented ACORN in a 1995 lawsuit and worked briefly for Project Vote, a voter-registration effort that partners with ACORN. During the 2008 primaries, Obama's campaign contracted with an ACORN affiliate for get-out-the-vote services. The Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, tried, without apparent success, to link Obama last fall to the allegations of voter-registration fraud involving the group.

The video released Monday was among several that prompted the firings in Baltimore and Washington. It was created by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles and posted on BigGovernment.com, where O'Keefe identifies himself as an activist filmmaker.

In the video, O'Keefe and Giles enter an ACORN office in Brooklyn, and O'Keefe can be heard stating that "we have a unique life situation" and asking if they qualify for housing help.

The ACORN housing coordinator and office administrator apparently urge the pair to lie about the woman's profession, with the housing coordinator suggesting that the woman launder the money.

The couple also visited other cities, including going on July 24 to ACORN headquarters in Philadelphia. Philadelphia ACORN president Carol Hemingway said in a statement Monday that "after causing a major disturbance, they were asked to leave the office, and a police report was filed." No charges were filed against the couple.